Painted Bricks: Purina Elevator, Denver Colorado

A new elevator mural:

Formerly:

Purina Elevator, Denver Colorado:

Terrible photo, but the elevator features a puppy playing with a ball.

 Hmmm. . . puppy replaced by a kitten. . . symbolic?

Sonic Rainbow, Casper Wyoming: Independent Record Store Day, 2017

This store has featured here before. This is the Sonic Rainbow record store in Casper Wyoming.  Every year it features new original window art for Independent Record Store Day.  On this occasion, its patrons were lined up early in the morning waiting for it to open for that event.

The crowd would grow larger on this rainy morning. These people were there early.

Lex Anteinternet: 1917 The Year that made Casper what it is. Or ma...

Lex Anteinternet: 1917 The Year that made Casper what it is. Or ma...: I have no before and after pictures for Casper that would cleanly show what the town looked like in January, 1916 and then later looked lik...

Alley mural, Casper Wyoming.

Alley mural in Casper, Wyoming

Owl Mural, Pinedale Wyoming

A badly framed image of a building belong, I think, to the Forest Service in Pinedale Wyoming.  Nice mural of an owl.

Lex Anteinternet: Rally for Public Lands, Casper Wyoming, November 5...

Rally for Public Lands, Casper Wyoming, November 5, 2016

 



 Rally for Public Lands:

 Join Us!

—WHEN—

Saturday, November 5th

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

—WHERE—

Izaak Walton League,

4205 Fort Caspar Road

—WHAT—

Live music, keynote speakers, food & drinks!

Houston sidewalks

Library, Port Arthur Texas

Lamar State College, Port Arthur Texas

Somewhat outside of the scope of this blog, but an impressive Southern building, this is a building at Lamar State College in Port Arthur, Texas

John Fett Building, Port Arthur Texas

Abandoned building, Port Arthur Texas

I don't know what this building was, but it must have been a good looking building in its day.

Downtown Port Arthur is undergoing a much needed renovation. It's a bit of a mess right now, but it's being worked on.

Hotel Sabine, Port Arthur Texas

These photos depict the Hotel Sabine in Port Arthur, Texas. The hotel is an abandoned ruin and has been for decades.

It's a ten story building, built in 1930.

Refinery Tanks, Harris County Texas

These are refinery tanks located quite near the San Jacinto Battleground.   The refinery has painted some tanks with scenes commemorating the battle, a couple of which are depicted here. As these were taken from a moving car, they aren't the best photographs in the world.

Jardine's, Casper Wyoming

Welsh Furniture Company Warehouse, Casper Wyoming

Lex Anteinternet: Sign of the times? Casper Petroleum Club to close...

Lex Anteinternet: Sign of the times? Casper Petroleum Club to close...: Founded in 1949 with the purpose to “aid the industrial and productive interests of the State of Wyoming" the Casper Petroleum Club, a...

First National Bank of Meeteetse, Meeteetse Wyoming.

This is obviously not a painted building, but this small brick building which now serves as a museum does provide a nice example of early 20th Century ornamental brick work.  The small bank was built in 1901.  It is typical for small town banks of this period.

Lex Anteinternet: What Are You Reading?

Over on our most active blog, Lex Anteinternet: What are you reading?:

What are you reading?

A new trailing thread, dedicated to what we're currently reading.

And. . . we hope. . . with participation from you.

What are you reading right  now? Add it down in the commentary section
__________________________________________________________________________________

June 21, 2016

Give Me Eighty Men

I'm presently reading Give Me Eighty Men by Shannon Smith. It's a history of the Fetterman Fight, and a history of the history of the Fetterman Fight. I'll review it when I'm done, but I'll note that the favorable mention of the book by the authors of The Heart of All That Is caused me to pick it up, even though I'd been inclined to previously avoid it.

So far, I'm enjoying it, and its certainly raising a lot questions in my mind about the Fetterman battle, although I'm reserving my judgment on various things so far.

Stop over and let us know what you're reading!

That thread:  What Are You Reading?

Sidewalk Compass, Denver Colorado.

Sidewalk compass located near the Brown Palace in Denver. Teh odd angle of the bottom photograph is explained by a desire not to have my shadow in it.

Barth Hotel, Denver Colorado

I don't know anything about it, other than that the Barth Hotel is located in Lower Downtown Denver.

The ? Supply Company, Denver Colordo

A snapshot, this depicts a building that has a tile sign noting that its a supply  company, but I'm not sure what sort of supply company, as a tree obscures that part of thesign.

Icehouse, Denver Colorado

This old building in Lower Downtown Denver bears a name that is somewhat confusing.  With a name suggesting cold storage, the building was in fact built as the Littleton Creamery and Beatrice Foods Cold Storage Warehouse.  Now, however, its an apartment and condominium building and it also houses a bar named the Icehouse Tavern.

View House, Denver Colrado

The sign for the View House cites it was established in 1915.  I don't otherwise know anything about it, other than that it's right across from Coors Field.

Penn Garage, Denver Colorado

The former Penn Garage in Denver Colorado.

Bar, downtown Denver

Not sure of the name, but its next to Wax Tracks in Denver Colorado.  An example of a contemporary bar mural, advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon.  This place obviously also offers pizza.

The Clyfford Still Museum, Denver Colorado

Most of the signs up here are of older painted brick signs, of course. There are exceptions, and this is one, but this is particularly an exception as I'm going to comment. 

Commentary from me isn't unusual, but usually it's on our Lex Anteinternet blog and not here.  But I cannot resist.

This is a very large sign skillfully rendering a photo of Clyfford Still into a sign. The big streaks on the end of the sign is a late example of Still's allegedly artistic work, better regarded as junk.

Still was a 20th Century artist who, starting off in the 1920s, had a public art career. Early on he actually painted figures but, starting in the 1930s, his work began to somewhat resemble that of other period modern artists and following that it was reduced to colored blotches such as we see Still, smoking a cigarette, contemplating here.  It's ironic that, in order to represent Still to the public, the museum has to use a photograph, rather than one of his crappy pointless blotched up canvasses.

On the side of the photo the following is set out:

The canvas was his ally.
The paint and trowel were
his weapons. And the
art world was his enemy.

Apparently art itself, at least in an intelligible fashion capable of conveying some meaning to 99.9999% of humanity, was also his enemy as the result of the use of his weapons was the slaying of intelligibility.  It's complete junk.

But then, a lot of "modern" art is.

Well, in that war the guerilla of public indifference is probably the victor, as the big result of stuff like this is the separation of humanity from its artists.  So, if any meaning was intended to be conveyed, it's conveyed to a pretty self contained little crowd.

Jackson's Sports Bar, Denver Colorado

Mural on the side of Jackson's Sports Bar in Denver, which is right across the street from Coors Field.  This was taken from a distance as I was waiting to get into a Rockies game at the time.

Pepsi Cola sign and The Dutch Mill sign, Champa Street Denver Colorado.

Sometimes the photos are just bad.  The nature of snapshots, I guess.

Pepsi sign and The Dutch Mill sign, Champa Street, downtown Denver.

Storage Building, Lower Downtown Denver Colorado

A building in LoDo that at one time offered space for storage.

Unidentified, Denver Colorado

A sign that's been painted over so many times, it's now pretty much unreadable in any of its variants. Downtown Denver.

Sonic Rainbow, Casper Wyoming.

 1960s themed Record Store Day poster, commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the store, Sonic Rainbow, in Casper.

Somewhat off topic, independent record store Sonic Rainboy, in Casper, features interesting window art and window paintings fairly frequently, examples of which are here for Independent Record Store Day.

Record Store Day is the third Saturday in April and commemorates independent record stores.

Buick dealership, Rock Srpings, Wyoming

This is the back of a building in Rock Springs that once housed the Buick dealership.  I'm not sure of the vintage of the dealership but nearby Bunning Park was put in during the early 1920s.

Wyoming Automotive Company and the Rock Srpings City Hall, Rock Springs Wyoming.

This photo, taken with an Iphone on my way to a deposition, is far from ideal, and was intended to be of the Rock Springs City Hall.  It's also included on our Courthouses of the West blog.  But, more or less coincidentally, the sign for Wyoming Automotive Company can be seen on the building next to the city hall.

I don't know about this particular Wyoming Automotive, and the sign is barely depicted because the trees in the photograph obscure it, but the Wyoming Automotive in Casper was an automobile parts store, and I suspect that this one was or is.

Plaza Hotel and Montgomery Wards, Rock Springs Wyoming

A lot of the photos I take on this blog are taken on the way to, or from, a work function. So it's frequently the case that I can't really frame them like I would if I had more time in which to do it.  So, to some degree, you catch these buildings the way a hurried pedestrian would.

That makes for a lot of bad photos that get posted here, but it also sometimes means you have something illustrated that you wouldn't otherwise, and here is such an example.  This shows the purpose of painting these large signs on the side of a building.

The building shown in the distance in this photo is the former Plaza Hotel and Montgomery Wards in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The hotel sign is clearly visible, the Montgomery Wards sign less so.  This hotel was an old Rock Springs hotel on a main street downtown, but like most such hotels, it's now used for other businesses.

Chicago Meat Mark Building, Rock Springs Wyoming.

This 1909 structure originally housed the Chicago Meat Market in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Odd Fellows fraternal organization has occupied the second floor of the structure since 1912.  Their symbol remains visible on the building.

First National Bank, Rock Springs Wyoming

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This is the First National Bank Building in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  This structure, no longer in use as a bank, was built in 1917.

Chesterfield sign, J's Prairie Rose Cafe, Laramie Wyoming

This is a Chesterfield cigarettes sign on what is now J's Prairie Rose Cafe in Laramie Wyoming.  This sign is only visible as the building that was next to this one has been taken down.  I have no idea how old the sign is, but up until last year it would have have been visible for decades.

Folded Products Co., A Classic Touch, Ft. Collins Colorado.

This is a nicely preserved older brick building in Ft. Collins Colorado that has housed A Classic Touch motorcycles for at least 25 years.  At one time, according to the painted sign on the top of the building, it housed the Folded Products Company, although I have no idea what that was.

Pepsi Cola sign, Country Cash & Save, Burlington Wyoming

Classic Pepsi sign on the side of a small store in Burlington Wyoming. This sign is quite a bit newer than many of those featured here, which doesn't make it new.

Sinclair sign, Cody Wyoming

The remnants of a Sinclair sign on the side of a store in Cody Wyoming.  I suspect that hte store was once a garage.

Center Street and 2nd, Casper Wyoming, at night.