Small lobby, neat pieces

The St. Michael Hotel lobby is not a place for gathering nor, really, for just sitting to watch the passing parade, unlike, say, the Hassayampa Inn. For that, you have to move next door into the hotel's bistro. However, the few pieces of period furniture populating the small area were certainly worth a picture or two.

Neat chairs, though they wouldn't stand up under regular use by the Sson or any of the other young men that used to visit us back in Chicago. Definitely not designed for hotel usage. (I don't remember just how many chairs we lost over the years to everyday wear and tear from young guys who just have to wiggle, lean back and do all those other things that loosen joints and otherwise destroy perfectly good furniture).

On the other hand, stop to admire this ornate credenza. I think that it would hold up well to a legion of youths climbing on it, kicking it and otherwise abusing it. All except for the drawers -- those handles would go in no time at all.

Undersea Volcano: New video from undersea exploration shows how a volcano burbles up at depths of 4000+ feet. Eerie stuff.

Wall Ornamentation

My famous Niece from Memphis and my daughter-in-law are both about the same age -- mid-Boomer. And, like Boomers, they're inclined to assert themselves. For example, both have made wall installations of found objects in my house. Above, the cat masque I made for Mom's cat's pyjamas costume a few Halloweens ago. The DIL felt it belonged on the wall in the kitchen. There it has remained since.

This year, the NFM was rummaging around in the basement where my late husband kept his lab and workshop. She found this very large caliper, which she immediately fell in love with. A hammer, a nail and there it is, a feature in the book-lined hallway.

All of which reminds me that last June, I posted pictures of another set of wall ornamentation -- the faces found on the outside of the St. Michael's hotel up near the roof line. At that time, I speculated that the ornaments had a rather European peasant look and that possibly they had been ordered out of a catalog from back East. The local gossip had it that they were caricatures of local businessmen. A prominent local historian said that there was no information, really, about the "sculpts". I have since come across another version of their genesis. This, by Jim Neal, then adjunct curator of geology at the Sharlot Hall Museum: The gargoyle faces around the top of the hotel are made of the same tuff as the trim, here sculpted as "the horribles", depicting local business people of that era who dressed up in frightening Fourth of July costumes. When viewed up close, one can see that the relief on the sculptures is coarse, in contrast to much smoother figures had they been cast in masonry. This tuff, Neal says, was likely from the tuff quarry along the Skull Valley Wash near Kirkland. I found the statement in an interesting booklet about the geology of Prescott, prepared by a group of local geologists for Earth Science Week, 1999.

Faces on the Hotel Wall

This post is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. In big terms, the subject is the Hotel St. Michael. More specifically, it's the question of those faces in the decorative circles just below the roof line. They take the place of the usual gargoyles, though there are also a wolf head and a ram's head. Speculation has it that the individual who created the faces depicted prominent local men of the time -- none too flatteringly, either. Revenge, it is said. Or something like that. I've never come across any definitive statement. However, using the telephoto lens on my new camera let me come in close. Introducing the faces on the hotel wall; anyone you recognize?

The last two images do not look like caricatures of prominent businessmen, politicos or gamblers. Token gargoyles?