Lion of the Desert

Lion images seem to be popular these days as statuary around houses, lion heads as fountains.  Everywhere I go I seem to see lions.  This imposing statue guards the driveway of a house in the historic district of Encanto Vista.  He's tucked away around the corner, not even visible from the front of the house.  Nor does he have a partner on the opposite side of the drive.  I guess his owners just found him somewhere and adopted him and brought him home. 

Judge Charles A. Tweed House

Judge Charles A. Tweed, a resident of California who was known to be a profound thinker and a rare conversationalist, was appointed in 1870 to become the judge of the first district court in Phoenix. It’s amazing to realize that this cute little cottage located at 16th Avenue and Fillmore not far from the Arizona State Capitol was built 130 years ago. It is unknown exactly when it was constructed but most accounts state 1880 or 1881. Judge Tweed only lived in the house for two years but the name has stuck for over a century and it is one of the oldest structures in Maricopa County. Today it is owned by a nonprofit organization, Neighborhood Ministries, according to the county assessor but it indeed appears to be inhabited as a residence, complete with a swimming pool on one side. It is listed on both the National Register and the Phoenix Historical Properties Register.

The Orpheum Theater

The spectacular Orpheum Theater in downtown Phoenix, constructed between 1927 and 1929, was the most extravagant pre-Depression building in the city. The Spanish Baroque Revival theater carried a construction price tag of $750,000. Over the years it changed names to The Paramount and then later The Palace West. Through the years the ornate theater fell into disrepair and was eventually purchased in 1984 by the City of Phoenix. After 12 years and $14 million in restoration costs, the Orpheum reopened in January 1997 with a performance of “Hello Dolly!” starring Carol Channing. Today it is a multiuse performing arts center and is home to the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera.  This fabulous landmark theater is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and the City of Phoenix's historic properties register.

Dragon Vane ~ Arthur J. and Alice Smith House

This weather vane is the most spectacular thing about the Arthur J. and Alice Smith house.  The information is very sketchy, even though it's listed on the National Register.  The house does not appear to be an old home and perhaps that's because the Smith house in 1925 was located on the southwest corner of Hoover and 3rd Street with an address facing north on Hoover.  Today the house is located on the southwest corner of Hoover and 3rd Street with an address facing east on 3rd Street.  I believe it has been rebuilt and today it houses a law firm.  Although an attractive building, there's nothing spectacular about it and it is extremely difficult to photograph.  I've tried in winter, spring, summer, early morning, noon, afternoon, early evening.  The light is never just right.

Some information I've found says Arthur was born in Dundee, Scotland, and was a musician.  Other information lists him as a mining executive.  He and his wife are listed in excess of 140 documents between the years 1920 and 1943 in the county recorder's records and they were obviously wealthy citizens who owned many properties.  Arthur died in 1942 and when his estate was settled, it was noted that he left his entire estate to his wife, the estate consisting of many shares of stock in various mining companies, six parcels of land, including the family home and its contents, and a 1938 Chevrolet Club Sedan.

Smile!

Look at that tail just-a-waggin'!

Desert Storm

A big storm rolled into our valley yesterday but my neighborhood was spared the worst of it.  We did however get the benefit of a spectacular sunset with clouds of purple and aqua, probably a result of the sun reflecting upon the blowing dust in the air.  I did not manipulate the color of this photo, although I did do a little burning on the shadows in the clouds.

Dr. James C. Norton House

Dr. James C. Norton became the territorial veterinarian of Arizona in 1893, having moved here from Iowa the year before. He remained in that post until 1912 when he bought 200 acres in the country (today it’s about three miles from the Arizona capitol!) and established a dairy farm. In 1935 Dr. Norton sold his house and half his land to the City of Phoenix. The house became the offices of the City’s Parks and Recreation Department and the land was used to develop the beautiful Encanto Park and golf course adjacent to the house. Dr. Norton then developed the remaining acreage which today is represented by the Del Norte Place Historic District. Like most houses in turn-of-the-century Phoenix the house had two sleeping porches at the back. It is said that Dr. Norton, his wife, and four children loved playing croquet on the front lawn.  The house is on the City's Historic Register and Del Norte Place is a historic district recognized by both the City of Phoenix and the National Register of Historic Places.

First Attempt at Burning

This is my first try at a technique called burning.  Dave Q mentioned this process in a beautiful black and white photo of a rose where he enhanced the shadows to make the picture more dramatic.  I decided to try it on some storm clouds that I shot while on my vacation.  I hope it's not too obvious that I "doctored" the picture.

Adams (Grace Court) School

I figure it's time to get back to my historical buildings in and around Phoenix.

Adams School, designed in the neoclassical revival style, opened in 1911 near the present day grounds of the Arizona state capitol complex. Its name was changed somewhere along the way to Grace Court in honor of one of the school’s teachers. The school closed in 1977 and it was set for the wrecking ball in the 1990s but was sold to a developer who completed refurbishment in 2007. The developer received grant money through the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office and of all the improvements, over $200,000 was spent in replacing the windows and frames while maintaining the style of the original 1911 windows. The property is still looking for a tenant. I think it would make a great opera house or theater of some sort. Grace Court is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and also on the City’s historic register.

Did I just eat a bug?

Buttercup is the cute little dog of one of my mom's neighbors.  She lives amidst the chickens, llamas, and goats you've seen on this blog.

Peppers

Tempting Sign

Doesn't this sign just make you want to stick a key in the lock and turn it to the left just to see what ill fate you might encounter?

Wooden Bridge

I took this picture last month while I was in Texas.  Just beyond this old wooden bridge is where my Aunt Lillian and Uncle Huey used to live.  They have both been dead many, many years but their barn and some of their farm buildings are still there.  I remember as a child going over rickety wooden bridges like this, but this one was surprisingly sturdy.  About 20 feet below is a meandering creek.  And I am positive there are lots of critters that live in it and around it for this is bayou country.

In Flight

Check out Rebecca's Midweek Blues

Zinnias ~ SOOC

There is just nothing so cute ....

... as a snaggle-toothed boy!  Em has lost so many teeth in the past month he practically has to drink his meals!

Victorian Home ~ Timpson, Texas

This is the crumbling Victorian home that goes with the iron horse head featured here a few days ago (the post is dated July 20).  Most of the gates are marked with the letter W and my mother believes this home originally belonged to the Whiteside family, a notable early family in East Texas.  The property was later purchased by the Wheelers so the initials on the ornamental gates didn't even need to be changed.  In the lower left can be seen what is believed to be a Civil War cannon.  It looks much smaller than one would imagine.  We think of war munitions as being pieces of large machinery but that was not necessarily so in the mid-1800s.  I can see a Southern belle coming out the door on the second floor and standing on the veranda overlooking the vast countryside.  This is the large property that is currently for sale for $45,000.  I'm sure it will be torn down because the renovation would surely be in excess of $1 million.  Another historic property lost to progress. 

A note about Timpson:  Timpson is a sleepy little town in Shelby County, located in Deep East Texas (some other day I'll try to explain the difference between East Texas and Deep East Texas).  It hasn't changed much since the early 1900s when it garnered its five minutes of fame in the folk song of  "Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo and Blair," recorded many years later by country music star Tex Ritter, the father of the late John Ritter.  Back in the 1950s my dad bought his Ford automobiles from a dealer in Timpson, which is no longer there.  Today it has one traffic light on Highway 59, the north/south route through town, a yellow caution light on the major east/west road through town,  a Whataburger, a pretty decent Mexican food restaurant, a couple of dollar stores, and a whole lot of character.

Walker Hollar

Nacogdoches County, Texas

I found this sign on the road just a few hundred yards from my mom's house.  She says she had never noticed it before and had never heard of Walker Hollar.  No one by the name of Walker has ever lived near those woods.

The Real Story of the Shelby County Jail

This is the Shelby County Jail.  It sits a stone's throw across the yard from the historic Shelby County Courthouse which was featured on this blog on July 14 (click here to see the courthouse).  Now here's the story.

Back in 1953 or 1954 one Saturday night my mom, my dad and I were getting all gussied up to go for an evening at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport (for nonlocals that's pronounced SCHREE-port).  In those days the Hayride was the only competition to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.  We lived in a little house in Garrison and just as we were getting ready to walk out the door the phone rang (yes, we had phone service then.  It had a crank and our number was 16.  My Aunt Dorothy was the phone operator and she listened in on ALL the phone conversations, especially the ones that were long distance). 

Just as we were walking out the door, my Mam-aw called from over in Center to tell my dad that his younger brother (by 21 years), Robert, had been picked up by the sheriff in Shelby County and Pap-aw had gone to get him outta jail and had had an argument with the sheriff and was holding the sheriff and all his deputies hostage with a shotgun!  Please, please, please go over and take care of this, she pleaded.

So off we went to Center and I remember the ride being deadly silent.  I don't remember what Robert had supposedly done (but mind you it probably had something to do with whiskey or a woman ~ and he was only about 15), but off we went the 25 miles (via the back roads) to Center.  We parked right at the back of this photograph on the square and to this day I remember my mom and I sitting in the car wondering what in the world was going on inside that jailhouse.  After an hour or so, out came my dad with my Pap-aw and his shotgun and Robert, so obviously the negotiations were successful.  About a year later, Robert was conscripted into the Army (in those days you had a choice of going to the army or the penitentiary) even though he was still a minor and Uncle Sam managed to straighten him out.  That's what happened to good-for-nothing good-looking privileged young men in those days, those who drove brand-new Crown Victorias and had duck-tailed haircuts and wore pink and black shirts.  Most of them who practiced the old wine, women, and song routine (like Robert did) wound up in the pen but the lucky ones found themselves in the Army.

Oh, back to the Louisiana Hayride.

We went on our merry way to SCHREE-port and arrived a little late at the Hayride but a good time was had by all.  I don't remember who the stars were.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it was Tex Ritter, Hank Thompson or Hank Snow, maybe even Eddy Arnold or the Carter Family with Mother Maybelle and June.   At some point in the middle of the show a young man who wore a salmon-colored tux with tails and had a ducktail haircut just like Robert came out and sang some weird, low guttural song.  My mother thought his hip gyrations were a little disgusting but I thought he was rather cute.  His name was Elvis.

After the show at 11 p.m. the last of the hot donuts came off the conveyor belt  at Southern Maid Donuts (it just has to be the predecessor to Crispy Creme) and we stopped by and went through the drive-in window and got a dozen.  Dad ate six and Mom and I had three each.  I fell asleep on the back seat and someone (I'll bet it was Dad) carried me into my room when we got home after midnight. 

And that's my story about the Shelby County Jail and I'm sticking' to it!

P.S.  Today the old Shelby County Jail, which has been restored, is now the home of the Center, Texas, Chamber of Commerce although it still sits on the courthouse square just across the lawn from the courthouse.  I have no idea where current residents are housed.

Baaa!