Dennis Feldman: Hollywood Boulevard: 1969-1972

Look past the colorful assemblage of Hollywood hopefuls, dreamers, has-beens or never-weres and you will discover a world of transporting details in the shop windows beyond. Sixties and seventies fashions, (and prices), display cases filled with used books, posters or record albums, (Iron Butterfly, Peter Paul and Mary), window stickers welcoming the use of discontinued credit-cards, (BankAmericard), as well as the omnipotent reflections in the window-glass itself , allowing us to try and descramble the reverse-images of long-defunct business across the street. Each and every detail a trigger and transporting nugget to those of us old enough to have been there in the first place or simply curious as to what that time and place might have been.I came out to Hollywood several years past the time that these photos were taken, and similarly roamed up and down, stopping and looking in windows or nodding to strangers while waiting for a phone to ring. You cannot help but wonder what happened to any of these people or what brought them here in the first place. Runaways? Tourist? Hopefuls? Or just passing through?Mr. Feldman has done a wondrously evocative job presenting this place and its people, and I, for one, am grateful that he has. An off-beat, touching, slightly grungy but ever-human look at a boulevard of hopes and dreams.

I excitedly ripped open its package when this book arrived. I couldn't wait to dive in and browse its pages of photographs from the '69-'72 era on Hollywood Blvd. Once it was in my hands, I was off and running!Unfortunately, it took less than two minutes to 'read' the whole book. The photographs are only printed on the right-hand pages; the left-hand pages are completely blank. There are no captions on either the right- or left-hand pages, no interesting chatter about the subject(s) in each photograph, no identification of time or space or anything. In two minutes, I was done.There are a couple of pages at the front of the book with verbiage about the era, but that's it as far as text goes.This book is definitely a nice addition to a coffee table, as its substantial size and beautiful photos make for interesting viewing and conversation. But a book that I can go through in less than two minutes just leaves me feeling a little cheated. I guess I was expecting more.UPDATED: Added photos to show lack of text/captions/info.