Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Pál_K]

US license plates is something amazing for us, Europeans. I understand that you can put whatever you like on the front plate...

Not quite accurate.

As Chris wrote, some states don't require a front plate, but all require a rear plate.

The rear plate cannot be anything we want. When you get your plate from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) you can get a choice of:

- ordinary plate consisting of a letters and numbers (e.g. ABC 1234) which are just generated and manufactured in sequence with naughty combinations removed

- a vanity plate, usually your initials or business name, but the format is restricted in length, but you can get something like 365GTB V12 (I've seen it). Funniest one I ever saw was XYZZY. Best one I ever saw was P51ACE, on a Cadillac westbound on I-84 in Portland; it was driven by an old woman with an old man in the passenger seat. I should've followed them so I could meet him; instead, stupidly, I drove to work.

- some sort of commemorative plate - usually this is just a regular plate with a different background design

- some sort of "collector" or "historical" vehicle plate

 

[valdas]

Not quite accurate.

As Chris wrote, some states don't require a front plate, but all require a rear plate.

The rear plate cannot be anything we want. When you get your plate from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) you can get a choice of:

- ordinary plate consisting of a letters and numbers (e.g. ABC 1234) which are just generated and manufactured in sequence with naughty combinations removed

- a vanity plate, usually your initials or business name, but the format is restricted in length, but you can get something like 365GTB V12 (I've seen it). Funniest one I ever saw was XYZZY. Best one I ever saw was P51ACE, on a Cadillac westbound on I-84 in Portland; it was driven by an old woman with an old man in the passenger seat. I should've followed them so I could meet him; instead, stupidly, I drove to work.

- some sort of commemorative plate - usually this is just a regular plate with a different background design

- some sort of "collector" or "historical" vehicle plate

Yes, I understand this. With the rear plate is very similar to what we have in Europe (including vanity plates), but for the front one you have quite some liberty.

 

[Pál_K]

...

The Pantry is the last of the rough redneck bars and biker bars that once lined Wells Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is on the corner of Wells Street and Fourth Street.

...

That photo seems to capture every rough bar I've ever seen - the color, the shape, just...everything. I can smell it even now.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

That photo seems to capture every rough bar I've ever seen - the color, the shape, just...everything. I can smell it even now.

Yeah! This one is one of the roughest in town. There have been so many shootings, stabbings, and all-out brawls there that I lost count years ago.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A red 1957 BMW Isetta 300, adorned with American flags, at the 2023 Waynedale Memorial Day Parade.

I had never heard of the Isetta before; and it was interesting that BMW, a company usually associated with expensive luxury cars, would have built a tiny no-frills economy car like this.

The design is strange; to enter the car, the entire front opens. It does not have side doors like a conventional car. The car is powered by a tiny one cylinder engine that generates just 13 horsepower! To put that in perspective, my riding lawnmower has a 20hp single cylinder engine.

The annual parade runs north along Old Trail Road, from Waynedale United Methodist Church to the Prairie Grove Cemetery, in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

5-29-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This pair of motel chairs and matching table sit next to a 1960 Yellowstone camping trailer behind Otto's Ice Cream on Main Street (US-33) in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. They belong to Julie Collier, the ice cream parlor's owner. I photographed them on a summer evening, shortly before sunset.

Otto's is decorated in 1950's style. In addition to the vintage camper and motel chairs behind the shop, the inside features a complete 1950's-era kitchen cabinet and appliance set.

8-26-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

When this supermarket on Fort Wayne's south side was opened in 1956, it was advertised as the largest grocery store in the country. Originally called Eavey's, it was bought by the Fort Wayne based Scott's Foods chain in the late 1960s.

In 2007, Kroger bought out Scott's, whose stores were located throughout northeast Indiana, including several Fort Wayne locations. Kroger closed the Decatur Road store, with its famous giant cornucopia sign, in January of 2009.

The store's abrupt closing upset a lot of Fort Wayne residents, who feared that the well known landmark would be demolished. As of 2012, the empty store and its iconic sign still stand, but there are no plans for it to be used for anything new in the foreseeable future. The store opened in a prosperous middle class area that has become an impoverished, high crime neighborhood in the intervening decades.

2-18-09

Update: The iconic cornucopia sign was disassembled and removed on August 17, 2023. News reports say that the building is going to become a church, after sitting empty for 24 years.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This once-grand old house is on the southeast corner of Wayne Street and Broadway Street in the small town of Zanesville, Indiana. There is a large American flag hanging like a curtain in the corner window.

This is the first of two photographs that I made of this house.

Zanesville is unusual in that half of the town is in Allen County and the other half is in Wells County. This is in the southern half of Zanesville, in Wells County.

8-11-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A kid watching the 2023 Waynedale Memorial Day Parade. He is wearing a hoodie that says: "Common Sense."

The annual parade runs north along Old Trail Road, from Waynedale United Methodist Church to the Prairie Grove Cemetery, in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

5-29-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The sun rises on a foggy August morning at Eagle Marsh, a restored wetland on the western edge of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Engle Road Extended runs through the northern edge of Eagle Marsh.

8-1-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This storefront is a smoke shop called Waynedale Discount Smoke & Vape. It is in Wayne Plaza, a small shopping center on Bluffton Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it in the middle of the night. The glass bongs that fill the front windows are lit from above, which makes them glow in front of the darkened interior.

8-30-23

 

[raydm6]

Memories of 1970's Head Shops. I remember a head shop (not sure where the term came from - see below) in my home town in the 70's. Besides the usual assortment of smoking paraphernalia, they had tons of incense, hippy clothes, and black light posters. Fun stuff! 🙂 🧔

Buck 110 knives (leather sheathed and worn on your belt - still have mine) - even allowed in high school, leather vests, Levis, t-shirts, long hair, and either Frye Boots or Frye Indian Moccasins were the order of the day. Ahh. the good ol' days 🙂

Head shop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Head shop

Learn more about head shops, including how they came to be, and what they represent in cannabis culture.

weedmaps.com

The origins of the name "head shop" remain unclear. Some attribute the name to enthusiastic fans of the band Grateful Dead, who are called “dead heads," while it was also rumored that the name came from an acronym for “he eats acid daily." Still others claim that the name was inspired by the song “White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. The line “feed your head" is repeated at the song's closing as a challenge to the listener to expand their mind, and head shops became a way to help clientele feed their heads.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Memories of 1970's Head Shops. I remember a head shop (not sure where the term came from - see below) in my home town in the 70's. Besides the usual assortment of smoking paraphernalia, they had tons of incense, hippy clothes, and black light posters. Fun stuff! 🙂 🧔

Buck 110 knives (leather sheathed and worn on your belt - still have mine) - even allowed in high school, leather vests, Levis, t-shirts, long hair, and either Frye Boots or Frye Indian Moccasins were the order of the day. Ahh. the good ol' days 🙂

Head shop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Head shop

Learn more about head shops, including how they came to be, and what they represent in cannabis culture.

weedmaps.com

There used to be a place like that in Fort Wayne called Rainbow Palace. It had been there since my parents were teenagers in the late 1960s (they graduated from high school in 1968). It closed about ten years ago, I think. There is another place here called Twenty Past Four that tries to recreate that vibe, but its just not the same. I've never smoked weed, but I went into Rainbow Palace with friends a few times when I was in college 20-25 yrs ago, and it felt like stepping back into the 60s.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A lone tree partially hidden by a band of dense fog in the early morning at Eagle Marsh, a restored wetland on the western edge of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This is the second of eight photographs that I made on that foggy August morning.

8-1-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A lone tree shrouded in fog in the early morning at Eagle Marsh, a restored wetland on the western edge of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This is the third of eight photographs that I made on that foggy August morning.

8-1-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A lone tree shrouded in layers of fog in the early morning at Eagle Marsh, a restored wetland on the western edge of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This is the fourth of eight photographs that I made on that foggy August morning.

8-1-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A lone tree shrouded in layers of dense fog, with tall grasses and wildflowers growing in the foreground, in the early morning at Eagle Marsh, a restored wetland on the western edge of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This is the fifth of eight photographs that I made on that foggy August morning.

8-1-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The tree stands in the middle of a soybean field on the east side of Ardmore Avenue, between Nuttman Avenue and Covington Road, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Despite the rural appearance, this scene is in the city of Fort Wayne, though barely so. Ardmore Avenue forms the city boundary here, so the east side of the road is in the city, and the west side is not.

I photographed it in the morning, around 8am. There is often fog in this field in the morning. I had photographed this tree on another foggy morning three years earlier.

9-4-23

 

[yanchep_mike]

The tree stands in the middle of a soybean field on the east side of Ardmore Avenue, between Nuttman Avenue and Covington Road, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Despite the rural appearance, this scene is in the city of Fort Wayne, though barely so. Ardmore Avenue forms the city boundary here, so the east side of the road is in the city, and the west side is not.

I photographed it in the morning, around 8am. There is often fog in this field in the morning. I had photographed this tree on another foggy morning three years earlier.

9-4-23

I had a look at the map and figured you are in the northern hemisphere, to have beautiful fog in August amazes me. I wished i could get some of that here in Western Australia, we have fog in some pockets but not where we are. Congratulations on some great shots.
Mike

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I had a look at the map and figured you are in the northern hemisphere, to have beautiful fog in August amazes me. I wished i could get some of that here in Western Australia, we have fog in some pockets but not where we are. Congratulations on some great shots.
Mike

Its kind of strange to see so much of it in the summer; we get a lot more in winter. August is summer for us here. The early mornings have it around lakes and wetlands, and northeast Indiana has more than 100 lakes, plus numerous ponds and wetlands.