Rochester Transit Corporation bus and trolley passes, 1937 to 1951.
Hey Hey Hey, No Decay
ADA ApprovedA friend of mine once told me that your bodega knows all your darkest secrets. Being my primary water supply, East Village Farms may know me better than myself. When I heard that they were closing I found it hard to believe; it’s clean, friendly, busy and, well, pricey. I always assumed it had long ago cleared the zenith of the retail life-cycle and was well into piloting the stratosphere of boundless, automatic prosperity. But this bodega has it’s own secret, one that anybody looking at the building from across the street will wonder - what’s upstairs?
A giant windowless brick shell traversed only by an old, warped fire escape juts up some 40ft directly above the store front, a giant black box. I learned from people in the neighborhood that this was once the old Hollywood Theatre which shut down in 1959, but what was more surprising was when I found out it wasn’t just another dusty, gutted empty space, but that it was the functional store room for my dearest bodega! If the store was my sparkling spring, this was its cavernous aquifer. I began asking regularly about going upstairs at every two-dollar hydration visit. I wanted to photograph it and at one point late at night did receive permission, only to return the following day to be met with language barriers and gestures of denial. Eventually, I found my friend working again and received an invitation to return “after midnight”. So I showed up with my camera and tripod, he warned me there was only one light, but it was plenty. Walking through the back past all the things you would expect and up a small staircase deposits you stage-left in this little store’s swollen subconscious.
After spending at least an hour shooting up there, I came down and gladly purchased a $15.50 6-pack of bud light. I’ll miss this place and the kind ladies who would sometimes slip a Haribo gummy pack into your bag. Rumor is the building and the old theatre are to be torn down very soon to make way for new development, East Village Farms will be closed in just a few weeks…
More photos at kevinsheaadams.com.
I have a keen interest in distressed and undesirable properties
I’m constantly looking at real estate, but I find myself uninspired by most of what I see. I am more interested in what you can’t see, or shall I say, only what I see in my head.
I think to myself, “oh, I’d want that torn out immediately” or “that would look so much better if it were here instead.”
Ultimately, I find myself wanting to change more than I’d like to keep and what better place to start than on a home nobody seems to like in the first place? I’m not interested in simple kitchen renovations or the removal of non structural walls. What I want to do is more substantial… much more radical than your standard renovation.
Right now, the things I am searching for most are homes slated for demolition and stuff so mundane that nobody wants to touch it. That way, regardless of how controversial my ideas may be, everyone would have to agree that what I did was an improvement.
Victorian Duplex by Envelope A+D
Cooler Ranch by Brian White
Kodak Files for Bankruptcy Protection
If Lady Gaga could save Polaroid, I’m sure Kodak could one up them with Devo.
Hell, their colors are a perfect fit for Kodak.
FREE ENERGY DOME WITH FILM PROCESSING! YELLOW SUIT INCLUDED WITH EVERY EASYSHARE.
They’d be out of bankruptcy in no time.
kodak sign by lomokev on Flickr.
Brian Eno - The True Wheel
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Aerin Lauder’s Aspen Home
It’s no secret that I have a bike problem, but there are certain things that I just can’t pass up.
This is my latest, an original Quintana Roo Superform triathlon frame. The Superform was Quintana Roo’s best bike of the eighties, using cutting edge geometry and the finest tubing available. Each bike received a unique paint job and no two were alike. The first Superforms were built by Rob Stowe in Rochester, NY, and judging by the elegant wishbone stay, I am 99.9% positive this one was built by him. (he used this unique stay on his later time trial frames) Other Superforms from this era were fillet brazed, this one is lugged which makes it even more uncommon. I know, I have two other Stowe bikes, but this one was a must have.
This bike is interesting because it was among the first bikes to use dual 650c wheels, and it has a super steep seat tube angle, 80˚, which was revolutionary at the time. (today, it’s fairly common to see this setup on time triathlon frames).
Now all I have to do is find some slick aero parts and period specific components to build this thing into a proper tri bike.
I’m such a nerd.
