Going Up
I love the old freight elevator in Cleveland’s ArtCraft Building.
I love that the elevator operator’s shirt matched the red walls.
I love the fact that there are still people employed as elevator operators in an age where automation is the rule.
“It’s my second day on the job,” he told me. Only day two, and the guy had already seen plenty of action. The day before, a photographer with a studio in the building photographed a musician and her cello in the elevator. He didn’t bat an eye when I asked if I could photograph him.
I was there to shoot another assignment, but I couldn’t pass this up, because this slice of Americana could be gone tomorrow.
Great photographs Laura! I esp. like the one of the freight elevator operator. My late father used to work in the Artcraft Bldg at a women’s apparel company in the 1950s and 60s. I well remember the lumbering elevator. We would operate it ourselves, unlike the main elevator where Stanley, with suspenders and a runny nose, has a permanent job doing that.
December 12, 2012 at 2:14 am
Thanks, Ruth. I just went back to the Artcraft Building the other day for the holiday open house. I took the main elevator and realized I would love to photograph all the remaining elevator operators in the city and compile it into a book.
December 12, 2012 at 2:27 am
great idea! it’s a dying occupation. today i visited the pearl buck house in hilltown, pa, and saw her royal typewriter on which she wrote TWO HUNDRED BOOKS! the next generation will say What’s a typewriter?
December 13, 2012 at 8:12 am