A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
With the cultural history and climate of Tucson, there is a plethora of adobe buildings throughout the city. Their style and grace is the quintessential southwestern look.
Some are modest, some extravagant, all are very cool.
The combination of the neutral colors of the adobe walls with the bright trim and desert landscaping provides vivid photos.
While Palm Canyon is a natural oasis, with a constant water source, the city of Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley is not. Billed as a Golf Capital of the World, the Palm Springs tourist bureau touts over 100 golf courses in an area that receives about 5 inches of rain a year!
In addition most of the homes have grass in their lawns. As a result it is a very lush place during a time of long term drought.
Palm Springs has for decades been a winter escape for the wealthy, with many building the signature mid century modern homes back in the 1940s and 1950s. Most of those homes have been remodeled and sell for very high prices today.
Fortunately many of the remodels have taken the xeriscape approach and removed the grass in the landscaping.
Argentina has a tradition where everyone decorates for Christmas on the same day. We happened to choose that day to go to San Isidro to look around. The result was a very quiet city, but one with some nice architecture.
We took the Tren De La Costa (Train of the Coast) up. While billed as a tourist train, it seemed like any other train, only smaller.
A walk through a mostly empty park to the riverside gave us a view of a few vintage cars.
The highlight of San Isidro is the cathedral.
The area around the cathedral has some interesting buildings.
Eventually we gave up and went to another quiet train station for the ride home. Ciao San Isidro.
A beautiful Saturday afternoon was the perfect time to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Only in this case we chose to go to the ‘Detroit Shoreway’ neighborhood in Cleveland for our walk.
Why – because this neighborhood, and many others in Cleveland, were participating in ‘GardenWalk Cleveland 2019’. We were fortunate enough to meet one of the founders of Cleveland’s, who said they go the idea from Buffalo, New York’s.
The Detroit Shoreway neighborhood is named so from Detroit Avenue, which is the original road from Cleveland to Detroit, and it is located along Lake Erie. Most of the homes in the neighborhood are over 100 years old, with many being exquisitely restored.
For the Garden Walk there were over 80 gardens to see, each with their own unique interpretation! Each had a sign indicating they were participating in the walk, and to guide us to which part of the yard was open (front, side, back)
The town of Terlingua, Texas is billed as a ghost town, which is amusing because there are all sorts of random structures serving as homes, as well as numerous artist studios, and apparently the Chili Cook Off Capital of the World!
As with Boquillas, this was a mining town where the mines closed long ago, leaving numerous structures to fall into disrepair.
No clue why there is a stake through a cactus.
Newer buildings are scattered throughout the ruins.
The Terlingua Cemetery is quite interesting as well. Next time you find yourself in the area stop by for some interesting sights, people, and some chili.
Langtry, Texas is a town in west Texas, but just barely. In the early 1900s it was a busy place as they built the railroad nearby. Today it is a post office and the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center (detailed on another posting).
Most of the buildings in the area have been abandoned.
Those that remain have a sense of humor, as evidenced by a sign pointing toward the Rio Grande that says ‘Mexico’ this way.
The town does have a beautiful view of the Rio Grande Valley, and the cliffs and caverns across in Mexico.
And with that we took the lonely road west.
As a historic city San Antonio had a decent amount of older homes and buildings in the center of the city.
The King William Historic District is just south of downtown. It has a great collection of restaurants and shops, but the highlights are the beautiful old houses.
As we reached downtown we passed by a couple great old buildings.
A classic clock, which we appear to have caught at high noon.
Nix Hospital s housed in a very fine example of an Art Deco building.
There are still a couple vintage theaters in town.
The Post Office and Court House is located across the plaza from the Alamo.
The Tower Life Building was completed in 1927. This eight sided classic Art Deco skyscraper also housed San Antonio’s first Sears store when first opened.
The Drury Hotel occupies the former Alamo National Bank building. Located along the famed Riverwalk the 24 floor building has many impressive details in the lobby.
We chose instead to stay at the Gunter Hotel, another great old hotel.
The Gunter Hotel is famous for being the location that blues legend Robert Johnson recorded most of the 29 songs he ever recorded. The bar celebrates the fact that he recorded in room 414, by calling themselves the Bar 414.
Despite the fact that Robert was from Mississippi, he was brought to San Antonio by a talent scout for Vocalion Record, Ernie Oertle. A producer from the label, Don Law, set up a recording studio in room 414 and 413 of the Gunter Hotel.
The drawing below is from an album cover of Robert’s music that was re-released in the 1960s depicting this recording session.
This is the room today, with the small white chair in the corner where Robert was sitting, facing the wall for the acoustics. How do I know this? This was our room for the night!!!
When we arrived every cushion was turned on end, every drawer was open. I immediately assumed it was Robert welcoming us! We spent the night hanging out listening to Robert’s music, either his original or the hundreds of covers from the Stones, Clapton and others.
The St Charles Street Streetcar line is the oldest continuously used street railway route in the world. Streetcars first started rolling down this way almost 200 years ago, in 1833.
The current cars were built by a company called Perley Thomas in the 1920s.
As the route leaves downtown it passes through the Garden District neighborhood, with a number of small shops and cafes.
Some of the homes have been converted into B & Bs.
Further out you pass educational facilities such as Tulane and Loyola.
The Audubon Zoo is along this route as well.
The homes of the Garden District are a highlight. Many are quite large, and all are beautifully maintained.
As you make your way past Riverbend and onto Carrollton Avenue the homes become somewhat smaller, but still nicely maintained.
It takes about an hour and a half to ride the entire distance out and back on the St Charles Streetcar, but it is well worth the time, and the very low fares.
RDZ Photography 