OLD SWEETIE-PIE
There are 25 young guys standing around watching me draw this old sweetie-pie. 13 May 2003 —— Outside Yeni Camii, at the piers in Eminönü.
FRIENDS AT KYBELE
14 May ’03 — Hasan — Mike — at Mike’s Museum, upstairs at Kybele Hotel in Sultanahmet.
Very nice tourist at left, myself & Mike at the Museum.
Tim — Alpaslan —— in the back are Erkan and a girl. Next day I moved into the Kybele for the month and felt I was home.
MIKE’S TASSELS
May 19th ’03 — Upstairs at Kybele was Mike’s Museum, boasting possibly the largest tassel collection in the Middle East. Here are some of them.
MIKE ODALISQUE
Mike bought every bead in the Grand Bazaar 15 May ’03——
TWO OF KATE
An arch in Grand Bazaar with a woven tulip pattern painted in brilliant red, white & dark blue, surrounded by golden yellow. Done after the 1980 coup by art students. I think they must have all gone mad— Kadir — Hasan — Emre of Kybele—– Handsome Hasan now runs the Kybele Cafe. Kate was American from Rhode Island, lived in Istanbul and went dancing every night. The arch is the glorious old Tulip paint job of Grand Bazaar, now covered with restrained pale grey.
ISMAEL WITH CHERRIES
Ismael worked at Kybele until he retired, always cheery, always there when you needed something, before you knew you needed it.
OLD FIXER
“Singer… Machine is Singer!” — Hasan Ceddim fixing my bag — 2 June ’03 — 2 million Lira — Eminönü — [His autograph]—— Hasan liked his portrait. He had amazing thick, wavy white hair.
SERDAR WITH KITTENS
Serdar of Kybele — Kittens explode in the corners every spring in Sultanahmet. Serdar is 18 here. At 30, he fell in love, left Kybele, and is happily living in Canada with his family.
STILL A PORSCHE
Nizam — still a Porsche—— Some guys are dump trucks, some are bulldozers, and some are wrecks. Here is Nizam in 2003.
IN THE BACK OF THE CAB
Nizam on his 38th birthday 15 May ’03 — Doing about 110 on the Kennedy Highway toward Sultanahmet — That’s Mehmet in the front seat next to the hotshot teenaged driver.
CARPET GUYS
Yerebatan Carpet Salesmen — 14 May .03 — [Showings of] this drawing frequently requested and greeted with great hilarity by the subjects — Osman — Levent — Mehmet — Huseyin —— In stark contrast to the Kybele crowd was this bunch across the street. But Mehmet was absolutely lovely.