Friday, February 27, 2009

the abandoned Googieesque gas stations of East St. Louis

From TAGGSOESL

oh, I know you've been waiting for this one...if you're one of the few people I mentioned this to over drinks, if I ever even did that, maybe I just imagined it. but I've been wanting to post it for a while. really just a photoblog entry, since the history of gas stations is something I haven't learned yet. I certainly could on Flickr, but I'm trying to learn more about trains and transit (and as always, architecture), so I haven't put much effort into learning the history of gas stations, chain restaurants, motels, department, discount, and grocery stores, etc. I imagine when I post more of these on Flickr I'll get some help.

From TAGGSOESL

photos of this first place were taken mid-June 2008:

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

flowers that go rather well with the fallen sign:

From TAGGSOESL

yes, another large symmetrical shot looking out! the rest are from my trip on September 9. 2008:

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

okay, this one isn't Googieesque, I just thought it had interesting signage, and it was across from the previous station:

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

From TAGGSOESL

both these trips were on absolutely gorgeous warm sunny days, when I took the Metrolink from St. Louis by myself and wandered around downtown East St. Louis for the afternoon, including into several abandoned buildings. the followup will be the terrazzos of downtown East St. Louis (and I should post the abandoned buildings eventually!).

(okay, that was three new posts in three days, but I'm not locking myself into a daily format here--hopefully several posts a week, though)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

start the year off right

and write about it when I get around to it...fortunately I've never boxed myself into the idea of posting in any kind of timely/linear fashion. so, New Year's Day, 2009. I did nothing on NY Eve itself...I'd had a good idea for celebrating in an abandoned building (which is what I did with Flickr friends the previous year, but I had a different place in mind)...but it was barely 20 degrees and I stayed in, hence the screenshot. my biggest excitement was probably immediately uploading a new photo to Flickr at midnight...wow that's sad.

From 1/1/09

well, at least I had New Year's Day plans to drive around with Sam, aka akagoldfish on Flickr. (we'd first met to shoot the CTA Holiday Train in December.) we met at the Oak Park Metra; I'd gotten there via a couple bus rides. I tried to get self-portraits of myself waiting for the bus and on the bus but it's quite challenging to do that without being noticed...while waiting I observed this vacant building in downtown Oak Park:

From 1/1/09

we headed out for a few hours driving around western and northwestern suburbs, looking for rail-related photo opportunities.

From 1/1/09

and anything else interesting...I don't know if I'd ever seen this before:

From 1/1/09

From 1/1/09

From 1/1/09

we agreed on the absolute bleakness of this. I made a brief trip here weeks later to get a good shot of the Hooters billboard overlooking this railyard, too:

From 1/1/09

I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to stand above where Metra trains pass to watch them, but I've done it on Roosevelt Road and elsewhere since this:

From 1/1/09

a few random sightings, including a Walgreens corporate something-or-other:

From 1/1/09

From 1/1/09

From 1/1/09

that was around the Bellwood Metra station, and now Berkeley--I'd had an unfortunate delay at this station on a cold Sunday night, but now I got to see the plastic flowers in all their glory by daylight:

From 1/1/09

I love places like this and meant to go back and reshoot it, but I posted this shot on Flickr this week and it was very popular...maybe I got it right the first time:

From 1/1/09

we were a little obsessed with this one, in an industrial district I'd never seen before...it turned out to not be a thrift store, but some kind of thrift outlet for a candy? nut? company:

From 1/1/09

and now some other wanderings...

From 1/1/09

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I don't know that they "originated safety first," but this old Chicago & North Western car was great to see, especially with that building behind it:

From 1/1/09

tank cars, train graffiti...I've been paying a lot more attention to these since I took this photo:

From 1/1/09

it's pretty much a law that I have to get a shot of myself next to any sort of "reject" or "discard" sign I see in an industrial setting, but it didn't really turn out and I don't post photos of myself here anyway:

From 1/1/09

we were going to visit a snack shop in Oak Park I'd never eaten at before, but they were closing early on the holiday, so we ended up in a bar/grill in Forest Park instead. and then in Oak Park...I've always found solar houses interesting, and Sam showed me this striking one, unfortunately just as it was getting too dark for my photos to turn out:

From 1/1/09

if this post has lacked color, then here's the BLUEST SKY EVER, after I was dropped off back in Oak Park, before meeting my visiting parents in the Loop:

From 1/1/09

these photos have been sitting in my Picasa albums for weeks but I kept delaying this post for reasons including but not limited to the fact that what I was going to write about it substantially changed; gone is the whole bit about how I had fun but I'm not going to be one of those people who's all obsessed with trains. and then somehow I spent January getting obsessed with trains. not because of this excursion, though that did help it along a little. but that's a story for another day...

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I guess it's betterlatethannever around here

this was taken at my first visit to the Hideout in Chicago post-election. my friend Mike and I were there for the reappearance of beloved local literary event the Dollar Store. I needed a shot of this and Mike made the excellent point to make sure the Old Style sign was visible...two Chicago favorites. (this became one of my most popular photos on Flickr; I hope a few "random Europeans"--the people who show up commenting on some of my photos that make it into Explore--will check out the Hideout if they're in Chicago!)

From Obama

and then Inauguration Day. I'd wanted to be there taking photos even though I knew it'd be intense...but I just didn't put much effort (looking at listings for D.C. and Baltimore hostels the days after Election Day, then doing nothing) on how to get there or if anyone I knew from Chicago was going. and then I didn't go to any celebrations in Chicago, not in the Loop, not in Hyde Park. I just watched it and tried to get a few shots of the moments...and it went so fast.

From Obama

so I didn't have to deal with this.

From Obama

I tried to set up some shots with the Obama (wait, wait, how long till all the spellcheck programs I use ACTUALLY RECOGNIZE "OBAMA"? this is getting old) family paper dolls (really!) but that didn't work. I didn't go to any parties but I watched this WGN report from one and I can honestly say I've never seen any of the local Chicago anchors in a dress like this one. well, it was a day to dress up, I suppose. if I'd done more than go out to get coffee and books about trains at the downtown library, I might have.

From Obama

and then later (this was 1/31), on one of those crazy Metra-riding weekends I should be writing about, after getting back to Millennium Station, I walked past Macy's/Field's on State and saw these windows. glad I got this, it was gone next time.

From Obama

sorry I didn't have more to report on the historic day of history, or closer to it, but I figured it was well covered elsewhere. oh, and if you've followed my Flickr you've noticed I've switched almost exclusively to lowercase photo titles, usually lowercase captions, sometimes lowercase comments. yet I've never been into the all-lowercase thing, though there are others I think can get away with it. I don't know, hope it's not grating, it's what I'm used to now. actually I think it's a trick to fool myself into acting like my blog is like my Flickr, and is as easy and rewarding...whatever it takes to get me back here...soon I'll be getting back into reading your blogs, and adding some long-overdue ones to the blogroll...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

do come back


come again
Originally uploaded by mod as hell
It's not just that my Flickr account has been infinitely more active and better than my blog, it's that my *secondary* Flickr account (which a lot of people have finally noticed and added recently--thanks!) is infinitely more active and better than my blog. For instance, here's the back cover of "A Trip Through the Chicago Sun-Times," a 24-page booklet giving you a tour of the now-demolished Sun-Times Building and a look at newspaper production circa the late 1950s. Perhaps I should put pages of it on here and discuss it, but instead I'll just point you to the set (click on this photo and you'll find it; it's in order).

I've had a lack of motivation keeping me from adding to the blogroll, reading anyone else's blog, registering or re-registering to leave comments on others' blogs, etc. I've been overwhelmed with so many ideas of things I should write and hampered by an ill-fated idea to restart a "52 Weeks" self-portrait project on Flickr with each photo linking to a blog post...of course, I wasn't writing the blog posts and wasn't sure which photos and stories to choose, and...eh, never mind. Also, if you've followed the K of C Flickr page, you've noticed a new hobby/obsession developing...and that WILL be the next post here.