Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Official alley tour

It took Saturday's Prescott Photo Walk to show me the many features of Whiskey Row Alley.

Would you believe that in my several years of wandering downtown Prescott, I've never done the back side of Whiskey Row? Certainly not because I eschew alleys; as the underwear of a city, alleys are usually full of Great Stuff that wows the picture taker in me. It turns out that this particular lane has been quite gussied up for the tourist crowds, no doubt due to the comparatively new city parking garage and the nearby mural.

Be that as it may, it is certainly photogenic, from the back brickwork and fire escapes of the Hotel St. Michael at the Gurley Street end...

...to the back entrances to the handful of saloons that remain in business on the Row, including Matt's, Moctezuma's or is it the Bird Cage?...

...and, of course, the Palace, which includes pleasant outdoor seating (for smokers, I presume).

These are some of the Old Tyme signs that decorate the Palace outdoor patio.

Galleries, too, make themselves known at the back door.

Of course, these old brick buildings date from days when air conditioning was a pipe dream at best; now many of the windows that once furnished needed fresh air are boarded or bricked up. I tend to consider this too bad; in my world, the more windows, the better.

There are two structures on the alley that are new since I moved into Prescott. One is the city parking garage...

...the other is the thoroughly augmented and very R.E.D. Old Firehouse Plaza. Don't you like the idea of formal gowns showcased on the second floor facing an alley? The plaza, which is at the Goodwin Street end of Whiskey Row Alley, has entry gates on both the street and the alley.

This big, busy power pole is the final punctuation mark putting an end to this segment of Saturday's walk.

Oh-oh! Prescott Style caught a not quite literate sign over at the high school.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

During the July 4th festivities, we parked in the city structure (it's very nice!) and walked across the alley to go to the courthouse plaza for the fine arts and crafts.

The banner of the 3 gunmen was the first thing we saw as we emerged from the garage, and I said out loud: "Oh, cool, look at that!"

And, I felt properly greeted and welcomed by Prescott. :-D

~Anon in AV.

Catalyst said...

Great photos, Granny J.

TomboCheck said...

Very nice pics GJ. It's a great alley, though if I'm honest I liked it more before the face-lift. But I'm a grimy, dirty alley kind of guy. :)

Anonymous said...

A parking garage in Prescott? My aren't we getting too big for our britches...
What's next, a highrise?
Forget the whales, Save Prescott.

Avus said...

Just shows what a walk around the alleyways can produce - great pix, Granny.
It's nice to be back - my PC crashed big time a month ago and I got sick of staring at screens setting up the new on. At present just coming out of "blog denial"

Granny J said...

anon av -- the trio is a fitting image of one aspect of our fair city. However, I fear that galleries far outweight gunmen.

cat-A -- thank you again. Hope you get that back deck done soon.

tombo -- I'm with you when it comes to alleys -- they should be gritty and unpoliced, at least by the Tidy Nazis.

arty -- it's one of three four-story buildings. How Big Time can we get?

Anonymous said...

The old cowboy dare of starting at one end of Whiskey Row and finishing a drink in every bar until you get to the other end doesn't seem very hard to accomplish nowadays.

Granny J said...

melanie -- too bad that you're so right. It's something a lot more like Gallery Row or Trinket Row these days. Too bad.

smilnsigh said...

Love alleys!

Great collection of photos!

Miss Mari-Nanci
Photos-City-Mine

Granny J said...

SnS -- alleys are the greatest, especially those which just growed, like Topsy.

 
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