Small Towns in Texas: Denison

Introduction

Dear Readers, as I noted in the previous article, in August-September of 2019, I drove to Flagstaff, Arizona. I headed west across Louisiana and then northwest across east Texas. The town of Denison was a convenient overnight.

In this article, I will show a few frames from Denison. In future updates, I will continue west to Wichita Falls and then northwest on US 287 towards Amarillo. This will form a "Texas Panhandle" series. Once you reach Amarillo, you are back on the Mother Road, Route 66. I will add some more articles to my 2016 and 2017 series on Route 66. To see these older articles, type "Route 66" in the search box.

Denison

Denison is a mid-size town north of Dallas near the Arkansas border. It may be best known for its famous son, Ike Eisenhower, the army general and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He served honorably and with utmost respect and honor by all. And he treated his party members, party opponents, European allies, and even the Soviets with respect - contemplate and contrast with the illegitimate and traitorous coward in the White House today (2017-2021).

The morning view from the Best Western was rather inauspicious. Strip America, billboards, and parking lots. Yuck.

I drove downtown to the historic neighborhood at Morton Street. This was more interesting. There were plenty of early-20th century cottages - some restored, some derelict. A square old-time commercial building contained a plumbing supply company.

A block away, at 614 W. Sears, a Victorian mansion. And it was for sale! Just what I need, another fixer-upper. The roof was modern, so I assume the structure was sound. But it still needed a lot of work (= serious $$).

Approaching storm, Main Street, Denison, Texas (Fuji Acros 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera, Nikon yellow filter)

My destination that morning was CJ's Coffee Cafe on Main Street. The view out the front was classic small-town Main Street: square-front early 20th century commercial buildings and Jeeps with big tires. My ordinary sedan with its 16" wheels is so inadequate in comparison.

Eiffel Boutique, Main Street, Denison (Moto G5 digital file)

The Chevrolet that tempted me, Main Street Motors, Denison, Texas (50mm Distagon lens)

Main Street in Denison looks pretty good. It was clean, and many of the stores had tenants, although I could not tell if the upper floors were occupied. Main Street Motors offered some beautifully-restored classic cars. Maybe I should have bought this gorgeous Chevrolet for my trip west towards Route 66. The little Volkswagen cabriolet in the back was a beauty, too.

Most of the major brands had stores here at one time, such as Kress, Sears, and Woolworth's. The Kress premises now house Revolution Coffee Company.

Art Deco seating, balcony, Realto Theater, Main Street, Denison (Moto G5 digital file)

The Realto Theater was hosting a Ghost Investigation and Psychic Fair. Incense wafted through the air. People came and went in odd costumes. The Rialto was one of many cinemas and vaudeville theaters that once lined Main Street. Howard Hawk's epic drama, Red River, had its premier at the Realto.

Around the corner on Barrett, an artist was painting a mural on the side of a building. Nice work!

Denison played a small part in the twisted and arcane art world in the late-1990s. For a short while, the First National Bank stored the famous Quedlinburg Treasures in its vault. During World War II, the Lutheran Church of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg, Germany, placed manuscripts and other 800-year-old objects in a mineshaft for safekeeping. At the end of World War II, an American officer with an art background, Mr. Joe Meador, took some of the art works and mailed them to his family in Whitewright, Texas. He died in 1980, and family members tried to sell some of the items. There followed an international search, convoluted lawsuits, and the final return of most of the art to the Lutheran Church.

A documentary filmmaker from Denison, Cassie Hay, wrote and produced a documentary about the Quedlinburg Treasures, "The Liberators." I thought the film was a bit choppy and confusing, but it documents how a German art historian tracked the treasures to a small town in Texas. Two of the stolen items have never been recovered, and one family member in the movie surmised that they may have been given to the Goodwill store (wow!).

This ends our short stopover in Denison. It is a cheerful town, and I would enjoy visiting again. The square black and white photographs are from Kodak Tri-X 400 film, exposed at EI = 320 in a Hasselblad 501CM camera with 50mm and 80mm Zeiss lenses. I used yellow or green filters on some frames. Click any picture to expand if you want to see more details.

The next article will be a quick color film trip through the Texas Panhandle. Hang on for the ride.

On the Way Out West: East Texas (B&W film)

Introduction

Road trip! In August/September of 2019, I drove to Flagstaff, Arizona. This is serious mileage from Vicksburg, and I wanted to take my time, explore rural America on the way, and take photographs. I packed a Hasselblad medium format kit as well as my little Yashica Electro 35CC 35mm camera.

I headed west across Louisiana and then northwest across east Texas. My goal was to bypass the Dallas/Fort Worth urban area. The traffic there is so bad anytime of day and night, I wanted to totally avoid that mess. My first destination was Denison.

This is the first of many heading-out-west articles. In this article, I will show a few frames from east Texas. In future updates, I will continue to Denison, then west to Wichita Falls, and then northwest on US 287 towards Amarillo. This will form a "Texas Panhandle" series. Once you reach Amarillo, you are back on the Mother Road, Route 66. I will add some more articles to my 2016 and 2017 series on Route 66. To see these older articles, type "Route 66" in the search box.

Many people try to cross Texas as quickly as possible, but really there is a lot of rewarding photographic subject matter; just take your time and stop when you see something interesting.

OK, so I packed a lot of junk, including a tripod, hiking equipment, Polartec, tools, and more. Cameras, day pack, and munchies stayed in the body of the car. I put film in an insulated cooler bag.

Mineola

On the first day, I drove west quickly across Louisiana and crossed into Texas. I stopped in Mineola, a small town just off I-20.

Mineola looked busy with a lot of traffic. I saw only a few interesting sights, and after a few photographs, pushed on.

Emory

In Emory, I stopped at Pott's Feed Store for a snack and restroom. I met a cow. The proprietors said they would be glad to put some foam on the top of my car and tie the cow up there. Then she could make the trip to Flagstaff and keep me company. Maybe next time. In case I made a big mistake in not picking up a friendly chicken, I saw some similar ones further west in Quanah, Texas.

Sherman

Finally, some real Texas BBQ at the Cackle & Oink in Sherman, just south of Denison. It's nice to get into BBQ country again. I usually look for the locally-owned places and avoid the chains.

These photographs are from Fuji Acros 100 film exposed in my Yashica Electro 35CC camera with a 35mm ƒ/1.8 Color Yashinon-DX lens. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner, controlled with Silverfast Ai software.

Winter Sunshine Interlude, Part II: Old Town, Cartagena (Colombia 03)

Dear Readers, let's enjoy another sunshine update while some of you are stuck in snow, ice, and gloom. We will continue with some more frames from cheerful Cartagena, Colombia.

Cartagena, Colombia (from ArcGIS online)

Cartagena is a big city now, with condos along the shore, shipyards, port facilities, and traffic. But the old core, within and near the walls, is still an architectural gem. From Wikipedia,

"The historic center is surrounded by 11 kilometers of defensive walls. These were complemented by fortifications along the coast, making Cartagena a militarily impregnable city. The walls, made in several stages, were designed to protect the city from continual pirate attacks, with construction beginning in 1586." 

I remember reading that Charles the V kept looking west from his palace in Madrid with a spyglass. One of his courtiers asked him what he was looking for. Charles responded he wanted to see the walls at Cartagena de Indias because their construction had almost bankrupted his empire's treasury and they must be high enough to be visible. Hmmm, this may be a bit allegorical, but it is a good story, and the walls did cost the Spanish Crown a fortune (let alone the lives of hundreds or thousands of slaves used in the work).

Hanging around on Avenida Venezuela, Cartagena (Ektar 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera)

Waiting for a shine, Avenida Venezuela, Cartagena

The streets just west of the walls are bustling day and night. Stores are full, people are all over, and traffic is dense.

I was surprised at the numbers of snack shops and mobile phone stores. The shops in the photos above are on Carrera 11 near the bridge that carries Avenida Pedro De Heredia over the canal (sort of grungy - needs serious dredging).

Sitting out under the trees on a hot afternoon - what could be better? (Well, maybe a nap by the pool?) (Fuji Acros film, Leica M2 camera)

Inside the old walled city, there are a few modern buildings, including some 20th century architectural messes, but most of the buildings are from the 1700s and 1800s. It reminded me a bit of New Orleans without the filth or Havana but better maintained.

Plenty of liquor and cigar stores to separate the tourist from his Dollars.

The colors are cheerful in a Caribbean way. Many of these old houses are now boutique hotels, restaurants, or art shops.

Pseudo-Communist kitsch seems to be popular. I noticed the same in downtown Athens. How odd. Even Vladimir Lenin is a capitalist today.

Now this is really good: the coffee Jeep! This vendor said the coffee came from his family's plantation somewhere inland. We learned that coffee planters imported many of these Willys Jeeps in the 1940s and 1950s to replace mules on steep hillside coffee plantations. They still use them because they are light weight and narrow, perfect for mountain tracks. Most of the modern play-trucklet SUVs sold to American suburbanites are too wide, soft, and weak for serious mountain work.

Now for some Leica black and while frames on the walls. This is serious selfie terrain! You see all sorts of people enjoying the scenery and making sure that their presence is recorded for all posterity.

In the future, I'll share more Colombia photographs. This is an interesting country with amazing topography and ecological diversity. Highly recommended!

Winter Sunshine Interlude: Getsemaní, Cartagena (Colombia 02)

Introduction

Dear Readers, it is February while I write this. Many of you northern hemisphere readers are in the gloom and snow. What could be more cheerful than a few days in the sunshine? It does not get much more cheerful than Cartagena.

Cartagena is a port city on the northern coast of Colombia facing the Caribbean Sea. During the colonial era, it was known as Cartagena de Indias. It was founded in 1533, and therefore is one of the oldest European settlement cities in the western hemisphere. Today, it is a major seaport and a tourist center.

My previous stay in Cartagena was in 1981, when I drilled for the marine geotechnical company (another life). My wife and I decided it was time for another visit. Oh oh, now it is a big city. What happened to the empty beaches? Where did those condos come from? Where did the bumper-to-bumper traffic come from? Regardless, the old colonial city has been preserved, and there are no cheesy modern skyscrapers in the walled old town.

On the move, Calle 25 (Ektar 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera)

Just waiting, Calle 25

Room with a view, Calle 25, from the Allure Chocolat hotel

Getsemaní

We stayed at the Allure Chocolat in the Getsemaní district, at Calle del Arsenal Calle 24 # 8B-58. Nice place! It was a bit (OK, much) higher grade than the hotels I usually occupy. According to Wikipedia, "Once a district characterized by crime, Getsemani, just south of the ancient walled fortress, has become "Cartagena's hippest neighborhood and one of Latin America's newest hotspots", with plazas that were once the scene of drug dealing being reclaimed and old buildings being turned into boutique hotels."

Listening to the boom box, Calle 29

On Calle 29 (Kodak Ektar 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera)

I suppose it is a hip neighborhood. Does the wall art prove that?

The Black Parrot at Carrera 10b - very trendy at night

In the picture, Calle 27 (Moto G5 digital file)

Calle 27

Statue of Pedro Romero, dedicated to the Lanceros de Getsemani, Plaza de la Trinidad, Getsemani 

Some parts of Getsemaní reminded me of Greek villages on the islands, kissed by the sun and with brilliant, pure colors. Or possibly think of Cuban vibe but with far better food and toilets. This area had a comfortable feel with no obvious security issues. I also took black and white film photographs, but here color rules.

The cheerful ladies at Café del Mural made me an excellent espresso. Pretty girls, coffee, excellent restaurants, the sun-baked Caribbean; what could be better for a January or February escape from the cold and a Trump-cursed USA?