The Star Theatre

Oceanside's Star Theatre, built in 1956, is celebrating the competition of restoration of its magnificent marquee, the largest and oldest operating neon sign in all of San Diego County. A sign dedication ceremony will take place this coming weekend.

In February 2012 I shared some photographs of the Star aside this caption:
"Located on Pacific Coast Highway in Oceanside, CA, the Star opened in 1956 and has maintained more or less in one variation or another -- church, movie house, Pussycat theatre, live venue -- since. It's a cute corner theatre which originally held just under 1,000 patrons. In the late 1990s the theatre was vacant, I remember passing by it countless times on my Vespa journeys from San Diego to Orange County and back, the bright yellow marquee [dark and] blank, until one day it wasn't anymore (if memory serves, I believe a Van Halen tribute band was passing through town and was going to rock the Star). The stars and the marquee are wonderfully colorful and stand out amongst the other buildings in downtown Oceanside." (Please click here to see those original photographs.)

In anticipation of the restoration of the Star's marquee, and in excitement for the new life that has been brought to the theatre via the Star Theatre Company, here's a look back at a 2012 photograph of the Star that I took with my Brownie Hawkeye camera. I am looking forward to visiting it again soon to see those stars shining brightly.

© Monika Seitz Vega, 2012

Mystery Film: A Love Story

I am always up for the mystery film challenge. I love to come across old and expired film and shoot it through one of my cameras. I've had fantastic results (with one lackluster exception), and I'm happy to save film that someone may think is junk and throw away. 

The anticipation of seeing how a mystery roll will develop is quite exciting. 

Over a year ago, I loaded one of my Kodak Brownie cameras with a roll of mystery film I had gotten from a friend. Its origins were unknown -- no box, no expiration date, just a sealed roll of Agfa 50 120 film from who knows where, dying to be shot. I carried the camera around with me for a while, then it got shuffled through the rotation and ended up on the shelf for several months.

Last month I shot the last three frames on the roll and got developed and printed. Here are the some of the results:

2011 © Monika Seitz Vega

2011 © Monika Seitz Vega

2011 © Monika Seitz Vega

2011 © Monika Seitz Vega

Looking into my stash of mystery film, I noticed another identical roll to this one... I can't wait to see what the other Agfa roll turns out like!