1 of the nice things about our travels is that we often seek out and find the quaint, old down towns. Just about every area has them. Some are better kept than others. A few places, such as Tombstone, AZ and Deadwood, SD have capitalized on their history and turned it into a tourist mecca.
When 1 of the historic neighborhoods takes a turn for the worse, I try to imagine that place in it's heyday. Because it took a good deal of cash to be able to afford many of those homes when they were new. The less affluent could only dream of owning 1 of those places.
It would take me all day to remember the list of cities that have such neighborhoods. But I always ask the same question, what was going on in the town that allowed people to make money to build those places. Recently we drove down a street in the historic area of Joplin, MO of all places. Sure enough they have a few city blocks with stately homes that at 1 time were the envy of everyone else. Most of those buildings have fallen on hard times. A few were kept up nicely and some were in the process of being renovated, hopefully to their former level of opulence.
Growing up in northern NJ, we had a vibrant downtown shopping and business district. It was so popular that cars would double park as the driver ran into a store to pick up something quickly. They did this because all the curbside parking was all taken. Those illegally parked cars would cause you to drive in the far left lane to avoid the busses and double parkers. Now that area has taken a turn for the worse. They tore down a lot of the old businesses. Many put out of work by the popular malls that sprung up on the outskirts.
Many of those businesses had the old neon signs. The liquor store had a huge bottle and wine glass sign. The lights on the bottle would go out slowly, giving the impression that the bottle was emptying. I passed that sign on the way home from wrestling practice when I was in junior high school. Today the liquor store is still there. The sign is gone but the metal brackets that held up the sign as still visible on the store's exterior.
So why do some areas preserve their historic buildings while others tear them down in the name of progress?
Back home they are now just getting around to figuring out what to do with 1 of the historic homes that over the years looked like it might have a date with the wrecking ball. I wish private industry would handle these things because city governments have proven to be ineffective and fiscally irresponsible for these kind of tasks.
Here's a photo of the place.
No telling how much taxpayer's money is going to go into this place. Maybe the should get Tom Hanks to be the general contractor for this renovation.
When 1 of the historic neighborhoods takes a turn for the worse, I try to imagine that place in it's heyday. Because it took a good deal of cash to be able to afford many of those homes when they were new. The less affluent could only dream of owning 1 of those places.
It would take me all day to remember the list of cities that have such neighborhoods. But I always ask the same question, what was going on in the town that allowed people to make money to build those places. Recently we drove down a street in the historic area of Joplin, MO of all places. Sure enough they have a few city blocks with stately homes that at 1 time were the envy of everyone else. Most of those buildings have fallen on hard times. A few were kept up nicely and some were in the process of being renovated, hopefully to their former level of opulence.
Growing up in northern NJ, we had a vibrant downtown shopping and business district. It was so popular that cars would double park as the driver ran into a store to pick up something quickly. They did this because all the curbside parking was all taken. Those illegally parked cars would cause you to drive in the far left lane to avoid the busses and double parkers. Now that area has taken a turn for the worse. They tore down a lot of the old businesses. Many put out of work by the popular malls that sprung up on the outskirts.
Many of those businesses had the old neon signs. The liquor store had a huge bottle and wine glass sign. The lights on the bottle would go out slowly, giving the impression that the bottle was emptying. I passed that sign on the way home from wrestling practice when I was in junior high school. Today the liquor store is still there. The sign is gone but the metal brackets that held up the sign as still visible on the store's exterior.
So why do some areas preserve their historic buildings while others tear them down in the name of progress?
Back home they are now just getting around to figuring out what to do with 1 of the historic homes that over the years looked like it might have a date with the wrecking ball. I wish private industry would handle these things because city governments have proven to be ineffective and fiscally irresponsible for these kind of tasks.
Here's a photo of the place.
No telling how much taxpayer's money is going to go into this place. Maybe the should get Tom Hanks to be the general contractor for this renovation.
