Collections – RDZ Photography

Pittsburgh – July 2018 – Bicycle Heaven

Architecture, Art, History, Transportation

Another repeat visit that was totally worth it was a second trip to Bicycle Heaven, located on the North Side of Pittsburgh.

When you collect a few thousands bicycles you also end up with nice collections of parts – the Schwin exhibit.

In addition to the massive used bike inventory – they have some new ones that have unique designs.

There are some nice miniatures along the counter.

Small bike backed up by large banana seats.

There are some true vintage bikes scattered about the collection.

As you walk through you see huge piles of bike parts – need a tire?

Perhaps a chain guard?

This is known as the Groovy Cranky Panky Sprocket Room.

There are a few non bikes features.

A great old peddle airplane.

Bikes high and low.

An 1890 bike mixed in.

Oreo bicycles – must be double stuffed Oreos.

Bicycle Heaven is always worth a visit, or two.

Cincinnati – June 2018 – Lucky Cat Museum

Art, History

Having been working on the Roadside America list for 4 years now we thought we had exhausted the list of those in Ohio, but we had at least one more classic one to see – the Lucky Cat Museum in Cincinnati.

Owned by Micha Robertson, she makes the trip over from nearby Northern Kentucky in her stylish little ride.

Located in an old factory/warehouse that is now artist studios, her Lucky Cat Museum is packed with over 1000 items.

From floor to ceiling…

They seemed to be staring at me 🙂

Micha was enthusiastic about us being there, and was happy to tell us about her collection.

While we explored the extensive collection

The expressions were great.

In a variety of finishes.

You can bet on the Lucky Cat Museum – totally worth a visit.

Cleveland – September 2017 – Chess Collection

Architecture, Art, History

A visit to Cleveland with some extra time lead us to go into the Cleveland Public Library’s Main Building on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland. The sign in front advertised a Superman exhibit (detailed in another post), but on the 4th floor in the Special Collections area was an amazing collection of books and periodicals on chess, as well as a great chess board/pieces collection. This collection is the largest in the world!

John G White was born in 1845, living until 1928. As an attorney and an avid reader he donated 60,000 books to the Cleveland library upon his death. Included in those were thousands on chess. To compliment these the library has a great collection of chess boards and pieces on display.

Grove City, OH – July 2017 – Flashlight Museum

Architecture, Art, History

As I research various unique places to see I sometimes come up with one that doesn’t really appear to exist. One such place is the ‘Flashlight Museum’ in Grove City, a Columbus suburb. There is a website for it (http://www.flashlightmuseum.com/), as well as a contact page, but no actual address, so I entered some information in a contact page of the website and a couple of weeks later received an email.

After a phone call I realized the museum itself is actual one person’s (Steve Giterman) personal collection. Steve was more than happy to have us stop by for a visit to see his collection.

In his home he had ‘thousands’ of flashlights, virtually all in working condition.

In addition he had a great collection of peripherals and advertising.

Who knew that flashlights came in so many different looks.

They were loosely grouped together by age and style.

All were in excellent condition, including the advertising.

Steve had many unique flashlight accessories, including these stamps.

Of particular interest are the ‘novelty’ flashlights.

The older, standard flashlights have a great streamlined look to them.

More novelty flashlights.

In addition Steve does flashlight repairs. If you have a classic old flashlight that doesn’t work, contact Steve at sgiterman@columbus.rr.com, he will be more than happy to help you, and welcome you to see his fantastic collection.