Spreckels

 

I've resolved to try to document the cool signs in the city where I actually live...super fun to find them on road trips, but these are in as much danger of disappearing (possibly more) than those anywhere else. So: the Spreckels Theatre.

Shining

 

Rounding out photos of our oh-so-fab short road trip to see the sandhill cranes in Southeastern Arizona, here is the Hotel Gadsden in downtown Douglas. It's quite beautiful inside, but it was quite deserted two days after Christmas and was definitely giving off a bit of a Shining vibe...

Love the shoeshine stand and old phone booths!

And this is the Grand, a once-beautiful theatre downtown...apparently it last showed movies in 1958 (!); behind this facade the roof caved in and it seems to have fallen into great disrepair (not sure if the roof has been repaired or not). A local group, the Border Arts Collective, is seeking to rehabilitate it for adaptive reuse. It is so sad to see magnificent buildings molder and decay... 

I Heart Denton

 So, Denton, Texas, has become quite a cute little spot. We've been visiting it for quite a few years now because there is an amazing bookstore there (Recycled Books). The town square, a classic small town square with the courthouse in the middle and shops all around, was a bit bedraggled for a few years. Now there are hip restaurants and coffee shops and this fun shop, Atomic Candy. Not sure what this big head was on originally, but here he is in the front window.

That's the courthouse reflected in the window. 

 The candy shop also has a big hand...

 And this head, which looks like a muffler man head but is too small (prototype?)...

Weird animal masks for Halloween...

 There are two theatres on the square (this one slightly off the square)...it appears to be used as a theatre for performances (not movies).

 And you gotta love small town America!