September 2009 Archives

I Can't Go Home Again

By Bohdan Zachary
September 29, 2009

It's Ken Burns' fault.

Having just watched the twelve hours of Ken's latest masterwork on America's National Parks (I got an advance copy), I recently found myself reminiscing about the trips my family took to the Castkills every summer. The house I grew up in on Detroit's Carpenter Street was a two story building on a busy street, and the tall woods were in marked contrast to the big city flatness where we lived. Mom, dad, my brother and sister and I lived upstairs in the two bedroom flat, while my grandparents lived downstairs in asmall studio behind the street-front tailor and dry cleaning shop they ran. In those days, the neighborhood called Hamtramck was populated mainly by Polish immigrants (90% of the population), along with Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans who wound up in Detroit working on the auto factory lines. Dad was proud to work at the Fisher Body plant that made seats for Cadillacs.

Then, after taking in KCET's broadcast of part one of the Ken Burns documentary few nights ago, I started flipped through the photo albums on my coffee table in hopes of finding photos of family excursions to the mountains. I realized with a start that those photos were lost in a cross country move 20 years ago. But I did find an image on my computer that saddened me.

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You're Invited: KCET Member Event

By Bohdan Zachary
September 15, 2009

NOTE: This event is now sold out! Thanks to all the participants!

I'd like to invite you to a special advance screening of INVENTING LA: THE CHANDLERS & THEIR TIMES.

The KCET benefit screening takes place Thursday, September 24, 2009, kicking off with a reception at 6:00 PM at the historic KCET Studios in Silver Lake. After drinks and appetizers on the KCET plaza, w'll walk down to the magnificent Vista Theater at the end of the block and at 7:00 PM the film will be introduced by its award winning producer, writer, director Peter Jones.