The Starkness of Gray

On days like today, which is a grisly rainy day, the old town appears very gray. You have to look deeply to find color. Soon the green leaves will turn orange, then brown, then will be gone. The rain will detach what leaves cling to their memories of Summer, and they will become part of the past. Winter will come and with the first snows, the town almost appears monochromatic, just shades of gray from black to white. But the contrast of fresh snow, and the deep gray of the granite make a powerful image together. Then, just glimpses of weathered red-painted wood here and there, perhaps some yellow, and green, but mostly just the fresh snow, and the eternal granite. On days like that, everyone that visits the old town will see it through the eyes of an artist.

Bill Hood's Grocery Store

Hood's Grocery was located in the old Opera House on lower Main Street. It was of the old way of doing things. You would go in and after passing the meat display case on the right, usually displaying a pig's head, pig's feet, and some "souse" meat, and approach the sales counter. You simply stated to the clerk, usually Mr. Hood, what you needed, and he would go behind each of the refrigerated cases or reach canned or boxed items down from the to-the-ceiling shelving, and bag it himself. No aisles, no carts, no ten cash registers, no express lane, just one customer served at a time. You could find the regulars there every afternoon, leaning on the beer cooler, drinking away.
So there you have it, lessons for a 10 year old - life is bad for pigs, and everybody has a few beers at 4 o-clock.

Valmas' Brothers Restaurant

There was a menu from Valmas' Brothers Restaurant for sale on ebay, and it got me remembering the old restaurant. As I recall, there were 3 Greek brothers that formed the restaurant, just can't remember the names. Perhaps one of them was Frank, and a waitress named Edith. And 5 cent cokes, and 10 cent hot dogs, and a warm place to wait for the schoolbus on cold Winter mornings. Package goods, Pepsi machine on the corner, and a good place to find customers that perhaps needed their shoes shined. An old stand up wooden phone booth inside, contertops, barstools, and booths. And neon signs, and neon outlines in the windows, and you could trick innocents to stand too close to the glass outside, and the transformer would give them a mild shock. The things we did to amuse ourselves...

Ellicott City Fall Festival

It looks like the Fall Festival is happening on Saturday, September 26th from noon to 5. Ellicott City festivals used to be a lot of fun. Perhaps I'm just getting to old and grouchy, but I don't find large groups of people much fun anymore. But if you're a family with small kids looking for something entertaining to do, it might be worth checking out. I found out about it here

Fall in the Historic District

This is a nice time of the year to stroll the streets of the old town, perhaps with a coffee in hand. Cooler weather makes it more comfortable to walk those uneven streets and sidewalks. Everywhere you go, it seems like you are either climbing up one incline, and then walking down another.
Soon, the seasonal change will also arrive, and the leaves will be changing color, so everyone should plan a trip there to enjoy it before Winter arrives.

B&O Railroad Station Restoration

Every time I look at the B&O railroad station, I get mad all over again at some of the work that was done in the name of restoration. If there was anything that I learned while serving 16 years on the Sykesville Historic District Commission, it was that proper restoration is also sensitive to changes or additions made to a building over it's long history. The  "restoration" of the B&O station removed 3 chimneys, and cut a new entrance hole in the South wall similar to the 1830 building. The chimneys, as well as most of the multi-paned windows were not original to the 1830 structure, but were added about 1870. Thankfully, the windows were not changed.
Don't even get me started on that stockade fence.

My Old Buddy, Gary Robertson

Some of you may still remember another artist that worked in the old section of town. Gary was a great artist, mostly working in pen and ink, acrylics, and watercolors, and selling them in his gallery on Main Street. He collected primitive furniture, crockery, and the like and incorporated them into his paintings.
Gary contacted me recently, and he's returning to the area for a visit. So if you see 2 distinguished looking men walking up and down Main Street, graying, and bent over, and having the time of their lives, it'll most likely be us.

Fog in the Valley

On mornings like this, with fog rolling into the Patapsco river valley, I miss living in old Ellicott City the most. A lot of years have passed, since I lived there, but it still remains the place that I've lived the longest. On foggy mornings like this, I can still imagine the lonely train horns echoing through the valley, hear the rustling river, see the moisture in the air, and the persistent green of the vegetation. I can still hear them where I live now, upriver in Sykesville, but it's just not quite as picturesque.

Chez Fernand to Tersiguel's

Fernand Tersiguel and his wife Odette opened the "Chez Fernand" French Restaurant in the mid 1970's. The second floor, where the restaurant operated was earlier known as "Libertini's Italian Restaurant. Before that, it was where Ken Olin originally opened his "Olin's Art Shop" before it moved just up the street.
Fernand was a very friendly fellow, and Odette a great cook, and it was not long before the restaurant was the most successful restaurant around. After getting to know Fernand and seeing some photos of their hometown area in Brittany, France. I came upon the idea of doing a series of oil paintings for him to hang in the restaurant. After selling him a few paintings, and mostly spending the money to take girlfriends there, we came upon an arrangement whereby after finishing a painting, and hanging it, I could just go to dinner and sign the check. A good arrangement for us both, he got the paintings, and I got to impress my girlfriends.
Sadly, in 1985, I received a telephone from Claudia, the girlfriend that I was to marry that year, telling me that Chez Fernand had burned down, and with it, all of the paintings, about 20 in all.
Just 2 weeks earlier, Claudia had been to the restaurant, and photographed the paintings.
After this tragedy, Fernand and Odette relocated their restaurant to Baltimore, for which I did another series of oil paintings of France. They must have missed the old town and it's people, for later, they sold the city location and returned to Ellicott City to the building where they now are, and re-named the restaurant "Tersiguel's.
When they reopened, we framed Claudia's photos of the destroyed paintings that hung in the original restaurant, and presented it to them as a gift. It now hangs in the "Memories" room.
I also re-created some of the paintings for the new restaurant, along with most of the framing that hangs throughout the restaurant, including all of the Tersiguel family photos.
Fernand and Odette's son Michelle now runs the restaurant, and is giving it a new life that will remain long into the 21st century.

All in the Life of One Building

One building... My first memory of it was when it was known as Rock Hill Liquors, owned by the Zito brothers.

• 1960's - As a child, I bought ice cream, candy, and potato chips there.
• 1970's - Being older, I purchased beer there.
• Later 1970's, I visited there to sell my paintings of the old town to Preston Pairo, in his law office.
• 1980's - 1990's - I visited there to pick up and deliver framed artwork to the Marget Smith Gallery.

The building, like many during the current economic depression is empty. I wonder what use is coming, and if there will be a reason for me to go there?