Gary Hornseth
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garyhornseth.bsky.social
Gary Hornseth
@garyhornseth.bsky.social
1.4K followers 220 following 2.4K posts
Minnesota ephemerist. History, music, visual arts, a bit of baseball. Work = PR. Posts = else. Also the westerly half of Trademark Issues 🎸
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garyhornseth.bsky.social
Gary Hornseth @garyhornseth.bsky.social · Oct 19
Today I discovered the Instagram of Sapporo artist Eiji Ohashi, who specializes in night photography of vending machines, mostly in winter.

“The reason . . . is that it will make us see hope and inspiration when we see shiny things in the middle of a dark night.”

Images at his site: eijiohashi.com
A winter scene of a pedestrian bridge from across a street in falling snow lit at night by overhead street lights. A glowing vending machine near the base of the bridge. A night photo of an urban scene with high-rise buildings in the background. Trees look like autumn. A vending machine glows in the foreground alongside a sidewalk. A night city scene of an older building adjacent to a long flight of stairs. A row of vending machines cast a glow from the base of the building toward the pavement in the center of the photo. Streetlights illuminate the upper level in the background. A closeup of a vending machine at night surrounded by some trees and giant snow drifts. Snow caps and obscures the top of the machine. Lights from the machine illuminate the surrounding snow.
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Neckties
Sears Christmas Catalog
1952

Image: Department Store Catalogs Collection via @archive.org; archive.org/details/1952...
Color catalog illustration of 10 necktie designs in a wide variety of vivid colors and patterns. Acetate ties, boxed Pricing: 97 cents each, 2 for $1.88, or 6 for $5.00
November 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Trade catalog cover
Hubbard Aluminum Products Co.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Artist not credited
c. 1951

Image: Association for Preservation Technology via @archive.org; archive.org/details/Hubb...
Hapco Street Lighting Brackets catalog. A noir-ish illustration of a nighttime scene with a couple seen from behind, walking on a sidewalk under a streetlight. Two sleek cars are on the street behind them. A statue is in the background.
November 28, 2025 at 5:06 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
A favorite archive photo. It appeared in the Minneapolis Times today in 1899, taken by local photographer and restaurateur W. Ernest Bateman.
garyhornseth.bsky.social Gary Hornseth @garyhornseth.bsky.social · Nov 16
Minneapolis Times Building on a rainy night, 4th St. S and Nicollet Ave., uncredited photographer, November 1899

Image: Hennepin County Library; digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/coll...
A black and white image of a misty or foggy night scene, taken at street level. A man stands on the sidewalk in the middle distance looking toward a building with a sign that says “The Times”. Lamp lights glow gauzily along the sidewalk and down the street, reflecting off the damp pavement. There is a U.S. mailbox affixed to a pole in the foreground. I did a Twitter thread a while back on this photo and others that dated it pretty conclusively to Nov 1899 based on some of the posters visible.
November 26, 2025 at 11:29 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
#localangle
presentcorrect.bsky.social Present & Correct @presentcorrect.bsky.social · 2d
During the bus ride home today we found this auction catalogue of over 200 old gum ball & vending machines. Enjoy!
www.presentandcorrect.com/blogs/blog/m...
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
chrissteller.bsky.social
This excellent-looking new book has one of the best throwback/retro book cover designs I've seen—down to faux foxing (if that's the term for light staining) at the edges
"Becoming the Twin Cities: Swindles, Schemes, and Enduring Rivalries" (MHS Press) by Drew M. Ross, design by @wah-o.bsky.social
Book cover made to look like 1960s graphics with map hatched with colored lines
November 26, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
chrissteller.bsky.social
First snowstorm of the winter in Minneapolis
view from Hennepin Avenue bridge at night with snow streaking past spotlights and street lights and the Grain Belt Beer sign glowing
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Wabasha at 5th
St. Paul, Minnesota
Nov. 23, 1949

Image: St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press via Minnesota Historical Society
Night view downward from atop a tall building, brightly lit street with cars and streetcar below, St. Paul Building at 5th and Wabasha in foreground, Minnesota State Capitol dome in background. Searchlight in distance.
November 23, 2023 at 3:02 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Star, Star, Star A
1969
Yoshida Chizuko (1924-2017)
Woodblock print, color on paper with embossing

On view today at @artsmia.bsky.social as part of the exhibition “The Abstract Worlds of Yoshida Hodaka and Chizuko”
Museum description: Star, Star, Star A (1969) Yoshida Chizuko Woodblock print, color on paper with embossing GIFT OF THE YOSHIDA FAMILY On View in Gallery 251 Yoshida Chizuko positioned the three stars in this print in a vertical column and then colored them. Moving from the lightest value (on the left side of the top star) to the darkest value (on the right side of the bottom star), the eye can feel as though it is weaving in and out around the axis. The colors, although different, are complementary and seem to send out waves of light and energy. This simple, yet sophisticated print won a prize at the 1969 International Print Triennial.
November 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
chaddavis.photography
Always been a big fan of train station tiles. Such an easy way to bring long lasting color and uniqueness to each station.

Chicago, London, Berlin, New York
Blues in Chicago Red green and yellow in London Yellow toned tiles in Berlin Train station in New York City
November 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Book cover spotted while searching for something else on @archive.org: A biography of the British painter Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893). Cover artist not credited.

Image: Getty Research Institute; archive.org/details/ford...
Google lens description: The image displays the artistic cover of a biography titled "Ford Madox Brown: A Record of his Life and Works". The book is a biography of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown. It was written by his grandson, Ford Madox Hueffer (later known as Ford Madox Ford), and was published in 1896. The cover features an intricate, art nouveau-style design with green and gold foliage motifs on a white background, framing a blue central panel with gold lettering.
November 23, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
matsuzawa.bsky.social
Eiichi Ohtaki’s A Long Vacation (1981) is one of the most beloved albums in Japanese pop music.
Ohtaki, born in Iwate Prefecture, blended American pop influences with a uniquely Japanese melodic sensibility.
A Long Vacation
November 23, 2025 at 2:35 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Watercolor specimens from “Paint and Colour Mixing: A Practical Handbook (6th ed.)” by Arthur Seymour Jennings, London, 1921

Image: Getty Research Institute via @archive.org; archive.org/details/pain...
A page of 36 watercolor specimens arranged in four rows of 9 vertical bars, with each bar showing a different color. Colors range from yellows to oranges, pinks and reds, greens, blues and browns. Page is headed “Specimens of Winsor and Newton’s Artists’ Water Colours”
November 23, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
chrissteller.bsky.social
Spiraling into the weekend like ...
curved ornamental metal hand rail down stone stairway in late day sunlight with long shadow
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Gary Hornseth
discontinuedfoods.bsky.social
Look, I know the Grammys already happened, but if it's not too late I'd like to humbly request an entry for song of the year:

"The Vegetable Song-KidsLearningTube" on YouTube, uploaded in 2016 that my toddler randomly found and which sounds like the greatest lost 1995 "120 Minutes" performance ever
February 5, 2025 at 12:25 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
A page of index stamps
From: “Matthews' Book of Marking Devices and Metal Signs”
Jas. H. Matthews & Co., Pittsburgh
1914

Image: TheHoard Collection via @archive.org; archive.org/details/matt...
A page full of pointing finger index stamps. Some labeled: Read Carefully; Notice: Special Attention To This, Returned to Writer; etc. Copy: Matthews of Pittsburgh THE HANDY INDEX STAMPS They help to get your message quickly read and help to make quick action. Furnished plain or with any lettering in the centre, similar to those illustrated.
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba, Spain
Nov. 3, 2025
11:50 a.m.
A look upward at an ornate ceiling section with arches and sunlight streaming into windows, Chapel of Villaviciosa. Image: me
November 19, 2025 at 11:48 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Three illustrations from “Air Marking,” a U.S. Dept. of Commerce Aeronautics Bulletin with design guidelines for ground-based pilot navigation aids, July 1, 1929.

Image: TheHoard Collection via @archive.org; archive.org/details/depa...
A drawing of an overhead view of a city block. One of the buildings has a flat roof upon which is placed directional signage, including a directional arrow pointing north, a directional arrow pointing towards an airport showing a 3 mile distance, and the name of the city in block letters— in this instance “Airville.” Caption FIGURE 3.-Typical air marking, including name of city or town, meridian marker, and airport pointer A drawing of an overhead view of an intersection coming to a T in a rural location. The two roads bear large letters the width of the road in height, reading NY-12 and US-20. Caption FIGURE 9.-Air markings recommended for Federal and State highways A drawing of an overhead view of two airport structures. On the roof of one structure is a sign reading “Municipal Airport Airview.” On the roof of the other structure is a directional arrow pointing north as well as two directional arrows labeled “Madison” and “Chicago,” pointing in different directions. Caption FIGURE 7.-Typical hangar roof markings showing route arrows
November 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Discos Bora-Bora, at which a signed 2015 Jayhawks setlist is among many framed on a wall #localangle
Granada, Spain
Nov. 7, 2025
6:52 p.m.
A nighttime view of a record stage exterior set into an old storefront, with the store lit from within.
November 18, 2025 at 11:26 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Cádiz, Spain
Nov. 4, 2025
2:30 p.m.
View over Cádiz toward the sea from atop the Torre Tavira, an 18th c. watchtower and the highest point in the Old Town district, offering a 360° outdoor view. 173 steps to the top. Cirrus clouds and sun.
November 18, 2025 at 1:54 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Detergente Líquido at Bar Mutante, Sevilla
Nov. 2, 2025
2:10 p.m.
A colorful music venue filled with people, vivid lights and decoration a band playing at the far end.
November 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Ceiling, Catedral de Granada, Spain
November 5, 2025
5:08 p.m.
Wide-angle view looking upward at the cathedral ceiling with about a half dozen pillars reaching to the top. Ceiling has arched sections catching the uplighting. A few windows are visible as well as a bit of the upper part of the apse. Colors are generally white and grey.
November 15, 2025 at 9:19 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Sevilla Santa Justa Station, Spain
Nov. 1, 2025
1:06 pm
An interior view of a train station looking down a set of tracks that recede into the distance along with a set of ceiling arches. Travelers await a train along a platform. Clocks and signage. Grey and silver colors predominate. Image: me
November 14, 2025 at 10:12 PM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Coin telephone, c. 1960s
Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España

Seen on display last Saturday as part of a numismatics exhibit at the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid
A photo of a wall-mounted pay telephone with a silver exterior, black handset and rotary dial. There is a narrow window into the enclosure that allows viewing of the coins inserted, I presume?
November 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
Old telephone sign as tapas bar wall decoration, last Saturday afternoon, Madrid
A round, weathered metal sign reading TELEFONOS in yellow and blue block lettering, below an encircled outline map of Spain and Portugal. Casa Ambrosio Taberna, Madrid
November 12, 2025 at 10:51 AM
garyhornseth.bsky.social
A minute or so of a pharmacy sign seen last week along a street in Sevilla
November 12, 2025 at 12:45 AM