December 19, 2006
earth.google
I would hope that most people already know about Google Earth -- which allows you to view any part of the earth's surface using aerial or space photos. This is not always a "good" thing. I took a look at the old neighborhood where I grew up:
My elementary school (A) is still there on the northwest corner of Littlebridge and Kercheval. The north end of the school yard (a) had a very tall chainlink fence -- tall to stop baseballs from going out of the school yard. The homeowners on the other side of the fence had planted honeysuckle. I remember climbing that fence, 10-15 feet off the ground, to pick honeysuckle blossoms to sip on the sweet nectar.
On the northeast corner of Littlebridge and Kercheval (B) was the soda/candy shop. A double dip icecream cone was only 8 cents. It's gone, just an empty field as is most of the old neighborhood. Going east we cross St. James and there on the northeast corner of St James and Kercheval was a city park -- with a public swimming pool. They had showers -- you had to shower and pass inspection before being allowed in the pool. It's gone, and the park; replaced by a bridge over the railroad. Which railroad isn't supposed to be there -- it ran along the righthand edge of the photo, between Hart Street and Conner Lane.
The east side of Hart had a lumber yard. Weekends we would play among the lumber and on the tracks. All gone -- there is a Chrysler-Daimler assembly plant there. Grew up at 2227 Hart, Apartment 4, right there in the middle of the Plant (X). The apartment, gone; the crabapple tree in the front yard, gone; the street itself where we would roll crabapples under the wheels of moving cars, gone; the sidewalk where I learned to ride a bicycle, gone; Lycaste, the next street west of Hart, where my brother stabbed me with his knife, gone; Vernor, the street north of Kercheval, where I was struck by a car (F) and knocked 100 feet, gone.
Going south to Jefferson, it looks like the bar at Hart (D) is still there. Figure that a bar would survive in the neighborhood where a soda shop was razed. As was the movie theater, somewhere on the south side of Jefferson (E). Hot summer days we would take our 25 cents allowance and head for the theater. That got us entrance and a bag of popcorn. You could walk in anytime, right in the middle of the movie. Sit and watch the end, the next movie (all theaters ran two movies -- the A featured movie and the short B movie,) the newsreel, the cartoon, and repeat. None of this modern nonsense of lights on and clear out! We would go in just after noon and not come out until dusk -- it was bright and HOT outside, dark and air-conditioned in the theater.
But is it gone. All Gone.
You can't go home again -- home is no longer there.