Some new photos from Fort Wayne

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This is the last of the photographs that I have made so far of the former General Electric factory complex on Broadway in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A workplace safety message stenciled on the floor next to some steps on the first floor of Building 19 at the former General Electric factory complex in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It says: "Stop, Look, and Listen."

GE closed the last of their operations in Fort Wayne at the beginning of 2015. The former factory complex is being redeveloped into a housing and retail center to be called "Electric Works."
 
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Souvenir t-shirts and baseball caps hang on the wall above the file cabinets at Fort Wayne's Famous Coney Island Hot Dogs in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

One of the shirts has the restaurant's slogan, "Our Buns Are Steamed," printed on it.

Founded in 1914, Coney Island is the oldest restaurant in the city. It has been in the same downtown building on Main Street since it opened more than a century ago.
 
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The Sea Ray ride in motion at the 2018 Three Rivers Festival at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is a swinging boat ride, a common sight at carnivals.

I photographed it on the first night (July 13) of the annual nine day long festival, which ended last Saturday.
 
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A carnival ride attendant playing with his cell phone while the ride is in motion behind him. He is operating the Sea Ray ride at the 2018 Three Rivers Festival at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 
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This old Ford F-150 pickup truck from the late 1970s is on Front Street in the small town of Burr Oak, Michigan.

The truck's grille has been replaced with a piece of aluminum that has "Redneck" cut into it.
 
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This car, a Honda Fit with California license plates, was in the parking lot of the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at the Jefferson Pointe Shopping Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It has "Bernie 2016" painted on the sides, though it has been two years since Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic Party presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton.

I photographed it last week.
 
Many thanks for your wonderful series of photographs. The literal (in a positive way) and unsentimental commentary really complements the imagery.
 
I've spent the last week doing a lot of new photographs and trying to catch up on editing!




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Virgil Hoke, the 84 year old owner of Waynedale Plumbing Supply, sits at the desk behind the counter of the store. He uses an ancient manual typewriter, and says that he has never used a computer. The cat bed on the shelf behind him belonged to his old cat, Lucky, who died eight months ago. I made this portrait of Virgil last week.

Virgil and his older brother, Homer, bought the store in 1950 and they ran it together until Homer's death in 2011. Virgil told me that he wants to retire soon, because he has been having health problems. He was proud of the fact that until this year, he had not needed to go to a doctor in twenty years!

The store is located on the corner of Lower Huntington Road and Bradbury Avenue in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In addition to selling and repairing plumbing equipment, Virgil also refills propane tanks. I've been having him fill the tank on my grill for years, even though he's slightly more expensive than some other places in Fort Wayne. I love stopping in his old store to talk to him.
 
Great portrait. That’s a Smith-Corona Silent-Super, from the looks of it. Early-mid 1950s. Amongst the 21 typewriters in my collection I have one nearly identical. Thanks for continuing this series, Chris.
 
JoeV said:
Great portrait. That’s a Smith-Corona Silent-Super, from the looks of it. Early-mid 1950s. Amongst the 21 typewriters in my collection I have one nearly identical. Thanks for continuing this series, Chris.
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Wow, only on RFF would someone recognize a 60 year old typewriter by name and model :):):) Its cool to see that people collect these machines.

Can you still buy ribbons for these? I guess so, since Virgil is still using his.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Wow, only on RFF would someone recognize a 60 year old typewriter by name and model :):):) Its cool to see that people collect these machines.

Can you still buy ribbons for these? I guess so, since Virgil is still using his.
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Ribbons are still being made, readily available.
 
Chris
This is an amazing wonderful photograph.

Steve


Chriscrawfordphoto said:
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In May 2018, the Clyde Theatre reopened after it had sat vacant for more than twenty years.

The theatre was opened as a movie theater in 1951 by Clyde Quimby, who also owned the Quimby Village shopping center, where the theatre is located. The theatre was later renamed the Quimby Village Theatre and changed to a two-screen movie theatre. That's how it was when I was young, when my parents often took my sister and I there to see movies.

The tall "Clyde" sign sticking up from the top of the marquee was gone by the time I began going to see movies there in the early 1980s. The theatre closed in 1993, and after being briefly used as a church, it was abandoned. By the time I photographed it the first time, back in 2008, it had already sat empty for nearly fifteen years.

In 2017, the old theatre found new owners and a nine million dollar renovation began. The outside was restored to nearly the same configuration as it had back in 1951; the theatre got back its original name and the original "Clyde" sign was rebuilt. The inside was transformed into a live music venue, but the art deco lobby was restored to look much as it had originally.

I made this photograph of The Clyde at sunset yesterday evening.
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The faucet repair counter at Waynedale Plumbing Supply. The signs above the counter say: "New Life For Your Old Faucet."

Many of the faucet parts on the wall behind the counter are decades old. Built in 1946, Waynedale Plumbing looks like a place frozen in time. The owner, Virgil Hoke, told me that he and his now-deceased brother, Homer, bought the business in 1950!

I had first photographed this scene four years earlier in black & white, and little has changed in those four years!

Waynedale Plumbing is on Lower Huntington Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I made this photograph earlier this month.
 
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Another photograph from Waynedale Plumbing Supply in Fort Wayne.

This display of kitchen faucets stands by the store's front window. Behind it are rows of shelves holding bins full of small plumbing parts, many of which have been there for decades.
 
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