6,500th Post: Twenty-Three Years of Paul McKee

Wow, I suppose 6,500 posts have a way of sneaking up on you! I also suppose since Paul McKee and his failed Northside TIF is in the news, it would be germane to talk about it and how I’ve been investigating and shedding light on his dealings for eighteen years now. Some of the first…

Old North, January 2026

As Charles Dickens said in one of my favorite books, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Let’s get the worst of times out of the way first up in Old North. This act of deprivation committed against what was and could be a beautiful building on Hebert Street (I…

Oakherst and Oakley Places, West End

I thought I would take some more photographs of the Oakherst Concrete Block National Historic District while I was up in the West End. Platted in 1906 as the Woodland Park Addition, as we’ve seen before back in October of 2017, concrete blocks were manufactured on site for what was considered a new exciting building…

Bartmer Avenue Between Hodiamont and Hamilton Avenues, West End

I’ve looked at Bartmer Avenue in the Chamberlain Addition several times over the years, starting all the way back in April of 2012. This is Gamble’s Second Subdivision of Rose Hill, from 1871, which shows just how early this area was originally platted. We’re going to start at close to the city limits at Hodiamont…

Hyde Park, 2011, From the Vault, Part Two

Here are more photographs from the vault. This is south of Salisbury Street in Hyde Park, I can tell. Things have gotten better with the filling in of vacant lots, but there have also been demolitions.

Hyde Park, 2011, From the Vault, Part One

I found some old photographs from Hyde Park that I took back in 2011 that I never used. I don’t know why, and apart from a few views, I have no idea where these photos are. I think the majority are along Salisbury Street or thereabouts. Things have changed dramatically in fourteen or fifteen years.

Around the Former Plaza Theater, West End

It’s hard to believe it, but I first photographed the former Plaza Theater way back in April of 2009, when we were first starting to explore the West End and points to the north, such as Hamilton Heights and Wells-Goodfellow by heading up Clara Avenue. Today, it’s the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, which has occupied…