Saturday, June 20, 2009

Snake Alley Tent




Last night I mentioned that weave of interstate ramps, and just before you get to them on the way towards end of Archer Avenue and Chinatown, there are a few "Snake Alleys," some with actual street names, like Green or Robinson, others simply a way to move a car behind a building. Salt Street and Quarry Streets are gone now, but the photos here would be at about where Salt Street was back before the expansions in the 90s. As I was walking towards Chinese Maid, I stopped at a gas station for a bottle of water and, when leaving, I found that I had to detour sideways. In all of three minutes, a road crew had started running fresh asphalt right outside the door. And so it was I saw the man with the cart. I never would have seen him if I had simply left the way I walked in. I was baffled by where he was headed, because there was a fenced in lot, an empty lot, and those goofy interstate ramps. Well, I will say, this fellow had a nice set-up, all things considered. Two tents, bundles of stuff, on what I am assuming is city property (the police pound used to be close to here). I took the photos from the edge of a parking lot, near one of the "snake alleys" people used to get off Archer and into the lot. Decades ago, there was a huge flophouse called the Archer Apartments at the site. Now there is a two story brick building selling condos starting at $300,000.

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

At least Cart Man is not dealing with horrible weather at the moment.

James Robert Smith said...

Yeah, definitely city property. Only city dudes plant trees like the ones in the guy's front yard. Mean to be a green area, someday, for the folk in those $300K condos.