More map fun from the Library of Congress’ American Memories site. I really like their panoramic maps section. Houston has two maps online, an 1891 in color and a 1912 black and white.
This map faces south so that explains why Washington Ave is below Glenwood Cemetary.
In all my time living in Vegas, I never saw the Johnston J-B Stables. When my wife saw the pictures Sin City friend Ms. Bonanza took of it (on Flickr), she said it reminded her of the Orange Show photos I took. I think she is totally right.
A couple weeks ago, I got my photo groove back on. After finishing a work-related trip downtown, I wandered the area. I visited the Art Deco city hall building and spent some time at the Houston Heritage Society Museum. After that, I drove down Montrose Ave. to get some pictures of the Masonic Temple.
Holland Lodge #1 is a beauty of a modernist building. It consists of two perpendicular intersecting rectangles; a brick, ground floor base and an upper, cantilevered, pale concrete one. The concrete one extends above the rear parking lot and houses the main hall. I’m not thrilled with the pictures, mainly due to a lack of sun and partially because I can’t capture the specific architectural aspects that I like with a single picture. While wandering around the back, I chanced upon a guy bringing a ladder into the building. Being a handyman, I guessed he didn’t have any authority in the building, and asked if there was someone there who could give me permission to take some interior photos. Moments later, out came a Brother Mason who said I could take all the pictures outside that I wanted, as they’d spent over 2 million on the streetside facade.
After asking if I was a mason (I’m not; my mom’s dad was) he proceeded to start a history lesson on Masons in America. I had my afternoon free so I was happy to be schooled on John Paul Jones, George Washington and others. When he saw I was still interested/not fleeing, he asked if I wanted to know a bit more about Texas and Masons. I said sure, he said “No pictures,” and we went inside.
The building dates from the 1950s and has a combination of clean modern lines with more decorative elements referencing the early European heritage of Freemasonry.
In one of the side rooms, there is a collection of famous Texan Masons, including but not limited to:
In the main hall, the modern, reserved design was most evident. Unlike the many Philadelphia lodge rooms (Flickr picture), this room was free of extraneous decoration; instead the wall were broad expanses of wood, with indirect lighting on the ceiling. It was a clean, modernist interpretation of a ceremonial lodge room. As I exited the room, I saw overhead two old slide projectors, and in the library there was a glass slide of a masonic image. It reminded me that many secret societies were influenced by theatrical design and some groups had members of various stage professions.
In the library, I was looking at a wall of black and white portraits. The Brother Mason said they had pictures of every master mason who had served, even the ones they kicked out. That piqued my curiosity and I asked what someone had to do to get the boot. Brother Mason paused a moment, then replied, “You know what a libertine is?” Having attended college, I said yes, and clarified, “So, it’s behavior unbecoming a mason? “Yes,” he said, and proceeded to detail and detailed the life of Jesse H. Jones, Secretary of Commerce and director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation during the years following the Great Depression. Under attack by those who would take over his position of power, my host cited Jones’ adherence to Masonic ideology as protection against accusations of corruption and embezzlement. Fellow masons in the Congress helped Jones draw attention to these attacks in public hearings and prevented his ouster from his positions of authority.
That pretty much ended my Freemasonry 101 class for the day, as I had to find something to eat. I had spent at least an hour at the lodge and I was getting hungry.
So the two lessons of the day were (in reverse order);
For detailed biographies of all the Masons mentioned, as well as anything else Texan – Texas State Historical Association – The Handbook of Texas Online
I decided on the National Museum of Funeral History, as it was a bit of a drive and I wouldn’t be in that part of the city for any other reason.
The museum closed and I drove back into town. I had spent a little time marking places of interest on my Houston road map, so I pulled that out. The Beer Can House was in Houston proper and from what I knew I could see much of it from the sidewalk. A shrine to beer, I’m glad I stopped by.
There are other places I’m eager to visit, but I think I’ll have to drag the missus to those.
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Strange things in the desert, pinball machines and naked ladies! Part 2 of our 1,700 mile trip out west.
Tuesday, July 31st
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Yuma had little to offer us besides a good, clean motel with a great sign.
It was the drive north that provided some interesting sights. Based on my research from Roadside America, I knew of several places of interest. A tiny, tiny church was seen and passed, but the abandoned McPhaul suspension bridge was looked at, appreciated, and photographed.
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It was clear to me that the narrow bridge could not withstand modern traffic needs, but I was amused to know that the rerouting of the river, a new bridge location, and bad weather had all combined to destroy the replacement bridge in ’84.
We continued north, deep into the Yuma Proving Grounds. Soon we passed the two atomic cannons, weapons that sounded good on paper until it was realized that battlefield soldiers would be handling lots of nuclear warheads. Not the most secure way of dealing with atomic weapons. (– hee! — Ed) The program was scrapped because of that and many other reasons and the cannons parked on the side of the 59. Later in the drive, there was a massive white blimp, far off in the distance, on the ground, silhouetted by the mountain. Even without much as a frame of reference, I could tell it was big.
Turns out that it was a Tethered Aerostat Radar System. Twice as big as the Goodyear blimp and significantly more expensive, it was designed in part to detect low-flying drug-running planes.
I would be hard pressed to want to go to the city of Yuma, but the proving grounds have a museum and I’m a sucker for such places. Maybe another trip will take us this way, possibly one where we stay at the Shady Dell.
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Eventually we made it to our northern destination, Quartzsite, AZ, home of the Grave of Hi Jolly and the Quartzsite Yacht Club. The grave is a memorial to a Syrian-born man who came to the US to help the army develop a camel corp. The program never met the expectations of the government, and the camels were let loose in the desert to fend for themselves. Hi Jolly died in 1902, and the pyramid-shaped memorial was placed in the cemetery in 1935 by the Arizona Highway Department.
The Quartzsite Yacht Club has a slogan, “Long Time, No Sea.” They have t-shirts with that on it that members can get. But the place was closed, so I didn’t get my membership card and t-shirt. I need a t-shirt!
We headed east to Phoenix with no stops for sightseeing interruptions and arrived, hungry, in the late afternoon. My sweetie had spent some time here in Phoenix as a kid. So, after setting into the hotel we headed to a favorite destination, The Sugar Bowl. Mostly known for its ice cream , we had a little lunch before making a night of it at the Hotel Valley Ho.
The Valley Ho is a fantastic retro-modern hotel. Recently renovated, the place looks like money well-spent. Clean lines, lots of expensive-looking furniture scattered about and loads of details that complete the look. While the room was an off-season rate, our stay there was the biggest splurge of the trip. So was the much-needed massage I got at the spa. Driving and heavy luggage had conspired to make me achy.
Wednesday, August 1st
Phoenix-Flagstaff. Stayed with friends outside Flagstaff, AZ. While talking with one of them about the myriad of strange places that are around the country, I mentioned that Roden Crater, a longtime project of James Turrell, was not too far away. Shawn noted that not only was the crater literally just over the hill from where they lived were, but that he had seen James flying his plane many a time. Turrell in addition to being an artist, was a former CIA pilot. Shawn said that there were times when he pulled over and stopped driving just to watch Turrell fly his plane as he would cut through the sky putting the plane through all manner of amazing acrobatics.
Thursday, August 2nd
After fun with the folks in Flagstaff, we headed south for a little tour of Arizona. We drove up to the historic mining town of Jerome. Crazy mountain roads twisted and turned as we got into the town. Time constraints kept us from stopping and we headed on a back way to Prescott. Prescott was the former capital of Arizona and the city looks like old money. Had a really good meal. And continued on to Vegas.
Driving to Hoover Dam I noticed a smashed-up mobile crane near the massive construction site. Work on the huge Hoover Dam overpass was put drastically behind schedule when a windstorm blew down many of the cranes. Must have been a hell of a blow to bring them down like the one I saw.
Once home, we found that the annual Las Vegas Air-Conditioning Breakdown was right on schedule at our house, so a friend hosted us for a couple of nights until it was repaired. We dined at Tinoco’s with our host, and another good meal was had.
Friday, August 3rd
Gallery hopping. Had dinner with a good friend Matt and his girlfriend. Since we care about our friends and don’t care about clubbing, spending the evening with them was a perfect Friday night.
Saturday, August 4th
More time spent with Matt and his girl. The weekend started with a trip to Luv-It Custard, which is a neighbor to the Olympic Gardens strip club and can be found underneath the shadow of the Stratosphere on Oakey St. Another must-have Vegas food destination, it lived up to our memories. Matt and his girl decided that we needed to go to the Pinball Hall of Fame.
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I continue to love the Pinball Hall of Fame in part because they rotate machines on occasion (which is great for photography’s sake) and also because, on this last visit, Tim Arnolds (owner and operator) was there tending to one of the machines, cleaning and maintaining it. Previous interviews have made it clear that this has always been a labor of love. And it shows.
Sunday, August 5th
Our friend Steve had us over for drinks and food at his sweet downtown pad. We were talking about the relocation of the burlesque Exotic World museum from Helendale, CA, to Vegas. The Vegas venue has been closed, and I mentioned my disappointment at not seeing the place. Steve had met the guy who was running it and told me that he would see what he could do.
Monday, August 6th
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Steve came through, and I got to visit the Burlesque Hall of Fame (renamed from Exotic World USA.) The operator, Luke, opened it up for me. Development meetings, fund raising, and everyday life prevent the museum– a labor of love– from keeping full-time hours. It now resides next to the Commerce St. Gallery, but since these buildings have been sold for development (like Vegas needs more condos?!) the museum will be relocating sometime in the near future. For the time being, the collection of photos, memorabilia and costumes will be on display whenever the manager has time, like First Fridays.
After all of that, we flew home late that night and arrived in Atlanta at 8:30am. And that was the end of our vacation out west.
Desert mystics, dinosaurs and Palm Springs! Part 1 of our 1,700 mile trip out west.
I had editing help from the lovely and talented San Francisco Fussygirl. So when you read something by the editor, that’s her. Thank you, Kelly, for making me sound smarter than I am!
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
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We flew into the Vegas airport and were greeted by large animals at the terminal. Got to the house about 1am (we are lucky enough to own a house in Vegas).
Thursday, July 26th
Many of our Vegas plans revolve around food. First on our list was Broadway Pizza. Atlanta had lots of good food, but good pizza was hard to find. Not here in Vegas.
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I hit the Red Rooster antiques market and bought this vintage cookbook with a retro-fantastic cover. No stereotypes here!
The evening was spent with much-missed friends. Dined at the lovely Ichiza sake and Japanese restaurant where lots of good food and drink was had for less money than one would think. It’s always like that there and the reason we always go.
Friday, July 27th
Our time in LA was spent celebrating the 10-year wedding anniversary of friends. They went all out with a 3-day extravaganza of which we attended two days. Day 1 consisted of munchies, drinks and a massive chocolate buffet.
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The dizzying array of sweets was a result of world travel and the sampling of regional sweets. The stranger-tasting confections included salt-laden chocolate and one with curry (– And coconut! — Ed.) It was an interesting experience; I’ll stick to the more traditional styles.
I love the culture that Los Angeles is home to, but damn if I don’t hate the traffic. If I were rich I would have a driver to handle the nightmare that is LA drivers. That being said, why the hell was Lindsay Lohan at the wheel at all!? If I were her I would have a chauffeur-driven nightclub so I could snort all the coke I wanted while cruising the streets in safety and unmolested by press and police. Kids these days!
Saturday, July 28th
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Day 2 was hosted at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax Street. In between marriage-themed silent movies, singer Janet Klein serenaded the guests with songs from the ’20s and ’30s.
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She was accompanied by Bob Mitchell, a 95-year-old organist who began playing for the silent movies when he was 12. He wasn’t the clearest of talkers but put him in front of a keyboard and he shined.
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We were staying with a friend outside of LA. He had oil wells behind his apartment complex. By day they looked ugly, but by night I thought them beautiful.
Sunday, July 29th
We headed out from LA with Palm Springs as our next destination. This was the beginning of The Road Trip. Much planning and internet research had provided me with many destinations that demanded viewing. Large, strange things, created by men (always men) with visions of dinosaurs or Jesus or weapons that would kill enemies on a mass scale.
These were to be our destinations.
The missus was the one who planned all our hotel accommodations, and the theme for these motels/hotels was mod-kitsch. Because we were traveling during the off-season, we benefited from low rates as a result of few people traveling in the summer heat.
It was damn hot!
Halfway into our drive, the valley started to fill with massive windmills, some at dead stop but many spinning away, providing power and amusing the oil industry. An unplanned stop at the roadside outlet mall scored many cheap clothings for the missus. More driving on the highway that cut through the fields of windmills. And there they were.
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The Cabazon Dinosaurs! Two of them just hanging out. A close look made it clear that they were nicely built, well-painted and huge. A closer look and it was clear that these were god-fearing, Jesus-worshipping, creation-believing dinosaurs. (Sigh. 
I was so disappointed to discover this, when I visited the dinos in Jan 06– Ed.)
This former kitschy roadside attraction now had a greater purpose, to explain why evolution was wrong, geology and plate tectonics needed revision and what the bible meant when it was talking about leviathan. The gift shop inside the larger (an apatosaurus– Ed.) was full of such things for purchase. The monsters had been bought by bought and repurposed, and while I don’t believe in their message, the Christian owners have been taking good care of these guys since they bought them in 2005 (so says wikipedia.)
Our late arrival at Palm Springs provided little clue of what the city was like. We arrived at the charming and kitschy Caliente Tropics Resort. The resort has the second largest pool in Palm Springs, and it was quite lovely after the drive.
Monday, July 30th
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This day was spent driving around the city with a side trip to Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley, CA. This park was one of two religiously-based attractions on the trip. Many of the white-washed statues had suffered damage in an earthquake, but I found them even more appealing because of how they now appeared.
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The preconception I had of Palm Springs did not match what I was seeing on my first time there. While there were the many lovely mid-century modern homes the city is known for, they were often surrounded by boring and bland neighborhoods, or worse, genuinely bad architecture. Before leaving we ate some very good food, courtesy of Thai Smile, would recommend it.
Left Palm Springs going southeast. Drove the desert full of homes of wealthy retirees and snowbirds. (Did you know “snowbird” is also a slang term for a cokehead?– Ed.) Continued south through poorer communities and into vast fields of date palms and towards the accidental body of water called the Salton Sea.
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A short stop near the sea had us walking the smelly-but-beautiful beach which was made up of fish bones.
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We headed out to Niland, CA for a viewing of Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain, where he hosted us and showed us around his 20+ year project.
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The mountain is three miles away from the main road, and needs to be walked around to take in the full beauty of the lifelong passion.
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The flights, delayed.
The trip, a success.
A home, found.
Day 1: In addition to rentals found through the internet, the owner of the B&B (Sara’s Bed and Breakfast) provided us with a couple of printed pages from the Houston Association of Realtor webpage. He had already recommended a great place to eat the night before. Vietnam Restaurant provided much needed health after bad airport food and at $20 for the two of us was easy on the budget. We wouldn’t have found the place with out the guidance and it was just what we needed that night.
Day 2: Much time was spent driving, and very little picture-taking. The city is deserving of more photography. Looking for places, bad time management led to low blood sugar and food issues. Found some good-bad chinese (you know greasy & and tasty plus cheap) which restored much-needed marital happiness. Found a few promising leads and driving all over Houston was good exposure to the city. Blocked roads in the medical district meant traveling 2 blocks in 50 minutes. The cause, nicked gas main by construction guys. Damn them! Dinner = Italian at Spaghetti Western. Went to art opening at Lawndale Art Center.
Day 3: The end of our search was near. Drove around the overcast city, surprising the missus with David Adicke’s studios and giant head repository.
The massive collection of giant presidential head make the warehouse’s storage lot a political Easter Island. But it wasn’t just politicians.
Monstrous Beatles! After that, more apartment searching. By 5pm a place settled upon. Low end of the spending limit may equal new laptop due to savings. iFrugel! Ate France in the morning and Belgium at night at Cafe Montrose. Muscles and fritz (or mussels and frites for those sticklers for accuracy) for the missus. No thank you sez I. The evening… spent with Harry Potter.
Day 4: Play day! Visited the Artcar Museum. Many pictures taken.
Me with a dog on a car. Also grabbed a local arts calender. Before flight, drove around city and made fun of bad mansions. Whole neighborhood full of boring, rich people with no imagination who built dull, large houses. The upside?… no gates to keep the riff raff from viewing the poor taste and making rude comments.
Lastly a postponed flight got use home hours later then expected. Tired but relieved.
Learned that this will be a good city to call home. The people we met were generous with their time and advice. Two of the landlords we didn’t choose may be good sources for job-related info. One offered to help despite being told we choose a different rental than his. The other offered an introduction to a couple of intriguing collectors. More on that once we move to the city. All in all a promising start.
Back to Atlanta from yet another lighting installation on a cruise ship.
This time was 6 nights in San Francisco. While every work night was spent on the ship, our last travel day was spent running around the city. I forgot how much I loved the city and this recap won’t do it justice. I didn’t hit all the strange places I wanted to visit (The Wave Organ on the bay & the Camera Obscura near Cliff House) but I did manage to hit the badly great Musee Mecanique on Pier 45 (location on My Google Map.) This is now a new favorite place of mine and I’ll be singing its praises! Check its link for a more thorough details on this odd museum.
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All the pix are from different flickr people because I forgot my camera. Also on the tour of San Fran’s greatest hits was walking from the pier to Coit Tour to Lombard St. to China town before I got to meet up with a friend.
While waiting for her in front of City Light’s Bookstore, I got to witness the disturbing criminal act/street theater of a cracked-out pimp messing with his equally cracked-out prostitute. They argued in the street, got into a headlock on the sidewalk and generally freaked out the people nearby. Fortunately Kelly soon picked me up and took me on the second most crooked street in the city and later that night to the St. Francis Fountain, a nice soda fountain
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Kelly was a great tour guide, took me to the airport and she promised in the future to point out spelling errors/typos on my site, which she reads on a regular basis. What else could I ask for? So, Kelly, thanks for a great end to a long week.
Before getting back to Atlanta for the New Year, we spent a few days in Phily for a work-related event. While my sweetie was working on bringing home the bacon, I had a fun play day out in the city of brotherly lurve.
First on my list of things to do was get a much needed haircut. A search on Google found me Harry’s Barber Shop. It was nearby, sounded like a solid place to get my hair’s trimmed, and unlike “Cut” which had me thinking a salon with fewer words = higher price. So, off I walked in search of my barber. 1324 Locust St. should have been easy to find, but all I saw was The Arts Condominium, a swank new condo complex being made in a sweet art deco building. There were tenants, but the foyer was still getting carpeted. I almost left when I looked down at a sidewalk level window.
I got buzzed in and walked down into the basement level warren of hallways and doors below the foyer. Harry’s was a complete time warp, and one that hadn’t aged well. In a perfect world Harry’s would have had all the vintage accouterments in perfect order. Here though, the couch was ripped up, the tile walls were cracking and the Formica counters were showing their age. But the barber chair’s were vintage and so were the barbers. The younger may have been in his 50’s and Harry looked like he was in his 70’s. He was nice, social, and a little hard of hearing. His dad started cutting hair across the street in 1922 and Harry had been in his location since 1974, when the building was the Hotel Sylvania. I got just the cut I thought I would get, a straight razor cleanup and even my eybrows trimmed.
Next on my list, the Mason’s! How could I not, with our hotel right next to The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. I was hoping they allowed photography and they did. The tour was great, the building beautiful, and the pictures turned out nicely.
* Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania – a photoset on Flickr
After that it was a trip the Mutter Museum. The items on display include:
* The plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers
* Joseph Hyrtl’s collection of skulls
* Preserved body of the “Soap Lady”
* Collection of 2,000 objects extracted from people’s throats
* Cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland
* Tallest skeleton on display in North America
Unfortunately, no pictures allowed. The place is both intriguing and nauseating, and makes one just happy to live in time of advanced medicine.
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Other pictures taken while on the road.
Neon Poisoning 