FountainScape: Burblings
Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille
Autumn light illuminates the spray of the burbling fountains in front of the downtown Kanawha County Library. The fountains, with their weathered, watery patina, more resemble actual moss-covered stones in the forest, rained upon by a waterfall, which is why the fountain is such a welcome presence in the midst of the city.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
What a great photograph!
When I was a child, it was the golden age for kids - the 70s. In those days our mothers just wanted rid of us, no questions asked. Many a summer day I would take the Tyler Mountain bus to Charleston to to take in a matinee or window shop or just people watch.
After a long hot day in town, I would look at that fountain and wish I could put my face on those cool, wet structures. The sound of the water alone would cool me off.
I miss the Charleston of those days. Charleston had a real electricity before the mall and Cinema 7 sucked the life out of it. I’d take Kresgees anyday over Ellen’s (pretentious overpriced) Ice Cream. I’d take Moore’s bookstore anyday over Taylor’s. Now that was a real, deal bookstore. The people who worked there knew every title in the place. They weren’t a bunch of kids who couldn’t tell you where their own a** was without a computer. And the old Peanut Shoppe! The women there used to scoop out your treats with a cigarette dangling off of their lips.
And the smell of Capitol street then. It smelled like movie theaters and lunch counters and car exhaust. On Fife Street you could smell the chemicals from the beauty college and on Summers Street you could smell the deisal fumes from the bus station. By the library you could smell the incense from Pepperland.
Now Capitoal street just smells like bad expresso and self important lawyers and lawyerettes.
Those pictures made me miss Charleston so much for some reason and I live right here.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Goodness, well. I am pleased the photo was so evocative to all those stored memories. I do appreciate that fountain myself. But the Peanut Shoppe still serves — and I personally would rather have my Swedish fish minus Marlboro ashes, my sweet! Did the Kresges have a soda fountain? I do so love vanilla cokes. WD
October 4th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
But of course! Most all of those lunch counter places did if memory serves. But mostly I remember them for their hotdogs. The Diamond lunch counter made a hotdog that would make you cry. I was/am a lemon coke girl myself. On a hot day, a fountain coke with a lemon slice and crushed ice (which you can’t find anymore) was the elixar of the gods. You know, many of those place were open well into the 80s.
Personally, I like the grittier side of life. A little cigarette ashe never hurt anybody. I miss the days when people didn’t live to be offended. When I was a kid, kicking on Capital Street, you could seem some real characters and the streets were so crowded! so alive! And the night life, I can’t even tell you. If you were young and cute, you didn’t need any ole ID. I was hitting the bars at 15. After hours, New York had nothing on the Sterling Restaurant at 3:00 a.m. At the old Quarrier diner you could order an omelette and a beer. They would bring drinks up to you from the Tap room. It was more fun to be young then. The cops sent you home with a warning. People minded their own business. .
I could go on and on. Thanks for the photographs, they really did stir me up.
October 7th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Thanks Kimmy,for reminding me of the Charleston I used to know.I’ve been away 24 years, and a lot of my memories are similar to yours.
I remember going downtown with my mom,to kresge’s and woolworth’s,
and maybe getting a toy at Cohen’s drug store.Christmas shopping on Capital street in the snow was unforgettable.
In junior high school(Thomas Jefferson) we would walk to Finlay’s Pharmacy to get milkshake.
We used to ride elevators in as many buildings as possible.Later,as we got more daring we would try to access the roofs of the taller buildings, some times climbing outside.(Proof that God looks out for fools).
Pepperland and the old Budget store sure are fond memories .Did you ever listen to the old WVAF?
That was what a radio station should be!And how about quarter draft night at the old corner lounge?
That fountain sure has been the jumping off point for a lot of adventures,and the focal point of a lot of memories.Thanks again Walker for showing us expats a glimpse of Home
October 10th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Do I remember VAF!? I was among the outraged protestors when it went from album rock to pablum rock.
How about the shopping in those days? Frankenbergers, the Diamond, Stone & Thomas, and all of those little stores that came and went. My kids have never been to a stand alone shoe store. Then of course there was Lances and all of their dirty trinkets. That was among my favorites as a kid.
I remember having my first drink in the Roaring 20s. Ha, ha. I’m old.
Then what about all the places to eat? The Top of the Inn, the Quarrier Diner, The Empire Diner, Laury’s and on and on. What was that place on the parking lot across from Stone & Thomas? It had a gay section in the back and George Legg used to play there. It was so stuck in time. Real martini drinkers went there (as opposed to the trendoid martini drinkers of today).
Oh for a swamp water from the Daniel Boone.
Sigh.
October 10th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
P.S.
Hang in there Esteps!
October 10th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Goodness, what a boatload of rich memories from one shot. I love it. WD
October 11th, 2006 at 11:01 am
I don’t get downtown very much even though I live on the West Side. Those meter maids p*ss me off.
When I saw the photographs I realized I hadn’t really looked at downtown for a long time.
Too bad the arcade fell to the wrecking ball.
It’s a good thing Europeans don’t rip down everything that needs new wiring or what not. Instead, you can go to Italy and see the home Columbus grew up in or the house that DaVinci lived in.
Here, a building gets old and it comes down. Who knows how much longer the fountain has before it’s demolished. The library is in the cross hairs as it is.
Thanks for the photos.