Well preserved architecture. I remember when this theater was open (boy am I old). I didnt have to wait for the street to clear - it was this empty already. There are so few cars - it's like a scene in an old sci fi movie, after everyone dies of a mysterous disease and leaves the town vacant (like, say, the Andromeda Strain).
When I was a high school student, this was the Quincy Free Public Library. I was a page there. Boy am I old. By the way, the year that "The Andromeda Strain" came out was about the last year that this building housed the Library.
Diamonds in the rough. If these buildings could be moved, brick by brick, to, say, Astoria, they would be a great tourist attraction. I suspect that the main reason that they are still standing is that no-one cares enough about the neighborhood to either renovate them (in the wrong hands, disasterous) or demolish (which would be a big loss).
Washington Park. These trees are huge. Lindens, Elms, Maples, Sycamores, a Ginkgo, various evergreens. What a treasure.
My apologies to anyone in Quincy who may read and take offense at this posting.
ReplyDeleteAn anonymous comment was left with some official-sounding boosterism about the multimillions of dollars spent to improve downtown Quincy.
This blog is basically a diary that anyone can read, and as such describes subjective impressions. There are blogs where political debate is the norm, but I dont intend to participate in such, and this topic is really peripheral to the content of this blog (1 or 2 entries out of about 150 now)
I thought about editing or removing the entry to avoid stepping on toes, but that seems wrong. The area really was this empty and abandoned-looking on the day that these photos were taken. It was kind of eerie. My impression is that most local commerce is a few miles East of here, not in this old area. This old 'downtown' area really is a treasure, is beautiful, and historic, and I hope that it remains a treasure. If it offends someone to see this comment in an obscure blog among literally millions on the internet... well, someone isn't busy enough.
Comment was not kept.
Developer Bob Mays has been working very hard for a decade or more to get the downtown redeveloped. He just can't find enough people with money who are interested.
ReplyDeleteI hope that he finds someone. This is really a beautiful downtown and it would be nice to see it thrive with original buildlings and trees intact!
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