Showing posts with label urban decay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban decay. Show all posts

Monday, February 19, 2024

Continuing Decline, Johnson Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi



Red outline shows Johnson Street (from ArcGIS Online) 

Johnson Street is one of many semi-hidden narrow Vicksburg roads whose location was dictated by the area's complicated loess topography. Many roads followed the crest of ridges. Johnson Street follows a ridge that sweeps downhill from South Washington Street (just north of Lee Street) into the valley that is now occupied by the Vicksburg High School ball fields. Many people probably never go down Johnson unless they specifically planned to see a resident there or possibly turned in by accident.

Twenty years ago, many of the houses along Johnson were occupied. But one by one, they were abandoned or the city condemned them because of dangerous or unsanitary conditions. Then the city razed the buildings. Here are photographs of the remaining houses in April of 2023.  



This is the site of the former 748 Johnson Street after the city demolished it. A bulldozer graded the dirt down the hill. Contractors do this work. According to a 2020 article in The Vicksburg Post, it cost the city about $25,000 to raze a simple wooden house and clear the land of debris.  


728 Johnson Street (Kodak Ektar 100 film, Pentax Spotmatic F camera, 28mm SMC Takumar lens)
728 Johnson Street

This little mid-century house at 728 had a serious gullying problem below the front right corner of the foundation. The gully served as a convenient trash dump. I looked in the door and a homeless guy was sleeping in one of the bedrooms. He and some other guys called this place home. 


733 Johnson Street (28mm SMC Takumar lens)
733 Johnson Street (28mm SMC Takumar lens)
Parlor of 733 Johnson Street (35mm Super-Takumar lens braced on a window ledge)

No. 733 was a typical Vicksburg house where the front door was approximately at street level while the back projected out over the gully, supported by wood pilings. Hundreds of houses like this were built early in the 20th century, and they survived for decades despite their precarious supports. Once the house is abandoned or condemned, the lot cannot be redeveloped.

Downhill side of 733 Johnson Street

This is the gully (valley) just north of Johnson Street. This looks wild and impassible, but deer, raccoons, and possums wander these wooded spaces throughout the city. Snakes do, too.


735 Johnson Street (28mm SMC Takumar lens)

This is another modest mid-century house. I assume it was built on a lot once occupied by an older early-20th century cottage. The back was perched over the valley like other houses on Johnson Street.


Church bus, Holly Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 746 Johnson Street
754 Johnson Street (50mm Hasselblad lens)

This ends out short walk on Johnson Street. All these houses have been demolished since I took these photographs. Slowly but surely, Vicksburg's older neighborhoods are becoming less densely populated as these older houses are torn down.

The 2023 photographs are from Kodak Ektar 100 film from my new/old Pentax Spotmatic F camera.


Saturday, February 10, 2024

Another Random Walk around Vicksburg, Mississippi (2021-2023)

Downtown


In the last article, I looked at houses along South Washington Street. Let's take a semi-random walk in the southern part of Vicksburg plus one view downtown and see what interesting photons passed through my camera lens and into the film emulsion. Most of these frames will also be from color negative film, mostly Kodak Ektar 100. Please click any picture to see more details.



Downtown Vicksburg from China Street (Royal Gold 25 film, Leica M2, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens)

As of 2023, The Vicksburg apartments are being renovated. Residents had to move to other accomodations around town. I hope this continues a downtown revival. The brick building in the left is the long-unused Junius Ward Johnson YMCA. It has been empty for at least 20 years. 

South Washington Street Area



View west towards the Mississippi River from Washington Street (Hasselblad, 80mm ƒ/2.8 lens)

This the view west to the Mississippi River (the shiny water at the horizon). The Yazoo canal is out of sight just beyond the water tower. The water tower is a remnant of the cotton compress, of which very little remains now. With an amazing view like this, in most cities, a neighborhood like this would have gentrified. This one is still a mess.


Washington Street view north near Bowman Street

Tri-State Tire, 2209 Washington Street

This unusual building with decorated arches was once an ice company. Then, in the 1960s, it was the Seale-Lily ice cream store. Mr. Christ bought it in the 1970s and converted the building into a tire business. His daughter, Susan Christ, runs the business now and provides courteous and efficient service. I wrote about Tri-State in 2018


1009 (?) Bowman Street
1007 and 1009 Bowman Street

Turn right from Washington Street onto Bowman Street. Some of the housing stock is seriously degraded. 


Magnolia School, Bowman Street

The former Magnolia School has been unused since at least the mid-1980s. Former windows were bricked in decades ago. From the 1920s to the 1950s, this was one of the most progressive schools for African-American students. J.G.H. Bowman, the principle of Magnolia Avenue High School, was highly respected for his dedication and accomplishments in running the school. The street is now named after him. 


807 Speed Street

It looks like the occupants ran out of blue paint. Speed Street is pretty rough.


Drummond Street Area


Pink house, 2721 Green Street
Ducks in a row, 911 Bowmar Avenue 
2815 Drummond Street

This four-unit apartment has been empty for at least five years. The front porch is sagging. As so often with these older houses, status unknown.


Johnny's truck, Candee Street

This ends our short walk around Vicksburg. I took the 2023 photographs with Kodak Ektar 100 film using my new Pentax Spotmatic F camera and 50mm ƒ/1.4 or 55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lenses. Watch for more Vicksburg photographs soon. Thanks for coming along!



Tuesday, November 28, 2023

From the Archives: Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Rolling Fork, the county seat of Sharkey County, is a city in the southern Mississippi Delta north of Vicksburg. On March 24, 2023, a deadly EF4 tornado struck the city and flattened a strip through the community. The tornado killed 17 people in Rolling Fork and in nearby Midnight and Silver City. In March, my wife and I donated bottled water to the relief effort (photographs in my May 13 post). 

While sorting through folders of negatives and slides, I found some early 2000s digital and film photographs from Rolling Fork. Here is a quick look when the was semi-intact. The town had been poor and struggling economically for decades, so much of the downtown was in poor condition even 20+ years ago.


Bear Affair, 2008

Rolling Fork celebrates the Great Delta Bear Affair most years. The photograph above was from a cheerful 2008 Affair. The fest celebrates the time that president Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear that had been tied to a tree for him. A toy company saw the marketing potential, and the Teddy Bear has become a beloved children's toy. Despite the tornado damage, Bear Affair returned to Rolling Fork on October 27 and 28. I was out of state, but I read that Elvis showed up. Darn, missed the good stuff again.

Former Courtney's Store (hardware and garden supplies). 

Courtney's Store was a long-time hardware and garden supply vendor on Walnut Street. A friend and I explored many years ago and saw vacuum tubes and other goodies in the back. Mrs. Courtney's son, Willard, was our hairdresser in Vicksburg for some years. He was murdered during a drug deal in Rolling Fork sometime after 2010. 

McKenzie's store, also on Walnut, was mostly demolished by the tornado.
Sharecropper cottage south of town near the former Red Barn
The former Red Barn, built in 1918, collapsed on April 30, 2011. All wood has been removed, but the two silos still stand.
Mont Helena mansion north of town.

Mont Helena is a remarkable colonial revival mansion built by Helen Johnstone and George Harris in 1896. Fire destroyed the first mansion, and I do not know if the one you see today is from 1896 or slightly later. In the late-1980s, the house was vandalized and a wreck, but various owners lovingly restored it. Somewhere, I have some slides of the house in its ruined condition.
53 East China Street, March 2003 (Olympus OM2s camera, 35mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko Shift lens, Fuji Superior 200 film)

China Street, once a busy commercial hub, was lined with abandoned stores. I do not know their condition now.

24 East China Street, the former Danzig's Furniture store
Barnes' Grocery 614 Chestnut Street) and an asphalt-sided shotgun house (612 Chestnut).
Blue Front Cafe, Chestnut Street (50mm ƒ/3.5 Zuiko Auto-Macro lens)
Grace United Methodist Church, 6260 Grace Road, Grace, Mississippi (35mm Shift Zuiko lens)

The residents of Rolling Fork are a tough bunch and are in the process of rebuilding. Good for them. 

I took the 2003 photographs with an Olympus OM2s camera on Fuji Superia 200 film. I still have two Olympus lenses and need to buy a body on which to use them.

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Kodak Plus-X, Another Expired Film Treasure (Abandoned Films 10)

 




Oh oh, trouble. I experimented with another famous discontinued film. I had not used Kodak Plus-X since the 1980s or maybe the 1990s. My photography friend, Jim Grey, sent me two rolls and said go forth and photograph. How could I resist! I loaded the first roll in my Pentax Spotmatic F and rated it at exposure index (EI) = 100. 

Kodak's Plus-X was a staple of black and white photography in the USA for decades during the mid-20th century (1954-2011). Kodak finally replaced it with TMax 100. Kodak claimed TMax 100 would do everything that Plus-X could and could also replace their famous Panatomic-X film. Well, maybe. But many old-time photographers mourned the loss of the traditional cubic grain films and turned to Ilford for its FP4 Plus and Pan F films. But let us drop that controversy for now.  

Here are some Plus-X examples from around Vicksburg, Mississippi. I used my new/old Pentax Spotmatic F camera (see my previous article).


Former gas station/store on Warrenton Road (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)
Monroe Street view south (135mm ƒ/3.5 lens)
Green Street (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar, yellow filter)
Rough apartment on Bowmar Avenue (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar, yellow filter)
Washington Street view south (55mm ƒ/1.8 lens)
Furniture in the woods, Johnson Street

Unfortunately, this is a common disposal method for old furniture here. It's a shame because River City Rescue will pick up old items and sell them at their store.

728 Johnson Street (no longer extant)

This was a basic 1950s or 1960s house clad with asbestos siding. I opened the door, and a homeless fellow was sleeping inside.

733 Johnson Street (no longer extant)

Many early 20th century houses in Vicksburg were built on steep hillsides. The roads ran along the top of the ridges, and cottages had their front doors at street level. The backs were perched over the slope, supported by wood posts. These lots can not be redeveloped once the house is condemned and torn down. This results in Vicksburg becoming less densely developed over time. But yet the city still needs to maintain roads and utilities. Therefore, maintenance remain high but is supported by fewer properties that generate property tax revenue. 


Delta, Louisiana, from the road on the main stem Mississippi River levee. 35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens, yellow filter

Summary. Plus-X was a nice film. Fuji Acros, my normal 100 film, looks different and is finer grain. But I would not hesitate to use Plus-X when I wanted to use a mid-speed emulsion. I wish it were still available.


Appendix


This is a 1948 (I think) Kodak data chart for three of their popular 35mm black and white films. At that time, Kodak rated Plus-X with and exposure index of 50. Later (in the 1960s?), when the ASA ratings standard the normal method of rating film speeds, most films abruptly doubled their exposure index. This  looked convenient, but many old-time photographers continued to give their film extra exposure to ensure that there would be image information in deep shadows. 








Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Another Look at the Fifth Ward, Houston (TX 12)

 

Fifth Ward


The Fifth Ward is one of Houston's former former political wards. They are no longer political entities, but people still think of them as geographic places. They include historic neighborhoods, and some blocks in other wards have been renovated. The Fifth Ward is rather rough; I posted black and white pictures in an earlier Houston post (please click the link).


 
Mary Street (alley) view north (35mm ƒ/3.5 Supar-Takumar lens)
Former school and recycling company (out of business?), Semmes Street


This molded concrete building, which I am sure was originally a school, resembled the aesthetic of the unused Culkin Elementary School in Vicksburg. I do not know details, but this type of construction appears to have been common during the New Deal era for schools and possibly other public buildings.


Noble Street
Restored shotgun house, Semmes street
2318 Hailey Street
Poison ivy farm, Semmes Street
No services today, 2623 Estex Freeway

A rainy/drizzly day made the Fifth Ward a bit gloomy and ominous. It was perfect for my type of photography. But I did not take my wife to some of the the rougher blocks

Follow-Up


After a few hours photographing in the Fifth Ward, what next? 

Flash Drive mobile photography education unit


The Houston Center for Photography at 1441 West Alabama has interesting exhibits and an active education program. Their Flash Drive, housed in a repurposed ambulance, is a working camera obscura.



How about some jazz at the Menil Collection Museum? This was a concert in commemoration of the famous museum curator, Walter Hopps. The estate of Walter Hopps at the Menil included original silver gelatin prints (i.e., real photographs) from William Eggleston, Eugene Atget, Robert Frank, Allan Ginsberg (the beat generation denizen), Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Dennis Hopper, and W. Eugene Smith. Amazing, what a treat.

The Menil does not have the vibe of a Mississippi juke joint - it is more oriented to the wine and canapés set.

Niko Niko's on Montrose

After a long day, one is tired and hungry. Where to eat? Why that is obvious. Find Greek. There are Greeks in Houston! And they make delicious food and baklava big enough for two. And they have Retsina. Ahh, contentment.... 

(I could handle living in Houston again - but we did that in the 1980s, so not again.)

I took the Firth Ward photographs with Kodak Portra 160 film using a venerable Pentax Spotmatic camera and Takumar lenses. Pentax's Takumar lenses were top grade in the 1970s and are still totally usable on film or adapted to digital bodies. The Spotmatic's light meter works in stop-down mode, meaning the viewfinder darkens as you stop down. For best results, be careful to avoid large areas of bright sky in the measuring area. I still have the correct mercury (mercuric oxide) V400PX batteries for the meter. The camera and lenses are reliable and compact, well-suited for travel. 

Copyright note:


I recently saw some photographs from this blog reposted on Flickr and Pinterest. Some anus lifted them them without my permission. I'm sorry I need to note something as basic as this: these are copyrighted. Ask permission if you want to use some of this material.