A change from abandoned old streets of small towns. Big cities are rich in old buldings in various states of disrepair or disuse; here we have something quite interesting. A changing neighborhood, reclaiming its old beauty. One long street dedicated to one product.

What do you think they sold here?

H . . . for what? I think I know.

Beautiful old terra-cotta, which no doubt once was smeared with grime and possibly sprouted weeds; things liked to grow in the cracks of old facades like this.

That H? Hud or Hup, you might say.

Two different buildings, once yoked:

You can read the space where some iron band stretched acrosss both facades, but I can't tell what it was, how it encompassed the windows, why the brick's a different color, or any of it. Renovation seems to be underway.

This one suffered, and suffers still:

The way the wood and door and grate seem to dimish the human scale is instructive; this is how you don't redo a facade. You can't look at it without knowing that whatever happens here now is less grand than what happened here before.

Ah, a ghost - and a tell-tale window line to let us know that the building on the corner was only one story tall.

It's near the convention center, but it seems that wasn't enough. It would be a rich man's palace in Venice; here, a commercial structure for the ordinary businessmen to ply their trade. Glass blocks are better than wood, I'll give them that.

As you can tell, the street had great elegance. But what did they sell? B. B is for . . . . well, it could be anything from Babcock to Bush.

Or the name of the dealer.

Dealer in what? you might ask.

The Marmon name has been cleaned, and ready for its second century:

The Marmon Grand can be rented for your events, if you'd like; there's a website, but it's been hacked as of 01.1.16, and redirects to sex sites. You'd think they would have noticed. A 360 panorama of the interior can be found here. Gaze upon the open space, and ask yourself what they could possibly have sold there.

This citizen's taken a pounding.

It looks industrial, but is it? What if those great windows let in more light down on the merchandise? The clue to this building's purpose - and in fact the entire street's purpose - is right in front of your face. So much money was sloshing around; everyone wanted their showroom to be the finest, the most ornate, the most modern, the best emmisary for their brand.

If you don't know what they sold, you'll have to wait until next week.