I remember stopping in at Louis’ Lunch during our times at the Gainesville Art Festivals and talking to the owner and looking at all the historic pictures on the walls. Louis’ Lunch, was established in 1928 by Louis Pennisi. The building sat at the corner of SE Fifth Ave and SE Second Street.
His unique Burgers were inspired by his mother’s meatball recipe, which became a staple of the area, along with the milk shakes and fries. Louis sold the business to his son in 1952, where Freddie continued the tradition until his father’s death at age 104.
During a burglary attempt, Freddie was killed in 1993 and in 1995 Tom Pennisi reopened the business.
Louis’ Lunch, eventually closed because of the recession and the road construction in the area in November, 2010. The painting is now an icon in the History of Gainesville, Florida
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″Black Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ White Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ Wrapped Edge………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ Black Edge ………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ White Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ Wrapped Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 original painting on stretched canvas not available.
While exhibiting at an Arts Festival, at the Shrimp Festival, in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I was approached by a young couple that was interested in several paintings to be commissioned. He had seen my work before and brought a photo with him. At this point I did not know that the several paintings would be four of the same picture.
I was handed a black and white photo of the Pinto Motel. It looked like it had been vacant for many years. You know, it was the kind of photograph with the rippled edges, from before I was born. It seems, that their ancestors owned a motel somewhere in the southwest. The owner had passed away many years ago. It was one of the 4 grandchildren that wanted me to paint four paintings, in color, so he could keep one and give the other three as presents to his three siblings. All four of the paintings were 9″ x 12″. I bet it was a treasured gift, since the motel was probably gone by then.
During my years of painting and selling, I had many requests for prints. The subjects ranged from outhouses to Fancy Theatres. As I collected my subjects and painted them, I started painting them in sets of four. One of those sets included Gas Pumps. They included Texaco, Shell, Gulf, American, Sinclair and Marathon. As you can see, my sets of four grew as more requests came in.
One of those pumps I found, was in central Indiana, north of Indianapolis. Many farmers had their own pumps for the farm equipment. This one was behind the farm-house, out by the barn. The old pump up gas pump, with the glass top was still in pretty-good condition, however you can tell they no longer use it, since the rubber filler hose was missing. It was called a “Gravity Pump”. You pumped the gas into the glass top, for the amount you wanted and then when you were ready, you opened the valve and the gravity forced the gas through the hose into the equipment. Several of my paintings included gravity pumps.
The Marathon pump was conveniently located, right by the entrance to the fields. With Winter at hand, there was not much activity.
Copyright Larry Johnston
Gas Pumps are pretty popular! Here are the ones I have painted so far…
During my years of painting and selling, I had many requests for prints. The subjects ranged from outhouses to Fancy Theatres. As I collected my subjects and painted them, I started painting them in sets of four. One of those sets included Gas Pumps. They included Texaco, Shell, Gulf, American, Sinclair and Marathon. As you can see, my sets of four grew as more requests came in.
One of those pumps I found, was in central Indiana, north of Indianapolis. Many farmers had their own pumps for the farm equipment. This one was behind the farm house, out by the barn. The old pump up gas pump, with the glass top was still in pretty good condition, however you can tell they no longer use it, since the rubber filler hose was missing. It was called a “Gravity Pump”. You pumped the gas into the glass top, for the amount you wanted and then when you were ready, you opened the valve and the gravity forced the gas through the hose into the equipment. Several of my paintings included gravity pumps.
The Marathon pump was conveniently located, right by the entrance to the fields. With Winter at hand, there was not much activity.
While looking for nostalgic places to paint, I was asked at a show if I had any theatres. South Bend, where I grew up, had several, so I took pictures of the buildings, which were still standing, I started researching the History of the theatres and was able to reconstruct them to the year of their beginning.
I started with the Palace Theatre in South Bend and eventually painted theatres in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit and New Jersey. I also painted several Drive-in Theatres.
The Los Angeles Theatre, located at 615 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles opened in 1931. The inside was decorated with murals, mirrors and carved plaster and was made primarily for showing films. The theatre is equipped for live stage performances, as well as for showing movies.
No Prints Available at this time. If you are interested in a print of the original painting above, let me know, I am always looking for new good quality vendors!
Copyright Larry Johnston
Copyright Larry Johnston
Copyright Larry Johnston
Copyright Larry Johnston
Links to other covered bridge paintings I have done can be found here:
Plymouth, Indiana is the home of the famous Blueberry Festival, where thousands of people converge on the little town in northern Indiana. The Rees theatre has seen its share of ups and downs. After a long rest, the Rees Theatre is getting new breath, with the remodeling that has been taking place. It seems like the whole town is getting involved in its restoration.
While the theatre was in limbo, years ago, I painted this as a token to the town. While traveling from one show to another for years, I chose interesting places that the townsfolk could identify with when they viewed the paintings. The Rees Theatre was one of those iconic places.
While living in north Georgia in the 1980’s, one of my favorite Art shows that I attended, was in South Georgia on River Street in Savannah. The show was along the edge of the River, opposite all the shops and restaurants. The street was still cobblestone as it was decades ago. The buildings used to be warehouses, convenient for the shipping trade.
The painting is of one of the typical buildings made from stone and rock, at the north end of the street. The wrought iron stairs added to the historic ambiance. The rail tracks still run along the middle of the street, giving the area a nostalgic look of the early trade and transportation in Savannah. It was one of several paintings that represented my experiences in Savannah, GA.
We saw many boats and ships that docked next to us during the years we attended. One year, a Navy destroyer stopped for the weekend. Another was a tall ship, that looked like it was a pirate ship of the past.
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″Black Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ White Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ Wrapped Edge………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ Black Edge ………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ White Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ Wrapped Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 original painting on stretched canvas not available.
At one time is my painting career, I taught a small painting class in Cartersville, Georgia. Some of the students wanted to paint pictures to go with their decor. One of the paintings, that would be suitable for a kitchen was a painting, I called “Roses and the Old”, showing an old coal bucket, a milk can and an broken down fence sitting in a field, with some roses just starting to bloom. This painting was a lot of fun, without my usual detail. The idea came from an old junk shop located in Pine Mountain, Georgia.
While looking for some antique items for subject material for paintings, we stopped at a broken down old farm house along the road, we called the junk shop, because there was not much in the way of valuable antiques there.. The sign painted on an old piece of wood which said, “Antiques”. The shop was located along a 2-lane road on central Georgia near the town of Pine Mountain.
There was nobody around as we walked around the outside of the building. As we were behind the home, a car drove up, and it was the owner of the property. As usual, the southern folks were as friendly and hospitable. I told him what our intentions were, that we intended not to buy anything, just shoot pictures of a few of the items he had laying around. He proceeded to give us a tour of the inside, showing us things that he thought we would be interested in.
After shooting the photos, we said our goodbye’s and we were on our way to the next art show. I painted several paintings from that junk shop. I call my set “Items”, which includes, the “Milk Can“, “The Lantern“, “Wickers End” (which is a broken down cane chair on the back porch) and of course this painting called the “Corner Shelf”. Sometimes I add another painting called “”The Broken Swing”.
Many times, I will add something extra in my paintings. “Corner Shelf” is no exception. I put a couple of my artists brushes in the jar near the back of the painting.
While looking for some antique items for subject material for paintings, we stopped at a broken down old farm house along the road, we called the junk shop, because there was not much in the way of valuable antiques there.. The sign painted on old old piece of wood said, “Antiques”. The shop was located along a 2-lane road on central Georgia near the town of Pine Mountain. There was nobody around as we walked around the outside of the building. As we were behind the home, a car drove up, and it was the owner of the property. As usual, the southern folks were as friendly and hospitable. I told him what our intentions were, that we weren’t going to buy anything, just shoot pictures of a few of the items he had laying around. He proceeded to give us a tour of the inside, showing us things that he thought we would be interested in. After shooting the photos, we said our goodbye’s and we were on our way to the next art show. I painted several paintings from that junk shop. I call my set “Items”, which includes, the “Milk Can”, “The Lantern”, “Wickers End” (which is a broken down cane chair on the back porch) and of course this painting called the “Corner Shelf”. Sometimes I add another painting called “”The Broken Swing”. Many times I will add something extra in my paintings. “Corner Shelf” is no exception. I put a couple of my artists brushes in the jar near the back of the painting.
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ ………. $204.72
16″ X 20″ original painting on stretched canvas not available.
My lighthouse paintings was one of the most asked for set of framed prints during our years of traveling around the Country exhibiting my artwork. Here are links to all of them…
