Gainesville - 34th Street Murals - The Concrete Blog
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 - 34th Street Wall, Gainesville FL
The landmark 34th Street Wall, in Gainesville, is the subject of The Concrete Blog: Messages on the Wall. Spanning decades and containing hundreds of photos, this digital collection is a searchable index of this unique canvas for street art. Visitors to The Concrete Blog are invited to add their photographs of the wall to the album.
Related: 34th Street Murals - Video
» Geocode: lat/lon = 29.64675,-82.372211
» Geomap: 34th Street Wall, Gainesville FL - Google Maps
» Link: / florida / history / Gainesville - 34th Street Murals - The Concrete Blog
Indian River Bridge: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Wed, 22 Aug 2007 - Indian River, Titusville FL, near Max Brewer Causeway.
Past generations of Floridians had great pride in the infrastructure of their communities.
B&W postcard of the old bridge over the Indian River, in Titusville.
Color postcard of the old bridge.
Structures like this old bridge were vital components for the economic growth of the region. Such investments are required, if a community wishes to prosper.
We’ve seen decades of neglect in matters of infrastructure. Schools are overcrowded and portable buildings are permanent fixtures on their landscape. Our roadways and bridges are aging, and they are being utilized beyond the designed capacity.
If we had more pride invested in the gritty concrete and rusty steel that undergirds our society, would we be willing, once again, to invest tax-dollars into building for the future?
» Geocode: lat/lon = 28.614392,-80.803639
» Geomap: Indian River, Titusville FL, near Max Brewer Causeway. - Google Maps
» Link: / florida / history / Indian River Bridge: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Julia Street: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Thu, 15 Mar 2007 - Washington Ave and Julia St, Titusville FL
Julia St. facing eastward, near the intersection with Washinton Ave.
The above postcard includes a view of the distinctive East Coast Advocate newspaper building, to the right of the frame.
Julia St. facing eastward, farther from the intersection with Washinton Ave.
I love those dawn-of-the-century duds. Spiffy.
Notice how those wooden power poles are already a blight on the landscape. A hundred years later, we still plant these ugly things.
» Geocode: lat/lon = 28.61135,-80.807555
» Geomap: Washington Ave and Julia St, Titusville FL - Google Maps
» Link: / florida / history / Julia Street: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Mending the Nets: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Sun, 11 Mar 2007 - Indian River, Titusville FL, near Max Brewer Causeway.
Mending fishing nets, Indian River, Tituville.
Torn nets don't catch many fish. In order to survive, we must tend to that which sustains us, even when we'd rather be relaxing. These fishermen didn't get the luxury of resting after the day's haul. They had to mend the nets.
If we're wise, we invest time and effort into these tedious, but necessary, tasks. Hope is bound up in a fisherman's nets: With each knot that he ties, he is closer to catching his dreams.
But, hopes fail. The heedlessly spun thread of the Fates must, in time, ravel and break.
The cords that ensnare sustenance can entangle those whom they are intended to sustain.
Samuel R. Delany's short story, Dog In A Fisherman's Net, elaborates: A few moments of thrashing and confusion were enough to rend a man's livelihood and to rive him from all that he loved.
Like the fisherman's net, when something so necessary to survival is ripped apart, we might react with anger and be overcome by desolation. Blind with sorrow and rage, we can be so intent on what we're losing that we neglect what we must save.
Nets can be mended.
» Geocode: lat/lon = 28.614392,-80.803639
» Geomap: Indian River, Titusville FL, near Max Brewer Causeway. - Google Maps
» Link: / florida / history / Mending the Nets: Postcards from Yesteryear.
Florida's History - The Art of Tourism
Mon, 08 Jan 2007 - Orange Ave and Pine Street, Orlando FL
Bardell's Fototone Miniatures - Orlando
From the Florida Ephemera Collection at UF.
» Geocode: lat/lon = 28.432508,-81.368713
» Geomap: Orange Ave and Pine Street, Orlando FL - Google Maps
» Link: / florida / history / Florida's History - The Art of Tourism