Louise Athens: making my own toys & The first touring car

I was about four or five, in Klamath Falls, Ore
I remember making my own toys
I remember a man coming through town
taking pictures with a box
So I made a box covered in black cloth
& I went to all the neighbors and took pictures
I didn’t know why I didn’t get any pictures
and nobody paid me either.

—Louise Athens


My father bought the first touring car
You had to put up all the black curtains
so the rain wouldn’t come in
I remember when my father had a sawmill
I remember when all the banks went broke
He sold everything, we moved to San Francisco
And I have pictures of myself as a child
with my father in a derby hat
my mother in her best “going to” outfit
with all her furs, pearls and gloves.

—Louise Athens