Grew up in Altadena in the 1940's and 50's. Family home was in the path of the Rubio Wash (on fill right below the flood control basin at the southeast corner of the golf course). The Reservoir must have been built in the late teens or early '20's, judging from the age of the houses in my immediate neighborhood. From the Reservoir the off-flow was diverted underground east to a point about 50 yards east of Allen Avenue, then in an open channel southeast along New York Drive to Midlothian Drive where it went under again about 8 blocks to empty into Eaton Wash. The original Arroyo Rubio led down past the San Gabriel Mission and before urbanization was likely a route followed by the native peoples right up to the foot of Echo Mountain.

polyglot / linguist. son of a photographer.

*I knew my dad as a (well educated) photo-offset printer who later published and edited with my mom a monthly square dance magazine/directory in the '50's and '60's.

But a couple of years ago I had to get an official copy of my birth certificate and was surprised to find out that he listed himself there as a self-employed photographer for the 13 years before I was born.

Our mom described the story a little differently--just that they were lucky that he worked for Mr. McDuffie* all through the years of the Big Depression.

[*Haven't been able to verify it yet, but I think this was a brother of the Bay Area builder and realtor Mason McDuffie-- both were from central Iowa, like my father, Robert Mason McCartney (no indication of any connection to Mason McDuffie)]

Anyhow--I really like to take pictures. Photography and photo offset printing were built into my life--print shop and darkroom in the basement and all. But finding that it was on my birth certificate was a revelation and an inspiration to follow a vocation I love a lot.

For my main Flickr site (almost 3,000 photos), you can follow this link:

-- mac fotog's Flickr site