Welcome to Tifton. I’ll be your guide for the next two weeks.

Well, this is a hell of a place to start.

I like they way the bricked-up windows are balanced, though. Except for the new bay door blasted through the building.

Surely this is an anomaly; let’s move on, and -

Oh

One of those towns, it seems. Note the brick planter: urban renewal, downtown beautification! Those shoppers just streamed back.

I’m not criticizing the beautification effort, but it never works. What works are useful shops, low rents, interesting signage, and restored buildings.

The Google car dropped by a few years later.

So, yeah.

This is part of the same building. Different color.

Two garage doors. So . . . something automotive. Doesn’t look like a showroom.

Much better. Like a nice glass of warm water.

The side of the building is a big f-u, though.

Annnnd we all know what this. Or was.

The friendly city!

It looks old, which it is, but it still looks modern to me. The square windows, that absurd triangle jutting out of the front, the brick planter on the side.

Wonder what it was. An office, perhaps. A bank?

Ah: I should look ahead. Yes, a bank.

Imagine a small town where all these windows are filled with useful, attractive goods.

The display windows might be coincident with construction; looks as if it could be a product of the 20s.

HOLY Jeezum Crow, I love this.

That’s not a rehab of an old classical palace. Cinematreasures:

Opened in February 1937 with “Pennies From Heaven”, the Tift Theatre originally had seating for 1,400 and was designed in Art Moderne style, complete with a multicolored tile facade and neon-lit vertical sign and marquee. The interior of the Tift Theatre had an unusual theme to its decor, the circus. The theatre lasted exactly half a century before it went dark.

Doesn’t look too circusy. Now a performing arts house.

Why am I unstrung by sights like this? It’s just a style. But it’s the stuff of dreams.

More next week. Much more.