x marks the spot

 

A handy way to remember where you parked your pickup is to put it under the red X.  This building, currently serving as a garage, probably had a multitude of lives from gas station to cafe to whatever Red-X is.  A google search only raised questions because the place probably didn't sell smoke shop vapors nor testosterone steroids!

 

Floydada, Texas

2.19.2017

spot cash

 

Don't plan on buying your groceries at the Spot Cash - not only is it closed, it's only a shell of itself.  The grocery store served downtown Matador, according to newspaper ads, from the 1950s to the 1970s (they even gave Green Stamps).  But surely these elegant brick buildings housed other concerns during the heyday of the ranch town.  The owners proudly claimed the storefronts with their initials--their names probably lost to forgotten history.

 

Matador, Texas

2.19.2017

architectural style?

 



In its day this storefront on the west side of the square was cool with the blue tile and rounded windows. Don't know it was '50s modern or some other architectural style. Today it is just sad -- another small town business closed. 

 

Gattis Drug

Tahoka, Texas

8.27.2016



idle: not active or in use

 

The Idle Hour Café lived up to its name.  All its hours are now idle.  The "no trespassing" sign on the door means the roof has fallen in and the floor is a sea of mud and rubble.

 

Cimarron, New Mexico

8.19.2016

no vacancy

 

The derelict condition of the Derrick Motel is probably due to the oil bust of the '80s rather than the current downturn.  Or it may be that not much traffic stops off the interstate in Clyde, Texas.

 

Derrick Motel

Clyde, Texas

3.4.2016



"hoss"

 

Before you think that this image does not fit with my recent holiday-themed images, be advised that Dan Blocker's  birthday was December 10.  I found this mural of Hoss on the side of a defunct drive-in on the main drag of O'Donnell.  Dan Blocker made his reputation as Hoss Cartwright on the television series "Bonanza" and in doing so, put O'Donnell Texas on the map.  O'Donnell embraced this transplanted native son and memorializes him throughout this town of 831.  Heritage Park features a head statue of Hoss by Glenna Goodacre, the sign "Blocker" marks the site of the family's store and in the O'Donnell Museum you can see Dan's extra-large size Cub Scout suit.  Don't look for Hoss's grave site in the O'Donnell Cemetery (as a friend and I once spent an hour doing); Blocker (Dec 10, 1928--May 13, 1972) is buried in his birth home of DeKalb, Texas

 

Hoss Cartwright Mural

7th Street and Doak

O'Donnell, Texas