What a difference one city block can make. Alive with activity every day, Gurley Street is the heart of the city. Walk one block to Goodwin and you're in a quieter world. So it was as I strolled toward the Square. When the drug store is closed of a Sunday, the little shopping center tends to be dead. But not this particular week -- behold the tents and buzz that signify Event. Enough so that I'll do a separate post one of these days.
The big news on Goodwin is that the Fremont Plaza is getting a major make-over. I'll be curious to see what sort of butterfly emerges from the cocooning I saw Sunday.
This quasi-Mediterranean-style structure holds a particular fascination for me because I watched it under construction. Wasn't particularly prepossessing at that time; I called it the Imposing Cardboard Edifice. Reason? Underneath that stucco are walls of made of particle board, a building material I simply can't believe in. Maybe I'm just old fashioned in my preference for brick, stone or plain ordinary concrete block.
In short, I have more faith in the construction of this little building that now houses El Gato Azul. For years, this small concrete block structure sat next the creek -- an obvious prime location just waiting for a restaurant with outdoor patio -- and remained a square white blockhouse with few interesting features until the Blue Cat arrived. Now I can enjoy the rooftop garden in summer.
As I was about to cross the creek, this old-timer passed me and I snapped a picture of his highly decorated walking cane. He's one of the town's fixtures.
Next -- a store at the Old Fire House Plaza dedicated to pampered pets. Even a new local dog magazine! I wonder how these enterprises will fare in the current economy.
Right next door are the new premises for Ian Russell's gallery -- and the
digital photography services that Rich will soon offer; I presume that the windows below will give visitors to the Old Firehouse Plaza a good idea of what's going on once work is finished and the curtains are down.
Look what I saw when I turned around to face the street! Remember the rickshaw? It was my luck Sunday to see it in action, operated by neither a studly young hunk as in Scottsdale nor a bent immigrant as I predicted. He seems to be enjoying his scene thus far.
Nearing the Square, I was reminded that blackout curtains in the south windows of the Galloping Goose result in the
best reflections I have found in any shops downtown. I couldn't resist taking one more picture; when I turned back toward the street, there below was the corner that's obviously a branch of the local Republican party, to judge from the signs. Note that a realtor's stake is up; so much for that touted
multi-function condo building announced with great fanfare a year or so ago.
A final Goodwin Street sight. As a one-time smoker, my sympathies are with the outcast.
Good question: why would anyone want to stand in the middle of the street, point a camera toward the vanishing point and take not one, but four different pictures of different street views? I suppose the answer is simply because it can be done. And maybe the results might be interesting. Whatever. For the record, the top picture is Goodwin Street looking west (and catching part of Thumb Butte in the process). The image below looks east past the public library; it's difficult to tell where the road ends because of the rise. Time: mid-afternoon, giving very blue skies to the east, and nearly white sunlit skies to the west. Both pictures were taken in front of the downtown post office.
Cortez, on the other hand, is a street with a definite beginning and definite end. Looking north (into a blue sky), it arrives at the old Santa Fe depot and that's it. The view south from the depot winds up in the hills only a few blocks from the Square.
Yes, I am aware that Gurley and Montezuma deserve the same treatment, but I wasn't on the right street corner at the right time and don't know when I will be any time soon. There you have it.
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