Cities & Memory

A city retains small traces of its past that sit in plain view of any who cares to take a moment and reflect on these shadows of what used to be. They can be ignored for years or even decades as one makes their way through the city streets on the way to work or school but occasionally they pop into one’s field of view and refuse to be ignored. Once one has noticed one these odd artifacts of the forgotten past, it will now grab your attention each time one sees it again, asking you to ponder its mystery. Sometimes these are remnants of buildings that were incompletely torn down or repurposed for new uses that don’t need that particular door or window. Sometimes they’re just shadows of the mounts for fire escapes or signs that have outlived their need or sometimes they’re just inexplicable art or artifacts whose original intent and meaning escape analysis.

Pedestrians are unlikely to know that the stone steps once led to a grand mansion.
One sad rowhouse is all that's left of a residential neighborhood
The worn pavement reveals the silvery glint of the track from the long shuttered trolley route
The abandoned lower height platform for the old street-level trolleys
The filled in holes in masonry are what's left from a sign or perhaps metal facade
A few bricks and some masonry details from a demolished store cling to its extant neighbor
Relief sculptures still stand in a dirty alleyway, outliving anyone who knew their provenance.
The shadows of bricked up windows remain visible.
A fragment of a "Toynbee Tile" is still visible
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