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.