When I took pictures of Las Vegas, NM I used the phrase “lovely decay” to describe the city.   What I meant was that the city once was prosperous, they had pots of money and spent it to glorify the city’s position.  Then came the decline, the city lost importance and the buildings were never updated and modernized.   Time stopped and that’s what makes it so photogenic.

Here where I live, the downtown, theoretical heart of the city has been modernized in fits and starts. Some of the lovely older buildings have been demolished to make way for parking lots and upscale urban living.  But, there are little islands of lovely decay, waiting for the time when they too will be swept away and replaced with the new.

Down along old highway 85 is the 4U Motel.  It was very modern when it was built in the 50’s, and it is still in use as low cost temporary housing.   But the sign is rusting away, it no longer seems of the future, it’s of the past.

This lovely old house is nearby to where I occasionally work.   It obviously at one time was rather splendid, you can see the footbridge that runs over the creek.   Yes, this house has a three quarter moat surrounding it.   I suspect that it had wooden shingles at one time before it was covered in stucco.   Now it sits boarded up against the homeless hobos in the neighborhood.

This tiny house sits across the street from the new modern police station.   Ancient enough to have a brick chimney, it has been unoccupied for many years.   It sits waiting for the real estate investor to be able to make a huge return on this investment.

This place is also downtown, right next to the Greyhound bus station.  Formerly a car wash and gas station, it sits waiting for the proposed Olympic museum and baseball stadium that will send it’s value soaring.   As our minor league baseball team is leaving the city in 2017, at least part of this plan may never happen.   But eventually all of these buildings will be demolished and something else put in their place.   It’s the nature of cities.