It's a vacation week, so I can get away with posting dog pictures, okay?

Yes! Of course I can.

 

What, you want to take pictures? Okay. Let me frame myself better.

 

 

I'm cleaning out the storehouse of unused stuff this week, and since this is a Main Street day, here's an outtake from a Detroit page. Livernois Avenue.

What . . . what the hell?

An Egyptian Revival structure, but . . . but for what?

 

Another scene that just sums up so many of the Detroit streets:

The bones of the litte building look almost modern - one of those stripped-down structures modified over the years until it losts its crisp style. Abandoned. Sheltered by trees that keep out the bad spirits.

There was a house here once . . .

. . . but there isn't anymore.

 

There was a vogue for "funny" books that put captions on photos, and made people say things they didn't say. It was inevitable someone would do a parody of Helen Gurley Brown's book, and this was it.

Every page hurts.

 

THAT DOG WILL HAVE SEX WITH YOU IF SHE IS IN HEAT, JUST LIKE ALL DOGS WHO WILL HAVE SEX WITH YOU IF THEY ARE IN HEAT

 

 

 

One of the things I keep criticizing is the tree-lined downtown. There's not a single photo of old bustling downtowns that makes anyone say "that's certainly nice, with all the traffic and signs and people and stores, but it would be so much nicer if everythign was hidden by trees."

Doesn’t this look nice? Of course it looks nice. But.

 

 

Imagine the street without trees, and with lots of signs like the ones on the corner.

I am not opposed to trees downtown, but it's not the fix some urban planners think it is. Depends on the tree, how many, and where they are.

“Joe, I’ve just been to San Francisco. They call their brightly-hued houses ‘Painted Ladies.’ Want to try that here?”

“Sure. Say, let me show you this Miami Vice DVD box set I just got.”

 

They can’t see me they can’t see me I’ll hide here until they go -

 

 

“All right, old timer, come out with your hands up.”

crap

That’s unusual. Dull, but welcome. A Penneys, and it's open!

 

 

I suspect it’ll be closed the next time the Google car rolls around. Hold on, speaking of Google . . . yep.

Closed.


Something happened here - I can’t explain the top. It’s bereft of anything and there’s too much of it.

 

 

Yeeeee haw!

 

 

World-famous saddles.

There aren’t many saddle stories in urban areas anymore.

It’s something of a niche product.

Their website is like a clerk that comes right up to your face the second you step in the store.

Looks like it was a theater for a while, doesn't it? Not built as one, but turned into one.

I don't know, maybe it's the marquee.

 

The city's historical website:

Thomas C. Taylor for whom the building is named was proprietor of the Taylor and Brock Hardware Store prominent in the early 1900's and Mayor of Pendleton from 1894 to 1895.

After some googling, confirmation: it was the United Artists Theater. Heck of a marquee.

Preferable to trees, wouldn’t you say?

 

That’s just the saddest, most woebegone building I’ve seen in years. Someone get it a Kleenex.

 

 

Cheer up, it can't be that bad! The Buckaroo Revival awning will be removed some day.

 

 

Somehow I think the HoJo nameplate wasn’t original.

 

 

The HOTEL sign makes it look ancient. That Faux-Flintstone-effect stone: used correctly, it did bring an au courant look to a storefront, but it was seldom used correctly, and dates a building horrible.

 

 

Palimpsest Ghost: you can make out something that looks like a beer ad, and also THE MINT.

 

 

In the corner of the ad, a slogan - soft but satisfying? It’s a slogan used by a bait company since 1934.

I poked around a bit more just now, wondering about that slogan - Here’s an interesting shot from a few years ago, found at Oregon Digital:

 

It’s a Rainier beer sign. Odd how the old version doesn't have THE MINT - looks older, but apparently not.

 

 

Finally: say, cabbie, where can a fella have a good time in this burg?

 

 

I ran out of motels before I ran out of year. If you're wondering whether the well went dry, and I'll have to haunt the postcard shows to make sure next year has sufficient updates - well. No. 2018's updates are all done - 108 of them. I just want to save them.

So! Reruns, if you like - the link goes to the main page.

 

 
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