Some new photos from Fort Wayne

Chriscrawfordphoto · 02-21-2012

Every time I drive past this little white house on Covington Road in Fort Wayne, the wind is blowing this big flag across the front door of the house. A visitor would have to walk through the flag to get to the steps!

I made these photographs yesterday afternoon.

Borghesia · 02-22-2012

Very folkloristic, you won't see this kind of patriotism in Europe. Here it is mostly forbidden to put up a national flag besides the few national festivities. Even wearing a little national flag on a button or sewed on a jacket would make you very suspicious around here.

Sparrow · 02-22-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borghesia

Very folkloristic, you won't see this kind of patriotism in Europe. Here it is mostly forbidden to put up a national flag besides the few national festivities. Even wearing a little national flag on a button or sewed on a jacket would make you very suspicious around here.

Oh I don't know ... we take it seriously

Chriscrawfordphoto · 02-22-2012

The US government doesn't care if Americans fly the flag or not. Some people do, some don't.

nikon_sam · 02-22-2012

I fly my US flag as often as I remember to put it out...my problem is remembering to take it down at night...
There are probably another three homes that have flags flying in our neighborhood...

Freakscene · 02-22-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chriscrawfordphoto

The US government doesn't care if Americans fly the flag or not.

But they care http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30243.pdf how you display it, which is the same as in other countries; those countries are just more strict about who can, and when, and how.

Marty

Chriscrawfordphoto · 02-22-2012

Those laws are not enforced anymore because the courts here have ruled they violate the right to free speech.

Freakscene · 02-22-2012

Amusing, considering that showing a flag is not speaking. I remember being lectured about those laws very sternly in Guam and American Samoa.

Marty

Keith · 02-22-2012

Interestingly I'm starting to notice more and more Australian flags on show in my travels. I've been driving through a very small out of the way place north of Brisbane called Crystal Waters lately ... several properties have Australian flags out the front!

Peter^ · 02-22-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borghesia

Very folkloristic, you won't see this kind of patriotism in Europe. Here it is mostly forbidden to put up a national flag besides the few national festivities. Even wearing a little national flag on a button or sewed on a jacket would make you very suspicious around here.

Forbidden?

I live in Germany, and I can't imagine any such law. Germans are mostly shy about patriotic symbols such as the flag - but that has to do with their very own special history.
Except, of course, when a football cup is on.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 02-23-2012

Here's something I photographed in Fort Wayne this afternoon. Key Lanes is an abandoned bowling alley on Fort Wayne's northwest side. It has been closed for a couple of years.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 02-24-2012

I made these photographs of one of the many Payday loan places on Fort Wayne's south side this morning. They were shot 5 minutes apart as the sun was rising...the light was changing rapidly!

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-01-2012

This old Lincoln Town Car stretch limo and the old motorhome behind it have sat under this old building on Broadway in Fort Wayne for several years. Part of the old building is home to a vacuum cleaner shop called Allen County Vacuum Company.

I made the photograph this afternoon.

David Murphy · 03-01-2012

Great colors - I like this shot. If they had turned on the Christmas lights it would have been even better

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chriscrawfordphoto

Every time I drive past this little white house on Covington Road in Fort Wayne, the wind is blowing this big flag across the front door of the house. A visitor would have to walk through the flag to get to the steps!

I made these photographs yesterday afternoon.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-02-2012

Thanks David. It would have been cool if the lights were on, but I was happy with it. The colors of them still rendered well. A lot of people around here leave the lights up year round, turning them on only around Christmas, because they're too lazy to take them down each year!

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-02-2012

Another one of the Allen County Vacuum Company. This place always has a large number of used sweepers for sale on the sidewalk in front of the store. I remember times in past years when they had more than a hundred of them out there! I told the guy working there that I was surprised that they didn't get stolen, but he said that they watch them constantly through the windows and have stopped several would-be thieves.

rjbuzzclick · 03-02-2012

Nice work. I really enjoy your photos of the town.

lem0n · 03-02-2012

Nice pictures!

I think the flag-thing is intresting. Although it can send mixed signals, I think it's nice that people can show that they're proud of their country by waving the flag.

In Finland, where I'm from, it's a big no-no to openly wave around the finnish flag in any form, unless it's a national holiday or if you're a right-wing extremist. In a way I think that's sad, because that's not what the flag is supposed to represent. It seems to be the same way in Sweden, although I think people there just don't want to bother anyone with their flag, they're afraid that it might make the immigrants feel less at home or something.

When I lived in Denmark a year or two ago, I was surprised that they waved their flag at every possible opportunity, they're proud and happy to have the flag all over the place. I thought that was really nice.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-02-2012

Dan and Reid, thanks for the kind words on the sweeper shop pics.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-02-2012

Here's the sweeper shop in black and white. Might like this better than the color one, but I don't know. Still deciding.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-03-2012

Whutnots & Doodads Secondhand Merchandise

This building, on Broadway in Fort Wayne, was originally a laundromat called Solar Sudser, but has been a secondhand shop since the laundry place closed. Whutnots & Doodads Secondhand Merchandise is so packed with old clothes, used electronics, and junk for sale that is it hard to walk around in there! I talked to the owner for a while and bought a book on the history of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud from her for 50 cents.

I didn't realize the laundromat had been closed until I noticed the old furniture sitting outside a few days ago after I photographed the Allen County Sweeper Company a few blocks north of here. The owner of Whutnots & Doodads said she's had the shop for 5 years!

Johnmcd · 03-03-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by lem0n

Nice pictures!

I think the flag-thing is intresting. Although it can send mixed signals, I think it's nice that people can show that they're proud of their country by waving the flag.

In Finland, where I'm from, it's a big no-no to openly wave around the finnish flag in any form, unless it's a national holiday or if you're a right-wing extremist. In a way I think that's sad, because that's not what the flag is supposed to represent. It seems to be the same way in Sweden, although I think people there just don't want to bother anyone with their flag, they're afraid that it might make the immigrants feel less at home or something.

When I lived in Denmark a year or two ago, I was surprised that they waved their flag at every possible opportunity, they're proud and happy to have the flag all over the place. I thought that was really nice.

That's interesting. When I first went to Sweden in 2002 I was surprised at how many Swedish flags were flown outside people's homes - more than any other country I have been to, including the US. In Australia it is very rare to see, but like Keith said, it seems to be increasing.

Leigh Youdale · 03-03-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnmcd

That's interesting. When I first went to Sweden in 2002 I was surprised at how many Swedish flags were flown outside people's homes - more than any other country I have been to, including the US. In Australia it is very rare to see, but like Keith said, it seems to be increasing.

I was surprised when I first went to the USA some 20 years ago just how patriotic people were but the many porch flags were nice to see.
Around Australia Day and Anzac Day people flaunt silly little flag things on sticks, stuck on car windows and waving frantically in the breeze as the cars go by.
But one neat touch has been the advent of the "bikini" flag. Shaped, elasticised textile Australian flags that slip neatly over the side mirrors of the cars. They actually look quite cheerful and neat and just sufficiently understated not to annoy.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-03-2012

Cell phones killed the pay phone, but long before that happened, the walk-in phone booth disappeared in favor of non-enclosed pay phones. This beat-up old phone booth on Broadway may be the last one left in Fort Wayne. I have not seen another in the city in many years!

This phone booth stands by the sign post in front of Whutnots & Doodads Secondhand Merchandise.

Chriscrawfordphoto · 03-16-2012

I saw this patriotic yard decoration yesterday afternoon, next to a house on Stophlet Street, in one of Fort Wayne's working-class neighborhoods near the old GE factories on Broadway.