Blogfinger

This 1965 Cadillac was parked at Wegmans. December, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo  

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.

Do  you ever marvel at the size of vehicles these days?  If you are in a busy parking lot such as Wegmans you will often see huge vehicles—oftentimes SUV’s or vans.  You might park next to one and feel like you have landed at Jurassic Park.  Then try to pull out of your space without being able to see what lies beyond.

I get a kick out of the tiny women that often climb out of those behemoths, oftentimes with one or more little kids safely tucked in the back enveloped by enough steel to construct a bomb shelter.  I imagine that many of those are ordinary families that use their cars for grocery shopping, getting to soccer games, etc, and I think that the man of the house must be very protective of his brood.    He probably was in the military and would buy a tank if he could.  Strangely, Humvees seem to have become extinct, like mastodons, but huge cars like the Jeep Grand Cherokee have taken their  place.

The guy who was driving the Caddy shown above is a senior citizen who babies his car.  No tiny kids drooling on that interior. He wears a baseball cap that says “US Army.”  I imagine him landing at Normandy on D-Day.   I don’t know whether to thank him for his service or for driving this huge Cadillac for all of us to enjoy. He could be in a Seinfeld style video—–seniors in cars going for coffee.   This sleek white sculpture on wheels was attracting a lot of attention as if it were preening for the audience, parked as it were at the head of the aisle, albeit in a handicap space.   The driver’s demographic would show off a beautiful car, much as a young man might show off a dazzling babe.

But you could imagine this vehicle pulling up to the curb at an old elegant theater in Hollywood in the mid  ’60’s  for a movie opening.  The door opens,  flash bulbs fire, and a shapely leg appears followed by Marilyn Monroe in a white clingy thingy.  The crowd roars its approval while the Caddy stays put just long enough to provide a striking backdrop for a striking starlet. Marilyn and the Caddy would be on the front page of the LA Times the next day.

VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS   from the HBO series  Boardwalk Empire: “Darktown Strutters’ Ball.”