Our local Dollar General store occupies a building a block from the square and off the main drag. It is a typical 1950s "supermarket" type store, meaning really too small for the amount of merchandise the current occupant handles. Interpretation: narrow aisles and crowded shopping conditions, for it's about all we have in Perfect, general store-wise.
So the freezer and cooler cases are lined up against the front wall, meaning against the huge plate class windows that comprise the front of the store. Someone decided that the backs of those cases did not make an attractive storefront
appearance from the outside, that is there was no "curb appeal."
The solution that was adopted was to post huge sepia-tone prints of photos taken around the city in its earlier days. Kudos to the corporation for this display of civic improvement.
The aluminum bars that support the windows cut across some of the photos. Not long ago I posted this picture along with a current snapshot of the same locale. (STSTT, September 2)
This was our Carnegie Library which many of us did not want to see demolished. We are happy, though, with the replacement. It is a much better facility for modern needs and in fact is a library any community could be proud to call its own.
This probably would be my favorite of these pictures were it not for the placement of the ad-riddled smokers bench which is placed there primarily for the convenience of those employees who cannot get through a shift without, well, you know. In general (get it? "general") the employees are hard-working and civil, even friendly with the customers. But some of the younger ones, even in this day and age of enlightenment, are knuckle-headed enough to think that consumption of nicotine is cool.
Why do I like this picture? Several things are striking. The fact that almost all the men are wearing white shirts with vests and ties is a fine reminder that the "good old days" presented some serious drawbacks. That span of equines suggests to me that they might be able to get the stalwart firefighters to the fire in time to see the last wisps of smoke from the smoldering remnants of the one-time building they were sworn to protect.
9 comments:
I miss the grandeur of old construction. They don't make buildings like that anymore. And yes, I agree...I miss how people used to dress. Everyone is a slob these days. :(
Lin, I am still anxiously awaiting "the" email.
I like displays like that. They have those up in the main eating establishment in our village. One thing that strikes me about men of that age is how slender they are. Very low % body fat.
Chuck, yes, people ate to live and worked to boot! (Well, C.A.Arthur and W.H. Taft excepted, perhaps.)
I think that was very thoughtful of the store owners...
There are always exceptions to the rule. Or at least it seems to be that way.
Great photos.
A little history lesson
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