Ugly Industrial Remains: the Olympia Brewery (Oly 15)

Olympia Brewing Company was a major industrial employer in Olympia for over 100 years. Leopold Schmidt founded the company in 1896 at the base of the Deschutes River, at the southern end of the West Bay inlet (now upriver from Capital Lake). The company survived Prohibition my making juice. After Prohibition ended, the company expanded to a more modern factory further upriver in the town of Tumwater. 

BreweryGems offers a summery of the company's early years. 

For over half a century, Olympia Beer was a popular regional brand. It was not exactly a gourmet product, but it sold well in the pre-micro-brew era. 

Trouble came in the 1980s. Various corporate buyouts and mergers ruined the company, and in 2003, SABMiller closed the Tumwater facility permanently. A fire damaged part of the complex in 2018. Today, these ugly warehouses and buildings sit unused and partly vandalized.

Original Olympia brewhouse with the Deschutes River in the foreground (Hasselblad 80mm lens)

The former brewery occupies two locations. The old brick buildings from the original site are just north of Tumwater Falls facing the Deschutes River (see the first photograph). The site has access via only one road, whose the gate has ominous warning signs about video surveillance and trespassing. The only view now is from the Tumwater Historical Park across the river.

The second site is south of the falls on the flat floodplain of the Deschutes River. As you approach Olympia from southern Washington on Interstate 5, ugly tan block-like industrial buildings mar the view. These are the remains of the Tumwater part of the complex. The best view is from Capital Boulevard SE, which was formerly Rte 99. The bridge crosses over railroad tracks and walkways that once connected the buildings. The following photographs are from the bridge.

Warehouses with Deschutes River in foreground (Fuji Acros film, 21mm ƒ/4.5 Biogon lens)

Railroad tracks approached from the south to a long warehouse complex. It is unused now. 

Former power plant (21mm Biogon lens)

(Kodak T400CN film, Leica IIIC camera, 5 cm ƒ/2 Summiter lens)

August 20, 2024, Kodak Panatomic-X, Hasselblad 501CM, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, yellow filter  

Panatomic-X film, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, YG filter

This mess of concrete, tracks, and sheds is the scene looking south from the Capital Blvd. bridge. Cross the busy roadway and look north, and you see office building and other parts of the former brewery. 

Semi-modern 1960s architecture. Capital Blvd. is to the right.

The Tumwater site is secure and locked. A security guard in a silver car drove around the day I took these photographs. You can see his car in the photo above. We waved at each other. 

Rail line that leads to the lower brew buildings and on to Olympia

One day, I would like to take some ground level photos of the site. An employee of the city of Tumwater sent me a contact, but I have not called yet. This kind of industrial setting interests me and offers photographic opportunities with graphic patterns and shapes.

Most of the photographs above are on Fuji Acros film from my Leica M2. The light was harsh, and the negatives are too contrasty. I need to remember to avoid the harsh mid-summer. My new Zeiss 21mm ƒ/4.5 Biogon lens (for Leica M mount) provides superb resolution. With a lens this wide, you need to be careful to avoid converging vertical lines. I need more practice.

   

Revisiting the Wards, Houston, Texas (TX 10)

Introduction

The Wards are former political subdivisions of Houston, Texas. They no longer officially exist but still represent approximate regions of the city. Their inhabitants associate with their home ward. 

Houston Wards in 1920 (from Wikipedia, in the public domain)

This 1920 map shows the Wards at that time. Note that Hermann Park is in the bottom center of the map, in the countryside then. A hospital was already at the south side of Hermann Park. Just south of this today is the huge Texas Medical Center, with world-famous hospitals including the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

The little rectangle at the lower left is West University Place. The community, first developed in 1917,  never became incorporated into the City of Houston. Today, West U is a fashionable and upper-crust community to call home. 

Fourth Ward

Shotgun house, 1410 Robin Street (Ilford Delta 100 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

Historic wood houses, 1320 Robin Street (Ilford Delta 100 film)

Much of the Fourth Ward that I remember from the early 1980s has been totally transformed with modern townhouses and condominiums. A small cluster of wood houses on Robin Street is (or was) being preserved.

These buildings are in the Heritage Freedman's Town. This was the oldest African-American part of Houston and pre-dates 1865. A local resident told us that the City was trying to preserve a small cluster of the worker shotgun cottages. She said the local residents were upset because a contractor had been chosen without local input and there had been little or no progress in a long time.

The Houston Freedman's Town Conservancy is trying to preserve the heritage and the brick streets.

Fifth Ward

Locomotive approaching Lyons Avenue (Panatomic-X film, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar lens)

The Fifth Ward was formerly a working class neighborhood, where many of the men worked at the Port of Houston and at associated industries. Several rail lines cross through the Ward (see my previous article on Tower 26), and I saw warehouses, workshops, and other commercial activity.

Brewster Street, view north (Panatomic-X film, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Brewster Street cottages (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Bleker Street (250mm Sonnar lens)

Waco Street (250mm Sonnar lens)

As I wrote in my earlier article, some of the Fifth Ward is really rough. Some blocks of row houses look reasonably well-maintained, but others are horrifying. I did not feel too comfortable exploring on my own and did not take too many photographs. It reminded me of west Jackson, Mississippi.

Third Ward

Restored row houses, Holman Street (Ilford Delta 100, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

The Project Row Houses is an art program at 2521 Holman Street. Art exhibits are in some of the houses, while residents occupy others. According to the Row Houses web page:

Project Row Houses is a community platform that enriches lives through art with an emphasis on cultural identity and its impact on the urban landscape. We engage neighbors, artists, and enterprises in collective creative action to help materialize sustainable opportunities in marginalized communities.

Project Row Houses occupies a significant footprint in Houston’s Historic Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African-American neighborhoods. The site encompasses five city blocks and houses 39 structures that serve as a home base to a variety of community-enriching initiatives, art programs, and neighborhood development activities.

PRH programs touch the lives of under-resourced neighbors, young single mothers with the ambition of a better life for themselves and their children, small enterprises with the drive to take their businesses to the next level, and artists interested in using their talents to understand and enrich the lives of others.

Although PRH’s African-American roots are planted deeply in Third Ward, the work of PRH extends far beyond the borders of a neighborhood in transition. The PRH model for art and social engagement applies not only to Houston, but also to diverse communities around the world.

Former local store, Holman Street at Emancipation (Fuji Acros film)

Fixer-upper house, Bastrop Street at Francis (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens)

No more ice cream, Ennis Street

Unity of Color, 3611½ Bennett Street

The Secret Recipe - well, not any more, 3801 MacGregor Way

The Third Ward is a mixture of light commercial and residential, partly decayed, and partly reviving. 

North of the Gulf Freeway (I-45), the area now called East Downtown has become very sophisticated with restaurants, town houses, and garden apartments. Brass Tacks is a very nice coffee bar and casual restaurant. I biked there several times on the Columbia-Tap Rail Trail.

Further south, the scene becomes a bit more earthy without as much redevelopment (yet).

This completes our short and semi-random tour around three of the Houston Wards. There is plenty more to see. Next trip. Thanks for riding along.

Downtown Houston in November 2022 (TX 08)

In November (2022), I wandered around downtown Houston. Everything is so modern, big, and overwhelming, it was hard to find the type of subject matter I like. Thanksgiving Day was gloomy but also uncrowded compared to normal. Here are a few scenes from the area near the Amtrak station and around Buffalo Bayou just north of downtown.

Amtrak

Bail bonds, a ubiquitous part of the American justice system, 1418 Washington Avenue

I found some 1981 negatives of Washington Avenue. Stand-by for a future post.

Houston's decidedly uninspiring Amtrak station (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Waiting for the train, Houston Amtrak station

Houston once had three passenger railroad stations. Only one remains, the magnificent 1911 Union Station. The main concourse of the former railroad station has been reused as a clubhouse, cafe, team store, office space, and lobby at Minute Maid Park (previously known as Enron Field until the financial scandal). They did a superb job of refurbishing the elegant entry hall. 

Today, Houston, once the railroad hub of the southern United States, has one uninspiring Amtrak station. The waiting room looks like a bus station. But, if you are energetic, you can take the sleeper all the way to Los Angeles. 

I arrived at the Amtrak station before the eastbound train was scheduled to arrive. When it rolled into the station, it was pulling two private rail cars at the end of the Amtrak cars. Then another locomotive pulled these two private cars away and shunted them to a siding, connecting them to a third private car. The elegant way to travel.

Downtown and Buffalo Bayou

Apartment blocks east of the Gulf Freeway (I-45) (250mm Sonnar lens)

Houston now has hundreds of residential units downtown. Compared to the 1980s, when I recall the downtown being mostly commercial, the city has become trendy.  

Buffalo Bayou and University of Houston Downtown (Panatomic-X film, 50mm Distagon lens, orange filter, 1/8 ƒ/11.5)

The University of Houston Downtown occupies the 1930 Merchants and Manufacturers Building. The building is over the site of Allen's Landing, where the Allen brothers landed and established the city of Houston in 1836. The bridge in the distance is the Main Street viaduct.

“Main Street viaduct, Houston, Texas, 1910,” Houston Waterways, accessed April 5, 2023, https://digitalprojects.rice.edu/wrc/waterways/items/show/1310.

Under the Main Street viaduct (80mm Planar-CB lens, 3-sec. ƒ/4.0½)

This 1910 concrete arch bridge carries the tram as well as cars over Buffalo Bayou. Despite the no camping signs, a group of homeless were camped there. They shared space with Muscovy ducks, who waddled around without concern. 

Waiting for the tram, view south towards downtown Houston (50mm Distagon lens)

Victorian House on Hamilton Street - being moved? (80mm Planar-CB lens, 1/15 ƒ/4.0½)

Third Ward

The MacGregor Tire Shop - but I'll pass (80mm, yellow filter, 1/30 ƒ/8)

Fourth Ward

No shopping today, 1122 West Grey (Fuji Acros film, Leica M2, 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens, 1/250 ƒ/5.6)

There are still bits and pieces of an older Houston on West Grey, but most of it has been redeveloped with modern condominiums. I have negatives from this area from the early 1980s when it was more "earthy." Another project to scan....

Corrugated metal warehouse, 1515 Spring Street (Panatomic-X film, 80mm Planar-CB lens)

This interesting warehouse and the store above are remnants of older structures in the Fourth Ward. Not many are left. I will write more about the wards in a future article.

Texas Medical Center

Room with a view: Greenbriar Drive and the Houston METRORail (250mm Sonnar lens)

The area south of the Texas Medical Center is commercial and rather uninspiring. But hundreds of apartments and temporary residential units cater to medical patients. Huge parking lots serve thousands medical staff. But it is a food desert if you can't stomach fast food. Fortunately, Rice Village and its amazing restaurants are only two miles away. 

The METRORail tram can take you to the Medical Center, Hermann Park, the Museum District, with its 19 museums, or all the way downtown. METRORail is free if you are over 70.

Port of Houston

The Port of Houston is an immense economic engine for Texas and the USA. It is the second largest port in Dollar terms in the USA, after Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach. Annually, some 22,000 deep-draft ships come in and use the 50-mile Houston Ship Canal and the Port's complex of wharfs, terminals, and refineries. The Houston Ship Canal needs regular (almost constant) dredging from its opening at the Gulf of Mexico mouth at Galveston, across Galveston Bay, and up the Buffalo Bayou. My 1981 car (still in use) came in through Houston. 

Take the free tour of the Port of Houston. Cruise right by these immense freighters. 

This ends out somewhat random wandering around Houston in November and early December. Thank you all for riding along! Click any photograph to see it enlarged. Most of these photographs are from my Hasselblad 501CM medium format camera.

The Road South through Ranch Country, Texas (TX 06)

Heading south from Corpus Christi, two main roads lead through the lonely countryside to the Rio Grande Valley. You can drive US 281 south from Alice or US 77 from the western outskirts of Corpus Christi. We drove south on 281 and returned north via 77. They lead you through seemingly empty terrain with few towns and, from what I could see, not many cows. This was King Ranch country. What happened to the cows?

No gas here, Omega Mart, FM665, Petronila, Texas (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens)

Farm on FM665 east of Alice, Texas (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens, 1/60 ƒ/8, yellow filter)

The countryside becomes rather empty east and south of Corpus Christi, but there are gas plants, pipelines, and some pumping machines. 

The Spot, 281 Business, Alice, Texas. No coffee at this spot (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter)

Heading south out of Alice on 281, you drive and drive. One of the towns along the way is Falfurrias. No coffee shop there, either.

Christmas store, St. Mary's Street, Falfurrias, Texas (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter, 1/250 ƒ/5.6)

Duplex, St. Mary's Street, Falfurrias (Jupiter-8, yellow-green filter, 1/250 ƒ/5.6)

Felfurrias had some creative and very colorful artwork on some of the buildings. Here are a couple of examples from my Samsung phone.

Falfurrias Chamber of Commerce

Falfurrias Chamber of Commerce

I took the black and white frames on Fuji Acros film with my 1962 Jupiter-8 50mm ƒ/2 lens. It is a Soviet adaptation of the pre-war German Zeiss 50mm Sonnar lens. Mine is fully coated, and Brian Sweeney adjusted it to work correctly on Leica cameras. Leica lenses were based on a slightly different focal length standard than Soviet lenses, so most Soviet lenses need minor adjustment to focus properly on Leica thread-mount bodies. I like the results from this lens. Camera people write about the special magic of Sonnar lenses. For my type of documentation, I am not sure if I see any unique magic. But regardless, stopped down to ƒ/5.6 or so, it is high resolution and renders very well.

The Soviet Sonnar-type lenses were once incredibly cheap, but they have become coveted for their optical properties, and they are no longer cheap. Early 1950s examples use original Zeiss glass that was brought from Germany to the Soviet Union as war reparations. 

Next article: the Rio Grande Valley

Railroad Crossing at Tower 26, Houston, Texas (TX 02)

Houston from Tower 26,West Street, 5th ward (250mm ƒ/5.6 Hasselblad Sonnar lens, yellow-green filter)

Three railroad lines cross at a junction in northeast Houston called Tower 26. There is no tower there any more, but the name has lingered. It appears to be a popular spot for railroad photographers because it has public access via West Street. Serious freight trains thunder by on regular intervals. 

I had been looking for an interesting place to photograph railroads and drove to Tower 26 on December 17 of last year (2022). A fellow came up to me rather excited and asked if I was there to see the classic xxx rail cars. I was not quite sure what he was describing, but in a few minutes, the Polar Express trundled by, complete with restored passenger cars containing kids wearing their pajamas and at least one Santa Claus. OK, I had not expected that. What timing. 

Modified Polar Express rail car with picture window (80mm Planar-CB lens, no filter)

Polar Express en route back to Galveston

View east from Tower 26 junction (80mm Planar-CB lens)

Rail line junction, view east to downtown Houston (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Tower 26 is northeast of the downtown in the district formerly known as the Fifth Ward. Some of it is pretty rough. I saw some abandoned cottages near the tracks of the type that remind me of west Jackson (Mississippi).

1510 West Street (med. yellow filter)

Facing the tracks, no address

Ready to move in, 2404 Brooks Street

Update March 26, 2023: These little cottages have recently been demolished. The land is bare and freshly scraped. Tractors and trucks were parked near the site. 

Standby for more photographs in the Fifth Ward. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Panatomic-X film with my Hasselblad 501CM medium format camera. Praus Productions in Rochester developed the film. I scanned it on a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner using the Tri-X 400 6×6 profile. The Silverfast software does not have a Panatomic-X profile, but the Tri-X showed the right tonality.

My Hasselblad 501CM with 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens and correct hood

Update April 15, 2023: I returned to Tower 26 on March 26. I met a gent (an MD from MD Anderson Hospital) taking photographs. When I told him I had taken some frames of the Polar Express, he said he was on that ride with his young son. He sent me a clip from the video he took during the ride. It can be a small world among photographers.

Dorky photographer with his Hasselblad at Tower 26