Explore CollectionsPhotographyAmerica is the best country in the world. In Azores we’d go to the movies and America would seem like a dream. We came here with fifty dollars in our pocket and worked twelve hours a day, six days a week to save money to buy this dry-cleaning business. America is better than we thought. We have everything we ever wanted

America is the best country in the world. In Azores we'd go to the movies and America would seem like a dream. We came here with fifty dollars in our pocket and worked twelve hours a day, six days a week to save money to buy this dry-cleaning business. America is better than we thought. We have everything we ever wanted

Bill Owens (American, born 1938)

Details

Title

America is the best country in the world. In Azores we'd go to the movies and America would seem like a dream. We came here with fifty dollars in our pocket and worked twelve hours a day, six days a week to save money to buy this dry-cleaning business. America is better than we thought. We have everything we ever wanted

Artist/Maker

Bill Owens (American, born 1938)

Date

1974, printed 2006

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Contact the museum for more information

Credit

Gift of Dr. Roger Hartl

Accession #

2022.267

Location

Currently not on view

Image Copyright

© Bill Owens

More from this Artist

Jewelry Display, Christmas Bazaar, Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Jewelry Display, Christmas Bazaar, Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Bill Owens

Part of my job as a waiter is to be a zoo-runner. We carry the huge dish of ice cream around the tables while other waiters beat a drum. Then we deliver the ice-cream zoo to the table having the party, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Part of my job as a waiter is to be a zoo-runner. We carry the huge dish of ice cream around the tables while other waiters beat a drum. Then we deliver the ice-cream zoo to the table having the party, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Bill Owens

I used to be a chef and my partner was a garbage foreman. He was making $107 a week and going crazy. Now we sell apples and oranges from the back of a pickup truck. You meet people of every race–rich and poor, doctors and dentists. Everyone loves good fruit. We’re making a living and enjoying ourselves.

I used to be a chef and my partner was a garbage foreman. He was making $107 a week and going crazy. Now we sell apples and oranges from the back of a pickup truck. You meet people of every race–rich and poor, doctors and dentists. Everyone loves good fruit. We’re making a living and enjoying ourselves.

Bill Owens

Girl Scout uniform changes, Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Girl Scout uniform changes, Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Bill Owens

Cameras, Press, Patty Hearst Trial, San Francisco, California

Cameras, Press, Patty Hearst Trial, San Francisco, California

Bill Owens

Pleasanton’s 4-H Group, Pleasanton, California

Pleasanton’s 4-H Group, Pleasanton, California

Bill Owens

I gross over $200,000 a year as the owner-manager of a donut store, but there’s a price to pay. I come to work at 2:00 A.M. to begin the daily routine of making 250 dozen donuts. I eat dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon and am in bed by 7:30. I was a Depression baby. Now kids say there has to be something better. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

I gross over $200,000 a year as the owner-manager of a donut store, but there’s a price to pay. I come to work at 2:00 A.M. to begin the daily routine of making 250 dozen donuts. I eat dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon and am in bed by 7:30. I was a Depression baby. Now kids say there has to be something better. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Bill Owens

My husband’s job allows a lot of vacation time. This allows us to go to the lake. Livermore, California

My husband’s job allows a lot of vacation time. This allows us to go to the lake. Livermore, California

Bill Owens

A plant serviceman, cleans, trims, prunes, waters and exchanges rented plants. I’m dusting a fiddle-leaf fig plant at the Trans-America building observation floor. I’m totally content with what I’m doing now.

A plant serviceman, cleans, trims, prunes, waters and exchanges rented plants. I’m dusting a fiddle-leaf fig plant at the Trans-America building observation floor. I’m totally content with what I’m doing now.

Bill Owens