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1937 Ford Porchlight Click on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

I cut the front off a 1 gallon can of Star Olive Oil to use as a rain shield over the porchlight.

It worked perfectly during our big snowstorm keeping moisture away from the fixture, and the little 6.5 watt night-light.

A Locally Historic Fence SignClick on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

I clipped this sign, some 25 years ago, from a chain link fence around an abandoned industrial building near the old San Bernardino rail yards just before the place was demolished.

The address where this iron works business was located, 368 Third Street, is about 1/2 block east of the present San Bernardino County courthouse.

I don't know exactly how old this sign is (check out that phone number) but I did a search of Allen & Sons Iron works and found records of their existence in San Bernardino from the early 1880s through at least 1913.

Allen Iron Works built Hose Wagon Number 1 for the fledgling San Bernardino Fire Department back in 1890. The fire wagon has been restored and is now owned by the San Bernardino Historical And Pioneer Society (scroll down to the 6th image at this link to see hose Wagon #1). The beautifully restored wagon has participated in Pasadena's Rose Parade several times in recent years.

Allen Iron Works, an old blacksmithing outfit, is also listed as buying the first car ever sold by Carey's Fine Automobiles in 1913, a 1911 Buick.

Carey's Fine Automobiles is still in business today, in San Bernardino.

My guess is that this sign is from the very early years of the 20th Century.

A wonderful find.

Hula Girl Beer Tap Click on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

My friend Craig, who also cast the Ford script under the porchlight, is setting me up with the equipment I'll need so we can have craft beers on tap at the very local Earth Home Garden pub.

I found the Hula Girl Tap Handle on eBay.

One of these days you are likely to hear a chorus of off-key voices singing the words of John Prine right here at EHG.

Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian - ©1988 John Prine

Well I packed my bags and bought myself a ticket

For the land of the tall palm tree

Aloha old Milwaukee...

...Hello Waikiki

I just stepped down from the airplane...

...When I heard her say,

"Waka waka nuka licka, Waka waka nuka licka

Would you like a lei?"

chorus

Hey! Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian

Whisper in my ear

Kicka pooka mocka wa-wahini

Are the words I long to hear

Lay your coco-nutta on my tiki

What the hecka mooka mooka dear?

Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian

Say the words I long to hear

It's a ukulele Honolulu sunset

Listen to the grass skirts sway

Drinking rum from a pineapple

Out on Honolulu bay

Steel guitars are playing

While she's talkin' with her hands

Gimme gimme oaka doka make a wish I wanna poka

Words I understand

chorus

Hey... Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian
Whisper in my ear
Kicka pooka mocka wa-wahini
Are the words I long to hear
Lay your coco-nutta on my tiki
What the hecka mooka mooka dear?
Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian
Say the words I long to hear

Well, I boughta lotta junka with my moolah

And I sent it to the folks back home

I never had a chance to dance the hula

Well, I guess I should have known

When you start talking to the sweet wahini

Walking in the pale moonlight

Oaka noka whatta setta nocka-rocka-sis-boom-bockas

Hope I said it right

chorus

Oh... Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian
Whisper in my ear
Kicka pooka mocka wa-wahini
Are the words I long to hear
Lay your coco-nutta on my tiki
What the hecka mooka mooka dear?
Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian
Say the words I long to hear

Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian

Say the words I long to hear

Aloha...

postscript

The ornate cast iron piece to the right of the hula girl tap is part of an old treadle sewing machine base I found in a burned down homestead in a remote part of Topanga Canyon back in October of 1972. I've had it hanging on a wall somewhere ever since.

Need A Post Office Box?

Click on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

When the now defunct Bay Post Office in Boulder Bay at the west end of Big Bear Lake was decommissioned about 20 years ago I was given a couple of the old P.O. Box doors from the place. I was the window clerk there when the little substation in the Boulder Bay Market was shut down.

These beautiful old bronze castings make a nice addition to the Temple wall. I have the combinations and the boxes work perfectly after probably 70+ years of hard use.

If anyone knows the approximate time in postal history that this type of twin dial alphabetical combination box was made, I'd love to know.

My guess is that they are from the 1920s or '30s at the latest.

Old Window Framed And Installed

Click on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

I resurrected an old broken window from my very early days of stained-glass work and used it for the counter-window of the pub portion of my little multi-purpose room.

You can see a better picture of it here.


An Inside View

Click on photo to enlarge - ©2008 jim otterstrom

A local contractor friend gave me some beautiful leftover 3/4 inch birch-faced plywood from a kitchen cabinet job, so I used it for the inside front wall.

Here you can see a little of the progress on the interior space but there is still much work to be done.