In the early 1950s I was awakened by the photographs of Walker Evans and the movies of John Ford, especially Grapes of Wrath where the poor 'Okies' go to California with mattresses on their cars rather than stay in Oklahoma and starve. I faced a sort of black-and-white cinematic identity crisis myself in this respect . . . a little like trading dust for oranges. On the way to California I discovered the importance of gas stations. They are like trees because they are there.

LRB 2 September 2004 | PDF Download