Jerry A. McCoy: September 2009 Archives

Appearing next year at a bookstore near you...if there are still any in business by then...will be Then & Now: Silver Spring, to be released by Arcadia Publishing.  This will be a follow-up to my 2005 book, Historic Silver Spring, published in 2005.

While my first book was released as part of Arcadia's "Images of America" series, this one will be part of its "Then & Now" line (even though I would love to have it titled Then & Again in acknowledgement of my column, which has appeared in the Silver Spring Voice since February 2003).  The "Then & Now" series consists of about eighty paired photographs arranged in thematic chapters that illustrate how a community has changed over the course of half century or so...for better or for worse.

My hope is to have very little repetition of images in the two books and to do this I need your help.  It took me almost a decade to assemble the 200 images that appeared in the first book and then many of the photos were contemporary views that I took.  When the book came out, several folks complained about such and such a place not being featured.  When I asked them if they had an old photo of said place (for I didn't), they replied that they also didn't...except the one person who said that he did!

A huge gap in the visual documentation of downtown Silver Spring as it appeared in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s still exists.  I know these photos are out there, probably still in scrap books, photo albums, and shoe boxes and being stored in basements or attics (never good places for materials like this) or under beds or in closets (better).  If you have any photographs of downtown Silver Spring taken during this period (or even earlier) that you would like to be considered for use in the new book, please contact me.

One of the chapters in the book will be devoted to Silver Spring Park, better known today by its generic moniker East Silver Spring.  Surveyed in 1905, the borders of this now over 100-year old neighborhood were originally Bonifant Street on the north, Cedar Street and Carroll Lane on the east, Sligo Avenue on the south, and Georgia Avenue on the west.

I hope to feature many pairings of "Then & Now" photos of houses located in this historic neighborhood, both extant and lost.  Two of the houses for which I have located vintage images are reproduced here.

Situated at 732 Thayer Avenue is a unique residence whose simple lines belie its age.  Constructed around 1905 by James Edward Faulconer with help from his father John Benjamin Faulconer, the house was originally to have been one story.  Father convinced son that he needed more room and should add another level.  Together they framed the second level which afforded much needed space for the five children that would eventually be raised there.

732 Thayer Avenue, constructed ca. 1905 by James E. Faulconer and his father John.  Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

The same house as it appeared in the 1940s.  Photo courtesy Deborah McGreevy.

Design and construction ran in the Faulconer family for John's other son, also named John, became a professional architect. Standing at 805 Silver Spring Avenue is a wonderful circa 1918 bungalow that he designed for John and Estelle Crawford.  Mr. Crawford was a signal man for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and later an electrician.  The house has been beautifully restored and appears nearly identical to the way it did nine decades ago.

805 Silver Spring Avenue, constructed ca. 1918 from a design by John M. Faulconer.  Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

The same house as it appeared in the 1920s.  Photo SSHS Archives.

John M. Faulconer's original ink on linen rendering of 805 Silver Spring Avenue.  Photo SSHS Archives.

There are probably more vintage photographs yet to be found of the many historic homes constructed in the early 20^th century in Silver Spring Park.  If you have an early image of one of these houses, please contact me at (301) 537-1253, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or write Silver Spring Historical Society, PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD, 20910.  Our web site is www.sshistory.org.

These "Capitalism Did This" signs were handed out after the screening of Michael Moore's film "Capitalism A Love Story," held at the AFI Silver Theatre on September 28th.  I was told that attendees were asked to place the signs in their community where they felt Capitalism was to blame for something they felt was wrong.

Sure, Capitalism may be partly to blame for this empty lot in the 900 block of Thayer Avenue, but I also have to blame an uncaring public who did nothing to help the Silver Spring Historical Society save at least some of the important history located here that was demolished.

This morning I looked out the windows to see the neighborhood covered with a thin veil of fog.  Until my first trip to San Francisco last month, I thought I knew what real fog looks like. 

I don't know fog.

Downtown Silver Spring viewed from the Silver Spring Metro platform, 8:33 am, September 22, 2009.

As much as I have long loved Carl Sandburg's poem, I never could quite equate his vision of this naturally occuring climatic event with what I have always seen:

The fog comes

on little cat feet. 

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

Chicago Poems (1916) "Fog"

One day while in San Francisco I was coming out of the Safeway at 2020 Market Street (can't get away from Safeway!) when I was stopped dead in my tracks.  Looking south-west towards Mount Sutro I saw this veritable blanket of fog coming over the top of the 200 ft. rise and flowing down its western side.

Fog pouring down western face of Mount Sutro, San Francisco, 6:39 pm, August 25, 2009.

The first thing I thought of upon seeing this spectacle was the scene in the 1996 film Independence Day when the alien spaceship arrives over New York City and is revealed coming out of an ominous-looking cloud.

The second thing I thought of was that this fog bank was indeed advancing slowly as a cat's feet would...ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey...just the way Sandburg described it.

I suspect that Sandburg was thinking about Chicago fog since he was living there at the time he penned his poem, but who knows?  Either way, it was a nice way to start a dreary day with thoughts of San Francisco and Carl Sandburg.

On my first visit to California in 1989 to visit a friend living in Los Angeles, upon arriving at LAX I was taken to see the 1935 Pan-Pacific Auditorium, an incredible Flash Gordon-looking historic structure in the city's Fairfax neighborhood.

That night the building burned to the ground.

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Fast forward twenty years.  My wife and I recently returned from a two week visit to San Francisco and Northern California.  While visiting friends in Sea Ranch, we were taken to Bones Roadhouse, a wonderful restaurant in nearby Gualala.  I don't know what was better at this family friendly "biker bar," its Bar-B-Que or the view from its rear deck of the Gualala River where it empties into the Pacific Ocean.  We liked it so much we had lunch there twice in the span of two days, the last visit being on Thursday, September 3rd.

You guessed it.  The next day it burned to the ground.

Lunch consisted of pulled pork, beans, cole slaw and corn bread.  I rarely eat this kind of stuff but hey, I was on vacation!

View while eating lunch.  A sandbar splits the Guala River (bottom) where it then empties into the Pacific Ocean (top).

 Some of the "bones" decor.

Bar, pool table and one of the largest flat screen televisions I had ever seen.  Note the circular window next to the TV.

After the fire.  Note the same circular window.  Photo courtesy Flickr.

I've yet to learn what was the cause of the fire.  I really hope that owners Mike and Mary Harris will rebuild.