Grads: Ole Store

I have long lived by colleges, and every May my mind turns to them like the old guy attending commencement in You Can't Take It With You. So, collegey May.

Here I updated Ole Felland's 1915 photo of the Ole Store, the restaurant on the edge of St. Olaf College. See it here.

Sunday mornings are still Christmastime for the Rephotographers. As I shot this, on a lovely crisp sunny autumn morning at 9:43, lots of happy people sifted in for yummy-smelling brunch, but strangely none of them ended up in the photo. I've gotten lazy about shooting early and I have to repent and return, not for the people but the cars. Populi brevis, currus longa.

Or at night. Shiny happy people. Ole Roll bread pudding.

RSS Longa is a minute a week on landscape and history, free with no login at robbcampbell.com. Thanks again to the St. Olaf College Archives for the lovely photograph, Felland 1378. Follow the instructions to pan and zoom and jump through time. When I dusted this off after months I thought I was off, from the bike rack compared to the foreground tree. But oops the tree grew. Actually it's pretty toight, except for that one weird house. For fun you can play a game of Where's Weirdo. I suspect the shakes fooled the stitching program and it's one shake off. Image: paxer.net. Robert Wellman Campbell, "Grads: Ole Store," RSS Longa, 7 May 2026, public domain via CC0 1.0.