48 years ago this month "The Rockford Files" debuted. Its LA street scenes and 70's vibe remind me of living there back then.
About seven years ago I was back in LA on business and had some time to kill on a late Sunday afternoon. I wanted to check out a hip letterpress shop in Santa Monica but it was closed. I called anyway and the guy said he'd be working and I could stop by.
I loved my visit to Church of Type. The proprietor Kevin Bradley had worked at Hatch Show Print and it showed. He had the same design sensibilities and love of traditional typography. Cool.
As he set some type (kids, ask your grandfather) I wandered around. Something in the shop caught my eye: a series of posters of non-sequiturs set together in stream-of-consciousness raps. He called them "storetry" (a portmanteau of poetry+story). Very cool.
He explained these were verbatim bits of dialog from syndicated rerun "Rockford Files" shows that had been playing in the background as he worked long, late nights. He'd jot them down and typeset them later. Ha. Exquisite corpse low-brow pop culture poetry posters. I had to buy a bunch.
"..I never ate a store bought cookie in my life. Tough stains are easier to get rid of than in-laws. What's normal about a grenade in your bedroom?…."
These remind me of a sun-scorched Pico Blvd, the wise-assery of James Garner, and the smell of greasy, wet ink.
The shop is closed up but you can go check out Kevin Bradley's Etsy site.
