This week’s challenge is “Doors”, guest-hosted by Sylvia. She writes, “This week we would love for you to share a few appealing or distinctive doorways you have discovered. Do you feel some have more character than others or evoke a particular feeling or mood? Hope you have fun with this challenge!” You can view her complete challenge post here.

My opening image features a hotel lobby entrance that I captured many years ago in Los Angeles. I can’t remember the name of the hotel anymore, and it was a long time ago that I converted the digital image to black-and-white. It remains one of my favorite black-and-white conversions.

As a fan of classic cars, I thought I’d share some unusual automotive doors. The sleek beauty above features gullwing doors that open up instead of out.

The 1960s-era BMW Isetta above is a 3-wheel car with two wheels in front and a single wheel at the rear. This unusual design features a door that opens wide in the front so that it’s easy for the driver and passenger to enter and saves the cost of putting a door on each side of the car.

For many years from the 1930s to probably the late 1960s, many cars with large back seats had rear doors that opened to the front of the vehicle. I gather the thought was that it made entry into the back seat more comfortable. Unlike today’s rear doors that lock automatically while driving and can be child-proofed from having kids open the back doors, it was quite possible for people to open the rear doors on these cars while the car was in motion. When that happened, the wind from the car’s slipstream would grab the door out of the person’s hand and fly open, or worse yet, the person would hang on tight to the handle and be dragged out of the moving car. Hence the name “Suicide doors.”

My last vehicle door features a pickup taxi in Mazatlan, Mexico. Larger groups of party-goers could go from place to place in the back of a pickup bed fitted with two bench seats and a safety cage to keep people from falling out. A door, actually a gate, added additional safety at the rear of the pickup.

This door, on the second floor with no landing or stairs, is an interesting story about the gold rush days in Skagway, Alaska. Many of the second stories of Alaskan saloons in those days had a “door to nowhere” that, during the night, had ladders set in place. Customers, usually of some status in the community, could visit the girls of the upstairs bordello without going through the saloon where they might be recognized.

Near the oceanfront in Seattle, Washington a new coffee shop opened on March 31, 1971. Starbucks got its start when three people started a partnership that grew to be the enterprise that it is today. I’d like to show you the doors for this challenge but during our visit to the nearby Pike’s Market, views of the doors were blocked by the long line of customers.

Cartagena, Colombia had an early history of run-ins with pirates. Forts with armed soldiers were built to protect the citizenry. One such fort is now a major attraction to visitors of the great walled city. Castillo San Felipe Fortress was built in the 17th century and defended the Spanish conquest. In addition to the fort, the city was walled to defend itself from pirates and from other countries that might have had designs on their own colonial expansion. Indeed, for a time, the French occupied this fortress. Its first construction, completed in 1657, is much smaller than the fortress as it exists today. The photo above features stairs to an underground entryway where soldiers could retreat to rearm and regroup during the heat of battle.

Feel free to click on any of the images above to view them on my Flickr site in HD resolution. Alternatively, you can see the entire album here. Thanks again to Sylvia for guest-hosting this week’s challenge. If you’d like to join in the fun on our weekly challenges but aren’t sure how to proceed, you’ll find the info here.

John Steiner