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The doors to the historic El Paso Club (see yesterday's post). I've never noticed that they're off center. Look again. They are positioned slightly to the right of center for some reason. This bugs me, darn it. Ha!

Men Only

The famous El Paso Club, which is still strictly an old school "gentlemen only" bastion, one of the few left of its kind I suppose. Only men can become members. I've entered its hallowed halls only as a wedding and event photographer, never as a guest. It's really nice in there but you'd think they'd get on board with the rest of society already.

Adventure Dog

Spied on Tejon and Platte on Saturday: bicyclist with a be-goggled little buddy on board. Cute! I like the Colorado flag socks too.

Knob Hill Art

The Knob Hill neighborhood, where I live, has been going through a renaissance of sorts the last few years. It's been rebranded as the Knob Hill Urban Arts District, and now almost every building on this stretch of Platte Avenue is covered in murals. I love it! Shame on me for not making pictures of its evolution. I need to take the time to do a photography tour of it soon. Meanwhile, here's a detail of just one of the many new murals to be seen there. If you're interested, you can follow the Knob Hill Urban Arts District on Instagram HERE.

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A random street scene taken on December 4th from the corner of Tejon and Platte.

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A random downtown moment captured on the afternoon of December 13th.

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A favorite downtown subject, the El Paso Club, captured on May 26th.

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The corner of Tejon and Platte, captured on February 1st. The impressive building in the background is the El Paso Club.

February 2020 Theme Day: Streetscape

It's February! The first of the month is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers, and February's theme is streetscape. I took this photo today from the corner of Tejon and Platte. That's a pretty bitchin' Camaro, by the way! I think it's a 1970 model year. The car behind it is no slouch, either. I saw a few beautiful oldies out there today because the weather was gorgeous, tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday and we'll all be hunkered down watching the game, and on Monday it's supposed to be frigid and snowing. Gotta take the classic out for a spin while you can!

CDP bloggers worldwide have been posting streetscape photos all day -- click HERE to see them. Enjoy!

Bonus shot: check out what the Camaro driver did when he noticed me taking his picture. Of course I had to reciprocate in kind.

And now, for your listening pleasure:

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A view of Tejon Street looking north from Platte Avenue on Sunday, November 10th.

Diablo

It's been a while since I've featured the general on this blog -- General Palmer that is, our city's founder. This statue of him astride his horse Diablo sits right smack in the middle of the intersection of Nevada and Platte Avenues. Some people have an issue with that, but really, how hard is it to drive around a statue? It's been there since September of 1929. You'd think that people would have figured out how to navigate around it by now.

Ironically, it was a riding accident that killed the man. I don't know if Diablo was his choice of steed that day, but I've heard that Palmer had been trying to do some kind of stunt at a full gallop and fell off his horse. He was paralyzed, and though he lived on for three more years, I'm sure his overall health was quite negatively affected by the accident. He died in 1909. Now he's immortalized in this statue, right in front of the high school that's named after him.

The Dilemma

This woman on the corner of Platte and Academy is just one of many, in every part of the city, practically everywhere you turn. I've mentioned our enormous homeless problem before. But we certainly aren't alone among big cities. It's just heartbreaking. It's true that when you give your spare change to panhandlers, it almost always goes to feed a drug or alcohol habit. What can you do? Instead of handing out money, volunteer at or donate to the Springs Rescue Mission, the Marion House, Ecumenical Social Ministries, or Care and Share. It's the best way to help.

The Wrangler

This is by far the coolest old sign in the city in my humble opinion, and it only took me three decades to get around to taking a picture of it. I've been meaning to since college! You can find it a little east of Powers on Highway 24. As I was taking these photos I chatted for a few minutes with a lady who works there and her friend (or husband?). They told me that the sign has (obviously) been there since the 1950s, and that the "RV RANCH" and the star were not original, added at a later date -- possibly the early 1960s, or that's what it looks like to me. I have always loved this sign and I can't believe it took me so long to get a shot of it, but then again now it's acquired a real patina of age, which makes it even more photogenic if you ask me.

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A pair of pedestrians pause before crossing the street in front of the El Paso Club on January 3rd.

Platte and Tejon

The building that formerly housed the Acacia Hotel (and later Jinx's), photographed on May 14th.

A fish out of water

Seen this afternoon on Platte Avenue, parked next to the Palmer High School football field. Since we're a thousand miles or so to the Pacific Ocean, this is certainly something you don't see in Colorado Springs very often. Or ever.

On a completely unrelated note, US News has ranked all 50 states from best to worst using a range of 75 metrics, and Colorado ranked tenth. Where does your state fall on the list?

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This street scene, captured on October 27th at Platte and Circle, is almost completely devoid of all colors other than red, yellow and orange. It's weird how that can just randomly happen.

Almost, but not quite yet...

I took this photo a few days ago on the corner of Monument and Platte, and you can see that we're just on the cusp of autumn. A couple more weeks and those leaves will start to change color. Enjoy what's left of summer, it'll be over soon!

Natural Order

The latest installation of Art on the Streets was revealed recently, and I've finally gotten a glimpse of some of the new pieces. This one, called Natural Order, is by artist Kamber Sokulsky and you can find it on Tejon Street just north of Platte Avenue, near the Odyssey Gastropub.

It hasn't changed much

Here's the El Paso Club, a historic men's club dating back to 1877, photographed on December 29th. I took this photo from the sidewalk, facing the building from the southwest. The postcard photo below (sourced from PPLD) appears to be taken from about the same angle but across the street. There's no date on the postcard, but clearly it's pretty old. As you can see, the building hasn't changed much, if at all, over the years.