28 March 2007

hersh


the woman in 1302

she's the only person on the hall, i think, to whom i have not spoken a single time----i have only seen her a couple of times, and she seemed kinda mad about things----she's been trying to sell her place----the last week or so every day when i come home from work i have heard this poor puppy crying and yelping and all like lonely puppies do----i thought about leaving a note, but . . . .today when i come home there are four little sticky notes on her door---the largest and probably the first read something like "i don't know if you know it but your poor little dog cries all day long," with the "all" triple underlined. Another said, "i can hear it too," and the last two said, "me too" and "ditto." i don't know what people are thinking to expect a puppy, probably only three or four months old, to happily spend the entire day by himself---

27 March 2007

sturdy women


john portman was/is a philistine when it comes to historic architecture----he wrecked a great little building at the intersection of P'tree and P'tree Center Ave. across from sacred heart so that he could have a nice grassy lawn in front of what is now suntrust plaza, construction of which drove him to the edge of bankruptcy in 1992----ha!

still i kinda like the sculpture

26 March 2007

viewpoint

that's still a very lame name, but they are building it anyway----


the ellis hotel

on 7 december 1946, the reportedly fire-proof winecoff hotel (it had no sprinklers or fire escapes) caught fire and before it was over 119 people were dead, mostly from smoke or jumping from the buidling, in what remains the country's worst hotel disaster---more would have been saved but that the atlanta fire department's equipment could only reach eight stories and the winecoff had fifteen----it had been built in 1913 by william h. winecoff, who moved into the hotel after his own house in ansley park was destroyed by fire---he and his wife were casualties of the 1946 fire---in 1951 the hotel reopened as the peachtree on peachtree hotel, but it was never entirely succefful---after a stint as a retirement home, it closed in the early 80s---it is now being reborn as the ellis hotel, and they are doing an outstanding job with the exterior at least---i can't wait to see what the lower two floors look like, since the original facade there was lost in the 1951 rehab--

25 March 2007

horse smarts

an amazing routine, right up there with chris bliss, only this time a horse is doing it----

somerset heights







a view from robert's [soon-to-be] new home---

24 March 2007

morning

charleston


i drove over to charleston this week for a site visit and some meetings, mostly on forts sumter and moultrie---i was a surprised at how little of the 1861 sumter remains---it got bombed to rubble during the war and only partially rebuilt after that, so the walls are only about half their original height---the city and the drive over were beautiful, it being spring and all----and the city's architecture kept me gawking a lot---during the day-long meeting in a conference room downtown, my view was out this semi-circular window with a view of the old courthouse and st. michael's, which has got to be the most beautiful church in america--



20 March 2007

crank mail

the midtown beautification committee has scored its first major victory---after a cranky letter to Silk about the dead shrubbery on their patio and how it all was such a mess and did they ever go out on the street and all, two days later, the dead cypress were gone, the patio swept, and the pots and chairs straightened up---then today there are all these flowers and vines in some of the pots and it actually looks inviting----maybe they will give me a meal or two or something when they see how much it helps their business---nothing like crank letters to get some action--

19 March 2007

how to honor one's confederate heritage

that crazy legislature of ours is debating a permanent declaration of april as "confederate heritage month" and the south's "war for independence"---

"Of course, certain people have issues with this display: Robert Hurst, the leader of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans group, calls the display "tasteless and offensive," and demanded the museum remove it."That display is extremely offensive. It's very tasteless," Hurst said. "What they've told us, as Southerners, as sons of the Confederacy, is that it's okay to offend us."

awwww, we done hurt its feelings----


Postcard depicting the lynching of Lige Daniels, Center, Texas, August 3, 1920. The back reads, "This was made in the court yard in Center, Texas. He is a 16 year old Black boy. He killed Earl's grandma. She was Florence's mother. Give this to Bud. From Aunt Myrtle."