Taken at The Balboa Arcade, Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach, California, Summer 2000.



I take PickleBoy back to the beach where I grew up every year. Sometimes when the stars align I get him there twice in a year. We stay for a week and have little routines and circles and rhythms to this vacation.

We stayed at the beach trailer that my parents bought when I was sixteen years old until very recently. It sat on Pacific Coast Highway at the ocean’s edge until the State decided that the land would be theirs again – torn down – this part of the story is painful and I will reserve it for another day.

We always designate one of our beach days for The Balboa Arcade and the Fun Zone. We drive our car onto the rattley harbor ferry and head into this touristy day with the knowledge that the old photobooth is waiting for us. The exact photobooth that has been there since before I can remember. The photobooth that has captured images of my childhood friends and I as we grew from laughing girls to giggly preteens to ‘cool' teenagers. Somewhere along the line the person in the booth with me became a cute boy that made my palms sweat. What I would do to find those old photo strips that are most likely gone forever.

The best I can do now is make sure that PickleBoy and I are there.
Every year.
Sometimes twice.
Documenting a bit of our journey together through this life.


Thank you, Andrea, for helping me remember why the photobooth is magic…