Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Tag: neighborhoods

  • Autumn strolls through my neighborhood on Fujifilm Velvia 50

    Velvia is born for sunny days. Cloudy days, meh. Or so I found out when I strolled through my neighborhood one overcast afternoon with camera in hand. But this is the only photo I got that shows how the reds, yellows, and oranges frosted the green trees here as autumn began. So you get cloudy-day shots. A…

  • On Erskine Boulevard

    My post last week about my childhood neighborhood made me want to update and rerun this 2010 post in which I tour the street I grew up on.  Take a walk with me along the street where I grew up. In 1976, my family moved from the cookie-cutter prefab neighborhood that we called Rabbit Hill to a larger, nicer home…

  • The incredibly sticky sense of place

    If you’ve lived in one place for a long time, think back on how much the area has changed. Think especially of farmland that now boasts subdivisions or office parks. Don’t we marvel at the sprawl? Don’t we rail at how a long stretch of lonely road turned into a string of maddening stoplights? Don’t…

  • Summer’s denouement

    This post on another blog I follow reminded me of this piece I wrote in 2008. The photos are from my first roll of film, shot in August of 1976, of the children I wrote about here. It seems appropriate to re-run this on Labor Day; you’ll see why as you read it. During my…

  • Is it crazy to think that downtowns and big-box stores can peacefully coexist?

    As I’ve explored Indiana on its back highways, I’ve come to have a heart for historic preservation. While my first love is old bridges, I also really enjoy a restored historic building and I am always delighted to enter one of Indiana’s many small towns and find a vibrant, vital downtown. A real favorite is…

  • Summer’s denouement

    Longtime readers may remember this post from three years ago. I’m very much feeling the end-of-summer blues this year and this explains the roots of my affliction. I’ve updated this post a little to keep current with the times. During my 1970s kidhood when schools started after Labor Day as God intended, my mid-August birthday…

  • Rabbit Hill today

    Not long ago, I returned to Rabbit Hill with my brother and his best friend Mike. We were in town to attend an open house at the elementary school we all attended, which had just completed a major renovation. Mike suggested we start by walking back to Rabbit Hill and then walking the three quarters…

  • On Rabbit Hill

    Looking back at my working-class childhood neighborhood. With 31 other children on our street, there was always someone to play with!