Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The clouds above the South Side Bridge are tinged with the iridescence of abalone shell as the former Sunrise Museum, now a law firm, appears to rest atop the bridge that leads to it.

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The flags that stand at attention, all in a row, alongside Kanawha Boulevard in downtown Charleston, take on a peculiar appearance from a certain vantage point.

No, you do not need new glasses. If you look back into the DowntownWV archives,, you may find that some photos now appear to be posted twice. The internet intelligentsia at thegazz.com tell me that when they shifted this blog over to this new WordPress blog system, it stalled midway. They clicked again, hoping to get the photos over. Except they came over twice. Being as there are several hundred past photos in the blog, I will not anytime soon be getting around to clean up all these doppelgangers. I’ve blitzed the doubles as far back as early summer, so far. Merde! Pardon my French.

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The Capitol Dome, with its relatively new glaze of gold leaf, looks just about as fine as a state Capitol Dome should look, with the afternoon sun glinting off its flanks.

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

I don’t know about you, but I am about ready for some holiday decorations on these lamps along Quarrier Street. That’s also an anticipatory reaction to having some holiday time off. But where will I get my cabernet and cigar fix now that Vandalia Lounge has been shuttered? And what’s the backstory there, anyway? What’s Virgil Sadorro up to and what happened to co-owner– but minority partner — Pierre? Just asking…

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille. Click to enlarge.

These pillars at Haddad Riverfront Park look like the kind of place Tony Soprano might come to to whack somebody, then sink them to the bottom of the river with some concrete overshoes

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille. Click to enlarge.

The South Side Bridge is seeing double one cold night downtown last week. NOTE: I have not dropped into the Kanawha River and floated down to Cincinnati. I have been: a) out of town; b) sick with an upper respiratory jihad (who hasn’t, it seems?); c) finally figured out this new blogging program.

Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The blue sky and green turquoise compete a bit, but then settle into a nice symmetry, like wearing a colorful tire with a striped shirt, in this scene of the front of the Holiday Inn along Kanawha Boulevard, across from Haddad Riverfront Park.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The first casualty of the City of Charleston’s ginko tree removal campaign can be seen here in the 1000 block of Virginia Street (that’s the Charleston Newspapers building in the background). An editorial in the Gazette Monday lamented the felling of the female trees, which we understand is mostly because in the Autumn they drop these seedpods onto the sidewalk which are malodorous. The editorial noted: “We’ve never noticed any smell.” Well, then you don’t get out nearly enough. The pods are indeed stinky to high heaven — like the unwelcome gifts of canines on a hot day. One can understand why the city made the decision, yet it is always regretful to see trees brought down.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

The lanterns along Brawley Walkway stand sentinel as walkers split their time between Capitol and Summers streets. Buskers needed here: say, a steel drum band or a pennywhistle player. Or Charleston’s own Martytranny’s Collective Pulse.