I'm back on the project! Whew-hoo! It's been quite a few months, had some oral history consulting, job searching and trying to stay warm all winter in my cold house.
Today, I was down in Denver retrieving a lost sweater at Tattered Cover bookstore and I decided to mosey down to Lawrence and 19th Streets to investigate a view. I had the 1978 print, but haven't yet located the 1937 image, either in print or xerox format. This view (037) shows either the front or the back of Sunset Park--now owned by Volunteers of America--and Okner's Firestone shop. Okner's goes back to the 30's. It took quite awhile to find the right building, and it looks like Okner's is either a parking lot now or obliterated by a modern, large building. Meanwhile I'm hunting feverishly for the '37 image.
I am also editing my list of photographs. Since I took many of the pictures a year apart (separated by my gig on the railroad), I know that I duplicated some and may have missed a few others. In addition, I was given a bunch of small prints by the photograph librarian at CHS (who I succeeded in 1980), and apparently I didn't rephotograph those in '80. Ah well--so who knows what the streets looked like in 1978-80? The important thing is that I got the bulk of the project done.
My plan is to get everything organized in terms of paperwork and finish the photography this summer. I hope that Sam can join me again on a shoot. We'll do a few streets and then have lunch and a beer at the Wynkoop. (Wyan-koop, not Win-koop, folks.) I've developed a new love for downtown Denver--Denver in general--after commuting down to DU for awhile. Boulder's a great town but Denver's alive. I imagine some of it is nostalgia for the late 70's, but it's still a very different place.
I try to imagine the urban historians of 2100 and wonder what they will make of this project; hopefully it will exist. Climate change looms, of course...
That's a sad note to end on...I try to keep up optimism.
After this project who knows where I will go with photography?
Showing posts with label denver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label denver. Show all posts
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Memories of Larimer Square--and other places
The other day I was thinking about how important the businesses in Larimer Square were to me in the mid- to late seventies. I mostly frequented the Flick, an "art" movie house; Josephina's Pizza/Italian Food; and the Magic Pan (crepes). Other than LS, the streets were really quiet and pretty scary at night.
Saw at least two great films at the Flick by Jacques Tati and Vittorio da Sica at the Flick ("Playtime" and "A Brief Vacation"). It was a place a young woman could go alone, even take a bus there from Capital Hill.
There was little to hang your hat on elsewhere in downtown Denver. For a short time period I swam and took yoga at the YWCA (torn down in the 1980's). Sometimes the Oxford had some good music (Norman and Nancy Blake, for example)--was it in the "Booze-Wazee" Room? I rarely went to Ebbets Field for music; the Folklore Center on E. 17th Ave. was of much greater interest. Couldn't afford Top of the Rockies restaurant. Occasionally shopped in May D&F bargain basement and the Denver. There was a food co-op on California Street in an old Safeway building that essentially got put out of business by the Rainbow Grocery, a production of Guru Maharaj Ji's people on East Colfax. Some of the same people who brought us Pearl St. Market in Boulder and also drove out a food co-op, and later the Alfalfa's/Wild Oats empire.
One other business stands out: Cafe Nepenthes, on Market Street. A coffeehouse/restaurant with a wholesome, welcoming atmosphere. I often went there alone. Occasionally I even stopped at the White Spot for coffee! But only after photographing in the railroad yards.
Having lived around Harvard Square earlier in the seventies, it was hard to get a handle on Denver. Cambridge had everything: coffee, food, books, photography stores, movies, evening classes, music--all within a few square blocks. Walkable. Lots of people on the street, particularly women. Don't forget the muffins...
Saw at least two great films at the Flick by Jacques Tati and Vittorio da Sica at the Flick ("Playtime" and "A Brief Vacation"). It was a place a young woman could go alone, even take a bus there from Capital Hill.
There was little to hang your hat on elsewhere in downtown Denver. For a short time period I swam and took yoga at the YWCA (torn down in the 1980's). Sometimes the Oxford had some good music (Norman and Nancy Blake, for example)--was it in the "Booze-Wazee" Room? I rarely went to Ebbets Field for music; the Folklore Center on E. 17th Ave. was of much greater interest. Couldn't afford Top of the Rockies restaurant. Occasionally shopped in May D&F bargain basement and the Denver. There was a food co-op on California Street in an old Safeway building that essentially got put out of business by the Rainbow Grocery, a production of Guru Maharaj Ji's people on East Colfax. Some of the same people who brought us Pearl St. Market in Boulder and also drove out a food co-op, and later the Alfalfa's/Wild Oats empire.
One other business stands out: Cafe Nepenthes, on Market Street. A coffeehouse/restaurant with a wholesome, welcoming atmosphere. I often went there alone. Occasionally I even stopped at the White Spot for coffee! But only after photographing in the railroad yards.
Having lived around Harvard Square earlier in the seventies, it was hard to get a handle on Denver. Cambridge had everything: coffee, food, books, photography stores, movies, evening classes, music--all within a few square blocks. Walkable. Lots of people on the street, particularly women. Don't forget the muffins...
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