Dead End

 

It looks homey, doesn't it. This wall faces a park, and a neighbor. It's right neighborly.

Log Cabin

 

Boise Idaho, Phillippi Street.

Christmas

 

/div>

Scenic 2C

 

1-2c-3Lock box.

I'm watching out for you

 

 

I eye skyin sky for IDP

I was walking to my car, parked a fair distance away, when I came up next to a person who works here. I tried to get them to cross the street against the light. They refused to do it. Said they would get reprimanded if someone saw them on the security cams.
This is what surveillance society is all about. Not that it is necesarily a bad thing to protect people from themselves. This is how small towns work, where people who you know and know you are likely to be watching. This is a controlling aspect of humanity.
It can be a good thing. But, I felt a little strange about this. There was no-one coming on either street, no-one around. There was no harm in crossing.
But, the person waiting felt compelled to behave. I still can't decide if that matters.

Native Plant Restoration

 

 

Near the scar, and close to where the old railroad yard was. It's good work, really. Although it seems that, if just left alone, the plants take over again in no time.

Filling A Hole

 

The bankers have come at last, to save the block and fill the whole. I mean, THE HOLE! At long last. I am interested to see what compromises are made, and how it is built.
And maybe, how it lasts. Time will tell.

Row 33 Detritus

 

Where the sacred vehicles come to be cannibalised. Fords by Fords, Subarus by Subarus.
All play their parts, all ply their parts. It costs a dollar to come in the yard, and you have to sign a waiver promising not to sue.
Off you go.

BoiseHole Is Filled With Zion

John O'Neil (@johnONeil) has shared a Tweet with you: "BoiseHole: http://t.co/88JXNmPb The Mayor debuts my new look!" --http://twitter.com/BoiseHole/status/115835857956651008

Holding On For Dear Life

On An Alley, Near A "Free"way <><>
The fingernails are bloody, but someone still lives here. You can tell by the relatively well maintained car parked on the other side, and the window air conditioning unit.
The gravel lawn, with a few weeds standing guard, only lends to the charm. (Xeriscaping) It fits into it's surroundings. Two gravel parking lots, an auto shop, a car wash, the freeway connector.
I salute this shack, trying it's best to hold on in the face of automobile tyranny.

Turd Polishing

Window Washing 

This is an Eighties, semi brutalitarian structure, having a wash. I told Dwayne Carver, who was sitting in his convertible in front of the RecordHut, where I work. We were also fascinated by this insurance company come on vehicle, a roving billboard of hands trying to convince gullible kids to waive their student insurance fees. We were thinking that some art major got paid a pittance to come up with that idea, then we realized it was probably stolen from an intern with a fixation on the Bob Fosse film "All That Jazz."

Cutting Corners

Downtown Living. Imagine being on this sad excuse for a deck, looking out upon the sight of the Idaho Power building, then over to the Boise Corporation obelisk, then, finally, the foothills. Take the time to have a glass of wine, or two, while you prop your feet up on the formidable steel pipe railing. Put there for your safety. Then, complain about the band down at the bar, while you remain high above the fray. It's Downtown Living at it's finest. 

692 698

Apt. 

Why Try To Hide

Broadway in Boise 

Throwing good money after bad.

Starship

In drydock now. To boldly go......

Shed On The Roof

Thoughtless Expediancy. 

I have always been fascinated by this phenomenon. The ephemeral styles of the day come and go, but what of the storage shed box so inelegantly placed (dropped?) on the top of the building?
The go go GIT-R-DUN mindset gets it done, but at what cost? Who cares? The person who did this probably has never given it a second thought. As a matter of fact, HE'S probably committing similar atrocities in Meridian, where such thoughtlessness abounds.
And fits.

Shiny Banker Bunker

Glazed red brick box of bankers. 

Railroad Heritage

 

This is one of the remainders from the switching yard that used to occupy a portion of downtown Boise Idaho... a lot of our railroad infrastructure is still there, waiting to be reused. But that is just dumb to a lot of people. They think railroads are old timey times antiquated.
They are thinking Amtrak, not freight.
Passenger rail is a long way off. Like, in the past. But don't tell the other industrial economies. All of them, besides England, have maintained their railroads and used them. And still use them.
I don't know what the future means for railroads in America. The right wing derides us devotees of "choo choo trains," and the left wing is lost in fantasies of hyper mileage alternative fuel super cars.
So I don't know if we will ever get back what we have blithely thrown away.

Purple Door Box

Residence Bunker 

I like the purple doors, the windows, and the lack of a driveway. But I don't know what purpose of the bunker is. Is it a residence, or a shop? I of course, didn't go and ask the questions: I just like to ponder.

Will We Afford This In The Future

Eh? I don't know. 

The grass in the desert could be irrigated, but will it? Is this a good use of the land? Maybe. But even the land of ridiculous overbuilt schools, with petroleum playing fields is due to feel the budget axe.
And the pendulum swings.

Completely Homey, Homie!

Slotwall, with strategic shrub placement 

It just don't get no better, do it? What a view! People live here. No wonder we are depressed.

Milk Crate

No Milk  

The HVAC is so much more beautiful with this Grecian style milk crate to disguise it.

How Long Can This Last?

These signs are on a lot of downtown buildings. 

Probably will last much longer than us. A reminder of how hot things are right underneath our feet. The heat has a nice feel to it. It makes me want to drive up to a hot spring right now. Because, it's all there for our use, right?

NATURE!

TAMED!

Remix-Remodel-Scavenge

Blue. 

My favorite thing about this little two story: the aluminum awning attached over the door. It is a classy evocation of the scavenger culture to come. Does it serve it's purpose? I look at the buildings and houses that surround us and ask myself that question all the time. What is the greater good? If it is pleasing to the eye, and shelters you from the storm, or you can do business there, it's ok.
I would live there.

The Unfinished Roof Look Atrium

The Left 

The Right 

Designers/Architects: What does this mean? What does this signify? What does this do?

Landlocked Sea

In The Middle Of The Desert  

The whispering sea pines, carved out of the desert of seaway known as I-84.

Motorized Lifestyle

A motor for every season. 

Is it time for Steppenwolf to get the motor runnin'? I wonder what these people will do for a living when the oil runs out? Probably the same thing, digging. Just without the roar of the ICE to keep them company. And the smell of the exhaust to drive them crazy.

Layers Of The Box

The Peak

The Program

The Past reemerges.
The boxes don't matter, it's all in how they are programmed. Used for different things over the years, well off the mainstream of life, probably by design. Inside looks well kept and cared for. But, what can this be used for after people stop driving?

8th & Idaho, Looking West

Boise street scenes, corner of 8th and Idaho looking west on Idaho Circa 1940
Photographer Everett L. "Shorty" Fuller  

SOURCE: Idaho State Historical Society

May 2011  

Have we gotten better, or worse? You can't see the Balcony Club from here, although you feel it's presence. The business's seem less vital, less serious. But the same can be said about most things in this life: not serious. Everything is a facade. A parade of boxes with facades that are supposed to represent something real. But it isn't real. And it is not about to last, either.

Bus Bunker

Greyhound bus terminal,
12th and Bannock, Boise Idaho. 

Of course, this is scheduled to be replaced when the new transit mall is placed downtown, wherever it may be. People are terrified of the riff raff associated with bus riding. I've heard it from more than one citizen/consumer. Or is that, Consumer/Citizen? I think we know which takes precedence as things are arranged today.

Parking Basement Banker Bunker

 

That is WAYNE! heading down into the belly of the beast. Making a pickup from the ugliest monolith in Boise.

Tobacco Is Agriculture

 

What can't be farmed, must be mined.

Remake-Remodel

 

There is no reason to take a brick warehouse building and turn it into something else. No reason. Too expensive. You could have bulldozed that place, and put up something ADA compliant, generic, and boxey. but they didn't. For that reason, the developer has my undying admiration. I enjoy seeing this building whenever I walk by it. wa

Merry Dina

The onion shaped water tower by the speedway, as seen from the shopping complex that sprang up next to the freeway. Looking across the old core at Meridians old farm town past, at the grain elevator turned into a shopping place, only makes the sad demolition of the fertile farmland that used to be the reason this town existed sadder.

1220

 

WEST JUNIOR HIGH

 

Ready to go. Pecked away at, broken down, ready to go.

 

Gone. My friend Max keeps thinking that this would make a good community garden. The first thing you would have to do is get all the gravel out of the dirt. And then, all the seepage from all the tanks in the tank farms surrounding this old school site.

meridina

 

The onion shaped water tower by the speedway, as seen from the shopping complex that sprang up next to the freeway. Looking across the old core at Meridians old farm town past, at the grain elevator turned into a shopping place, only makes the sad demolition of the fertile farmland that used to be the reason this town existed sadder.

Geese ON The Old Wall

 

 

 

I love to come to work downtown, and hear these bellicose fellows honking away above me.

Blocked Doorway

 

Does it welcome you in? Does your rascal make the corner?

Government spending is cool.

I mean seriously, couldn't we...  no?