Today’s Snapshot: Welcome Home G.I. Shoes
I’ve beaten the dead horse about the things you can find when you give yourself the chance to look at the city out from behind a windshield. One of my passions is the “streetfiti” I discover either on my bike or my feet — most of it rather happenstance, such as this amazing one I found today. I’ve passed the bus stop on the west side of La Brea at Wilshire hundreds of times, but it was only on this morning’s bike commute that I happened to be stopped behind enough cars at the red light to be immediately adjacent to it. And looked down.
(click for the bigger picture)
Unlike most of the concrete hand-scrawlings I find that feature a name and maybe a year, this one provides both and in greater detail: it’s signed “G.I. Shoes” (or at least “Shoes” is my best guess) and posts a definitive date of “5-12-44.” But in conjunction with the date and name, it also offers some rare and compelling (if misspelled) biographical information “Returned from Itay” (Italy is my guess). Given the date and the “G.I.” it all points to the writer being a soldier who arrived back in Los Angeles after serving his country during World War II and felt compelled to immortalize his homecoming in some fresh concrete. Sixty-five years later, it’s still there.
Where was this taken? This was taken here.
Previous snapshots:
Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook • Inter Here • Stunflower •
Dueling Coyotes • Restoration Era • The Domain Of The Green Lynx •
Why Is This Alligator Lizard Smiling? • Bearing Witness •
Right Thing • Street Art Drive-Bys •
Related posts:
this make me SO HAPPY!!!!
Great catch. This is really cool.
Seriously, that is amazing. So glad you stumbled across this!
great photo! amazing what one finds if s/he just stops & look
Couldn’t have been my dad; he didn’t make it back until ‘45. Just goes to show there’s all kinds of history in this city, if you just take the time to notice it.
[...] stops at a red light, and notices history at his feet. The Tucson Bike Lawyer notes the online comments following the recent rundown of seven cyclists; [...]