Leland Fishtown, 1973

My family has a long tradition of vacationing in or near Leland, Michigan--for instance, my Cathead Bay pics were taken only a few miles north from here.

Historically, Leland was a fishing village on Lake Michigan, and Fishtown was the village heart. While Leland's always been a tourist destination, tourism's become the town's mainstay in the past few decades. Fishing, correspondlingly, has become less important. More like unimportant, except to the few fishermen who remain, and to those tourists who come mainly to fish; there are charter boats catering to those folks.

By 1973, Fishtown was already transforming itself into a commercial tourist attraction. As I recall, there were still some real fishermen selling fresh and/or smoked fish in the place at that time. I'm not sure you can find that, now. [Rich says you can; see below.]

For the record: The look of this place was (and remains) authentic, rather than touristy, and it's well worth a visit.

Camera: Argus C3. Roger Dinda photograph, scanned from a slide.