i hate to see it torn down,i could live in a place like that, i am fortunate to have a garage to work in like that,it's small barely enough for one car,but it's still got it's old tin roof, and a building like that will speak to you.
Very nice! Maybe we need a poetry day now to go along with the art and models.... ..or if most have talent like mine in that department, as I suspect is the case, maybe we should leave well enough alone.
Very Nice....I never miss a chance to Soak up a story from and old timer and Knowledge passed down to me from an old hot rodder...And i always try to share it with as many as i can.....If it brings this D) to your face...your a rich man...
heres a picture of the one i am talking about,i get use of it with the house,i know it's close to a hundred years old,it's built from the same materials as the house,which is that old. this is the last surviving building out of three, these used to be owned by a plumber, i have found invoices in there almost a hundred years old,as well as pictures from world war 2,and a bunch of other stuff. one of the invoices was from installing a hand well pump dated from 1909. i keep it from falling down. but i think after i move no one will care anymore.
That was an excellent piece. I'm always looking at the old buildings I pass in small towns and dream of turning them into rod shops!
My Granpa operated a shop when I was a pup. Just had my 69th yesterday.He also sold Packerds just befor he had to give it up Great pice Thanks for the memories.
it was a shop,there were two more right next to it where the concrete is, it was slate tiles set into concrete originally.
My Great Uncle Art and his auto repair shop. Early teens. Your piece made me think of this pic. Nice bit of writing.
Jay I have driven by that place for years. Always wondered what it used to be like. Out in the country near your place. Nice poem. Now get back to designing that factory catwalk!
Man that sent chills down the old spine, There used to be this old garage in a small town in NY State just over the Jersey line there use to be this old time garage in the center of town that had been closed for years. I hear that the owner passed away and his family just left it as it was the day he died. All the old belts and hoses hanging on the wall all the tools some still on the floor and on the bench, just as we all do (I'll put them away tomorrow I'm tired and I just want to go home was what it said to me) If you looked hard enough with your eyes closed you could see a couple of old timers bent over the fender of a 49 Merc. and over there was a cherry 57 Chevy convertible, and if you listened hard enough there was Murry the Kay or was it Wolf-man Jack on the radio getting ready to spin a Platters record or maybe it was The Del Vikings? There was even an old LaSalle Convertible way back in one corner half covered up and the part that wasn't showed a blue fender covered with about an inch of dust. I used to go by that place and pear in the windows for hours when I was a kid and even up into my late 20's. It never changed it was a time capsule and as much as a car nut that I am I never wanted to see it touched it was like a memorial of sorts. I went back up north a few years back to visit my mom and took my wife around to show her all my old haunts. I saved the old garage for last as I drove up I could not believe what I was looking at. My heart sunk into my boots and felt like it smashed into a million pieces. It was now a yuppie cafe with tables on the side walk and all fancy hanging plants on the old garage doors. Which at least they had preserved as they were all leaded glass and the doors were curved arches that swung open. My wife unknowingly said oh this looks like a nice place lets stop and get something to eat. I told her I couldn't because I was going to be sick. Is nothing sacred anymore, this was life back when life was good. Great piece of writing you put into words what a lot of us have experienced or felt one time or another.
we still have one surviving here in the middle of town,it was Mr keegans place, they toe down some of the old buildings around it,but his daughter or son will not sell. he sold snacks out of it towards the end, but his dementia got so bad,punks were going in and stealing the money. takes balls to steal from an old man who's mind is half gone,i would have liked to have beat their asses. i used to go down there and sit with him on saturdays while he watched TV. helped him lock up a number of times,because he would forget. he quit selling gas back when it was a dollar a gallon, he was still changing tires at the end,but he hadn't changed oil or anything for years. his old outdoor lift is still there. i offered to buy the place from his family,was going to sell snacks out of there on saturdays,like he was,and leave it preserved. it's still there and they appear to be taking care of it. maby someday. only station actually in town.
Very nice piece of writing there. Thanks for the pleasure. I like the smell of old oil and grease in these places. To see where they leaned things, where they hung things. To pick up that old tool, wood handle worn smooth by calluses, and set it back in its place, where it belongs.
nice, man. There are some memoireis that are gone forever. It is great that it lasted this long, so we could see it and wonder what it was like in the day. Jeff
we are going down town in a while so i will take the camera and tripod, the tires are gone now as well as his old car, and they took out the tire changing machine and compressor that were outside. but the building is still there. it's too bad that he got so bad,i really enjoyed sitting down there on saturday mornings. charged way too much for a coke,but that was ok. his daughter said they grew up in the place in the back,must have been a tough life because it's a small place.
Ok i went down there and took some before it started raining,I also took some at bunkers which is now closed also. it was one of the few remaining gas stations where you could get service as well as gas. i was going to get some at kimbrels but there were about 50 cars parked in front of the station from the church next door. he's still hanging on and still fixing cars. he's got a corvair and a couple of nash ramblers rooted in front too,that he's going to fix "someday" heres keegans the front of the building was replaced about a year before he retired, a car ran a stop sign and went through the building. the field where the grass is used to be used tires and his car, you could pull up,dig through the tires,and have him put one on.
anybody have any more? bastards just tore down the chero cola old bottling place here,just a small building, had the original advertisment on the building still. to build another department of labor building. almost a hundred years old. city is almost obsessed with destroying antique building here.
heres kimbrels he's still hanging on,and he doesn't even have a conviencience store, don't know how he does it. still has his nash ramblers and his corvair out front too.
heres another article for you. I hate to see this guy go, it's hard to replace these old timers who still do things the old fashioned way. in this day and age these type of guys in the automotive buisness are getting hard to find anymore. http://www.moultrieobserver.com/local/local_story_219230944.html
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