It is inevitable that nothing lasts forever. Even the symbol of the country, the White House, was once burnt to the ground (and then rebuilt in an identical form). Most cities go through cycles of building, redundancy, and perhaps rebirth. And I am from a city that has mostly fallen into decay, and I love to explore these outliers that resist the forces of change.
This particular chain was once part of every downtown (and downtown was the place to shop). The company started in 1879 as a five and ten cent store (precursor to today’s dollar stores). I loved to shop (mostly just looking, I had no money) at these when I was small. But, this sort of business became obsolete years ago and now it sits vacant, with the ghost lettering to show that it was once part of an urban center.
These fine brick storefronts are no longer pillars of commerce. The building at the end claims to feature “Vegas Showgirls”, however this is a dubious claim at best.
This ornate door handle hints that this building was once the pride of it’s owners, however, it also shows the negligence of time. It probably had some sort of gilt finish that has since weathered away.
The building also has these lovely cast iron details that have survived paint. rust and time. Again, someone spent some money to make this building special. And it was originally conceived as a local grocery in 1879, and is still a family owned deli, marooned by time and circumstances.
Inside is slowly edging toward rack and ruin, which is paradoxically part of it’s charm. Why do I love this state of being? Because I grew up in such an atmosphere, where things were old and slightly shabby. It is part of the conundrum of gentrification (which has taken place where I live), if everything was fixed up and modernized, this business could not afford to exist. The interior would feature reproductions of the period details and it would be a clone of whatever the current trend is. But I think I have had my fill of nostalgia here, and instead I look forward to the new in the future. Perhaps this place shall hold on until modernization or it may be steamrollered into oblivion. Perhaps the future will include a reproduction of the original, spiffed up for the nostalgia of future generations, hungry for an imagined past.
I like old buildings. I haven’t always liked them, but I do now. I regret not visiting my elementary school which I think was built in 1909, before they replaced it with a modern building sometime in the 70s. My sister, a public school teacher, pointed out that the new building had air conditioning which was appreciated by students and staff. I don’t remember being uncomfortably hot in the old building.
I like the Ivywild School because it reminds me of the one I went to. The Lincoln School is too modern for me.
I once stayed in a school turned into a hotel in Portland, Oregon. The classrooms had been converted to bedrooms; the blackboards and cloak rooms were preserved.