On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
You may recall some lovely Birds in Black & White from the middle of May, which feels like a hundred years ago. So perhaps it’s fitting that we have photos today that are 50 years old. It’s been a rough few weeks, but there is much to celebrate! ~WaterGirl
Steve from Mendocino
The class field trip to San Diego that produced my bird pictures from the zoo also included an assignment to create photos for an imaginary brochure for the city of San Diego. These are the ones that I still enjoy seeing. These shots are all 50 years old.

This first picture is of the Botanical Building in Balboa Park.

I was wandering around in the harbor and came across these guys busing their fishing nets.

Rough and ready hand carved tackle box.

Scripps pier at Lajolla Beach at sunset.

Night shot of San Diego skyline across the bay.

UCSD. My ex wife had an office on the bottom floor of this building. She was a student teacher of conversational French during the year that I was enrolled at UCSD.

The fountain at Revel College, UCSD. Revel was the only college open that year. Only 2,000 students. I parted company with UCSD over a philosophical question of whether learning course material was more important than hanging out with hippy buddies, smoking pot, philosophizing, listening to music, taking the free shuttle from campus to the beach, etc.. Art school followed, once I’d repaired my GPA at Los Angeles City College.
Baud
Oooh, classic B&W. Beautiful.
Amir Khalid
1960 seems like a different world now. These photos feel like that other world sent out a Voyager mission with these images for us to wonder at.
JPL
Fun pics and the photos of UCSD are wonderful. You should share them with the school.
satby
@Baud: yes! B&W is a favorite of mine too. Studied Adam’s zone system in photography school and still think it highlights some detail better than color. Almost two entirely different art forms in the same medum.
Auntie Anne
These are wonderful, Steve.
arrieve
I love these pictures — they have such a dreamy quality.
Laura Too
Lovely, thank you!
tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)
Thank you so much! I have childhood memories of the bay and the fish industry. As an Italian, I spent a lot of time around Little Italy. San Diego downtown has changed so much since then. I’m glad to see the revitalization, but I definitely feel nostalgia for seeing these photos.
Wag
spectacular! I love shooting B+W.
Miss Bianca
Yow! These are great!
Avalie
Steve from Mendocino
@satby: Interestingly, Adams was the head of the photography department before I arrived at Art Center. I always wondered what it would have been like under him.
trollhattan
Like #2 & 4 the best, they give me a feel of the place.
frosty
Cool pictures! I was living in San Diego (Ocean Beach) at just about that time. Broke and looking for work during Nixon’s recession.
B/W seems like a better medium for night photography.
Beth
These are lovely, but am thinking of my day trip to Mendocino the other day. Wish I could be ‘from Mendocino’, too! The beauty there is incomparable.
Well, maybe just look for a cabin to rent, and dream….
Steve from Mendocino
@Beth: I’m planning to post some Mendocino pictures here eventually, if we all live that long. I’ve got lots of old work that I’m hoping to post first. In the meantime, anytime you need a Mendo hit, you can always go here: Mendocino Portfolio
DCA
Since the comments have Adams, and UCSD, how about Adams at UCSD? UC had him photograph all the campuses in 1966 (for the UC Centennial) and published a book of them (title is Fiat Lux, google “Adams Fiat Lux” ). UC Riverside holds the negatives (shows up on same search).
BigJimSlade
@Steve from Mendocino: so you parted ways from UCSD and its Revel college for more reveling, huh? And somehow ended up in Mendocino, hmm. LOL. Lovely shots – thanks!
BigJimSlade
@Steve from Mendocino: My sister got married at the Albion Inn on the bluffs overlooking the sea – we stayed at the Mendocino Hotel and had a bonfire at the beach that night (a little over 20 years ago).
Steve from Mendocino
@BigJimSlade: Nice. I was around then, although not taking pictures. We moved there in early 91 after I’d sold my business. I wanted to move to France. My wife wanted to move to Vermont. We settled on Mendocino. Turns out it was the best choice for both of us. I ate at Albion River Inn a number of times during that period, although I preferred Cafe Beaujolais, where we had a standing Thursday night reservation. It’s been a nice place to grow old.
BigJimSlade
@Steve from Mendocino:
I love it!