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Vintage roadside

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
To me, abandoned or run-down buildings look very sad and make me think more of the years when they were beehives of activity, places where people spent their entire working lives and then some. They were all new at one time, same as old houses with sagging roofs and decaying porches. Even so, they may have all replaced something along the way themselves, only to be bypassed with something new and sometimes to be used for something else, hopefully something close to the original purpose.

I mentioned already in the thread about seaplanes how there used to be a municipal airport, technical a "field" (it wasn't paved), that is now the location of a very large county hospital. The old hospital where I was born just a few blocks away was tiny. But the hangers leftover from the old airport are still there, now serving as garages for the city. I think there were no other buildings other than the hangers at the airport. In checking out details on Bing maps, I noticed a lot of parking lots where there used to be buildings. Apparently they finally got around to doing something about the downtown parking shortage, 50 years too late.

I have also noticed that in lots of small towns that I've either lived in or passed through, old bank buildings can sometimes be spotted. Apparently branch banking is a more recent innovation in small towns. Formerly, they were all theoretically independent, especially in some states. Almost none remain in use as banks, however, the banking business having moved out to the shopping centers outside of town along with the grocery stores and the big box retailers, all the same wherever I go.

There used to be a bank in Washington, DC, across the street from the Treasury Building, that advertised itself as being "on the money," which it was on one of the older $10 bank notes, the one with the old car on 15th Street beside the Treasury Building and almost across from the Old Ebitt Grill. I think it was the old American Security & Trust. It was monumental in its grandeur and I think it's still a bank.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
One of the radio stations where I used to work was housed in a downtown building that was originally the First National Bank of Rockland, which was significant enough a bank to issue its own currency well into the 1930s. The lobby area of the station had been the lobby area of the bank, and it featured an embossed tin ceiling with large-sized images of all the then-current coins. It was installed, from the looks of the coins depicted, in the late 1910s -- a period which coincided with the absolute peak of American coin design, and the effect was breathtaking.

That ceiling is still there, although the building has been subdivided into storefronts. The coin ceiling now hangs over a prissy wine bar. (My former office is now a sushi parlor, which is even more disquieting. In my day you got raw fish at a bait shop.)
 
The former fire station, city council (and water works?) building in Mt. Grove, Missouri. Just down the street is a former gas station now used as an annex to the MFA store.

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Messages
12,009
Location
East of Los Angeles
There is a building here in Whittier called the "Harvey Apartments". Built in 1888, the original building was a livery stable, which was at some point converted to a warehouse, which was then converted to a two-story apartment complex during the Depression. Each apartment had a bathroom complete with clawfoot bathtub, some of the apartments had a small kitchen area, and every apartment had a single- or twin-size Murphy bed attached to the inside of the closet door (depending upon the size of the closet; ingenious engineering to save space). Sadly, the building was damaged beyond repair in the Whittier Narrows earthquake on October 1, 1987, and had to be torn down. It was replaced by an eyesore of a modern apartment building.

My best friend was living in the building when the earthquake occurred. After a brief post-quake inspection, the manager told each of the tenants to remove all of their property as quickly and quietly (i.e., don't drop anything heavy) as they could, because once the city inspectors got to the building it would be sealed off and they would not be allowed back in. While I was helping my friend remove his belongings, the manager came by to see how everyone was doing, and reminded us to be careful. He then took us into an adjacent apartment with a wall that had cracked wide enough for sunlight to shine through. He reached into the crack and pulled out a handful of sand. "See this? This is the mortar that used to be holding this building together." :eek:
 

Paisley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,439
Location
Indianapolis
The view from the street in front of my house:

The Catholic school.


The festival in the parking lot, complete with drinking and gambling. Two police cars just pulled up with their sirens on. Not all religious people in Indiana are holy rollers!
ETA: about 20 cops just broke up a big brawl. They tackled a runner on the neighbor's lawn. I don't know whether the brawlers were members of that or any other church.
 
Last edited:
Messages
15,259
Location
Arlington, Virginia
I always thought THE liquor store in D.C. was Pearson's. Shows you how much I know!
You would be correct! Pearson's has been a staple here since 1933, and carries some of the best selections of wine and spirits in the District. Dixie opened a year later, in 1934, and has a better road presence, due to its standalone structure, neon sign, and location (right at the end of the Key Bridge). Locals and sophistacates shop at Pearson's, and Dixie caters more to the college crowd of Georgetown University and tourists.
I shop at neither, but have visited both locations.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
The only reason I even know about it is because it's next door to the Old Europe restaurant. The parking lot is Pearson's, however.

The D.C. nightlife hasn't been the same since Matt Kane's closed. The Hawk & Dove is an interesting place but it doesn't qualify as nightlife. I never went to the Bohemian Caverns and now it's too late and I doubt I've ever go to Blues Alley. Fourteenth Street isn't what it used to be, either, for that matter but we still have the Crystal City Restaurant.
 

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