twin spires

 

Throughout the IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery, a handful of Spanish Colonial style mini-cathedrals mark gravesites.  More traditional markers, including Woodman of the World, fill the cemetery.  This Plainview Cemetery's oldest burial is the town founder in about 1880.  In this century, the cemetery received a Texas Historic Cemetery designation.  The utility poles replicate the skyward-bound twin spires.

 

IOOF Cemetery

Plainview, Texas

2.27.2016

what's for breakfast?

 

My Spanish isn't that great but does this place have donkey (burro) intestines, tongue and guts on the menu?

 

Plainview, Texas

2.27.2016

rustwater, kansas

 

This really is a "ghost sign" advertising for a diner in the non-existent town of Rustwater, Kansas.  In 1992, Plainview was used for scenes in the movie "Leap of Faith" starring Steve Martin.  A water tower still bears the faded fictional town's mascot.  And here, on the alley-side of Broadway Brew, is the sign for the Quick Lunch Diner.  Wonder if Heinz Ketchup paid a promotional fee?

 

Plainview, Texas

2.27.2016



ghost sign

 

Imagine my surprise when a quick search on "Bob Hooper" to learn more about this ghost sign on an empty building turned up stories about "ghost car dealerships"!  The Hoopers, father and son, had the Plymouth Dodge dealership in Plainview from the 1930s to the '70s.  It seems that Bob, through the years, stowed about a dozen or so new cars with low miles in his barn.  After his death his heirs sold the entire collection to Barrett-Jackson classic car auction.  The 1957 Plymouth Savoy two-door

blue coupe with 29 miles sold for $52,800!  There's more to the story than faded paint!

Bob Hooper Plymouth-Dodge
7th and Ash
Plainview, Texas

for sale

 

If you are looking to quench your thirst on Saturday night, don't go to Thirsty's.  The place is shut down and for sale.  Not surprising that the bar didn't make it in staid, Baptist-dominated Plainview. and downtown no less.

 

Plainview, Texas

1.8.2016

remember the alamo

 

Alamo Beer & Wine

1101 E. 5th

Plainview, Texas

aptly named

 

It's not the alley that is named but rather its storefront, the former Turquoise Alley Furniture and Antique Shoppe.  How nice that the alley was "decorated" since it  has not building on the opposite side and is visible from the street Downtown Historic District of Plainview.  Quite a change from the seedy scenes usually found in alleys.

 

Turquoise Alley

505 Broadway

Plainview, Texas

2.1.2015

505



chromatics

 

Chromatics, or color science, includes the perception of color by the human eye and brain.  My brain knew that this corrugated tin building was drab gray but during the dusk of a bright, clear day it appears blue.  Supposedly clean air scatters more blue light than red wavelengths. The bullet holes just punctuate the picture!

 

Plainview, Texas

2.1.2015

 



the light on the cross

 

On the corner is 8th and Beech is yet another abandoned church building.  The congregation of The Pentecostal Church moved south a few blocks to newer digs.  Peeling paint, faded letters, boarded windows-- wonder if the spirit moved too?

 

The former Pentecostal Church

8th and Beech

Plainview, Texas

2.1.2015

closed on sunday

 

Evidently the cat didn't realize the business was closed on Sunday, but still decided a bit of sunshine on the window ledge was in order.

 

The Wagon Yard

400 Ash

Plainview, Texas

the goal

 

I wonder if Mario were a basketball fan?

 

Gordo's Laundry

1201 N. Columbia

Plainview, Texas

2.1.2015



the blue door

 

In 2012 the Harvest Queen Mill was dethroned -- another Plainview business bites the dust.  Agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland cut 1,000 jobs, including the 30 or so employees in Plainview, due to declining corn and soybean prices.The Plainview Harvest Queen Mill and Elevator was built in 1926 to mill wheat. The facility was converted in the 1970s to produce industrial starch from grain sorghum. ADM, an international corporation out of UK, acquired the facility in 1985.  A fixture on the Plainview skyline, this portion of the mill is about six stories with the blue door on the 3rd level.

 

Harvest Queen Mill and Elevator

1208 N. Columbia

Plainview, Texas

2.1.2015

photo courtesy of  Plainview Herald



bottoms up

 

Somehow, it is not surprising that this dual purpose bar didn't make it.  Rockers and knights? Heavy metal and lute music in the same establishment?  Beer or mead?  The storefront is for rent, if you are interested in a business opportunity-- one half is empty with Pepto-Bismol pink walls and the other side is your basic castle motif.  By the way, Wayland Baptist College is just a few blocks away.

 

2408 West 5th Street

Plainview, Texas