August 28, 2010

A superior expanse of roadway.

P1020369
(Enlarge.)

... somewhere in Cincinnati. This is the kind of thing you know isn't pretty and you'd hate to have in your neighborhood but you have the feeling that if it were a photograph, it would take on a strange, evocative grandeur. Is it wrong to feel that way? Should I be ashamed of myself to find this scene beautiful... but only because I'm not there?

15 comments:

MayBee said...

When I drive by scenes like this, I always think "that would be on an album cover".

Unknown said...

I don't know if I'd call it beautiful. It certainly evokes the 40s and 50s and the muscular dynamism and grandeur of America at its industrial peak.

Magnificent might be a better word.

PS Drive safe, guys.

GMay said...

This photo evokes something different for me - why didn't that Chevy dealer try and get some of that Obama money to spruce the place up a bit?

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trooper York said...

Hey is that a picture of hdhous's place in the Hamptons?

He has a big sign in front of his digs that says "I am Superior to You!"

Just sayn'

Charlie Martin said...

No, you're just Japanese. They have a word for this: haikyo -- the beauty of ruins.

tim maguire said...

Should I be ashamed of myself to find this scene beautiful... but only because I'm not there?

Depends, are the people who are there compelled by force to be there?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

This photo evokes something different for me -

Me too. Another failed business. Crushed hopes and dreams not only from the car dealer's perspective but also from the people who can no longer afford to buy even the junker cars that were once on the lot.

Urban decay and a deeper and deeper spiral into a depressed economy.

I know. Debbie Downer here.

Trooper York said...

Was that one of the dealerships that Obama ordered to close?

kellymo said...

Superior is still up & running here in Cincinnati, although it's a Honda dealer these days. Probably a message in there, somewhere.

chickelit said...

DBQ wrote: Urban decay and a deeper and deeper spiral into a depressed economy.

I gotcha beat here.

jungatheart said...

' Should I be ashamed of myself to find this scene beautiful... but only because I'm not there?'

Kind of like slum tourism?

There is a beauty to these kinds of sites, like the Liberty Tire pic in the previous post. It makes you sense the passage of time and gives a poignant sense of nostalgia.

Darcy said...

Dust Bunny Queen! New avy? So nice to see your face.

Pretty lady.

Largo said...

I would't say grandeur, but I like the photo. Blue sign against the blue sky; an amateurish red sign above a huge red arrow on the side of the building (and look, another sign and big arrow on the front!) Gaudy meets tacky.

The shop is diminutive, sheltered by sentinel lamp-posts whose wired form a semblence of walls about her. Meanwhile, big blue sign is standing aloof, with his back turned. -- Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

(Certainly glad it is not in my neighbourhood.)

stevenj said...

That somewhere is Northside. It's interesting to read comments about a snapshot of a familiar place from people who are using their imaginations to add the extras.