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
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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.

Silver Dollar Bar & Grill, Cody Wyoming

The Silver Dollar Bar & Grill in  Cody Wyomign, which features a painting of Buffalo Bill Cody on its side.

Bank of America Center, Houston Texas

I hardly know what to make of this structure, which is somewhat out of place on this blog.  In taking this photograph, I actually wondered if the lower part of this very large building was a church.  It isn't, its the Bank of America Center.

Painted Bricks: A Casper Wyoming Plaza?

We reported on the concept of a Casper Downtown Plaza in this post:

Painted Bricks: A Casper Wyoming Plaza?: As reported this past week in the Tribune and in an article in the Journal , the Casper city counsel has given provisional approval to dedi...

The Casper City Council has now approved plans for the plaza, a necessary step in order for it to come about.

Casper's Iris to become a civic auditorium.

 

The Iris, a recently closed Casper downtown movie theater.

The association that's been backing a civil auditorium announced yesterday that it had purchased the Iris, a recently closed downtown movie theater for that purpose.

The association earlier took a couple of runs at trying to raise sufficient funds for a purpose built auditorium in Casper, but it was never successful.  When the Irish closed there was mention of the theater, which is not really all that old, being converted to that purpose, and now it apparently will be.

Holscher's Hub: Blog Mirror: Heritage Calling: 10 Tips for Archi...

Holscher's Hub: Blog Mirror: Heritage Calling: 10 Tips for Archi...: 10 Tips for Architectural Photography.

Times Square, New York City

Times Square, New York City

Radio City Music Hall, New York City.

Cheyenne Historic District, Cheyenne Wyoming

The Mysterious Monumental Architecture in Cheyenne Wyoming's Historic District

I go to Cheyenne a fair amount but it's only recently that I've noticed some interesting monumental architecture in the town, and some of that would seemingly require some explanation.  A couple of examples are here.

I posted this one on Some Gave All, our blog that's dedicated to heroic monuments.  It's really off topic, but at first I really didn't know where to put it.  Here's the post from that blog (which I regret having used for the post):

Frank Wenger Holliday Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming.
 

This is an unusual private memorial on a small, traffic island, park in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  I had thought it might be a war memorial, but it is instead a memorial to the thirteen year old son, Frank, of Cal and Rudolphia Holliday.  Cal Holliday was a Cheyenne businessman and mayor in the city's early days. What happened to the Holliday's young son I do not know.

This unusual memorial is just off of the downtown business district of Cheyenne in its historic district.  This post is clearly off topic for the blog its on.

What's its story?  A private memorial to a tragic loss like this is rarely done in the form of such a public monument.

And what's up with this?

A nearby huge monument to Scottish poet Robert Burns.

I know that Burns is regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Scotland, but of Cheyenne?  I can't think of  a connection between Cheyenne and Burns, other than that the dedicating individual, Mary Gilchrist, must have been a huge Burns fan.  Apparently the city had others, as they accepted the statute, which is sort of hard to imagine occurring now.  Most monumental architecture in Wyoming now has a Western theme, sometimes an oil & gas theme, or no known theme. But a Scottish literature theme would be unlikely.

Epilogue

A post on the Early History of Wyoming Facebook site lead to a reply that indicated that Frank Holliday died by way of an appendectomy.

Denver Engine House No. 5, Denver Colorado.

This is Denver Engine House No. 5, a 1922 vintage Denver fire station now used as retail space in Denver.

Coors Field, Denver Colorado

Lipton Tea Sign, Apartment Building, Denver Colorado.

A classic Lipton Tea advertisement on the side of a building that was an apartment building in Denver, at the time the sign was painted.  I don't know what the building is now.  "Demand Lipton's popular tea."

Brick Sidewalk, Casper Wyoming

A brick sidewalk in an older part of Casper Wyoming. The only such sidewalk in the city.

Lex Anteinternet: Help Support NCHS's Welsh Auditorium Project (and ...

Lex Anteinternet: Help Support NCHS's Welsh Auditorium Project (and ...: The NCHS Welsh Auditorium is a of course a classic, but it stings a bit to see how much support the old auditorium is getting while the p...

What is it? Granger Wyoming

This is a fairly substantial structure in the small town of Granger, Wyoming.

Granger is an old locality for Wyoming.  It was a Pony Express stage stop, and the stage building is still there (which unfortunately I didn't realize until after I'd driven out of town).  The town is small, and the population of about 140 has stayed constant for the entire 20th Century and into the 21st.

Whcih makes a building like this a peculiarity.  

When I took this photo, because of some of the features of the building, I thought it was an abandoned church, and I had intended to post it on our Churches of the West site.  But later I reconsidered as I'm not so sure of that.  It doesn't really have a steeple, not that all churches do.  It has some very church like features, but this could also have served some other purpose.  I'll note the other side made me, at the time, even more convinced this was a church, but as the house is now apparently used as a private residence, I didn't want to linger while photographing, particularly as a curious dog inside the building was taking note of me on the street.  I should also note, however, that on one side is a branch of the Sweetwater County Library, and on the other side is the Granger town hall.  Maybe this was a government building at one time?  Maybe it was a school?

So, what do we have here?  If you know, post the answer.

Abandoned buidlings in the historic district of Rock Springs, Wyoming: National Bank and "Fountain . . ."

A couple of old building in Rock Spring's historic district, across from the class Union Pacific depot.  The building on the left is the National Bank building, and was built in 1892.  The one on the right has much of its "ghost signs" painted out, so I'm not sure of its identity, but it's number 18 on the historic district tour.

Not all of the buildings in the historic district are in this condition, I should note.