your teddy bear and mr. jimmy

This Lincoln Town Car is owned by Mr. Jimmy Leary who owns the candy store on Tompkins Avenue in Bed-Stuy. Officially called Jimmy’s Candy Store, this place is more of a museum of curiosities and old candies like Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mary Jane and Black Cow. There are two wooden phone booths in the front of the store that have had the payphones removed but now provide a nice perch for the official store cat. Most Sunday mornings I get the paper here and have chats with Mr. Jimmy about his car and the neighborhood. He’s been in the same spot for over 30 years. I’ll never forget the smile on his face when I showed him this photo which is now framed and sitting behind his vintage wooden display cases. Next door at 404 Tompkins was another candy and novelty shop that back in the day was the birthplace of the original Teddy Bear. You can read about it and this store in James T. & Karla Murray‘s excellent book that I mentioned last week, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York. Waddaya mean you haven’t bought it yet!?!

the importance of being patient

I visited this spot so many times hoping for the right car to fill the space. I love the corrugated aluminum siding and the small windows of this building that occupies most of this triangular block. It reminds me of the side of a ship.

This blue Lincoln Town Car had been parked in various sections of the street but never on its own against this background. I once sat across the street, waiting and waiting for a large idling truck to move so I could shoot the car properly. The driver decided to take a lunch break so I moved on.

Then one morning it finally happened. There was the car all by itself. I quickly snapped a few shots before the street started filling up.  I unconsciously left a bit of blue sky in the top left corner of the frame. It plays nicely with the Lincoln’s body color, and was one of those nice surprises from reviewing shots at the end of the day.