Love this old photo of my Dad, circa 1966, at Valley Auto Wreckers in San Jose. He was talking to a long time employee (my brother tells me his name was Joe and he was one of those colorful old Italians).  More than one person has said that my son Jedd now looks like my Dad did in this photo.  They are right.

I was about 7-years old when this photo was taken and remember that counter well.  Spent a lot of Saturdays and summers cleaning, sweeping, and trying not to get in the way. The funnest job was restocking that Coca-Cola machine and counting up the coins at the end of the day; I still remember the cool air hitting me on hot days.

The smell of that place is still in my memory.  A strange blend of oil, grease, dust and mold.  Sounds awful, doesn’t it?  I miss it, though.  On rare occasions I’ll catch the scent in an old fashioned mechanics shop — not the hyper clean ones like at the dealerships.

See the big books on top of the coke machine? Those were Hollander reference books that tracked every automotive part and their interchangeability. Amazingly they are still in business.

Miss that place but am thankful I work in a clean office with air conditioning!  What I really miss is my Dad.  Oh, and maybe that old coke machine.