gleeking out big time

I'm ready. T-minus four hours.

preservationists

There’s been a flurry of public outcry around here amid discussions of tearing down historic buildings (namely the Balcony Building on the Plaza and the old Cosby Hotel downtown). People are very upset that our urban “fabric” is being ripped at the seams to make way for nondescript office buildings and parking lots.

European travels gave me an appreciation for what building preservation does for urban and cultural “fabric,” even if it isn’t the most economically sound approach. (“The whole continent’s a musuem!” as one of my few readers would remind us.) But Chinese travels made clear what a loss of rich cultural heritage destruction and rebuilding can bring. Granted, these two buildings in Kansas City are not at the mercy of Mao’s Red Guard in the thrust of the Cultural Revolution, but, I've just been thinking.

All I wanted to say though is: let’s get some more McMenamins brothers in the world.

These guys have made a habit of purchasing dying historic buildings and resuscitating them as places everyone wants to go to--BARS--while preserving them admirably. The old Catholic school in Bend is now a B&B, restaurant, theater, and a couple different pubs in different nooks and crannies of the school grounds. (Lest you fret about the Catholic education of the youth, St. Francis School moved to a new campus in another part of town so we could go to concerts in the Fr. Luke Room and smoke cigars in O'Kane's, the former school's garage.)

Kennedy School in Portland
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in Bend

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Fr. Luke Room at Old St. Francis School

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consolation

"It's a fucking--fucking--bitch to try to create anything worthwhile."

--my second favorite Missouri Jesuit,
glass of bourbon in one hand,
cigar in the other,
on my current writing project

"the world makes you feel so small"

-- "Citywide Rodeo"