Street at night, movie premiere--Hollywood c. 1955 - 1956

This is Robert Frank's photograph of a movie premiere in Hollywood. It's a small, black and white silver gelatin print. I imagine Frank standing on that wet street, waiting for something to happen. What does it feel like to be outside, looking in? The washed-out highlights make it hard to see, like a memory half-forgotten. The palm tree is such a cliché of LA, but here, at night, it's kind of menacing, a dark fang. There's this weird tension between the mundane and the magical, a sense of both being there and being totally alienated. Street photography is a conversation; a photographer sees something, responds, and then shows it to you hoping you will understand.