The "The 'SoWe' Community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading one of my blog stories from October 6th when I published my first story telling about the area in Lancaster City known as Cabbage Hill.  It was so named for the German population who settled in the late 1700s within the boundaries of King, Prince, Seymour, Fairview, Manor and Pine Streets and grew gardens filled with cabbage which they made into sauerkraut.  

Eventually the area became known as the SoWe (South-West) neighborhood.  SoWe is a neighborhood revitalization effort led by Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership (LHOP), its partners, and the residents of the southwest community and key stakeholders.  This body advises LHOP's board of directors on the implementation of the Southwest Lancaster Revitalization Strategy.  The Strategy identifies and prioritizes various neighborhood revitalization actions such as community safety, housing, parks, education and connections.  

Click to enlarge.

One of the actions that was taken by the SoWe group was to try and add some art and color to the neighborhood through the use of wall murals which was meant to build and foster a stronger sense of community through artistic images.  The idea was conceived by Two Dudes Painting Company with artists Amber Kane, Matthew Chapman and Jordan Yeager leading the way.  A large mural was painted on the side of the Two Dudes building with led to 27 mini-murals throughout the SoWe Neighborhood.   I have included a few of these murals so you can see the level of creativity and artistry that exists in Lancaster's SoWe community.  Truly amazing artwork!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The above six images were part of a display by Two Dudes Painting Company.

Corner of Lafayette and Filbert Streets. 

681 Manor Street.

Urban Rendition of Edward Hicks' The Peaceable Kingdom which is a Mosaic rather than a  mural.

Window artwork on the Water Street side of the Water Street Ministry. 

Mural on the Prince Street side of the Water Street Ministry. 

Mural known as "What Do You Want To Be" at the corner of Freemont and Laurel Streets. 

The "Lancaster's 'Mr. Downtown' Has Died" Story

Steve's store at 315 North Queen Street in downtown Lancaster, PA.

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to remember when the last time was that I talked with Steve Murray.  Steve couldn't be missed since he was over 6 feet tall and always dressed in vintage clothing.  How he ever found clothes to fit his frame was always amazing to me.  There weren't many people his size who lived in the 1920s to maybe the 1970s.  But, he always seemed to find something different to cover his frame.  

Steve in his vintage clothing.

I never got to know Steve very well, but did stop many times at his shop at 315 N. Queen Street in downtown Lancaster.  Shop was known as Zap & Company and featured vintage clothing and furnishings, estate jewelry, objects d'art and Art Deco lighting.  He had fur pieces from the 1940s, Hawaiian shirts from the 1950s, pins, pearls, cigarette lighters of all types, cocktail shakers, classic movie posters and compact discs, to name a few other items.  He opened his store in 1973 and always seemed to have a few people shopping in the store when I would stop from time to time.  I did enjoy his vintage Hawaiian shirts that he wore all summer.  

Steve with mannequin Hilda outside Zap & Company.

Now, I tell you all this since Steve, The "godfather of downtown retail" died this past Sunday after suffering a brain aneurysm.  Steve was 68 years old.  Steve's Zap & Co. was a treasure trove for period clothing and pop culture memorabilia.  The store was a source of costumes and props for many Hollywood productions, from James Cameron's "Titanic" to TV's "That '70s Show" to Woody Allen's "Radio Days".  

Inside photo of his store.  It was jam-packed throughout.

You just couldn't walk past the store without stopping out front and see what was in the window display.  The mannequins were dressed, and in some cases very scantily, in inventive ways.  The mannequin that stood by the front door, known as "Hilda" greeted customers in her latest get-up which was always picked by Steve.  

Remains of Zap & Company.

I may not have made many trips to the store, but after meeting me in the mid-1970s, he never forgot who I was.  Always greeted me as if I was his best friend.  But, on January 20, 2011 Steve's dream store was destroyed when a fire consumed his entire store.  The reason for the fire was never determined and the biggest asset to the store, "Mr. Downtown", was almost lost in the fire.  He recalls trying to reach for a fire extinguisher that was at the top of the basement steps when he must have fell and smashed the side of his head open.  The firemen found him, at first thinking him to be a mannequin.  

One of the few remaining memories I have.  A business card.

They did mouth-to-mouth and CPR on him and determined if he had been in the building another three or four minutes he would have died.  He was rushed to Lancaster General Hospital where he was first treated, but the severity of his burns was so great that they flew him by helicopter to well-known Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Delaware County for treatment.  Over a third of his body was burned.  

"Mr. Downtown"
You most certainly will be missed!

Both his arms and hands were burned with his right hand sustaining fourth-degree burns; burned to the bones.  Steve was in a coma for six weeks then underwent the first of 15 surgeries.  He had no memory of the fire.  Back in Lancaster shops in the 300 block of North Queen had signs asking people to pray for Steve's recovery.  Flowers and notes were left at the boarded up store at 315.  Steve went through quite a bit of physical therapy during his recovery.  But, his prized store, as well as his pet cat, was gone.  His sister and daughter were his biggest supporters during his recovery.  Today his pride and joy still is a vacant lot with a six-foot high black wooden fence in the place where Hilda one stood.  Oh, Yea!  Hilda did survive, but somewhat charred.  What happens now to the lot remains to be seen.  Whatever it is, it will never be as interesting and entertaining as Zap & Co. used to be.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Lancaster's Historic Fulton Theatre To Grow!" Story

The Fulton Theatre is the white colored building on the right.
Prince Street is to the right and King Street is to the left.  Construction
has begun already on King. St.  Click on photographs to enlarge.

It was an ordinary day.  Early Thanks- 
giving morning and I'm walking the streets in the city of Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania looking for a few good photo- graphs of the Fulton Theatre.  The streets are void of most traffic due to it being a holiday, so I have very little trouble walking into the streets to take photos.

The Fulton Theatre in downtown Lancaster.

 The Fulton Theatre faces the first block of North Prince Street and extends west to the first bock of North Water Street.  To both the right and left of the theatre are buildings that extend to West King Street on one side and West Grant Street on the other.  The Fulton has been acquiring properties for the past 17 years and now owns all of the property in that square area and has spent a few years raising $21 million of the projected $29 million it needs to make that corner in the city a first class theatre district.  

This is the jail that stood at one time on the site of the Fulton.

I must admit I am excited to see what will appear on that plot of  ground by the projected finish date of fall of 2020.  I have been a very small part of the Fulton family since I have been making my Polaroid prints for the retiring board members for the past half-dozen years.  

On Water Street appears this sign telling of the Indian Massacre.

The Fulton Theatre was built in 1852 on the site of what had been the city jail where the last of the Conestoga Indians were massacred in 1763.  Today it is listed as a National Historic Landmark and has seen quite a few performers such as Ole Bull, a famous Norwegian violinist, Adelina Patti, a nine-year old who became a world class opera singer, Horace Greeley, Mark Twain and Edwin Durang who was Lancaster born and America's first native born thespian.  

The sign above can be seen on the rear of the Fulton.
The stone wall is on the bottom left of this photo.

It served as a military hospital after the Battle of Gettysburg and was the location where Lancaster's "Great Commoner" Thaddeus Stevens help start the Republican Party.  The Fulton Theatre is also the oldest working theatre in the United States.  And now, it is going to become an historic performing center that will rival any performing arts center in the country.  

This is an artist's rendering of the new Fulton Theatre
and all of the other new buildings on the quarter block
between Prince, King, Water and Grant.

Some of the changes to be made are: A lobby with a skylight bridge between the current lobby and the education building on Grant Street and a performance studio that will be built on Grant Street that will have room for 1,400 patrons with new bathrooms and a bar.  Buildings that are now retail businesses and restaurants will be turned into four stories with apartments on the top floors for visiting artists and performers and retail space on the lower level.  

This photo shows what the corner of North Water
and East Grant will look like.

Various other changes will be made that can be used for private gatherings and parties.  Local construction companies will do all the work while the theatre will continue to operate on its normal schedule.  The Lancaster Community is excited and will be rewarded in the near future with some of the best entertainment in the country.  Just wait and see!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This plaque tell the story of John Edwin Durang, America's first native born thespian. 

An early photograph of what at one time was Fulton Hall, later renamed Fulton Theatre.

  

The "Lancaster's Art Scene: Part I - Street Art Galore" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Driving the city streets of Lancaster searching for some of the alleged 37 murals that adorn the buildings, fences, roofs, ceilings and garages in this city of visual, auditory and performing arts.  Lancaster has it all ... and it gets better all the time.  I wrote a story a few years ago about a few murals that I had viewed in the city and at the beginning of this summer I wrote a story telling of the many decorated pianos that could be found throughout the city that allowed anyone who might be tempted to sit and tickle the keys a bit to do so.  

Gretna Bike Shop sports this neat mural on the side of it's shop.
Click on any of the photographs to enlarge them.

Well, recently there was an article in the local newspaper telling of the vast amount of street artwork that has recently been added to the art scene in the city. So, I just had to see for myself.  Began by examining the map of the city that was presented in the paper that showed the location of the 37 spots where there was artwork.  I picked a variety of locations and began my journey with my camera near my childhood home near the north end of the city.  First stop was on Jackson Street where I found a bicycle shop that had an exterior wall covered with a fantastic mural which featured the drive mechanism of a bike.  

Mural featuring former Mayor Richard Scott.

Then it was south on Prince Street to Clipper Magazine Stadium, home of the Lancaster Barnstor- mers inde- pendent league baseball team, where a $30,000 mural was made to honor the former war hero and mayor of Lancaster, whose passion for baseball was responsible for bringing back professional ball to Lancaster.  Now, rather than tell you about the murals I visited, I'll take you on a visual tour of some of the artwork that makes Lancaster such a fantastic city in which to live.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Across the street from the baseball stadium is this mural which is painted on the of the local YMCA.

Enlarge this mural so you can read it.  It is on the ceiling at the entrance to the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in the center of Lancaster City.

This beautiful mural, titled Lancaster City, is painted on a fence along Grant Street in the city. 

Located in the southeast end of the city is this mural depicting a painter at work.  It is across the street from the Two Dudes Painting Company on Poplar Street.

I traveled a few blocks from the above location to the Lafayette Elementary School where a retaining wall was covered with a series of paintings, all fantastic as individual paintings.  The school's parent's group helped raise funds to have the paintings done.  The following three photographs are parts of this mural.

 

This mural is just past the Eastern Market Building on East King Street.  It illustrates the different cultures that live in the city of Lancaster.

This is on a wall above a parking garage and is off of Grant Street.  To me it resembles the alleyway that I had to drive through to get to the mural.

As you can see by the vehicles, this mural is painted on the wall of a building that has parking next to it.  It is titled "Welcome to the West End" and is found at the corner of West Walnut and North Mulberry Streets.

The "Please get rid of your gum and get your paper and pencil ready" Story

It was a ordinary day.  Carol was visiting with a friend so I had the TV to myself.  Doesn't happen very often during the day, so I pulled up the menu and found a show that was about the top discoveries that changed mankind.  Interesting show, but what really got me was when they hit the top five on the list.  It was like going back in time and teaching my Graphic Arts class all over again.  So I'll give you the five important discoveries in reverse order and make sure you remember them, since I may quiz you at a later date.(#5) The development of Cuneiform writing.  I remember teaching about Cuneiform writing and how it was perhaps the beginning of the written word in civilization.  The name comes from the Latin word cuneus meaning "wedge" owing to the wedge-shaped style of writing.  

1. 
   In cuneiform, a carefully cut writing implement known as a stylus is pressed into soft clay to produce wedge-like impressions that represent word-signs, known as pictographs, and later phonograms or "word-concepts" which is closer to our modern day understanding of a word.  The system was first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia around 3500-3000 BCE (Before Christian Era).  The earliest cuneiform tablets were pictorial but eventually developed into more complex word representations.  One no longer had to struggle with the meaning of a pictograph, since one could now read a word-concept using characters.  The characters used were greatly reduced over time from about 1,000 to 600.  Makes our alphabet of 26 letters seem small.  Cuneiform writing is certainly not easy to read and takes someone skilled with patience to accomplish the job.  
2. (#4)  The Moon Rock was listed as the 4th most important discovery in civilization.  Rocks brought back from the moon on either a US expedition of one by a Soviet expedition have been measured by radiometric dating techniques.  
   
   They have ranged in age from 3.16 billion years to up to 5.3 billion years old.  The oldest ages of rocks from the Earth are between 3.8 and 4.28 billion years old.  Rocks from Earth and similar to Moon rocks in some regards, but very different in others.  When the first specimen of rocks was opened, it was said that the atmosphere was hushed and expectant.  The scientists were clad in surgeon's gowns and caps and carrying gas masks for use in case they should be exposed to any moon dust.  It was determined that moon rocks and dust hold no threat to life on earth and how no fossil life, living organisms and not organic material.  Much was determined about the moon by using the rocks that were brought back to Earth.  I Googled "Moon Rocks" and found you could bid on them on eBay.  
3.  (#3)  So here's another topic that I covered in my Graphic Arts class in high school.  The discovery of the Rosette Stone.  It is reported that this stone is the Code Book of the universe.  It was discovered at Rosette in 1799 by Napoleon's army and proved the key to deciphering Egyptian Hieroglyphs.  
   
   The person who found it was Pierre Francois-Xavier Bouchards, a French officer of engineers.  It was sent to the Institut d'Egypte in Cairo and then taken to London in 1802.  While at the British Museum it was described as a priestly decree affirming the cult of 13-year-old Ptolemy V.  It tells of an agreement between Egyptian priest and the pharaoh on March 27, 196 B.C. and names honors bestowed on Macedonian Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes.  The stone itself is inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt.  It appears in three scripts : the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script and the lowest Ancient Greek.  Since it says basically the same thing in all three scripts, it is said to provide the key to modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. 
4. (#2) The importance of Coinage.  The earliest coins appeared simultaneously in two places; China and western Asia Minor in the late seventy century B.C.  
   
   Whether they were invented by the Ionian Greeks or by the neighboring Lydians will probably never be known, but it was the Greeks who spread coinage throughout the Mediterranean.  The use of the barter system eventually came to an end with the discovery of coinage in the world.  Metals nowadays serve the main purpose of money in the form of coins.  
5. (#1)  And, the most important discovery that changed mankind was the Bible.  It changed the course of history and was used in not only Christianity, but in Judaism and Islam.  Skeptics claim that the Bible has been changed, however, it is important to define the terms that apply to the source of our English Bible.  Autographs were the original texts written either by the author's hand or by a scribe under their personal supervision and could be changed if not understood by the writer of the document.  
   
   Manuscripts were the first printed documents that didn't arrive until 1456 with the invention of movable type which was attributed to Johann Gutenberg.  He produced the first printed Bible in Latin.  Up until that time the Bible was hand copied onto papyrus, parchment or paper.  You can easily see how some things could be changed by the monks and scribes who did the hand copying.  Translations also could have caused some changes when the Bible was translated in to different languages from the original Hebrew and Greek.  The first English translation was by John Wycliffe in 1380 and was prepared from the Latin Vulgate.  Heavens, I had Latin in school and I'm positive that I translated many of the words differently than they really were.  

So, these are the five events or discoveries that allegedly changed the world.  Whether you agree with it or not, they certainly were important.  And, I think I found a very interesting TV channel that I will be watching again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Buying Up The Block" Story

The historic Fulton Opera House in downtown Lancaster, PA.

It was an ordinary day.  Just made another delivery to the Fulton Opera House in downtown Lancaster, PA.  Every year I have been making altered Polaroid prints of the Fulton for the retiring members of their board of directors.  Aaron Young, the managing director, contacted me recently with the five names for the photos for this year.  I have brass plaques made with name and years of service for the retiring members and place the plaque under the photo which I mat and frame.  I called early today to tell them I was ready to deliver the five finished photos.  I was told to drive to the north side of the Fulton, park along the alley and ring the bell.  Someone would buzz me in and I could ride the elevator to the third floor to deliver the photos.  The Fulton Opera House is amazing.  I have done a series of stories on the history of the place, but it never ceases to amaze me when I enter the building and step back into history.  The 1852 building is still beautiful, even the elevator.  The elevator is huge, since it was built to move sets from the lower levels to the stage.  Brass railings line the sides of the elevator and maroon velvet covers parts of the sides.  The Fulton is considered to be the nation's oldest continuously operating theatre and is a National Historic Landmark.  And now, there will be a few more changes to the Fulton.  

The Fulton can be seen as the light colored building on the
right side of this photo.  The Fulton is attempting to buy
the remaining buildings pictured here so they can preserve
the historic corner in downtown Lancaster, PA.

In a short time the main stage will be geared for musicals while a new theatre, known as the Black Box Theatre is being built on the fourth floor of the building.  It will be used for more intimate and smaller shows.  Mostly plays will be performed in the Black Box Theatre since fewer theatergoers come to the Fulton to see plays than to see musicals.  Early September will see the first play to reach the stage in the new theatre.  But, not only is there going to be a new stage, there are more changes in store for the Fulton.  Between the Fulton, which is located in the first block of North Prince Street, and West King Street, are located several buildings which the Fulton has been buying since the early 2000's.  Several board members have bought some buildings and donated them to the Fulton while other board members have donated to the purchase of buildings.  The buildings being purchased are bounded by North Prince, West King, North Water and West Grant Streets.  Within that area there is only one building, at 6 N. Prince, that doesn't belong to the Fulton.  The expansion will allow the Fulton to add more amenities for the guests who visit.  More restrooms is a top priority.  An expanded backstage area and storage area are other priorities.  The Fulton would also like to be able to provide housing for traveling programs which they book for their stage.  The Fulton does own other locations around the city to accommodate performers, but would like to keep everyone in one central location.  I'm anxious to see what is in store for the south-east corner of the block where the Fulton is located.  I'm sure it will be as impressive as the elevator I rode to deliver my photos today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.