If there was any hope of restoring the closed Frontier Town amusement park to any sort of former glory… this news pretty much quashed that hope. According to the upstate New York website Sun Community News, legislators have discussed with the Essex County Board of Supervisors the need to demolish and dismantle the original remaining…
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Dream Window 18: Friday Night Fish Fry
I’ve previously built Dream Windows that featured the Capital District’s iconographic artwork and architecture. Dream Window #5: The Thirst Quencher captured the Coca-Cola advertisement in Schenectady, for example. Now comes a new challenge – to build a Dream Window based on a disappearing Capital District advertising sign… and to make that sign dance once more,…
Read MoreThe Super 8mm World
Way back in ancient times – well, “ancient” meaning at least the 1970’s – if you wanted to watch a motion picture at home, there were few options. You could wait until the local television station broadcast it as a “Movie of the Week,” or you could purchase the movie and watch it at home…
Read MoreA pew and a ghost
Two years ago, I photographed an abandoned gas station with a graffiti-tagged ironic comment. Six months ago, I photographed the inside of an abandoned church, finding a juxtaposition of a fetid sofa against a mournful stained glass window. And today, I’m dropping off prints of these two artworks to Historic Albany Foundation, for their use…
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Alexander Hamilton’s powder horn up for auction
He’s on the face of the $10 bill. His name is part of my collegiate alma mater. There’s a Broadway musical about his life, a musical that will most likely sweep the Tony Awards. And now there’s a chance for one lucky bidder to claim one of Alexander Hamilton’s personal items. His powder horn. Bear…
Read More“That’s lower case ‘m’, lower case ‘o’, lower case ‘e’, period.”
The other day, one of my Facebook friends and former editors of the music magazine Goldmine, Wayne Youngblood, went on a screed about the use of two spaces after a period. He was editing his latest magazine, a stamp collecting guide called Topical Time, and posted this: Time to vent: Typographically speaking, two spaces before the start…
Read MoreWanna buy a “Fish Fry” sign?
If you want to own a piece of Albany’s cultural history, now’s your chance. Get your disposable income ready. You could own a fish fry sign. Collar City Auctions has consigned to auction off the entire contents of Bob and Ron’s Fish Fry, including tables, chairs, a couple of fryolators, serving trays, everything but the…
Read MoreBob & Ron’s Fish Fry and A Charlie Brown Christmas
I have many memories of good meals and quiet reflection at Bob & Ron’s Fish Fry on Central Avenue. Last Wednesday’s news that the restaurant was closing its Albany location kinda hit me hard. I should explain why. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsLike thousands of Albany residents, I grew up on their fish fry dinners. I ate at the…
Read MoreGoodbye Schenectady’s Coca-Cola ghost sign…
Last August, I drove by a building on 412 Broadway in Schenectady – only to see hazard tape surrounding it. Construction crews coming in and out of the facility. I really hope it isn’t what I think it could be… but then again, I won’t know if I don’t ask. Hey, there’s a hardhat construction…
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A memory in tile
I barely remember my Grandpa Ben. My few fleeting childhood memories of my paternal grandfather involve my riding in a little baby stroller as he pushed me around the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Unfortunately, he passed away while I was still a toddler, so my memories of him are few and far between. Last…
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Chuck The Writer 
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