And, since this is not 1950, but 2013...The Car and I stayed home.
We left the driving to... my computer, my mouse and Google Earth!
And I truly had the world at my fingertips!
So, of course my first stop was Charlotte, NC and the Sugar Creek Temple of higher learning.....to make sure someone from City Hall hadn't sent a wrecking crew in the dark of night to tear it down.
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| Central High |
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| The Last House standing on Elizabeth Ave A few clicks of the mouse and I traveled up Elizabeth Ave to discover that apparently this is the only one of those great old homes left standing between Presbyterian Hospital and Central High along Elizabeth Ave. |
A little further up the Avenue I was pleased to see that the Visualite Theatre is still around...
Making a U turn and backtracking a bit there is "The Square" and to your left is where I remember watching with my Mom the construction of the new, modern KRESS dime store. Her words still ring in my ears, "Son, one of these days, you'll be able to tell your children that you watched them build that store!"
I swung by a couple more wonders of the world, where I first met so many young kids who became
old friends. Those are the same steps (below) shown in this classic photo.
And........
Speaking of classic photos...Irv Edelman's 9th Grade home room
photo taken on this historic spot
Piedmont has changed a bit. It's now called an Open iB Middle School, whatever that is.
but the tunnel underneath the street it's on is still there, although decorated a little. Piedmont just might be the only Junior High School in the country with its own tunnel. I would imagine that the powers that be thought twice about putting another one where Junior High Kids, would be shielded from adult supervision for who knows how long.
I "drove" up the street a ways wondering if that old pool hall and beer joint was still there. It wasn't, but there was a little street theatre going on. There was a person taking a picture of two Moms dressed alike and two kids, dressed alike.
It's a photo.....LOOKING for a caption. Feel free to submit yours.
So concludes my Sunday Drive thanks to Google Earth!
-Ed
Editor's Note: Everytime I show that Edelman home room picture I brag about the fact that Janice Wilson (the last girl on the right, second row) is the famous Jan Karon the best selling author of the Mitford Series of stories. In one of his last letters to me, Coach Edelman mentioned how proud he was to have received one of her novels she had sent him autographed with glowing praise and appreciation of how much he had meant to her as a teacher that year at Piedmont. I heard a rumor that there's a new character who makes an appearance in her novel that's scheduled to hit the bookstores in the Fall named Edelman. Hummmmm?
