Can you recommend some Main Streets for me to shoot?

[sandy_sorlien]

Hello to all architecture freaks and observant travelers. I am starting a new book on Main Streets in America and want to select 12-15 American towns or cities which have interesting, "authentic" (if that has any real meaning) main streets (don't have to be called Main). The photographer David Plowden has given me lots of good suggestions in the upper Midwest and New York State. I've also scouted many towns and have tentatively chosen Kutztown, PA (a college town with a great mix of residences & businesses, 18th-century houses, and Amish buggies rolling through), Abbeville, SC (unspoiled Main Street square), Bristol, RI (great maritime and patriotic character) and Bisbee, AZ (physically & historically fascinating - or at least it was in 1994 when I was last there).

 

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I will be making B&W diptychs of the streetscape and subdued color pictures of individual facades, using an Arca 6x9 view camera. I will also interview residents & businesspeople for my text. I am not interested in the sort of gentrified streets that have nothing but cafes, boutiques, and gift shops for tourists. They could be streets in decline if there's a good story in the decline. Extra credit goes to streets with a hardware store, barber pole, and/or pharmacy (not CVS or Rite-Aid).

 

I'll drive anywhere!

[jeff_buckels]

Albuquerque. The main drag -- Central Ave., which is Route 66 -- is

plenty visual for a number of miles, esp. in the area known as Knob

Hill. Sort of 30s-pueblo-deco-contemporary-outrage style. Anyway,

since you're going to Bisbee, you may as well swing through town and

see what I mean. If you do, email me in advance and I'll help. -jeff

buckels

[guytal]

California Ave. in San Francisco - look for the steep inclines, maybe

with trolley descending.

As a contrast point, you may want to get a picture of the main street

at Bodie (ghost town north of Lee Vining in the eastern Sierra Nevada

with a lot of the original buildings still standing).

[richard_boulware]

Middle America main streets? Try Iowa! First on your list should be

West Branch, birthplace of Herbert Hoover. When I was there covering

the Hoover funeral in the mid '60's it was like turning the clock

back to middle America in the 20's. Other targets could be

Mt.Pleasant, and Mt. Vernon, Ia. Although I am in Colorado now,....if

you want to get a taste of Grant Woods' America...head for Iowa!

Richard Boulware - Denver.

[rtritter1]

Keene NH its the lagrest main street in the US. Almost any main street

in Vermont,New Hanpshire and Maine are gems to photograph becuse they

all have some hishory behind them.

[raymond_bleesz]

recommended Main St/s---Silver Plume & Georgetown, Colo-"The Silver

Queen of the West"----a Williamsburg of the West and her sister town,

Silver Plume--approx 600 feet higher in elevation---earlier

photographer, William Henry Jackson gave it a shot!

[rcoda]

Main Street, Manasquan, NJ

 

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Old world charm with many of the stores run by descendants of the

original proprietors. They have a "real" jeweler, an old-fashioned

hardware store, and old theater.

 

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And it's just minutes away from the beach!

[david_goldfarb]

I haven't been back in years, but the main drag in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

is quite nice. There's an old hardware store, candy shop, nice kite

shop, structures from the old mill that ran along the falls, the falls

themselves, beautiful 19th-century houses, and if you approach from

the right direction, there's a very dramatic hill from which to

approach the "Main Street" area.

 

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For a very different kind of "Main Street," try Court St. in

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, New York, and get there quick before all

the old Italian shops and the Italian "social clubs" are forced out by

rising rents and replaced with 70's retro antique shops and nouveaux

restaurants. You might wander around the neighborhood around

Christmas, when brownstones will be decorated in full force.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Houston, Texas. Main Street here runs the gaunlet of modern

urban life from poor neighborhoods that are gentrifying in the

Heights and "El Northside" areas, into a dilapadated and in

some places revitalized down town and midtown area, to a

section where it is flanked by a major urban park on one side

and a spledid University campus on the other, and then through

the high density of the Texas Medical Center and then on out

past some of the last "no tell motels" and then past the

Astrodome and the new mammoth Football stadium (due to be

finished in 2003 and declared to be ioutdated in 2012) to some

more nightclubs and on out to suburban farmland. Oh and did I

mention that there is a new light rail track being laid through the

most urban part of Main St?<P>

Besides if you come to Houston we can buy each other a beer!

[ellis_vener_photography]

Houston, Texas. Main Street here runs the gauntlet of modern

urban life from poor neighborhoods that are gentrifying in the

Heights and "El Northside" areas, into a dilapidated and in some

places revitalized down town and midtown area, to a section

where it is flanked by a major urban park on one side and a

splendid University campus on the other, and then through the

high density of the Texas Medical Center and then on out past

some of the last "no tell motels" and then past the Astrodome

and the new mammoth Football stadium (due to be finished in

2003 and declared to be outdated in 2012) to some more

nightclubs and on out to suburban farmland. Oh and did I

mention that there is a new light rail track being laid through the

most urban part of Main St? And yes hardware store, garages,

barbershops (with poles) closed movie theaters a plenty, as well

as some real architectural gems.<P>

Besides if you come to Houston we can buy each other a beer!

[j._wolfe]

Pittsburgh PA has a number of well preserved and facinating old

buildings in its downtown area. Market Square, and the street which

has Dollar Bank.

[david richhart]

Sandy...I would like to recommend the home of Antioch College...

Yellow Springs, Ohio. The citizens are not overburdened with the need

to have lawns immaculately manicured... that gives the side streets a

wonderful "homey" feel. The liberal attitude of the citizens also

makes them very receptive to artist's, so you won't have trouble

getting permission to take pictures... And don't forget to stop at

Young's Dairy for ice cream!!!

[jeff_buckels]

Another vote for Mt. Vernon, Ia. Beautiful. Having said that, I

don't know if I could resist a place named "Chagrin Falls", unless

it's What Cheer, Ia. .... jeff buckels (albuq)

[david_goldfarb]

And how could I forget?--Beatty, Nevada, "gateway to Death Valley."

Every home seems to have a patch of land in front of it where a lawn

might go, but conditions there just aren't amenable to lawns.

[jnorman1]

sandy - please take a look at my last book, "oregon main street" (by

james norman, pub by OHS (oregon historical society) press, available

at amazon.com, powells books, etc), which may give you some good

ideas. i compiled a series of about 50 historic main street views

from cities and towns across oregon, and went back to each location

and reproduced each view as it appears today. the images were

presented in the book as then and now pairs, and i had a team of four

of my historian colleagues write descriptions of each pair of images

describing the changes, both architectural and cultural, that had

occurred over the past century, and a chapter on the development of

cities in oregon. i wrote an introduction chapter that gave an

overview of the rephotographic process. all the contemporary images

were made with a 4x5 in black and white, with perspective control and

vantage point matching the historic view as closely as possible. the

project was immensely enjoyable, and the OHS museum in portland

prepared a wonderful year-long exhibition of the materials that has

now become one of their most rented-out traveling exhibitions around

the state. also check out the dover book "main street usa in early

photographs". there are several non-scholarly "then and now" books

available for most of the larger cities in the US which can give you

a good idea of what those city's main streets look like now. if what

you want is towns which show little change from the past, look for

places that have been bypassed by the interstate freeways, or even

better, bypassed by the railroads when they were built in the 1800s -

check out jacksonville in southern oregon in my book - the current

views look almost identical to the historic views. good luck on your

project.

[david_munson]

My suggestion is Main St. in Northampton, MA. Great town to begin

with, cool main street as well.

[marv6]

You'll probably never see Iowa mentioned 3 times in the same year

here, let alone the same day........

 

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David Plowden did a book a few years back, "A Sense of Place", in

Iowa mainly in the farm country. He felt the river areas, Mississippi

and Missouri, were a much different place than the heartland and

being from there I fully agree. He had a good number of main street

scenes in the book and they are an accurate look at the area then and

now. Go to a map of Iowa, draw a circle 200 miles in diameter using

the "hump" on the eastern edge as your center point (that's where I

sit even now) and you will find hundreds of small towns in 4 states

that are as varied as if they were in 4 countries. Let us know how

you make out and drop a line if you get in the area!

[neil_poulsen1]

Doesn't Disneyland at Anaheim have a Main Street? I think that would

be a good shot to include. I'm wondering if you could get the photo

before the park opens, or when it first opens. If you could get an

elevated shot, perhaps all the people would add value to the photo.

[david_munson]

Just for reference sake, Tracy Kidder wrote a book called <u>Home

Town</u> a couple years ago which has a photo of the main drag in

Northampton on the book jacket. Not the best photo, and it doesn't

include a whole lot, but a photo nonetheless...

[david_clark4]

Hi Sandy, I saw this neat main street once, of course I can't remember

the name of the town - right! But it is near the Mississippi River,

and it is where U.S. Grant was keeping shop when the civil war began.

I think it is Galena, Ill. There was a very interesting narrow main

street of red brick shops as they must have been in the 1850s. Best,

David

[dave_mueller]

If you want to do Pittsburgh, do it quick before the local politicians

rip down all the old buildings to put up city-financed over priced

department stores.

[sandy_sorlien]

Wow, this is exciting, I can't wait to get back on the road. Thanks to

all for the suggestions so far. David, I know Northampton well, that's

where my husband is from. It is indeed handsome and thriving, but

visually I find it too dominated by cars. Of course, that will be the

case in many places, and I'll have to work Early Sunday Morning like

Hopper. On the other hand, Abbeville, SC is a 9-5 working town and the

cars completely disappeared shortly after 5 PM, it was quite amazing.

To another David: yes, I've been to Galena and that is a good one! I

will definitely visit Chagrin Falls, OH, what a great name. I found

Chillicothe, OH also very interesting.

 

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Iowa freaks, you are right. The county seats with their fine

courthouses are especially lovely.

 

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James Norman, I will buy your book on Oregon Main Streets, thanks! I

already have the Dover book on Main Streets, which has stupendous

photographs.. They're not all "main streets," though. I plan to be

fairly strict about what is considered a "main street." For example,

in a large city like Pittsburgh or San Francisco, the street should

either be called Main or be one of its two or three original main

streets. Both Cincinnati and Philadelphia have gentrified, lively Main

Streets.

 

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RTR, is Keene's street wider than Fredericksburg, Texas? I find that

hard to believe!

 

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Richard, thanks for the Manasquan suggestion - that's not far from

where I live (Philadelphia) so I will definitely scout that.

 

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Ellis, I would love to come to Houston for beers. I might even look at

the street.

 

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Keep the ideas coming, this is great.

[qtluong]

The small Alaska communities might provide something different and

interesting. Not too many cars there, but rather four wheelers,

snowmobiles, and small planes.

[rob_tucher]

Pottersville, PA, home of Yuengling Brewery, the oldest brewery in

America (if you define it by the 50 United States and leave out

Canada) is charming and its streets are STEEP. I've always meant to

shoot there. Scranton, PA is commercialized with Steamtown (NPS) and

a mall but has some really "frozen-in-time" sections. As someone

said, Keene, NH and many other such towns in NH and VT are very likely

candidates. Flemington, NJ, where the Lyndberg Baby trial occured,

has some amazing architecture (Victorian-era) and hasn't been too

altered or too kitschified. Many such towns can be found in the

Pinelands of southern New Jersey, but it is hard to name them off

hand. Let me ponder some more.

[dan_smith]

Brigham City, Utah has a nice arch across Main Street proclaiming the

it the home of the World's Greatest Game Bird Refuge. It is lit up at

night with a neon duck on the sign. The old movie house, Hotel and

other buildings are still in place to lend a nice look to the street.