Platial | Who and What's Nearby
Platial | Who and What's Nearby
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Walking around downtown Valpo, somehow I found myself lost by an odd number of left turns I had made while wandering. There is an odd vibe to the whole town; a patchwork of main roads and alleyways that can cause you to lose your sense of place. It didn’t take me long to remember the familiar smell of baking pizza and neon lights of the sole Papa Johns in town.
Even when the sky is gray and the air humid and cool there are many people about at 3 in the afternoon. Some wear business suits, probably coming from the town hall or one of the many banks in town. Others are college students from just down Lincoln Way though there is surprisingly very few of them out and about (no thanks to the more modern side of the town where Target and Wal-Mart reign supreme). The old beauty and antique stores I guess don’t tickle their fancy and most of the bars and pubs come alive when the sun sets. The rest of the people are the townies that go about their own daily routine.
While many of the buildings stay true to the old stone, brick and mortar fashion – the highest of them being the top three banks and town hall – in one area all of it is put aside and forgotten for just a moment. Along the side of Michigan Jefferson, devoid of any shop entrances, lays a painted mural of the different shops in the town (at least I think them to be). The brick wall, from one end to around the corner of the alleyway behind it, is filled with different charactures of shop owners and loafers dancing on top of awnings, drinking and having the time of their lives. I wonder if this is the town Valpo was meant to be or was a different time. There are no strange looks depicted in any of the portraits, just smiles and implied happiness. In some odd way or twist of fate, the wall today has more of a plus than the town I wander in.
Walking around downtown Valpo, somehow I found myself lost by an odd number of left turns I had made while wandering. There is an odd vibe to the whole town; a patchwork of main roads and alleyways that can cause you to lose your sense of place. It didn’t take me long to remember the familiar smell of baking pizza and neon lights of the sole Papa Johns in town.
Even when the sky is gray and the air humid and cool there are many people about at 3 in the afternoon. Some wear business suits, probably coming from the town hall or one of the many banks in town. Others are college students from just down Lincoln Way though there is surprisingly very few of them out and about (no thanks to the more modern side of the town where Target and Wal-Mart reign supreme). The old beauty and antique stores I guess don’t tickle their fancy and most of the bars and pubs come alive when the sun sets. The rest of the people are the townies that go about their own daily routine.
While many of the buildings stay true to the old stone, brick and mortar fashion – the highest of them being the top three banks and town hall – in one area all of it is put aside and forgotten for just a moment. Along the side of Michigan Jefferson, devoid of any shop entrances, lays a painted mural of the different shops in the town (at least I think them to be). The brick wall, from one end to around the corner of the alleyway behind it, is filled with different charactures of shop owners and loafers dancing on top of awnings, drinking and having the time of their lives. I wonder if this is the town Valpo was meant to be or was a different time. There are no strange looks depicted in any of the portraits, just smiles and implied happiness. In some odd way or twist of fate, the wall today has more of a plus than the town I wander in.
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