5 p.m., Hollywood Boulevard Possibly 1989 - 1994

Jim Goldberg captured this photograph, "5 p.m., Hollywood Boulevard." Look at these young men sharing a smoke under the California sun. Smoking, for centuries, has been a potent symbol, not merely of leisure, but also of contemplation and defiance. The act of sharing a smoke invokes ancient rituals of camaraderie and shared experience, much like the communal consumption of wine in Dionysian rites. Consider the cigarette as a modern echo of the symbolic pipe, a vessel through which individuals commune, sealing pacts and sharing unspoken narratives. Here, the gesture becomes particularly poignant; it mirrors the sharing of knowledge or even a symbolic passing of the torch. In earlier times, the pipe or chalice was passed between individuals, signifying unity and collective consciousness. The cigarette, in this context, becomes an emblem of shared humanity. These repeated gestures reflect the cyclical nature of human experience. They remind us that each generation rediscovers, reinterprets, and reinvents the symbols of those that came before.