Devotion for Travelers

Wheeler Dixon
1969-01-02

0
7 min

"The poet Rod Townley, who was a friend of mine, received a commission (and this will give you some idea of how the ’60s operated) to drive a sports car from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles in 2 1/2 days, but only if we could get it there in 2 1/2 days. I couldn’t drive at that point, so I just took along the Bolex. We left from Philadelphia; we stayed up all night the night before, and then got in the car & drove. The first night we stopped in Nashville, the second night in Albuquerque, and the last night, we got to Los Angeles. Rod delivered the car, & I took off for San Francisco, because LA seemed dull and dangerous. When I got to San Francisco, I looked up a guy named Terry Barlow, whom I hadn’t seen in years and years, and just walked in on him unannounced. The trip was shot in black and white, and the other stuff in color negative. I shot Terry Barlow in Golden Gate Park, doing an improvised dance next to a carousel.”- WWD