Photos from the streets of Dayton, Ohio USA

Spring 2009

2009-05-27T22:43:00.007-04:00

Popeyes Fried Chicken on Gettysburg Ave.

Driving down Stewart in the DeSoto Bass Housing Projects.

Dayton Boys Club, Stewart Street, Dayton.

Bowman Funeral Chapel off of Randolph and Germantown.

Former ceramics studio on Germantown.

House on Germantown Avenue.

Abandoned lot off of Germantown Pike.

Dearborn Daycare on Dearborn Ave.

Headed up Dearborn Ave.

Delphi on Abbey Avenue - no more.

NCR no more.

The University of Dayton from afar.

Walking across Main Street near the Montgomery County Fairgrounds Complex.

The Fairgrounds neighborhood has improved 1000 percent
over the last 10 years.

Wah-Fu Chinese restaurant on Brown Street.

Jimmy's Cornerstone Bar on the corner of Brown and Wyoming (the old Walnut Hills Bar).

Patterson Kennedy School, a grand dame that should be saved.

Neighbors on the front porch in Dayton's South Park Neighborhood.

Spring has sprung and it's time to fire up Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio again!

2009-03-08T13:12:00.016-04:00

The best Little Chess Club in the U.S.A - The Dayton Chess Club on Fifth Street in Downtown.

Lutheran Church on the corner of Ludlow and Fifth.

Weekly boarding rooms in his house that has potential once America is perhaps ready to give up the high fructose corn syrup Old Milwaukee's Best Generic cigarette lifestyle.

The Blood Center. Main Street. Modernist architecture by some "Starchitecht" who obviously is clueless about the importance of consistency in design of an urban landscape. This is an asthetic nightmare obviously hatched up by brains on crack cocaine.

House on St. Anne's Hill Historic District.

Beautiful home in the Huffman Historic District on the corner of Fourth and June.

Don't know what is housed in this building on East Fifth Street, but it's pretty cool in a cold-war kindof way.

Young family on Bowen Avenue near St. Anthony's School.

The fantastical stone facade of St. Anthony's Church in Linden Heights.

I had nothing to do with this, but it looks as if a fan of Urban Appalachian Cabaret Ghetto-Tech Soul Music has been tagging concrete support items in East Dayton.

Cartellingwindows.com

Another grandiose architectural tradition downtown showing in detail just how mediocre suburban architecture in America is.

Holden House Apartments on Fifth Street behind Sinclair Community College.

The facade of City Day Charter School once again helps us confirm the inferiority of the bubble-based building economy of today consisting of plywood, drywall and vinyl siding from China.

Bill Rains, where art thou?

Driving Miss Dayton.

May 9th, 2009 - Mark in Your Calendars

2009-03-08T13:01:00.002-04:00

As part of our upcoming show at The South Park Tavern, in Dayton, Ohio, drexel will be performing for the only the second time, "Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - The Musical."

The music for the evening will begin around 9 p.m. drexel will begin around 11 or so. Be ready. Be there.

The End of Morality Policing in America begins in Dayton

2009-01-29T09:48:00.005-05:00

Part I

Part II:

Dayton Is...

2009-01-08T17:55:00.001-05:00

Go to the youtube page for this video to get the embed code. Please blog it, twitter it, myspace it, facebook it, whatever.

Peace, and courage,

Drexel Dave

New Year, New Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA

2009-01-02T12:14:00.008-05:00

Looks like this old corner bar/grocery/social
club is up for sale in Old North Dayton.

The corner of Hart and Grove is a spiritual place
on a quiet cold afternoon, with churches in every direction.

Fixed up, this old beauty on Drummer street would fetch a million
smackers easy in Boston or San Francisco. In Dayton, you can get it for probably 30 k.

Another home on Drummer awaits the end of
bureaucratic entanglement and hopefully one day,
a new caring tenant.

Gene's Truck Glass on East Fifth Street likely
does a roaring business with the proliferation
of junkies on the lower East side who will bust a
car window in a New York second to snatch a 50-cent
cd or three that might fetch some extra cheddah'
at Second Time Around.

At the Fifth Street Diner just on the other side of the railroad
tracks from where Hamilton runs into Fifth Street, they got
Pizza and Hoagies. Decent little joint if you want old school
East side greasy spoon.

I wonder if everyone knew that they could make
handy shelving units out of the pieces of old
dresser drawers, would they still throw them away?

Great business concept. Put out bins for shoes and clothes,
and sell them. You pay nothing, zilch, for your product. Sweet.

Spanish groceries are a newly thriving
mom and pop industry in East Dayton. This one
is on East Third near Huffman.

Anthony Arms Apartments has still got
the lights on.

Puta. Somebody tagged this old glorious mansion
with Puta. That is funny and sad in so many ways all at once.

Genuine Auto Parts on East Third sits next to what is apparently the Sandford and Son house rental business, judgingfrom the ghetto-ass fontagraphy employed by the signmakers. The plywood boards behind the glass give potential customers even more confidence that they'll be getting a great rental home.

Don't really know much about this business
on East Third. Seems operational, but I don't
know what goes on inside. Somebody fill me in.

This old grocery store on East Third near Huffman seems
like it's been closed down and for sale before Tony Tubbs was
was heavyweight champion.

Old print shop building (and it's a cool little doozie)
awaits a new owner and day on East Third Street
near Keowee.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - The Musical

2008-09-22T13:11:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's been awhile since any new posts, but there is a reason. I just haven't been able to get out all over the town as of late.

But do not fret. Something great is wafting through the air.

Yes, it's Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA - The Musical.

drexel will be performing this, along with a slew of our other hit songs and improvisational favorites on Saturday, Oct. 4th, 2008 at Derailed Salon, 506 1/2 E. Fifth Street, Dayton, OH USA (phone: 937.222.3910).

The whole shindig will get underway at around 8 p.m. and go until we're finished.

Please plan to attend. This show is all-ages, and there will be a grill out front, so bring some meat, and coolers for your drinks.

e-mail me at: bedpanartist@bedpanart.com if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Dave

Riverscape is good for children, adults and animals too

2008-05-25T08:09:00.008-04:00

Scenes of lots of people having lots of fun at Riverscape in downtown Dayton. Not much explaination needed here.

Peace,

DD

It's still springtime in Dayton, and the livin' is easy

2008-05-22T22:42:00.010-04:00

Mailman walks down Wheatly near
Marathon Avenue while a doggie struggles to
get free enough to bark at him.

Going down Philadelphia Ave. near the
now closed down Bridge Street bridge.

Old-skool.

New school.

In a not too distant future when legions
of suburbanites realize that their living arrangement
is economically impossible and ridiculous in it's
very inception, I can see houses like this
on the corner of Paul Lawrence and Riverview being
fixed up all over town.

"Waiting for the kids to get off of the school bus on
Marathon and Wheatly. But until they do get home, "why
not polish off that last 22-ouncer of Steel Reserve baby?"

Good Samaritan Hospital, where I had my
tonsils removed not really so long ago.

The backside campus of Good Samaritan Hospital.

Good Sam's latest ad campaign.

Neighbors discuss the incredible greenness of
their lawns on Philadelphia Avenue.

Church on Philadelphia.

The Life Skills center on North Main Street
teaches students how to get their GED's, and
how to make a tight bed, shine their shoes, and
buff the floor every Sunday morning. At least
those were the main life skills I learned in the Army - and
killing people who intend to kill you.

The old Ivy League Landscaping Building has
been empty for some time, but has recently
been bought. If anything should come of it,
I'll report.

Elder-Beerman Northwest still going
on Siebenthaler Ave. and Philadelphia.

True story, and one that illustrates why I
love this city in so many ways: So I'm getting
some chicken wings at Louie's Chicken
on North Main Street one day, and the Louie's
Chicken Mascot (a person in a chicken costume), is
out in front of the store dancing. Four ghetto fabulous
babes pull up in an Escalade, get out, surround the chicken
and begin dancing and chanting, "Go chicken, Go chicken, Go chicken."

Grand old structure on North Main Street.

Benjamin's Burger Master is a fantastic
place to fill that belly. Great soul food family
cooking here.

Woman waits for a ride in front of
Cowboy's bar on North Main Street.

Another grand structure on the corner of
Forest and North Main Street. This one
has been being re-habed over the last year.

It's Springtime in Dayton

2008-04-27T23:25:00.026-04:00

Yes, this is my counterpoint to the recent
report by Caryn Golden on WHIO-TV that male
prostitutes are soliciting in the Oregon District,
and the possibility that this might lead to legions
of zombie prostitutes demanding raw brains from
patrons of Thai 9 and Pacchia.

Yes, our local mainstream media, just like our
national mainstream media, is nothing but a factory
of fear and stupidity. And our media members know this.
I suppose they just weren't born or instilled with the
integrity during their upbringing to admit as much.

Just behind the railroad bridge, Daybreak is undertaking
probably the greatest property improvement in the
infamous corridor of pubicly urinating 30-year-old men in
the history of the area. Good for Daybreak. They are
a purely positive organization.

The old Breakfast Club is now The Brunch Club. Same good
food and the same good prices. Go there now and enjoy.

Right Toby? Arf Arf!

Off of Siebenthaler Avenue, the gardener's quarters
are still nicer than most of the homes in Dayton.

Heading into downtown on a sunny spring day
is invigorating for the neo-classicist lover in us all.

Spring is also a time for graduation pride. Here, a
family congradulates their newest graduate on the
corner of Gettysburg and Cornell with a sign
recognizing her hard work and persistence.

Congratulations Reshaunda!

General Motors has been replaced with Cricket
outlets as the new growth industry in Dayton.
This Cricket outlet, which seem to be going up
on every corner, is in the Gettysburg shopping
center.

Man waits for a bus on the corner of Arbor and Wyoming.

The Santa Clara District would be much
improved if the City of Dayton would just
dump about 100,000 pounds of horse shit
on the area and begin growing vegetables.
It's a dump inhabited by too many infantile punks.

Strolling past the now defunct Tasty Bird on Salem Avenue,
home of some of the greatest soul food on the planet. There is
still one Tasty Bird open in Dayton though, on West Third just
past Edwin C. Moses Blvd.

The Chase Bank building on the corner of West
Third and Paul Lawrence Dunbar is still going
strong.

Old fella' and his old' fella' waiting on a bus on Wayne Ave.
They can't make this kind of timeless Americana in Hollywood.

Shopkeepers Village on the corner of Salem Avenue
and Curundu has one problem with
it's name: there's no shopkeepers there.

Architecture fit for a student of 1950s and 60s
modernism sits vacant on Siebenthaler Avenue.

Spring flowers are abundant and
absolutely gorgeous for our landscape
after a winter of hiding indoors.

The old Siebenthaler Nursery on the corner of
Catalpa and Siebenthaler now houses a dentist's office
and a glass artisan shop.

This old farmhouse on the corner of Catalpa and
Siebenthaler is a testament to what we've become.

Nabali's Grocery has got the specials going strong
on Gettysburg Avenue.

The old Allied Machinery Company on Gettysburg
Avenue now looks like the Allied Decay Company.

Wayne Wheat is serving his suspension from the
Funeral Home business for being, well, let's say
just a tad bit unethical, which is an instant route
to riches in the ghetto.

Dayton is for Rent

2008-03-08T06:15:00.018-05:00

Creative Flags on South Main Street moved a block South.

Two bedrooms on the border of The Oregon District.

Storage barn space for rent in The Oregon District.

Office Space for Rent in The Oregon District.

House for rent in the UD, Fairgrounds, MVH Neighborhood.

South Park Duplex for rent.

South Park House for Rent on Adams Street.

House for Rent near the Fairgrounds.

A one-bedroom Apartment in South Park.

Nice clean single family home for rent near the Fairgrounds.

Half of a duplex for rent near Miami Valley Hospital on Frank Street.

Nice little house in the Huffman Historic District.

House for rent on Patterson Road in Belmont.

Student apartments along Irving for the UD set.

Former restaurant/catering business space for Rent on Wayne Ave. in Belmont
right across the street from the 2nd District Police Station.

What appears to be a former neighborhood market is up for
sale on the corner of Livingston and Linden.

A photo for any of you potential rehab masters
who might want to tackle this 0ld beauty.

Space for Lease on Linden.

I think a Mexican grocery store has moved
into this space since this photo was taken.

Business space for lease across the street from

Belmont High School on Watervelite.

Commercial space for lease on Smithville.

Office space on Watervelite in
the Belmont Business District.

Drexel Dave weighs in on Ohio's 3rd District Congressional Race

2008-02-13T05:18:00.001-05:00

Drexel Dave's Real Dayton Video Blog of Dec. 16th, 2007

2007-12-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

Videos from the Real Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA, Nov. 23rd, 2007

2007-11-23T17:39:00.000-05:00

Ok folks, you've always got to follow your muse. So, for right now, I'm not taking any city photographs. Should the inspiration strike me, I shall.

But for now, I'm exploring the world of video blogging. I've always had a lot to say, but realistically know that no damn television station would ever run my opinions.

But the Internet killed the television star.

Please comment on, and/or rate the video, whether you agree with the views contained there within' or not. You can do that on the video's you tube page right here.

Love,

Dave

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - Oct. 7, 2007

2007-09-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

Pink Flamingos are always in season on Cornell Ave.
I feel as if I would love these people for the odd yet lovable characters
they are just by their blessed front yard decor.
Dayton is full of characters who could easily line
the pages of great novels with their quirky eccentricity.

The famed Oregon District Dayton legend,
a.k.a. "Crackhead Phil" or "The Muffin Man" has
been spotted by this photographer hanging
around the upper Salem Ave.
area recently around Catalpa and Fairview.

This dentist office on Salem Ave. has quite
the modernist tiki style architechture going on.

This home at the corner of Otterbein and Catalpa
in the fantastically grandiose Dayton View neighborhood
of Dayton is spectacular to behold.

This building at the corner of Grand and Salem Ave. has
been restored and turned into apartments for the elderly.

Grace United Methodist Church on the corner of
Salem and Harvard I do believe deserves a visit. I feel as if
I would love to photograph the inside of this beautiful house
of worship. Where, oh where have architects with pride gone?

Driving up Otterbein or just about any
street in the Dayton View area is like taking
a trip in time back to a beautiful day when trees,
architecture and ambiance mattered.

The new Cricket store on North Main Street
is the latest in a long line of businesses to inhabit
the drug store overabundance of the 1990s.

Corpus Cristy Catholic Church on the corner of
Five Oaks and Forest Ave. in Dayton.

The North River Coffee House is on the lower end of
Salem Ave just across the street from the 5th District
Police headquarters. Any reviews are always welcome here.

You know you are in the inner-city when
the beauty supply stores come into focus.

If there were any business I'd love to produce
a commercial for, I think it would be the famous
Gold 4 Ya' Mouth store. This is the North Main Store.

Woman working North Main.

A loyal visitor to this blog requested that I
take a picture of this beauty of a home that he restored
on Ridge Ave. Well, it's still beautiful.

Augustus Uloho got into a motorcycle accident there.
He was the owner of the Uloho's on North Main. May he rest in peace.

A ray of sunshine in any Daytonian's day:
The sight of Tank and his big bus taking a load
of customers to the Dayton Dragon's game from
Tank's Bar and Grill on Wayne Ave.

Benjamin's Burger's on North Main Street are still delicious.

Memorial Baptist Church, North Main Street.

We love to tease the junkies in my neighborhood.

Dayton Reggae Festival at Dave Hall Plaza.

Grandmama makes her way to the RTA.

Skater boys arrive on the scene.

The always present smell good oil and incense stand.

Porta potties bring pottie parity.

I love this woman's purple hair.

Styles for the rich and ghetto fabulous.

It might as well be another day in Yellow Springs.

Sax man Danny Sauers is one of Dayton's true gems.

Smokin' a J at the reggae festival.

Then enjoying the buzz.

May Dayton Police officer Steve Whalen rest in peace.

This old business/residence on Wyoming Street
next to the UDF store was a victim of fire.

It will take a nation of a million shirtless East Side
men to bring America back to greatness. Near the old
Hillside Tavern near Phillips and Wyoming.

High atop the Wyoming Street Hill stands a
a place that does good. Bluebook Daycare.

In some Dayton locales, the world is your very own trashcan.

One of the more graphically pointless
pieces of graffiti. This was taken just off
an alley off of Wyoming Street.

More of the same. U.S. 35 is a perpetual
construction zone. This picture was taken off of
U.S. 35. This was the Steve Whalen exit just a few weeks
ago. This is now all paved and taking traffic.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio for August 8, 2007

2007-08-03T16:52:00.000-04:00

First, a message from the Free David Cook Society:

The Dairy Point at the corner of Fifth and Burkhardt
serves up big ice cream cones for a reasonable price - $1.

Some guy sleeping one off in front of the bar just up the
street from the Jersey Street market at about 8 a.m.

East enders wait for the bus in front
of the pharmacy on Third Street.

Little Abner still burns the flag for that delicious
down home, life-shortening country cooking.

Dude near Van Lear and Fourth Street on the East Side.
I've been told you can make a hundred bucks a day in
aluminum around Dayton by collectors in the know.

One of the most infamous alcohol-related atrocities in Dayton
history happened at Pappy's Place a few years back when one
patron walked in and doused another patron with a glass of
gasoline and lit the match.

Granato's corner grocery sitting idle
in the Twin Towers neighborhood, another
victim of our big-box sprawl economy.

Tank's Bar and Grill on Wayne Ave. is expanding it's
kitchen and bathrooms. Tank's is truly one of the Gems of Dayton.

This little place across the street from Tank's grows
award-winning Orchids and other exotic flowers.

The Liederkrantz Society on East Fifth Street
is a club that promotes German Culture, food, music, and
all that good stuff we wallow in during the autumn months.

Page Manor Cinema on Airway Road serves
as a reminder every day of the real face
of our new areas of blight - our inner-ring
suburbs.

Waiting for an RTA on Xenia Ave.

These are some of the lost children of post-industrialism in
East Dayton on Hivling Street. They don't have much to do, so
they find things like Wheelchairs and run up and down the
street all day playing nursing home.

Waiting for an RTA on East Fifth in front of the Circle K.

Man and woman getting out of the car with some
groceries off of Wyoming Street.

A man dressed stylishly for summer at the corner of
Sperling and East Fifth Street.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks up from the lost boys,
two girls who look like they could be up for a scholarship
on the Ohio State swim team prepare a yard sale for their home.
Within a couple of block area on East Third much of the citizenry goes
from debaucherous and largely uneducated, into a totally
different world of well-kept homes and apple-pie Americans,
at least from the outside. This is a phenomenon of larger
cities that many suburbanites do not realize exists. Yes, there are LOTS
of very inhabitable areas within' the city limits. And lots of times,
neighborhoods can be completely different
worlds block to block.

Pinky's on Airway Road looks, well, stinky.

The beer and wine drive through next door on East Third/Airway
provides a testament to the REAL true love of many
Riverside residents - beer and smokes under $3 a pack.

Two men waiting on the RTA bus outside of the Airway
Shopping center in Riverside.

Due to the overwhelming economic advantages
of moving to a 2X4/plywood and drywall wrapped
in vinyl style of corporate construction, architectural
greatness like this on East Third Street has pretty much
put on moth balls until a reality-based economy
based upon something other than petrochemical
exploitation is devised. That, and the fact that
entire industries who make their living doing
nothing but shuffling financial documents from place
to place to make money would go broke ensure this
is the way we will go for some time now.

The American Saloon on East Fifth
Street is open for business, still. I hear it's a
gay bar now, but haven't been there since
the days of my youth, when I was told what it
means to be man.

Chicken Louie's on East Third and North. They have the greatest
fries on the planet. They come soaked in garlic butter - not too great
for the arteries, but they are truly divine.

The redneck wall of intellectual disdain.

Mom's Diner on East Third. Where drexel got its start.

The amazing face full of tattoos on a
child's BMX Appalachian anger boy.

Waiting for a bus on Wayne and Wyoming in front of the Sunoco.

Stiver's School for the Arts is almost ready for
students to return after the fall break at DPS.

No amount of camouflage will make this attractive.

If you want to see one of the multi-facted faces
of poverty, check this guy out. He's eating salty
potato chips on a 90 degree afternoon. Then he goes
around bitching about how hot and thirsty he is.

Passed out on malt-liquor at 9 a.m. on a Saturday
morning on the corner of Wayne and Wyoming at the
hobo-super party complex. This tough guy biker is
so tough that he can't handle a little beer without
looking like an old man in a nursing home.

Just off of Xenia and Wayne at the corner of Clover and Quitman
sits the Bauer Roofing Company. These folks have one
of the grandest homes in Dayton right in the middle of it all.

The new American mega industry.

Waiting to cash in some cds for cash at Second Time
Around on Brown Street near UD.

I love riding my bike late at night. REAL late.
And there is nothing more fun than to drive by a
scene at a good rate of speed and take pictures of
houses/apartments that are doing drug deals.
It really freaks the people out when a flashbulb goes off
at 3 a.m. and a large man on a mountain bike rushes off
into the darkness. This woman was hanging out
of a window at the Fourman Court apartments (an infamous
place to live if you just got out of jail), handing things
to people below in the middle of the night. She was
actually stupid enough to call for me to come back too!

I surprised these three jakelegs one night recently off of Xenia Ave.
after a night a the Trolley Stop (only one is visible).
When I came chugging around the corner, one of them jumped off of his
bike and ran the other way. You can only see one of these thieves
in the photo, although the reflection of the one thief's
bike that he abandoned can be seen. I believe that if we can start
to organize packs of bike riders with cameras who patrol the
streets at night taking pictures of our underbelly, our
underbelly will be much more reticent to be taking advantage of
the darkness to do bad things. They are just like kids. They
start behaving when they think they are being watched.

Fifth Third Field as seen from the Main Street bridge.

Down and out in front of Gilley's and the Greyhound station.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio July 27th, 2007

2007-07-23T10:08:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Summertime in Dayton. Let's look around.

click on any photo for a larger view.

A little kid bikes up Volkenand Street in Walnut
Hills past an old Samsonite suitcase.

On Gunkel Street in Walnut Hills, most of the
homes are kept up proudly by their owners.

In Dayton, when renters or owners leave, they
like to leave every single possession it seems. Maybe
they're desperately trying to forget the whole memory of
the Gem City.

Although in fairness, it appears that these people
at least attempted to escape Dayton by boat.

There is no more S&M in Schlitenz and Moore

Funeral home on Wayne Ave. How sad. I had visions of zombies
spanking each other, whispering into each other's ears
about how they will respect their limits, although that
doesn't stop their craving for...BRAINS!

The view from the sidewalk of Schlientz and Moore.

These crazy asses keep adding, and adding
to the museum of boarding house hobos on
the corner of Wayne and Wyoming, where
cold Milwakee's Best and horseshoes are a
nightly staple of the home's residents.

Birds Eye view of the sidewalk on Wayne Ave. heading
North towards the Oregon District.

Ahh. Nothing like inspiration for a Bukowski novel.

This house on Wayne could fetch a million

dollars if it was painted orange with yellow and purple
trim, and trucked to Key West.

A very skinny lady waits to cross Wayne at Keowee.

When you ride your bike on the sidewalks of Dayton,
you are bound to share the road with some wheelchairs.
In the distance you can see a man in his wheelchair coming
underneath the Route 35 overpass.

Eastway on Wayne Avenue provides social services
for the indigent, mentally ill and just plain troubled.

While a couple of blocks away, the overtly healthy
climb walls in an old church building in the Oregon
District at Urban Krag indoor climbing center.

An Oregon District home stands still admidst
the beauty of a quiet July afternoon in Dayton, Ohio 2007.

My Grandfather's Bed and Breakfast in
the Oregon located at 251 Green Street.

This park in the back of the Oregon District is a favorite
of lovers and late night pot smokers seeking a refuge
from the barrage of alcohol-induced obnoxiousness of 5th Street.

A block down the street from My Grandfather's Bed
and Breakfast stands the Trolley Stop, one of Dayton's
most beloved watering holes. Here, Daytonians take a few
hours to enjoy live music and cheap beer on a Thursday
night recently.

Table of Trolley Stop patrons enjoys just sitting down,
socializing, drinking beer and listening to
live music, not necessarily in that order.

This guy did an acoustic version of Snoop Dogg's
"Ain't Nothin' but a G-Thang" that brought the
house down with laughter and applause.

Another in a long line of beautiful women in Dayton.

Essential musician stage supplies:
Two beers and two shots of whiskey.

The patron saint of the Trolley Stop.

Drunk and drunker on the patio at the Trolley.
These two fellows were hilarious, and treated me to a
choice story about their simultaneous incarceration at
the Greene County Jail a few years back.

S&V Office Furniture and Supplies still going
strong on Main and Patterson.

Dayton Fire Department Station Four at Main and Monument.

Old man enjoys the solace of a quiet afternoon
in Downtown Dayton, Ohio USA.

Back end of the Dayton Pizza Factory's flaccid
attempt at establishing a restaurant in the South Park District.

Heading south on Wayne Avenue.

The homes are magical on Wayne Ave. It's also rumored that the
street is haunted from the ghosts that died atop the hill, an old insane
asylum that is now an old folks home.

If you'll look real close on this guy's T-shirt, it says "Proud to Serve."
For some little reason that probably has to do with gut feelings based
upon my personal experience with the disheveled among us, I doubt he did.

Somebody is down on the cost of house numbers.

The Dublin Pub. Where loud people go to realize the
Irish dream of Guinness and a belly full of potatoes.

Halal International Grocery Store is now on

Theobald Street, right behind the Used Car lot at
the corner of Wayne and Keowee. You can get
big healthy blocks of Feta Cheese here for healthy prices.
Also, they sell lots of bulk stuff like beans, lentils, &
coos-coos to keep your grocery bill minimal.

Imagine if our graffiti artists in Dayton were
inventive and creative, as opposed to banal,
ignorant and destructive for destruction's sake.

The bridge heading into the Oregon District on Fifth Street could
use some touching up with the old paintbrush.

Across the Street from the Oregon Express.

Cafe Boulevard makes a decent living off of people
willing to pay $7 a shot for a good martini. That is why
I taught myself the art of martinis!

The side of the Nite Owl, the destination for
the loud, strange and orgasmically fantastical
in an alcoholic consumption kinda' way.

Dave Hall Plaza, where great music festivals happen
about five times every year. Make sure to check back
here for photos from the fun there.

The Greyhound Station looms large in Dayton.

Hauer music is the place to be for high
school bands and anyone seeking musical
equipment, repair, or you name it under the
musical sun.

The RTA sure does have pretty bus stops in downtown Dayton.

Channel 16 Public Television Station.

The Kuhn's Building has been renovated, but
it does look kindof a suburban/masculine/fakey
feel with the overdone wood and pine trees.

The United States Marine Corps recruiting
Station on Second Street in downtown Dayton.

Me.

The Old Montgomery County Courthouse
stands strong despite the fact that our new
courthouse is in a building that very much
resembles a prison, not a structure that belies
institutional greatness. Architecture tells so much
about our times. Unfortunately today, most of it
being built tells us we are a substandard culture.

Folks chilling out in front of the County building on
Main Street in Dayton.

The outside of the old McCrory's store on Main Street downtown.

The Victoria Theater on a beautiful summer day.

True story. I'm taking a nap about five years ago,
and my girlfriend wakes me up and tells me Rudy Ray
Moore is on the phone. I pick up the phone, ask who it is, and hang up,
thinking it's some joker. Well, long story short, it really was
the real life Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore,
responding to an e-mail I sent his web site. We talked for
about 15 minutes, and the one thing he definately remembered
about Dayton was staying in the Biltmore Hotel in 1963.

He was a really nice fellow. He is getting long in age, but
I'll be able to take to the grave the fact that I actually
spoke with the one and only revolutionary - Rudy Ray Moore.

I used to have fairly ambivalent feelings about the
Schuster Center, until I found out that Mr. Schuster
made a deal with the county to prevent any kind of
competing venue in Dayton, thus erasing any kind of
possibility that Mick Montgomery of Canal Street Tavern
might start booking the kinds of acts that play the Taft
Theatre in Cincinnati, such as John Prine. Nope, the Dayton
Cultural Anglo-European Preservation Society makes sure
that progress is merely an illusion in the arts around here.

Looking up at the Winter's Towner in Downtown.

The Marilyn Monroe statue downtown would
be a lot cooler if it were like Red Allen,
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, or even Ed Pittman.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA - July 19, 2007

2007-07-07T17:36:00.000-04:00

It's summertime in the East Side. Come with me!

click on any photo to get a larger view.

Old man checking out the morning on
Drummer Street off of East Fifth.

Pimp walking his prostitute down East Fifth Street.

Huffman Place, on where else, Huffman Avenue.

Little line of lovely houses on Bolton Ave.

Boarding House on East Fifth street is now
boarded up, for sale for a measly $18,000.

A young couple on Samuel Street come to terms with living in a
society that values consumption based upon inanity.

On Van Lear Street, old homes that smell of cigarette
smoke and cat urine are coming down one by one.

Crap hole apartment building on McClain St.
With a little punk-rock spirit and guidance though,
this area could be an American Bohemian destination.

Butch's Bar on McClain and Bolton is a great place
for the culturally effete to get their ass kicked.

Whoever is behind these used car lot sales tactics,
one thing is for sure, they sure know how to sell an
old crack house.

The Last Call on Xenia Ave. is a good place to
begin and finish the last phase of your life.

The new Ruskin School is going up on Bolton Street,
just in time for the new cardboard cutouts of teachers who
have been procured for the 2007-08 DPS school year.

If you're in the market for some brick walls to
build a new home in, this burnt-out old wreck on
McClure is the home for you.

Homes like this one McClure used to thrive before the days
of sprawl and big-box corporatization.

St. Marys Church on Xenia Ave., where from time
to time crackheads walk into the church during mass
and strip down completely naked. Yes, this has actually happened.

CJ's Dugout offers an escape from the
street reality on Xenia Avenue.

While some might not believe it's possible, a trip through
the Northside Neighborhood of Cincinnati bears me out,
if you want to improve the Xenia Ave. corridor, make
it available and promote it heavily
to bohemian style businesses and the area will turn
itself around in 10 years. Yellow Springs is much
too expensive for the new breed of American Bohemian.

Trashy backyard on Nassau.

Why does it seem that paralysis
and patriotism go hand in hand?

This could easily be some funky hippy restaurant. Dayton
needs to start going after the fleeing population of Yellow
Springs and other like communities and start creating bohemian
zones. The Xenia Avenue corridor is primed for it.
Dayton used to be a place where those socially
unacceptable in small conservative towns across the
state headed to because of its liberal social atmosphere.
They're all going to Columbus now and we are missing
out on their talents and spirit.

Another opportunity to bring your cost of living below that of your income.

Kids still pile their bikes in front of
the carry-out on Xenia Ave. to buy candy.

Front porch where life beyond that sneaking into the
back window once flourished on Xenia Ave.

Before scrap yards stopped accepting it,
crackheads were all over Dayton stealing aluminum siding
right off of the sides of houses in broad daylight. It was like free
manna from heaven made expressly by god for those willing to
take what is not theirs.

I know this isn't true of all of Dayton, but in the lower
East End the more unkept the premises of a Daytonian
is, the more likely it is that an American flag will be
decorating the scene - or a Hank Williams Jr. mug decorated
with the Stars and Bars.

Somehow, a lot of people see
hanging a flag over a yard full of beer cans and Big Mac
wrappers as some sort of sacred national honor.

Another low cost opportunity for an urban pioneer to thrive.

DJ's Nitecap on Xenia is a strong presence
for alcholics and those longing for that
smoky pee smell.

A garden gone ungrown. This is a free-food growing
zone as far as I'm concerned.

Clyde Brewer's shop on Xenia Ave. I don't know if
it's still in business or not.

The old Home Store on Xenia Ave. is still selling
appliances.

The overpass from US 35 leading to the Steve Whalen
Blvd. as seen from Xenia Ave.

Fixing bikes on the sidewalk on Xenia Ave.

Dayton is still the concrete lawn goose
capitol of the United States of America.

These shitty one-story apartments built
in the 1960s and early 1970s are the architecture
of choice for drug dealers and prostitutes.

805 Xenia Ave. is a pretty cool modernist
1950s looking building, that looks like nothing
much is going on there except for folks hanging
laundry out the window.

Those backyard blowup pools from Wal-Mart are all the rage.
Thank God for good cheap, labor from China, or this
petrochemical goods frenzy we are caught in would
never be possible.

Man and child sit idly on the sidewalk
on a warm sunny afternoon on Xenia near Parrot Street.

A back view of the new Steve Whalen Blvd.
exit as seen from Xenia Ave.

Real Photos from the streets of Dayton, Ohio USA - July 6, 2007

2007-07-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

Okey dokey, so I took another bike ride with
camera in tow. Here's what I saw. And aw shucks,
I'm so flattered by the requests for commentary, that
I've decided to embark upon creating two sites,
a commentary free site for free, and a commentary
site for something really cheap, like $5 a year or something.

But for now, I give you another episode of Real Photos from the
Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA, the Urban Appalachian Babylon
of the United States.

Life is slow on Clover Ave. just a block off of Xenia Ave.

Yard animalry is still all the rage in this neighborhood, and
the fool who left that pop top open is begging to get an
old fashioned thievery attempted on them.

This grand dame is on Clover just off of Xenia Ave,
and I forget what the cross street is. The
thieves have taken the street signs, which is a norm in a lot
of the poorer neighborhoods in Dayton.

The Corner Cupboard Thrift Store is located
at 34 Pierce St, which is just off of Wayne Ave.
on the opposite side of Wayne that the South Park
neighborhood is located in.

Right off of Pierce, there is this tiny alley, which is in fact, two actual
streets, which is quite common in older neighborhoods like this one.

Roadside trash in an abandoned lot on Clover St.

The resident at this house on Lorraine Ave. just off of Xenia Ave.,
knows how to live right in the summertime.

On Quitman Ave., they let the kids go to work decorating
the intersection gardens.

These blow up pools are all the rage in Dayton.
They're a poor-man's solution to fun in the summer sun.

This is a shot of work being done just off of the Steve Whalen Blvd. Exit.

Kids' chalk drawings on Parrot Street just off of Xenia Ave.

On Clover Ave. just down the street from Parrot and
Clover, there sits the tiny Riley's Barber Shop where the haircuts are
still done high and tight, like them hard-workin'
Urban Appalachians like 'em.

This old neighborhood market at the corner of Clover and Nassau
is a glaring testament to the influence of Sprawl-mart in America.

If memory serves correct, this place is
on Lorraine and Carlise, and is grand as hell.

Roadside trash on Lorraine.

Abandoned property on Lorraine.

Shirtless men with protruding bellies
can be found pounding away at
the edge of sidewalks throughout the
Twin Towers neighborhood of Dayton.

An idiot on Xenia Avenue openly displays the American version of
the Nazi flag with pride and ignorance abounding.

The Walnut Hills Public Library Branch on Wyoming Street.

The Blue Book Day Care on Wyoming
is a steady presence of positivity on the
eastern Wyoming Street Hill and neighborhood
where Linden Heights, Walnut Hills and Belmont
intersect.

An All-American house on Wyoming.

Why is a house like this on Wyoming divided up into six apartments?

The ride down the Hodapp Ave. hill is thrilling
on a bicycle. I recommend it for all seasoned
riders.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - June 14, 2007

2007-04-14T17:43:00.000-04:00

I took a bike ride yesterday.
This is some of what I saw.
I will be foregoing the comments for awhile,
but will be providing more photos this summer.

Enjoy this wonderful time of the year.

Gotta' get back to peddaling.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 04-11-07

2007-03-29T20:20:00.000-04:00

Young girl jumps rope off of Wabash.

The church at Hillcrest and North Main has
a really cute chef working the soup kitchen
on Thursday nights.

Walking north on Main Street with the latest CVS catch.

Mountain Dew and other consumables are
brought home on a daily basis by many in d8n.

Dayton is a front porch town.

Dayton is a baby-walking town.

It's a chillin' on the sidewalk town too.

Trio chillin' with some large cold beers on a warm spring afternoon.

Even if a front porch is barely noticeable
on a property, Dayton residents will create
makeshift seats in order to consume large cans of beer.

The outside of the Inland plant located at Abbey and
West Third Street in Dayton.

The Scientific Barber Shop on Germantown
Pike looks to be long closed.

Outside the Desoto Bass Housing Project on
Germantown Pike.

Young males congegrate on the sidewalk
off of Bancroft Avenue near "The Bass".

Young couple talks while waiting to catch a bus
at Bancroft and Stewart Streets.

Outside of Bing Davis's art studio on West Third Street.

Waiting for the bus in front of the Ohio Paw Shop on
West Third Street near Broadway.

It's refund time in the hood. Watch for new car
sales to reactivate for a month or two.

The Zion Hill Baptist Theological Institute,
on the corner of West Third and Grosvenor.

You can pretty much KO this house on the corner of Lorenz
and West Third Street. I bet it used to be cool before Americans
suburbanized and turned into creatures led by needs, as
opposed to wants.

The old Jack's Drive-In on Leo near Keowee is now a
used tire joint in serious need of signage and
principles of advertising help.

Despite a recent cold snap, Dayton
is blooming this time of the year.

Now that's ghetto.

How sad it is to see houses like these broken into four units all
over the Five Oaks neighborhood. This palace is on Wasbash.

The corner of West Third and Williams, where
the spirit of Jared looms large.

Doin' the hustler shuffle here off of Troy Street.

Our Lady of the Rosary on Notre Dame and Hart
in Old North Dayton.

Doin' the lunchbucket shuffle off of Leo
in the Kiser Industrial district.

This dude ain't got time for walking to no damn table,
so he's just gonna' eat while he walks.

Deep in the heart of malfunction junction.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 03-28-07

2007-03-16T05:41:00.000-04:00

Softball practicing on the tennis
courts at Dunbar High School.

Man cycling through Five Oaks on Old Orchard.

This is like the biggest apparent party house in Five Oaks,
on the corner of Harvard and Richmond. You can count on
a crowd of people smoking blunts and downing malt
liquor on the porch on a warm day.

Backside of this trash heap.

Marathon Gardens near the corner of Linda Vista and Marathon.

Boy walking down North Main Street near Hillcrest.

You can tell the streets where neighbors care in Dayton if they've
banded together to place speed bumps in the road.

Trio walking down Wabash Ave.

Trio chillin' on a warm afternoon on Weaver Ave.

Dudes wait outside of the daily labor
place on Leo Ave. near Parkside Homes.

Man bikes near Island Park.

The Great Miami River has been swollen recently with lots of spring rain.

One of the murder marts on North Main Street.

Mama and child strolling down Riverside Ave.

Dayton Fire Truck turns onto Fairview Ave. off of Riverside.

The GVC (Greenwich Village Cockamammees) leave
graffiti that pretends anyone really cares about their
collective of post-industrial ghetto wash outs.

The old Druids Club on Leo is now a Yoga Club (you read that correctly).

Gem City Engineering on Leo Street just off of Keowee.

Abandoned car wash on Gettysburg Ave. near James H. McGee.

Phat Kats BBQ on Gettysburg. I'll be
giving reviews of some of the west side
BBQ joints this spring and summer.

Man from the Nation of Islam sells "The Final Call" newspaper
at the corner of Gettysburg and Third Street.

West side dude talkin' on the cell - probably about his grandiose rims.

Popeye's Chicken is out of business on Gettysburg Ave.

Middle aged man seemingly caught between adolescence and adulthood

prepares to cross the street on Richmond Ave.

Homeless man does what homeless men in Dayton do - panhandle.

I love this. Just off of the Salem Ave. exit nearing the Salem Ave. bridge.

Dayton Weekly News building on Salem Avenue.

The Cancer Prevention Institute on Forest Ave.

Another fine example of a great Dayton home on Forest Ave.

Loiterers ignore the do not loiter signs outside of K&J's house of hypocrisy.

Teenagers goof off while waiting for the bus near Germantown and Randolph.

Mama and baby cross the street near the Shell Station and McDonald's
at Germantown and Gettysburg Ave.

Dayton Academy Charter School on Dayton-Liberty Road.

The old Church's Chicken on Germantown Pike.

The back of the new Woggaman Elementary School, located
on the corner of MacArthur and Germantown Pike.

Man waits to cross the street at Groveland and Germantown Pike.

Row of units at Desoto Bass Housing Projects.

What is left of the old McCall's off of Germantown Pike.

Food City on Germantown Pike provides a constant
stream of 40-ounce bottles for consumers to discard
in the lot next to the store.

The service building at Desoto Bass
Housing Projects just off of Germantown.

A better view of Phad-Em Records which looks to have
been closed for years near the corner of Broadway and
Germantown.

This used to be a giant and beautiful old church
at the corner of Broadway and Germantown. It fell
victim to the wrecking ball recently.

Abandoned houses on Germantown Pike next door to
Desoto Bass Housing Projects.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 02-03-07

2007-02-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

Chris' Kitchen, home of fine soul food on
West Third Street in Dayton.

The Christ Memorial Missionary Baptist
Church. It's astounding how the number of churches
seems to be in direct proportion to poverty
in urban neighborhoods. There's often two or three
active churches located on the same street. I guess
it's always easier to look up when you're on the bottom.

Smith's Family Market, located at 262 Lorenz Ave.

There are still homes in Dayton with giant
"Repunzel Repunzel let down your hair"
steeples that are just a wonder to behold in a world
that values real estate fashioned from vinyl, plywood
and drywall.

A young boy died here a few years back
playing near the train tracks on Miami Chapel
Street in West Dayton. Time and the elements
inevitably have deteriorated the memorial at his
place of death - much like the fate of us all.

Seems like half of Dayton is for sale, as has been said
many times. Once the great unwashed masses
realize the bountiful and cheap prices of real-estate
here, perhaps a tide can be turned. This building is
on West Third Street just east of Williams.

A working man chilling in his Carharts
waiting for the RTA and trying to stay
warm as the temperature has been bitter
cold in Dayton recently.

I think this picture says more than I ever could
about the greatness of Dayton's builders of yore.
This grand piece of architecture and craft is from
the Wright-Dunbar District on West Third Street.

Can you say loft housing waiting to happen?
This old industrial space sits at the corner of Horace
and West Third and is aching to be turned into
loft housing. Downtown is just across the bridge,
and the Wright-Dunbar District is a city success
story in neighborhood turn arounds.

Lamar Outdoor Advertising, just off of Edwin
C. Moses and West Second Street in Dayton.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 01-30-07

2007-01-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

Woman digs through her purse on West
Third Street in Dayton.

I've published this tragic photo before,
but not with quite the clarity of this one.
Roadside memorial to a murdered soul
along West Third Street.

Dude chillin' outside the Ohio Pawn Shop
on West Third Street.

Dayton Po-Po pull over a Camaro in
Five Oaks on Cherry just past Norman.

Even the temporary labor business on
West Third Street has gone out of business.

Young man walking down West Third Street
near Conover.

This stylist's cabinet at Derailed
Salon in the Oregon District shows
the basic life philosophy of many Daytonians.

Enchilada's at Wympees? I thought that place was
for rot gut food, cheap wine and lottery tickets!
The times, oh how they are a changin!

Mailman delivers in Five Oaks while
pups wait outside to go in.

Am I nuts for thinking that so many of these
old art deco style apartment buildings would
make great two-story lofts if properly converted?
This one is on Forest Ave. near Grandview Hospital.

Custom Auto Wash, North Main Street.

Video News, North Main Street

The grand Thomas Graphics building
on Troy Street and Chapel in Old North Dayton.

Troy Street Market and Sundries is just closed.

Believe it or not, there is a child evangelism
institute on North Main Street just north of Siebenthaler.

Members of ACORN meet with Dayton
media to announce a protest of the Danner
Ave. market.

Meanwhile, the drug wheeling and dealing
goes on outside of the store unabated. Why
they just don't legalize it, bring it inside of the
store and collect those taxes for schools, I'll never
know, other than maybe putting too many
criminals - in and out of government - out of work.

Beer Drive-Thru, next to
Rooster's on North Main Street.

Isabella's Bra-Tique on North Main Street just
south of Siebenthaler Avenue.

Large houses on brick streets with
giant trees defines the entrance to d8n's
Five Oaks Neighborhood.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 01-23-07

2007-01-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

The former Frisch's on North Main
Street is now a Tex-Mex place.

But the Old-Hickory still chugs along.

As does Schear's Ice Cream.

And the Dayton Fish Company. Always fresh fish first.

West side cemetary in Edgemont.

Phad 'Em records, Germantown Pike.

Woman walking alongside Broadway street in west Dayton.

Carryout and drive-thru, Germantown Pike.

Old Lee's Sandwich Shop building on Broadway and Home.

UAW Local 87 on Abbey Ave.

What has been a Goth/Pagan gift shop on Wayne Ave.
is another cell phone store to compete with the cell phone
store already across the street from it.

Young fella' talking on the cell, walking up
Wheatley Ave. in Five Oaks near Delaware.

This is what historical district guidelines can lead to.

Old dude walking south on Wayne Ave.
near the Keowee Intersection.

Distinguished cuts barber shop, Catalpa Drive.

Finally, a little treat that I found on YouTube.
The legendary and spectacular Dayton Gospelaires:

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 01-22-07

2007-01-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

ArtiFacts on Wayne Ave. across from
Cocoa's. The coolest store in town.

The old SAMU apartment building on the corner
of Wayne and Fifth, which way back in the day
was referred to as the corner of "Filth and Wine."

It is an old d8n urban legend that if you can't get laid after last
call at Sloopy's, you probably can't get laid at all.

Four non-townies on a stroll through
the shops of the Oregon District.

All things British on Third Street in the Cannery Complex.

Some of the other shops in the Cannery District.

Big Lutheran? Church on Wayne Ave. in the Oregon District.

Wympee's done gone Mexican.

The KC Motorcycle Club with art from the k-12
gallery, where I'll be teaching a pop/folk art
class this summer.

The corner of vice and ill-repute on East Third Street.

Dayton Fire Department Station, corner of East
Third and Keowee. Gotta' love the retro styling.

Berties Food and Liquor, East Third.

Passing by the past. Coffee Cup on East Third Street.
At least Mom's Diner is still keeping the greasy
spoon Appalachian tradition going.

Year-round nativity scene on East Third.

Food For Less - East Third Street

Side parking lot of Food For Less on East Third Street.

Jazz Central on East Third Street is having a
fabulous new mural of jazz greats put on the building.

Closeup of the mural at Jazz Central

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 01-19-07

2007-01-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

click on any photo to enlarge.

This old Apartment building at the
corner of Five Oaks and Old Orchard is
being completely gutted and rebuilt, thus the flurry
of construction truck tracks on the lawn.

Grand homes like this one are the norm
throughout the entrance to the Five
Oaks neighborhood. This house is on Five Oaks Ave., a
block away from Forest.

Man walking in the shadows at a public housing unit
off of Gettysburg Ave., whitey's greatest fear!

The in-focus version of the blurry version
of what Salvador Dali would paint were he
stationed in old North Dayton - duplexes
with fast food garbage on the porch.

Danner Market on Wednesday afternoon.
There are lots of 30-40 year old men regularly
milling about with 40-ouncers here. It's like
a post-industrial Mardi Gras 365 days a year.

This lady appeared to be a combination
of worried, and upset walking down
North Main Street on a Wednesday afternoon.

Walking in front of Grandview Hospital.

A grand dame of a building on the corner
of Forest and Five Oaks.

Three young men on Richmond Ave.
in Five Oaks.

A neglected refuge awaits a new day of
urban renewal, hopefully, someday on
the corner of North Main Street and Fairview.

Taking walks in front of buildings that are
for sale is a favorite activity of Daytonians.

This is what it looks like when you tumble
out of Doc's Tavern on North Main Street sober.
Few patrons leaving the tavern get that view.

Waiting for the RTA line in front of Thompson
Graphics on Troy Street in Old North Dayton.

Younger guy walking down James H. McGee Blvd.

City of Dayton worker on James H. McGee.

The Superior Drive Through at the corner of
Gettysburg and James H. McGee does a good
business selling 24-ounce tall boys and other
legal vice products and accessories.

Finally today, a video from my musical outfit, drexel.
It's called Practicing Preachers. Please excuse the video being
choppy in a couple of places, but I think we're
going to have to upgrade to a faster memory
card to eliminate that. We'll even be posting different versions of the same
song with different Dayton landmarks a plenty in
the background, so keep checking back, or just visit us on our
myspace page at: http://myspace.com/drexelohio.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 01-09-07

2007-01-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Somewhere near Edison Street in
West Dayton if I recall correctly.

Heading home for the holidays
off of Kilmer Avenue.

The view on Great Miami Blvd.
heading towards either downtown or
Interstate 75 South.

Abandoned house, the last one standing on
that side of the street on Grand Ave., just
east of Grandview Hospital.

While on the other side of the street, beautiful
historical homes stand intact.

Five Oaks Methodist Church on the corner
of Grand and Forest is spectacular.

Da' Wing Shop on Hoover Ave. is Da'Closed.

Man waits for the bus at the corner of
Shaw and Forest Avenue.

Looking down Forest Ave at the intersection
of Grand, stands a spectacular and grandiose
reminder of American greatness no longer
duplicated, only replicated.

Heading into Five Oaks though, the greatness is
quickly deteriorating, as this abandoned home
on the corner of Five Oaks and Richmond tell
the tale of.

The oft-graffitied building at the corner of
Delaware and Richmond warn the neighborhood
to stay away from the genetalia of whoever "Tay-Tay"
is, lest you catch H.I.V. Why do you never see or hear
public service announcements this brutally honest?

On the other corner of Richmond and Five Oaks,
we can see the legacy of the gated community
that residents of the hysterial drug war generation
have left us with, giant metal trash collectors at
the end of many streets.

At the corner of Niagra and Wheatly,
this giant structure left for junkies to
squat in is a common nomenclature of
the general environment.

Motorcycle clubs are FLOURISHING in Dayton,
which has a lot to do with the suburbanization
and corporatization of the whole biker thing. This
old club on the corner of Rosedale and James H.
McGee appears to be driving on strong.

There is no more decrepid atmosphere than
d8n in the wet pre-wintertime. Bus riders wait
for RTA on Wayne near Keowee.

Heading down Norman Ave. is humbling. You can
feel the vibrancy of the past crashing down to
the reality of the present with every single
home that goes into foreclosure. Dayton is one
of America's top cities for foreclosure rates.

Finally, on a brighter note, my band, drexel, played with
a FABULOUS musical outfit this past Friday night in
Newport, Ky. - Tornado Trousers.

Tornado Trousers is a huge outfit of guitarists,
harmonicas, drums, a jug percussionist and
backup singer, as well as a lead singer who lies on the
floor singing his darndest through a hollowed
out washing machine that has been mic'd.

They sing hilariously real songs like "Freddy
Fender Bender" and too many more to name.
They are definately on my "positive cultural developments" list.

The lead washing machine gets ready to rock and roll.

I think this picture truly exemplfies the music of
Tornado Trousers.

Clean, Clean harmonies.

Check out Tornado Trousers at:

http://www.myspace.com/tornadotrousers

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 12-27-06

2006-12-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

click on any photo for a larger view

Dude walking home near Edwin C. Moses and
Salem Ave.

Turning the corner at Riverview and Williams.

Obviously, babywear is a hot item for
thieves in Five Oaks at Old Orchard.

The corner of Stewart and Brown Street now
looks like this, and will soon have a totally
new look to replace the Arby's and Famous Recipe
this building replaced.

It's like Salvador Dali did Dayton in this front
porch scene on the corner of Hart and
Notre Dame in Old North Dayton.

I have a theory about Dayton. You can always tell the
drug dealer's house on the street by the
disproportionate amount of plastic children's
toys scattered about the yard.

This is where our corporate control center
checks the bladders of its citizenry for
any kinds of unapproved substances.

Fella' walking near the Santa' Clara
District in the early December urban
style for the day, 2006.

The view going down Troy Street past Charlie's
Deli and Thomson Graphics. The sandwiches
at Charlie's are to die for.

Lonely man walking on a lonely Street,
Richmond Ave. in Five Oaks.

It's not hard to get elected mayor of
Dayton when your dad has a highway
named after him.

Corinthian Baptist Church, just
off of James H. McGee Blvd.

Charitable panhandlers can be found nearly
any day of the week at the corner of Third
and James McGee, and Gettysburg and James
H. McGee.

Merry Christmas - I got a new camera!

2006-12-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

Got a new camera!

Saw the first copy of Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio, the book, last night.

It is magnificent. Well worth the $29.95 for your favorite person this Christmas or post-holiday season.

In the meantime, here's some photos from around Dayton recently. We concentrate on grand architectural stylings, or attempts at them.

The Masonic temple houses concerts,
and a secret society of mankind that works to
keep the devil alive on planet Earth, at least
that's what some nut told me one day in
line at the Wayne Avenue Krogers.

The Reynolds and Reynolds Building
just off of Interstate 75 is now clockless. ;-(

There's only about 10 houses like this left in the
Wright-Dunbar area. If you've got elbow grease,
this just might be the buy for you. The roof is still in good
shape.

Mary Queen of Peace School, on Gramont Ave, just a
couple of blocks off of West Third Street near Abby.

The view at West Third and Williams. If you know the
area and its history, it's obvious that some
good things are happening in this area of town.

There's still lots of room for improvement though.

In Harrison Township at North Main and
Nottingham, the Ohio State Buckeyes
reign supreme as Gods at the Northtown
Sports Bar and Grill. Good food and drinkin.

The old Roosevelt High School stands as an
architechtural metaphor to our new
suburban-corporate economy and social
structure's abject failure to preserve
anything of lasting value through our
transition into a plastic economy.

While just outside the Roosevelt grounds, Images
by Prince neighborhood Barbershop chugs along.

Row of public housing units at Desoto Bass
Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority Complex
at the corner of Stewart and Danner Streets.

The view driving down Troy Street in old North Dayton.
David's Uniforms, a very interesting and cool store, is
just up ahead.

Woman walking across the street in front of
the soon-t0-be uninhabited Dayton Daily News
building at Fourth and Ludlow.

Daytonians love their Pepsi. The ramp onto Route 4
near the Keowee Street exit.

lastly, some photos from drexel's recent concert at Canal Street Tavern, and some other various pics and stuff from my life.

Brother Justice takes up the collection during
the evening offering. Let's put that green
where it can be seen!

Heavenly father, we pray that you bless this
show with good piana' playin', and honest,
heartfelt preachin.'

Part of the drexel family came over to celebrate
Gail's big 40th birthday.

The Revererend Drexel Dave
preaches the word.

Jimmy D. Rogers is definately one of the
best piano players in all of America. He can
really tickle, or alternately, pound the ivories.
We we extra blessed to have him play them
old Ivories this evening.

The blog is down for now - my camera is broken

2006-09-30T11:44:00.000-04:00

and if any of you fine folks would happen to have an extra $300 sittting around in order for me to get a new digital camera or would like to buy me a new one, feel free to contact me at: bedpanartist@bedpanart.com, and I'll tell you where to send it.

The blog will be down until I can get this camera fixed, or buy a new one, whichever is cheaper.

Take care until then, and dream beautiful visions of d8n.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 09-11-06

2006-09-10T09:41:00.000-04:00

click on any photo for a larger view

Photos from the annual Dayton Greek Festival @ The
Greek Orthodox Church on Belmonte Park Drive next to the Dayton Art Institute

line dancing, feta style

Didn't I see this guy in a news stand in NYC or at a horse track?

Rock and roll hoochie coos.

In Dayton, the beer man is still everyman's hero.

Dancing does a body good.

The Dayton Greek Orthodox Temple.

Greek Orthodox Priest takes it in.

Young Greek dancers perform some sort
of cultural ritual involving dancing around boys.

Stylin' Greek style.

The Greek Festival is a great place to take
your Boy Scout Troop to brush up on feta factoids.

This lady just got up and shook her ass,
arms and legs, and I like that a lot.

Don't believe me, check out this
video I took of her and put on youtube.com

Waiting for the church tour to begin.

"Olives, we got olives. Tasty wine too."

This kid was on mama like glue.

Ahh...King Greek is a pickin' and a grinnin'

Eating and drinking - what Greek Festival is all about.

A beautiful day with the whole family

Lutheran Church downtown d8n waiting
for the shuttle to the Greek Festival.

Raffle Tickets for a Greek Island Cruise.

Fred and Ethel peruse the fine Greek pastries.

1/2 11 First Street, downtown D8N.

Downtown D8N as seen
from First and Wilkinson.

Photos from the annual First Annual Walnut Hills Neighborhood Yard Sale

Two sisters out shopping the yard sale circuit
in Walnut Hills before the big Ohio State-Texas game.

This dude on the right could barely walk,
let alone discuss the pros and cons of proper
dental care for the three teeth he had left,
or what could possibly be the worse mohawk
in the history of recorded haircuts.

Photos from the annual Miamisburg West Carollton
Football Game @ Harmon Field in Miamisburg, Ohio

The life of a high-school cheerleader is fastidious and blurry.

Miamisburg's School Mascot: Conquerin' Whitey!

Student section at Miamisburg cheers on the team.

Oh to be in the marching band with places to go.

The National Champion Miamisburg Color Guard
peforms at halftime (my little one is in there)!

Kids discussing walking to a spot 30-yards
away in order to talk to other kids.

Miamisburg coach talks to his quarterback.

Two little redneck kids do what redneck kids
do best, fight and wrestle each other in a
never-ending battle of brawn over brains.

Finally, unrelated to everything else on this
entry of the Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton
Photoblog is Donut Palace, on the corner of Gettysburg
and Salem Ave. There's nothing to calm the soul
quite like Lottery and Donuts to start another day of false hope.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio - 09-10-06

2006-09-07T21:28:00.000-04:00

click on any photo for a larger view.

The ruins of the suburbs will rot long before architecture
like this does. Law office on First Street in downtown d8n.

Richard Allen Charter School, downtown campus.

The gorgeous facade of the Ohmer building on
First Street in downtown d8n.

The historic Canal Street Tavern, and
Southern Belle Bar on the corner of First and Patterson.
Some of the greatest concerts of the modern American
era have been witnessed by thousands here.

Grand Avenue in the historic Dayton View
neighborhood of d8n is truly grand due to
what was bestowed upon this city by our
labor concious, socially progressive ancestors.

Cell phone a go-go on Third
Street near the County Courthouse.

The facade of the Victoria Theatre in downtown, d8n.

Veterans Memorial Bridge on Edwin C. Moses Blvd.

Another grand dame on Grand Ave.

When Jamie Simpson is predicting beautiful weather,
brothers be waxin' their cars up for the weekend ahead
on Salem Ave. near Wolf Road.

The old County Courthouse, the hub of downtown d8n.

Larry

Darrel

and Darrel, the second generation, chug up
East Third Street on their Briarmitzfah gifts,
BMXers for life!

Older man enjoys some afternoon solace
on his East Second Street porch.

Woman waits for the RTA on Riverview Ave.

Woman waits for the RTA on Wayne Ave.

Cell phone a go-go on Wayne Ave.

Shopkeepers Village on Salem Ave. is a testament
to the boundless amount of wasteful construction
dedicated to retail expansion in the United States.

Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA - The Book

2006-09-06T11:11:00.000-04:00

It's finally here: Real Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio USA - The Book.

Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio Sept. 2nd, 2006

2006-09-02T07:57:00.000-04:00

Slowly but surely, the Wright-Dunbar Business District
is coming back to life, aesthetically at least. There are
PLENTY of available buildings here, and an active
neighborhood association backing the efforts up.
Now all we need is the demise of the suburbs
to breathe adequate life back into beauty again.

Waiting to cross the street near the Courthouse
on Third Street in downtown D8N.

The bridge on Riverview Ave. crossing
where Wolfe Creek meets the Great Miami River.

A view of the Arcade (building with the green tops)
going down Third Street in downtown D8N.

Confident and sophisticated heading down Third
Street downtown near Courthouse Square. D8N is
filled with confident, sophisticated, and quite hot
ladies. Sure, we've got our share of surly girls, but
that's just one slice of the pie.

The corner of Salem and Riverview shows
just a slice of the architectural greatness
that was bestowed upon D8N by the great
progressives who built this city.

Ed Smith Flowers in the MacPherson town
Historical District is still going strong.

The corner of Broadway and Fifth shows
the scentiments of neighborhood residents
on the border of the Wright-Dunbar historical
district.

On a lazy summer afternoon, Dayton, Ohio, 2006.
(do you know the famous song about D8N I stole that from?)

Nobody uses crosswalks in D8N. They are viewed
as passe' authoritarian structuring, even for a purple
Missisipi Pimp like this.

The new mainstream on the streets is
baggy, but not overstated.

Dayton is the epicenter of interracial coupling
and love. All across the city on any given day,
residents are breaking racial barriers by making
love and children together. It has in large part
helped bring this historically racially divided
city together in many ways.

Main Street in from the the Key Bank building.

The backside of the entrance pillars to the
Veterans Administration Center in D8N as viewed
from Gettysburg Avenue.

Fixing the wall on that old bar across the street from
Veterans Administration main entrance on Gettysburg Ave.

Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio August. 31st, 2006

2006-08-31T21:15:00.000-04:00

Someone got shot in the 'hood. ;-(

The corner of Broadway and Riverview hosts a sidewalk BBQ.

Because if you cook it, they will come.

The Dayton Art Institute is still the gem of the Gem City.

As a group of afternoon buddies hanging out proves.

The corner of Euclid and West Third Street.

Sorry and shirtless off of Patterson just outside downtown D8N.

Everywhere you go in D8N these days, there are orange barrels. U.S.

35 heading onto I-75 pictured here.

Riverview cleaners on Gettysburg Ave. hasn't changed since 1955.

Outside of the Veterans Administration Center on Gettysburg Ave.

Photos from the Streets of Dayton, Ohio August. 24th, 2006

2006-08-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

They still style in old skool Monte' Carlos around here.

Dayton shirtless male coalition member representin'.

The University of Dayton marching band practicing
just off of Stewart Street.

Lady taking an afternoon stroll down Xenia Ave.

Gettin' baby ready for bus on Valley Street.

Looks like a killer on Leo Street.

Cool BMW Motorcycle on Monument at Keowee.

Walkin' slow and easy just off East

Third Street where the livin' is sleazy.

Talkin' bidness in front of the reconditioned
washer and dryer store on East Third Street.

Thackers Donuts on East Third just down
the street from Stiver's School for the Arts.

Let's go Krogering!

Abandoned home off of East Second Street. Notice
the stripped aluminum siding on the house, which
thieves cash in for cold, hard 40-ounce money at
the recycling yards off of First Street.

Groceries, titty bars, the choices are truly abundant on East Fifth.

Ghetto is everywhere, ghetto is still the everything,
ghetto is everybody, ghetto is still the king (thank you Mojo Nixon).
Shot off of Troy Street across from the old Kiser building,
which is being hit with a wrecking ball and being replaced
by a homogenized suburban looking structure.
So very sad. America abhors its own history - and great history
with a legacy intended to last hundreds of years too.

Lil' Tyke on his bike on East Fourth.

Gene's Truck Glass on East Fifth.

Phillips Avenue in Walnut Hills is a cozy street.

Cowboy feller and his pup on Leo Street.

Mother and daughter crossing
the street off of East Fifth Street near
the railroad tracks.

A workin' man in a workin' man's town.

Puttin' on his shirt in order to gain entrance on the
RTA Bus near the Walgreen Store on the corner
of Wayne and Wyoming.

Two military guys jog up
Wayne Ave. in front of Krogers.

For some strange reason, the moment I saw this
dude I thought I had this strange feeling that I had
seen him in some kind of most wanted perp lineup before.

City workers doing work on Wayne Ave.

Girl walking on Wyoming Street.

Man passed out on steps in front of house
on Wayne Ave.

UNO's Chicago Style Pizza in downtown.

Afternoon Harley Riders congregate in front
of the old Ned Pepper's bar in the Oregon District.
I forget what it's called now.

Recognize this guy?

The outside of the Victoria
Theatre on a sunny afternoon.

I was involved in putting together an old school/new school
comedy/music show once that never came together, and
who of all people called me on a Sunday morning, but
Rudy Ray Moore of Dolemite fame. We talked for about
a half an hour. He said he remembers doing a comedy tour
and playing at the old Apollo Theatre, and staying in the Biltmore
Hotel in 1963.

How many people can say Dolemite called them on the phone?

Woman gettin' ready to jaywalk across North
Main Street. Nobody uses crosswalks in D8N.

You can still rent tuxedos at great prices at
Price Stores in downtown Dayton.

Old feller waitin' for the busy at Wayne and Wyoming.

Brand new subdivision like homes to boost the
esteem of poor folks at the corner of second and Jersey.

These guys basically bum around all day off of
East Third Street staying drunk and high as much
as humanly possible.

Pure white trash poetry on Hart street near Troy.

Workin' folks on East Fourth Street.

Contemplating life and other matters relating to
cigarette smoking off of East Third Street.