The Handlebar Club, Founded 1947. | Heralded for their determined co-operative self-denial in the use of the razor.

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“The object of the Handlebar Club was, and still is, to bring together moustache wearers (beards being strictly prohibited) socially for sport and general conviviality.”

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Members of Handlebar Club posing for photograph, UK, July 1947.  — Nat Farbman

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Members of Handlebar Club comparing ties, UK, July 1947.  — Nat Farbman

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Member of Handlebar Club holding drink, UK, July 1947.  — Nat Farbman

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Member of Handlebar Club kissing woman, UK, July 1947.  — Nat Farbman

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Life Lessons | Sometimes You Gotta Be Cold. – Mile Davis

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Always count your money.

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“My father told me, that my grandfather told him, whenever he got some money, no matter where or who he got it from, to count it and see if it was all there.  He said you can’t trust no one when it comes to money — not even people in your own family.

One time my grandfather gave my father what he said was $1,000 and sent him to the bank with it.  The bank was thirty miles away from where they lived.  It was about 100 degrees in the shade — summertime in Arkansas.   And he had to walk and ride a horse.

When my father got down there to the bank, he counted the money and there was only $950.  He counted it again and got the same amount: $950.  So he went on back home, so scared he was just about ready to shit his pants.  When he got back he went to my grandfather and looked at him and said that he lost $50.  So Grandpa just stood there and looked at him and said, ‘Did you count the money before you left? Do you know if it was all there?’  My father said — no, he didn’t count the money before he left.  ‘That’s right,’ my grandfather told him, ‘because I didn’t give you nothin’ but $950. You didn’t lose anything. But didn’t I tell you to count the money, anybody’s money, even mine? Here’s $50. Count it. And then go ahead back and put that money in the bank like I told you.’ Now what you got to keep in mind about all of this is that not only was the bank thirty miles away, but it was also hotter than a motherfucker.

It was cold of my grandfather to do that.  But sometimes you’ve got to be cold like that.  It was a lesson my father never forgot and he passed it on to his kids.  So today I count all my money.”

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–Miles Davis

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Life in Los Angeles, circa 1938 | It’s always been about the car…

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“They say in L.A. there are only two methods of transportation-

car and ambulance.”

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–Unknown

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Auto traffic on Wilshire Boulevard during rush hour with sign for the WESTLAKE THEATRE looming in the background --ca. 1938.

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Service attendant pumping gasoline into Ford sedan as woman watches at gas pumps covered by the wing of a large permanently parked airplane, on Wilshire Boulevard --circa 1938.

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Motorist in his car making a transaction at the drive up window of a bank --ca. 1938.

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Muller Brothers Service Station's white uniformed attendents pumping gas & inflating tires on a fancy convertible while their uniformed African-Amer. conterparts wield rags as they polish the windshield & chrome --ca. 1938.

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