I usually save my best photo in a series for last. Not here, though.  This is the best.  I am putting it first for two reasons. First, to change this up.  Second, because I don’t have a large amount of pirate pictures.  Maybe you will overlook that fact if I lead with this great pirate face?

Pirates fascinate us.  Their brutality and lawlessness notwithstanding, we tame them for our popular cultural purposes.

Gilbert and Sullivan gave us lovable pirates from Penzance.  I saw Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline perform it in Central Park in the summer of 1980 while at the Democratic Convention. Hooray for me!

The 1955 Broadway production of Peter Pan gave us Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook. I stayed up to watch Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard’s Peter Pan on television in 1955 and 1956.  Hooray for me!   What a pirate he was!

In 1957, Disneyland gave us Pirates of the Caribbean.  Walt designed the ride but died three months before it opened.

And in 1958 Captain Hook’s pirate ship.

And then there is the Jack Sparrow enterprise, the various Pirates of the Carribean.

Something there is about pirates and their Jolly Roger flag that appeals to us.  In his prime, Melvin Belli hoisted a Jolly Roger flag over his Montgomery Street office after a favorable verdict.  Belli is gone, but the flags aren’t.  Here are a few from Berkeley homes:

When I took these photos to show my friend, he was contemplating some photos that Gabby had sent him.  They were of the original Taco Bell stand in Downey, California, and other first generation fast food restaurants.  There was a lot to talk about on this subject, but first I wanted his take on the pirates photos.