"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
28 December 2004Kitschy kitschy cooLil'Red weighs in on the Red Dirt Kitsch meme (first promulgated here):
The neon pig atop 50 Penn Place — For the life of me I can't remember why that pig was there. I think it was a logo for a bank that was housed there. All I know is that when the pig was gone, I was hurt. It's kind of like insurance. You never really need it, but you just like knowing it's there.
Sooner Federal Savings and Loan, which failed in the Great 1980s S&L Bust. Its remains were acquired by First Gibraltar Bank, an association set up specifically to buy up the residue of failed S&Ls in this part of the country; First Gibraltar subsequently sold off the Sooner Federal facilities, mostly to Bank of Oklahoma. The new vaguely-shamrock-like logo fills the space, but does not truly replace the pig. And on the old Belle Isle Power Plant, she says:
Long gone are the days when the Belle Isle power plant, all funky and ugly, sat alone just north of I-44. Although it was an eyesore, I still dug it ... it's that history thing I mentioned before. And I'd rather look at the Belle Isle eyesore than the State Fair WalMart that went up in its place. Ugh.
Remind me to buy her a drink — and not at the Sip, either. We first came to town about 12 years ago and my kids referred to 50 Penn as "the piggy bank building". I too was sad to see the pig go. Personally, I still enjoy the milk bottle and the Remington Drive-in. Posted by: Dwayne "the canoe guy" at 3:49 PM on 28 December 2004It's amazing how something like a power plant can grow on you. In Fairbanks, the smokestacks kind of fade into the background in the summer, but come the sub-zero days of winter they belch out plumes of vapor that stand over them like monuments that proclaim to travelers for miles around, "There's civilization here!" Posted by: McGehee at 12:36 PM on 29 December 2004 |