Twenty five years ago S. Congress Ave. was home to hookers and drug dealers. Not a month went by without a representative from you know which party being arrested for soliciting prostitution. The street was lined with fleabag hotels and adult video stores. All that is gone now. Replaced by a Hermes shop, designer eyeglasses shops, trendy restaurants, expensive Texas boot stores and the usual mix of over-priced fashion retailers. But two of the motels from the old days remain.
One is the Austin Motel and the other is the San José Hotel. Both have been transformed into expensive, boutique motels which cater to a decidedly more upscale audience.
I walked by the Austin Motel this morning and started seeing all kinds of cool Christmas decor scattered about. There was a sign that invited "everyone" to walk through their alley of decorations. I pulled the lens cap off my languishing camera and started making photographs of the kitcsh-y decorated trees.
I shot wide for a while and then I used the frame line thingy on the Q2 for tighter, 50mm angle of view shots. It was fun. I can only imagine how cool it looks when all the trees are lit up at night and reflecting off the surface of the water in the swimming pool. I think I'll go back sometime next week just to see...
I got back in time to polish off the remains of the arugula salad with lemon basil dressing I made last night for dinner. I offset the health on over-drive by eating some Jarlsburg cheese and a piece of home made grainy, nutty, dense bread. Toasted.
The year is winding down. The clients have all had their work delivered to them and their bills sent out. I've actually done nearly all of my shopping but I'm a bit ashamed to admit it's mostly being delivered by Amazon. Now we're in that quiet lead up to Christmas which consists of watching favorite movies, baking stuff for friends, and avoiding parties like the plague. Actually ---- the plague and RSV and the flu. They're all back and according to county data starting to spread quicker and quicker here.
I think I used up all my motivation to do just about anything but swim, eat and sleep these days. It's not that bad of a pattern to fall into. Maybe I'll pursue this for a month or so. All the while loading fresh batteries into the Q2 and having fun walking around looking at stuff. And swimming. Lots of swimming.
3 comments:
Hello Kirk! Just a question out of curiosity: where did those drug addicts, dealers and other marginalized people go? Vanished?
So ... druggies and hookers became trendy restaurants and designer fashion shops. As Tom Petty put it, I can't decide which is worse.
Bengt, They went to the same place all displaced, marginalized people go when they are gentrified out of an area. I'm not sure where that is but for a while it centered around IH-35 in N.E. Austin. Another area that overbuilt motels in the 1970's and 1980's. You might research this with the city's crime units.
Many homeless have moved into parks, soccer fields, wilderness areas, etc.
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