Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Same as it Ever Was

I had a series of technical difficulties last night, that, for once, had nothing to do with Blogger. So, in the interest of keeping my yap shut and not using my words quite as much as I have in the last few posts, I'm doing the before and after photo thing.

Here is the tornado infected house I was sure would be torn down.


Now, here it is again after a little work. It's amazing what new siding, windows and some snow can do for a place.


This is St, Patrick's church when it was just starting to get razed, with all it's tubes and wires exposed.

Now, here it is after it was all torn down except this one last wall...

...And some abandoned, mangled metal scraps.


I'm also throwing in one last photo of the Deadwood for Booda Baby. I almost went inside so I could take a picture of the interior, but I thought that any pasty, drunken, red-eyed soul who would be hanging out in that dark cavern during the day on a Sunday, was probably there when she still lived here and Booda Baby wouldn't want to be reminded of them.

13 comments:

fringes said...

Wow. That house looks completely restored. It's beautiful.

The Same As It Ever Was...is that Tupac? Please remind me.

Churlita said...

It's from a Talking Heads song.

They're still working on that one house, so I'll probably take pic when it's all completed.

booda baby said...

Ha!! (Thanks thanks thanks again!!) What does that say about the Deadwood (yah, yah. Okay. what does it say about me) that, even without a photo, I had instant and THOROUGH recall of every nookcranny andpinballmachine. Sort of tragic, that there was no pool table. But it DID have excellent shitty coffee. A great joint for doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. A great joint all around.

If someone were to invent the Deadwood NOW, they'd furnish it with thrift store, sagging coiled sofas and chairs and they'd miss how great those booths are for friendly talks during the day.

Unknown said...

Not to be a contrarian but the Deadwood on a Sunday is one of the most tolerable times to be there.

matt said...

The Deadwood was great for chill outs. Nice and dark and everyone was cool. I used to sneak my first serious girlfriend(I still think about here A LOT after 20 years, still *kicks self in the ass*) into the Deadwood just to hang out and meet people. She was 18 and I was 21 so I wasn't cradle robbing.

I went there a few years ago. It was one of those "You can't go home again" experiences.

Still lots of fuzzy, slightly off-kilter memories of those booths. Good craziness.

Churlita said...

Booda Baby,

this should make you bouth happy and sad, but now there are pool tables at the Deadwood. There's also a couch or two, I think, but it's still mostly booths - even the big Mafia booth in the back corner.

Dexter,

I agree to an extent. I went there last winter one day around 4'ish on a Sunday and it was really nice and mellow. I just feel bad when it's super cool and snowy outside and people are rotting away in a stinky bar. Does that make sense?

Matt,

I bet I saw you there and didn't even know it. I basically lived there for a while when I was in college. I was one of those scary punk rock kids playing pinball.

Brando said...

I can't believe that house was restored either. It looked ready to fall down at any moment after the tornado.

I also don't think there's a flash powerful enough to illuminate the inside of the Deadwood.

rel said...

Churlita,
Nice to see that you can post pics again. That haous really is looking good. Most anything can be fixed, sometimes the price is ok too. What are they going to do about the church?
rel

matt said...

Churlita,

I baked at Brueggers Bagels on Iowa Ave. from '85 - '90. I'm pretty sure I remember you. I know I saw you 'back then'. I still see lots of old customers around town when I'm back. We used to call getting past the Deadwood pinballers 'running the gauntlet'. That backdoor is where I used to get my girlfriend in.

traca de broon said...

Ah, the Deadwood on a Sunday evening: playing Scrabble and leafing through the free Entertainment Weekly magazines while availing of "whiskey Sunday" and watching The Simpsons. Then we'd get take-out from Masala, perhaps trying to feel clean again. I miss that. But it did always depress me to see people in there when it was nice outside.

Churlita said...

Brando,

I was thinking that too. I would just be taking a photo of dark. I've taken that photo many times at many different places.

Rel,

I've been posting pics right when I get home from work and coming back and writing my post later in the evening. Blogger seems to have calmed down in general in the last day as well.

Matt,

That "running the gauntlet" thing makes me laugh. I used to get in that back way myself before my sister made me a fake ID.

Traca,

Thanks for commenting. Your Sundays sound wonderful. I miss having that kind of time on the weekends. Masala sounds really good right now too.

Killer said...

I love that first picture. That tree is friggin huge. When it is not snowing does it have leaves?

Churlita said...

Killer,

You know, I'm not sure. This was the first summer after the tornado and a lot of our trees died. I didn't pay attention if that one was as well.