Daily Archives: March 21, 2017

Dad and friends at the Shangri La

Things, ,

Found this among the photographs/letters/recipes/magazine clippings at Mom’s house. The photo was inside a two-fold handmade card with the Shangri-La Bar drawing taped to the front. On the inside, facing the photo are the addresses of the other sailors. They are hard to decipher, but here goes:

According to the back of the card the Shangri-La Bar was located in Panama City, Panama (156 Calle Del Estudiante, One Block from the Lesseps Park) and featured:

  • Newly and artistically remodeling
  • Better drinks at popular prices
  • Quick and competent service
  • Caters to all branches of the U.S.A Armed Forces and Canal Zone personnel
  • An honest to goodness modern bar that pleases the eye as well as the drinking taste of its customers

I checked, there is no Shangri-La bar in Panama City, Panama any longer, nor is there a park named Lesseps.

This is not politically correct and quite offensive, but this was probably 1949, so let’s give it a pass. Anyway, that woman was probably about to turn around and give the wolves a piece of her mind.

Three wolves dressed in navy gear at a bar
Shangri-La. Front of a handmade card

I love the look on the bartender’s face. These days we’d call it photobombing.

Four sailors and a bartender
Dad (far left) and friends.

Mom’s Artwork: Exhibit 2: Lighthouse in Several Shades of Gray

Things, , ,

This piece was completed July 27, 1967. It was lesson 1B, Assignment 2. Opaque Plate – 4. She was 32 when she painted this. I was 10, soon to be 11. Kevin was 4.

While my mother was not completely personally unfamiliar with real lighthouses in 1967 — she probably saw the Two Rivers lighthouses many times on her trips there to visit family — I don’t think she’d seen one that looked like this, on rocky cliffs. The idea of this drawing/painting was likely taken from a magazine photo.

I like the serenity of this piece. The ocean (or lake) is completely calm. Not a ripple or wave in sight. The sky is either cloudless or completely overcast. It must be dusk or dawn since the lighthouse is lit and it seems like there is a hint of light on the horizon. It could be anytime in between, though, and the glow is a city on the other side of a large lake.

The small house’s door seems too big, compared to the size of the lighthouse, but maybe it was a short lighthouse on top of a large hill.

lighthouse
Lighthouse in several shades of gray