Santa looked a lot like daddy…
In the early 1960s, Santa Claus is wearing a gray coat. The world is black and white. In a small square-shaped photograph, the camera lens has captured the large man in the middle, who has […]
Avainsana: 80’s
On the Buses!
The superior mode of transportation in the 60s and 70s was the bicycle. With a bicycle, you could quickly and reliably get anywhere. Tapiola, the garden city, was not a maze-like stone city like Helsinki; […]
The Wizard of the Silver Ball
”Ever since I was a young boyI’ve played the silver ball.” In the 1960s, many a child was enthralled for good when a Fortuna game emerged from the large package plucked from beneath the Christmas […]
The Age of Aquarius
Räkälä, as the church’s youth club was called, had burnt to the ground and Heikintori’s disco didn’t even have a B-license. Teenagers on the verge of adulthood could smoke cigarettes publicly – if they dared. […]
Thieves Like Us
Theft is a regrettable occurrence. Both stealing and being stolen from – most of us have experiences of both. Usually, it’s over some trivial thing, not a bank heist or a train robbery. One can […]
I Can Smell a Horse!
In Buster Keaton’s final movie, ”A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” there is a scene where the young hero, an utter fool, who is in love with an aging courtesan, must […]
A Pool in the Middle of the Village
In the beginning, Aarne Ervi created the Central Pool. Tapiola was formless and empty. Dirt and sand covered everything, but the spirit of the Garden City was hovering over the area. The 49-meter-high Central Tower, […]
Kinosaur
You need to take 223 steps to get from our apartment door to Kino Tapiola’s ticket counter: I once calculated that distance. Rush down the stairs to the front door, walk 10 metres straight, then […]
Birdwatchers, Eggsnatchers
Hassan, as you can easily guess by his name, was of Turkish origin. He, his father, his stepmother, his stepbrother as well as his aunt, all moved to the neighboring 5B building a couple of […]