Williamsport, PA. November 2019.

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An element from a Leeds City Council show garden at Chelsea flower show. Now in Roundhay Park, Leeds.

 

WEEK 29 – Carrollton, GA, Target (II)

 

Stepping back out into the rear actionway, this shot gives you some more perspective on that dividing line we were just talking about. On the other side of that aisle with the printers and ink that you see on the right edge of this pic, lies the aisle we were just standing in in the previous image with the storage buckets and the terminal point of that yellow stripe along the rear wall. As mentioned previously, menswear’s new neighbor is the electronics department – relocated from the front left corner of the store, which we’ll see later on – and the aisles seen here look impressively complete at this relatively early stage in the remodel.

 

(c) 2021 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

CF4412, Black Caviar and CF4411, Revenue operate QUBE's 1311N between Sydney and Junee / Harefield. Until recently, this train operated out of Melbourne. The train is captured on Colorado Road between Demondrille and Nubba, New South Wales with some impressive Spring scenery featuring. 2nd October 2014.

The road was closed to the lighthouse, so Lamar and I hike down the beach. The next day the lighthouse was down, so I got photos before they took it down. The city is going to relocate it. Port ST. Joe Florida.(HDR)

Ants relocating larvae deeper into their nest.

Having started off on the rocks below the cliff opposite,we decided that a change of location would increase our chances of some decent sky colour and light.I think our move paid off :)

 

thanks to MICK,CLIFF,SIMON,SIMON,ALISTAIR

for popping along and making it an enjoyable trip,hope to see you again soon lads.

 

EXIF....F16....3 SECONDS....ISO 100....11MM....LEE 0.9H+0.6S ND GRADS

 

explore #435 23-jul-09

Feed train 48T "crosses over" from the old NS track alignment to the north to the new NS alignment over the Laurel Street, Ash Street, and 5th/6th Street bridges to the south.

 

Eventually, NS' new double track mainline will be shifted east to the graded area on the far right side of this photo. This is needed to make room for UP's new double track mainline along the 10th Street Corridor.

 

Lot's of work has been completed, but much, much more will be needed to finish this massive project by late 2025.

 

BNSF 6151 - ES44AC

BNSF 7849 - ES44DC

BNSF 5115 - C44-9W

 

Laurel Street - Springfield, Illinois

November 6, 2022

Relocated to Matamoras

 

Port Jervis, NY. October 2016.

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Relocated from the former Roses space at Ashton Square to the former Marshalls space at Plantation Point Shopping Center

Besides Fred and the Shinny Man a few other ‘characters’ would drop over to the Lumpy Bikes shop and spend some time, I’d almost always pull out a camera to take their photograph. One man in particular had a very interesting ‘worn’ face and spoke in a ‘carny gee shucks’ kinda way. His name was John Knight. We remain friends. It turns out that the Shinny Man had stolen/borrowed/ John’s wife Yvonne of years earlier, so their was some bad blood between John and Wayne. Now, I was right in the middle of this, my thinking is the shop was just like one of those park benches that had been removed, it had become its own kinda social place, just like a café or a diner. Folk would gather and like lots of folk whiling away their time, talk would turn to gossip and gossip comes in many forms. So, many times I would hear John talk about “that guy there, isn’t he something, do you have any idea what he has in all those bags on his bike, why’s he got all that stuff, one time when I had a place on Park Street he asked me if he could store a bit of stuff there, just for a while, and well he brought stuff over, junk, it was all mostly junk, junk he had picked up in the bins or the side of the road, before you knew it the backyard was full of junk.” He rambled on about the Shinny man. It was so humorous as I had helped John with a move job one time, he actually hired my truck for twenty bucks to move some stuff he had inherited from this woman who had died in an apartment on Mcdonnell Street at the Aitkin Court places. I never seen such a smoke filled apartment, everything was stained from the nicotine, it reeked of tobacco, everything you touched had an oily tobacco film on it, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. So we drive this truckload of stuff, knick knacks, a bed frame, a dresser some boxed stuff, what I thought was mostly junk, Johns kind of junk and took it over to John’s storage locker which was off of High Street part of a moving companies storage facility. John had a unit rented in the storage building, you had to go through about two wire fences, four doors and six locks to get to it and it was crammed already with other junk! John it turned out had his own ‘issues’ shall we say with collecting stuff, yet here he was, at my shop, at least twice a week telling me what a pack rat that Whiskers was. The two of them kept me on my toes as they were both known to have what they call in the trade as ‘light fingers.’

 

Their rivalry extended to unattended bikes in the city. One time a police from the city force came to the house to investigate where John had gotten a white mountain bike. I told the officer I had sold it to him which quelled the situation. It came out that The Shinny Man had told the cops that John had a stolen bike. When I saw John Knight he was purple with rage, “that dumb sonamabitch told the police I had a stolen bicycle and they came to my house asking me questions” frothed out of his mouth. Seems that John had found The Shinny Mans stash of bikes behind an apartment on Simcoe street and relocated a few of them to his own stash place behind Lee Ho’s Chinese restaurant on Aylmer street. When they tore down Lee Ho’s a few years later Wayne was all up in arms because the contractor had taken away a pile of six bikes that he had stashed there. They’d been there over two years, just rotting in the elements so to speak. These collectors achieved a degree of satisfaction by hoarding things, I believe the accumulation of things for them was more a type of bank account that gave them a good feeling. One time I was at the bins behind the library and I ran into Wayne the Shinny Man and asked him why he had some broken padlocks, he said to me, “you never know when you may need one.” Another time as I was going into Vinnies, the newly located St Vincent de Paul second hand store, I ran into John coming from the ReHab store across the street, in his hand he had six pairs of broken scissors in a yellow grocery store bag, I asked him why he needed so many pairs of old scissors, he said, “what a deal I got eh, only two dollars a pair.” He had this smile on his face, it was if he was temporarily stunned with happiness. At his government subsidized apartment on Rogers Street he had been warned not to bring to much stuff home. They were conducting bi-weekly inspections at his place and every month he would be told to clear some stuff out or face eviction, now that would be a problem cause old John, he had been on the waiting list for ten years before he got the place. In order to appease his tormentors he would toss out whatever they requested and start collecting again. He spent the better part of the day at the charity drop off bins scouring for interesting stuff, every day he would make the rounds of the three main second hand stores after starting his day by bicycling from his unit to the little restaurant on Romaine Street where he would sit near the front by the cash register his back against the wall so he could view the comings and goings. He let out the odd guffaw to the waitress and the regulars and have several refills in his cup of coffee, then begin his day of scrounging. He could do a days work and from time to time he would take a bit of work helping folk with yard chores and the like. Last summer he worked for a man that hired him to help remove some shingles and replace a roof on an island property, he said, “I was some sore after that job.” One time he helped me move some short four by four timbers that I had disassembled from the young lads sandbox when I realized it was no longer being used. John had four or so boards in his arms as one would carry fire wood when he stumbled and fell on the short step from the side yard in front of the wire dog run. He landed on his ankle and it was touch and go for a few days there for John’s ankle. On Saturdays John had a standing job at Jimmy Malakos’s Thurstons Restaurant a few blocks from our house on Lock Street. His chore was to fold the cardboard boxes that had been gathering over the week from deliveries, for this work John would get a free bacon and eggs feed with all the coffee he could drink. John has a way with words, I wish I could recall all his sayings, he would often say sarcastically, ‘ya figure’ in reference to some story or another. Another favourite phrase that I heard him use a dozen or more times is, “she wouldn’t look bad with a sack over her head.” Then there was the commonly used expression, “isn’t he a box of chocolates.”

 

As spring approaches I expect to see more of John at the shop, I could always count on him to bring bikes over to purchase accessories, especially front and rear carriers for them and those double splayed old fashioned kickstands. Last year his visits were fewer and further apart, he had purchased a lime green electric scooter which I would see him driving to his locations of interest. Oh, I suppose a man in his mid sixties is entitled to some lessening of exercise by this age, John took to the scooter like a duck to water, when I’d see him on it I always miss the smooth rhythm that one sees with folk riding bikes who aren’t in any particular hurry to get anywhere, sauntering so to speak. The scooter, well, it doesn’t saunter, it doesn’t seem to be saunter friendly. I wonder how an old rag and bones Sheeny like John could stop that expensive scooter at a red donation box and look indiscreet as he perused the contents perhaps purloining an article or two for his private collections. In the fall I ran into John, he had a long chin, somebody had stolen the batteries and battery holder from his scooter as it was parked below his unit at the project. Besides the battery stuff they also took the side mirrors and some other pieces of the scooter. Johns unit faced the Rotary Trail, it would not have been difficult for someone to climb the short fence at night and quietly remove the parts, flip them back over the fence and just walk away unnoticed. At the scooter shop called Green Street John priced the replacement parts, the total came to over $500, which it turns out was about what John had in the bank for emergencies, he bought the parts even though his same scooter had been on sale, brand new, the entire scooter for only $600 a few weeks earlier at the Walmart store, they didn’t have any left. When I saw him a few weeks later he was some happy, back in the saddle of his scooter which he had repaired for $500. From time to time John would ride shotgun with me as I went about the area picking up bikes from sellers, this is when it would get humorous, the way he spoke the words he chose, you could tell his phrases were well used, that he had been saying them for decades, you just don’t develop them one liners in an afternoon, “Holy Cow did you see her, he’s so cheap the lead in a pencil would be extracted if he thought he could get something for it, them damn owners of that place I have my coffee, I don’t go there when they’re there, they expect you to buy something and get pissed off that I just sit with my cup of coffee.” Being with John is fine entertainment.

 

2010 saw more blatant documentation of folk whom I would meet on the streets, I took in my opinion some classic photos of folk who many would not bother with, Lawrence Carnrite for one, he got out of jail, falsely accused of killing a man, an English tourist one night after one of the pubs closed, it may have been in the alley behind the Red Dog Tavern at least in that general area, when I saw Lawrence he was cleaned up, like no tomorrow, never seen him looking so good, he had a handful of small painted rocks that our friend the painter Randy Knott had given him to sell and he was offering them to passerby at the entrance to the No Frills store. Annette price came into the lens, I had noticed her mismatching of clothing colours, in her own way she reminded me of my sister Suzanne, I befriended her, one day Annette was at Brock and George Street heading south when I stopped her, and I am glad I did as she pulled out a necklace from under her coat that held at least a hundred Chrisitian charms, there was power in them charms. I won’t quickly forget going into the basement of that fancy Walkwell shoe store on George Street, Cliff Button the manager took me downstairs there before they closed up, I wonder if Cliff ever landed another job, that can be a hard thing, replacing a career when you are near the end of your good years. I look above me here at the computer and a wooden shoe tree from that basement is hooked up to a ceiling hook a souvenir from that shop. Carol Hannah, a user, at least she was back then was busking early one Sunday morning when I ran into big Brent Sisson looking real wonky at the corner of George and Simcoe Streets, that’s the heart of town George and Simcoe, his electric assist wheelchair would only run for ten feet then stall, then after a spell go another ten feet, I went to Our Space to get some help, it was early they weren’t open, there was Martha with the D.A.N.I.E.L. tattoo on her forehead hiding in the bushes at the old community garden and I asked her to come with me and I hooked her up with Brent and directed her to get him up to Our Space while I drove Big Brian home to Parkhill and Water because he couldn’t make it, he’d run out of steam. Turns out Brent was real sick, the Our Space people assessed him quickly and he got taken to the hospital where he went into the serious ward, oh, what do they call it, the Intensive Care Unit. I spoke with Carol Hannah and she said she had seen Brent sleeping in the bank foyer that night, the CIBC bank foyer. So I called the police and asked the chief at the time if any of his staff had seen Brent crashed in the bank overnight, and he got back to me and said, “none of our officers saw him” now you tell me, kindly how a four hundred pound man in an electric wheelchair wearing Hudsons Bay like blankets to stay warm can go unnoticed in a goddamn bank foyer on the busiest street in town. I would visit the hospital from time to time to visit Brent, the first time I visited he was out cold, ‘he’s in an induced coma his nurse told me’ I knew things were serious because he had one to one help, tubes protruded from his mouth, down his throat, into his arms, the entire back of the room looked like a space launch room, chock full of gauges and meters. Undeterred, I went back the following day and he had improved to the point he was conscious and could respond to my words by blinking his eyes and nodding. That day the nurse said, ‘he’s very sick still, he has an infection, the family are coming in from out of town’. I made him laugh, I asked if my friend Saint Carol Winter had been in to see him, ne nodded and let out a big grin, the biggest grin I ever saw, I knew Carol had been there every day since his hospitalization. The next day, I got a call from Carol, Brent was dead, the infection was too serious they could not save his life. Imagine the emotions of his family members having to make that kind of decision.

 

It turned out to be another year of tragedies, of short lives for some. My friend Ray Voyer one of my original street people characters died from a heart attack while living with his sister up in Bridgenorth. There was a wake for him at the Kayes Funeral Parlour on George Street. Old Fred and the Shinny Man were in attendance, I recall Fred talking loud while someone was speaking their eulogy, I nudged him in the ribs, Carol looked at me a bit aghast at the aroma emitting from Fred. Wayne the Shinny Man also sat with us, he would have heard there was going to be a lunch after the service. All of Ray’s three brothers were there and his sister Donna as well, they put on a nice display of family photos of Ray from his youth up till before he moved to skid row permanently. There was information on where he worked, what he did, when he got ill upstairs and they gave him some of that Jack Nicholson medicine, shock treatments, there was even a photograph of a young healthy Ray with a Harley or some other big motor cycle. I’ll never forget the time I was photographing Ray at one of the benches in Crary Park, he was coming down from a good binge, he didn’t know I had been taking pictures so I went up to him and gave him a $5 dollar bill, he looked at me and he said, “Charlie, you sure you can afford it, you’ve got kids to look after.” So we get to the snack portion of the funeral and here is Wayne the Shinny Man and Fred both stuffing their pockets with choice treats for later, Wayne caught my ear and he said, “there’s some real nice strawberry tarts on the table, have a couple.” He said it as if he was the maitre de` at a fancy hotel, his eyes were bulging out of the sockets with glee, as if he had struck it rich

.

Other interesting characters continued to flow into my life as if there was a hole in the ships bowels. From the impetus of some of the 09 photos that interest in photographing those on the fringes grew and grew. I’d spend as much time as I could in the core of town looking for subjects and their stories, I found it interesting. I got to know folk much deeper once I stuck the camera in their faces, Marty the window washer was one such person, I worry for him as I have not seen him for some time. Every now and then someone would come over to the bike shop and I would capture their image, Ryan Bubbles Clapper is one such person, I think he’s doing a stretch these days. Celebrities would come over to purchase retro bikes or have their bikes repaired, famed swing style musician Catfish Willie was one of many who this little eclectic shop drew business from, and it is appreciated. Tommy Steele of the local band The Spades did a trade with me for some parts, the bike he left off was a cool retro looking affair that once housed a Zap brand electric motor before they had refined that technology to what it is today. My friend Hans Fishcher got that bike which he has since ‘pimped’ out to his liking.

 

Somehow I found out about a camp that men used to have a couple of pops at. It was located in the woods behind the Swiss Chalet and the Mini Town miniature golf place on Lansdowne Street. I was welcomed there one Saturday by old time acquaintance Tommy Boyle. Tommy was there that day sitting around the campfire with the camp boss, Norm Mccarrell, Chris, Bushey and another pair of guys who’s names I never did get, reluctantly they posed for a couple of photos, oh yeah Redman one of the Taylor boys from Curve Lake was also there that day. I had learned that the camp was, from time to time, a safe place to hide out as well as a good temporary living arrangement if one didn’t mind shitting in the woods. Besides the fire pit area there was a full kitchen set up outdoors Jamaican style with all the usual utensils, frying pans and pots, stacks of firewood, a midden for garbage such as cans and plastics. There was a large garage like structure covered in green tarps, inside that building there were some cots and bedding as well as coolers to keep the meat cold that had been scrounged from the toss outs of the grocery and away from the critters, the coyotes and coons who hung around by the train tracks. If ever I had witnessed a replica of a hoboes heaven this was it.

 

This young student was making a documentary on street people, her name was Victoria Scholes, I believe her uncle Wayne Eardley a local photographer/videographer introduced her to me and next thing you know she and I are touring the town and I have a roll to play as the introducer to folk on the fringes. We toured Fred Maybee’s house where he was tickled pink to be in the company of this young lady, he was rubbing his hands together, for me, that was a real tell tale moment in the study of Fred and it fit in with the mannerisms we had witnessed at our house when the young women were home. Victoria interviewed Marty the Window Washer and even Ken Taylor who is usually a very quiet fellow. Her film brought her/us some acclaim as it played at the local ReFrame film festival in 2012. I continue to chide her to help me with another project.

 

One afternoon we went to visit the camp, to meet Norm, but when we got there Norm was nowhere in sight. I must say we were intimidated as it was akin to trespassing going on to the grounds without an escort, even though we had permission to be there. We got up fairly close to the camp which was a good hundred yards from the tracks via a well worn path, past a forest of young trees. We were greeted by two large barking Rotweillers similar in size and demeanour to the dogs in that nasty horror flick The Exorcist from some years before. After a while I just yelled at the dogs to settle down and they did, at which point Victoria took some shots on her video camera. The dogs belonged to James Jenney and his partner who happened to be living at the camp that season, more on James later. When I was on a mission looking for missing people the first person I would call would be Norm, I knew that he would pass the word around that so and so was missing, for instance that rascal Bobby Teasdale would go on a hiatus and that would get all us do gooders tongues waggin that he had not been seen, so a casual search party would be put together and the word put out by Norm and his crew. Within a few days we would hear the good news, that Bobby was lying low for a spell at his sisters or a motel on the Highway arranged by the CMHA. In some places they call this type of connected communications ‘the coconut grapevine’.

 

Still generally speaking I had created this need to help people, you might say I got off on it, on helping out, out there on the streets. There were/are hired people who look after some of the individuals but their caseloads are such that they can’t cover all the ground. While carting Fred around to Our Space I got a good feel for those on the fringes and my intuitive nature provided clues to what areas of society these folk populated. For example, if a woman was a prostitute on the side, making a bit of change to buy, whatever, drugs, food, pampers I did not make judgment. If folks were involved in what I called the Oxycontin Economy so be it. In all of mankind’s time the law has always existed that if a need arises certain members of the tribe will fill the void. This law of nature extends from the very bottom of the social scale and goes right to the top of that scale to the high rollers and silver spooners, there is no economic group that does not have a need for providers. People are very adaptive to their circumstances. I was watching an old film, Chariots of Fire in which wealthy students embarking the train to take courses at Cambridge had their luggage carried to the transport by a poor porter, the porter is poor, but it is important to note that he is not a dimwit. Such a cast of characters was available for one to observe. I love them all.

 

Randy Reid is one such character, he is a short man who we would often see playing a guitar and singing a song at the greenspace where the bench had been removed by the front of the Chamber of Commerce. Every night at 7:30 Randy would be there. A friend passed on to me that Randy felt that if he kept playing there, night after night that sooner or later someone in the music industry would discover him and ask to help him cut a record. From time to time I converse with Randy, one time I ran into him under a big tree at Crary Park by the lake eating a pink coloured ice cream cone. It was an interesting sight, there was Randy, cross legged on the grass, it looked like all his worldly possessions were there with him, clothing, his familiar black leather jacket, some books, he had a couple of framed paintings hanging above him on the tree, that was his home.

 

Just by coincidence and the motion that was created by the Dark Hallways exhibit did I run into an excellent person to document. Daphne Molson Rogers was introduced to me by Bill Kimball an Arts involved person in the city. I was talking with Bill about Gerard Butler whom I wanted to learn more about, he suggested that Daphne would fit nicely into the work I was doing. I called her and made an appointment to photograph her at her home in Peterborough. This was a first for me, going to someones home to take photographs. This well spoken woman in her sixties, dressed in a black velvet dress answered the door and led me in to the parlour. The house was pretty cramped with a collection of books and a piano and the memories of a lifetime that we all have scattered here and there in our homes. She had made an attempt to showcase her accomplishments by placing a couple of her self published books on a side table along with some fake gold medals from some place or the other. I could see right off that she took great pride in the books and awards. I asked her to play piano for me, and she did, quite well in fact, one piece she played was a tribute to Mario Lemieux the hockey player whom she believed was dying of cancer. She would not listen to me when I told her he had overcome his illness and was quite well and living a great life. The piece she played was beautifully crafted and she played it with a good deal of finesse. If her keys were off, I would not have noticed, it was a private concert, just for me. Of course, the camera was clicking away. I don’t exactly recall but I may have taken upwards of a hundred shots, which is a lot in the hour or so I was there. Part way through this first meeting I asked Daphne if she had a veil and see through gloves, I just had this 1940’s feeling about her, as if her personality were more suited to a person from another era, a more costumed era, an era where there was royalty and I suppose a lot of this feeling was set off by her constant referral to counts and dukes and madames, in fact she called herself Madame Daphne Molson Rogers, though I believe this is without any official sanction. She retrieved the veil and gloves and sat at the right side of her couch, then sat back as if I was to make love to her. I held the camera up and took a few of the most incredible photos I have ever taken. We parted and this introductory meeting has been the catalyst for a deep and curious interest in her life and her art. Not only is Daphne a piano player, she is a multi media artist working in several different fields of art, including, poetry, drawing, photography and if I may say so I think she would make an excellent actor.

 

Throughout all of this tumult, I ran the Lumpy Bike shop from Spring till Winter. I met a cacophony of people including, Dorothy Groves, Carmine, Five Finger Freddy, Janet at Our Space, Murray, Doug Falconer, Rachelle, Jimson, James Jenney, Calvin, the Davidson Brothers Barry and Charlie, Ron Russell, Andre`, John Boothroyd, Jane, Nelly Michel and Lyn Miller, Abby Red Scooter and his wife Betty whom I photographed at their home. It was quite a busy year. But the person who I saw the most was Fred Maybee, he was up for adoption. He loved bikes, he would come over to buy used ball bearings. He was pretty thrifty!

 

if Kerbin orbited where Pol is, this is how we'd see Jool, Tylo, Laythe and Vall in our night sky (rings edge on)

Batavia, NY. June 2020.

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BOWLED...(By the Sun) Well I've had some things go wrong in my time but this was a new one... The bo

otle shot was on the cards, clear blue weather, load 3 flasks allocated, perfect engine (37612 was consisted but 37688 turned up strange) and then news that a 30mph blanket restriction had been placed on the coast line... From running 80 Early the train ended up 40 late meaning a quick relocate to capture this top shot...

It looked like a screenshot from an RPG game, so I want to share this version too.

© All rights reserved

 

Cow horses are bred with a desire to work cattle. This is my buckskin, Sam, aka "Scarface".

 

This is another picture that needed a little something to make it more interesting than how it came out of my camera. You can tell more if you enlarge it.

34092 "City of Wells" approaches Ingrow West with the 16:30 from Keighley on the 30th August 1987. Note the turnout leading nowhere in the foreground. This was before Ingrow West was developed as a mini-steam centre by the relocated Dinting operation.

for Atlas agent Ace Relocation Systems.

I hadn't seen them for almost 10 days.......but tonight I watched as

mom herded the two pups back to their first den (under my deck!)

This handsome pup has really grown!

Originally a Weston's dept store that was later turned into Kmart. After Kmart's closure, the space became a short-lived Hobby Lobby before what you see now opened. Both stores relocated from the shops at Ithaca Mall.

 

Ithaca, NY. November 2021.

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After relocating my bird Feeding Area into a little bit of wooden area, I started to play with the perches and backgrounds. my aim is to get nice images of our Uk standard Garden `Birds, and along the way we might get the odd surprise thrown in.

climbing up the old concrete walkway up the bluffs reveals the remains of the once proud McKinley Elementary School. The school was built in 1910 and served students till the late 1970's.It is now privately owned and decaying....

 

The school has a unique location along the wooded bluffs in East Moline,IL.

 

Happy (school) fence Friday...!

The highly endangered Hihi/Stitchbird were relocated to the Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary where the open air/predator-free fence allowed them to breed successfully. Hihi feed on a mixed diet of nectar, fruit and invertebrate prey. This is a male bird, the females being less brightly coloured.

Photographed in very dull light with:

Pentax K1

Pentax DA*300mm lens plus HD 1.4 x teleconverter

ISO 6400

1/400 f 6.3

ift.tt/1OLG92t hairisshe

WEEK 52 – Southaven Burlington Relocation: Finale (Buck's Bargain Center)

 

As I was exiting, I tried my best to discreetly get this shot of the checkout counters beyond that front end dividing wall I showed you earlier in this set. Frankly, I'm surprised at how well this turned out, lol! You can see each of the apparently-four (earlier in this album, I said there were only three: whoops, my bad!) lanes is joined by an endcap with yet more merchandise placed on it, and three out of four have Coke fridges as well. And don't forget the front wall, too, which – you guessed it! – has even more stuff for sale placed along its length!

 

Surprisingly, for being at the front end – and having sodas for sale – none of the endcaps look to be stocked with candy. That seems quite odd to me. I mean, regardless of the store type, it seems like EVERY store has candy at the checkouts! And speaking of candy... a Moon Pie is one of the many things set to be dropped tonight at midnight to ring in the new year. That used to air here in Memphis on WMC-TV 5, until the program was dropped (pun intended :P ) a few years ago. What's the weirdest New Year's Eve object-drop that you know of?

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

WEEK 33 – Tuesday Morning Relocation

 

Remember how I mentioned this store's (lack of) décor previously? Here's proof of how it's changed over the years. It's not all this store's fault – Tuesday Morning as a chain has just had an odd relationship with imaging. The top left inset photo shows what this store considered décor for the longest time, which was removed shortly after the sign pictured lost its left half, seen in January 2015. The “register closed” signs, left CCTV sign, and Tuesday Morning Perks kiosk all hail from the same era, I believe. (cont.)

 

(c) 2016 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

Winter frostiness by the old railway lines which, during the work to raise the Downslink path, were relocated to a position to the side.

 

Difficult to believe now that this path was part of the Shoreham - Steyning line www.youtube.com/watch?v=VndcQ11o0dw

WEEK 45 – Southaven Burlington Relocation: Old Store, Set II

 

One last shot of the interior of the old store, as we prepare to exit. I told you I had a much better shot of the red feature wall along the front end! :) I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, too, in that it captured both the Burlington logo and the “Welcome to Southaven” message without cutting either of them off. I was not able to manage a similar shot of the new (identical) feature wall at the relocated store for my upcoming photoset from there, but maybe one day in the future I will!

 

Note how the checkout setup here is a queue, very similar to TJMaxx... I can't remember if that was in place before, or added in with, the installation of this feature wall. Queue checkouts aren't really my favorite (honestly, I like the “self” variety! :P ), but I must admit they do seem to do the job well. What's your take?

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

Remodel, Week 16

 

(cont.) Welp, as of the following week, I got my answer: it was a temporary relocation of the pharmacy! l_dawg2000 (and/or my mom; can’t remember who got to me first XD ) actually informed me of this, as I wasn’t in town that weekend. (He’s also already posted his own picture of it, which you can see here.) But the next weekend, I made sure to get my own photo of the tiny structure, even if I had to do it very quickly while we were in the checkout line! (As a result, please pardon the person visible on the right of the photograph :P )

 

For being a temporary pharmacy, this setup looks very complex… as it should, I suppose, considering that those are dozens of customers’ prescriptions and records they have to keep protected within that cramped little space. If you zoom in through the windows, you can see that this mini-pharmacy box even has its own drop ceiling and lighting, which is even more impressive! (I’d bet that that also makes it even more claustrophobic in there for the poor employees, though…) The only downsides to this temporary setup (besides the aforementioned issue of space) are the facts that when it gets busy, customers waiting in line will now interfere with the flow of shoppers exiting the checkouts, and, as those yellow signs at the pickup counter read, they’re only able to do prescription checkouts right now (no other services).

 

And in the interim, what’s becoming of the old pharmacy, you ask? Well, I’ll show you! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this update tomorrow… :)

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

I wrote these descriptions with the intent to post them tomorrow, but it's just as easy (in fact, it's even easier) to upload them today... so just pretend it's Tuesday, y'all :P

 

For this week's teaser photos, we're continuing the theme from three weeks ago of looking at some changes within the Commons at Wolfcreek shopping center across N Germantown Parkway from Wolfchase Galleria. Except where those two photos were more recent news bits – the closures of both Macaroni Grill and Walgreens – the store seen in this photo last experienced news four years ago!

 

Shown here is the Value City Furniture store located at 8044 Giacosa Place. You'll note that this store looks rather snazzy – I, for one, really like seeing its new logo on the façade, as well as that black paint treatment they gave to the upper border of the building. I can't speak to the full accuracy of this statement, but it seems to me, at least, as if it is rather rare to see VCF's new logo on any of their stores; instead, seeing their old logo seems much more common. So why did this store get the new logo?

 

Hopefully I'm leading your train of thought to this destination: this store certainly didn't simply receive a new exterior logo in a random refresh. No, there's much more at play here. You see, Value City Furniture once was located in another space, approximately diagonally southwest from here. That space was much bigger, too: if I'm reading things correctly, 50,000 square feet compared to this store's 37,500. But Value City, I'm guessing, was faced with a conundrum: either move, or lose its lease.

 

This conundrum came about because Value City's old store was located in an end of the shopping center where there were ten other, smaller (I'm talking majority 1,600 square feet here) bays... nine of which were totally vacant. The rest of the center, on the other hand, was – and remains – pretty healthy; that was simply a dull area. So in order to give that corner of the plaza its shine back (so to speak), property owner Brixmor decided to demolish Value City Furniture and its neighboring, empty strip center storefronts in favor of a brand new – wait for it – 73,586 square foot Academy Sports + Outdoors, Memphis's second. (The first area Academy opened in a former Schnucks in Collierville.)

 

I can't find any info as to whether the only other affected tenant, Simply Fashion, relocated to elsewhere in the plaza or just outright closed. VCF, meanwhile, did indeed relocate elsewhere within the shopping center, to the building you see here – the building, in fact, that it would seem this entire Academy deal hinged upon, lest VCF would have been evicted from the center entirely. Good thing this building was vacant, then!

 

And just what was this building previously, you ask? Well, some of you more trained retail eyes out there might be able to recognize this architecture... this was none other than a Linens 'N Things, prior to that chain's demise in 2008. Rather incredibly for this area, the former LNT big box managed to remain vacant for six years, allowing this VCF relocation/Academy demolition-and-rebuild episode to proceed without a hitch. With all the vacancies that allowed Academy to take over its land as well as the one right here that allowed for VCF's relocation, it seems like this scenario simply must have been meant to be!

 

I remember the whole demolition and construction deal taking place myself, and being happy not only that Value City Furniture had been allowed to stay in the shopping center, but especially so that it was occupying an existing vacant big box in so doing. I'm sure I've said this before, but I absolutely love when stores backfill existing retail space!! Otherwise, those shells are a complete waste just sitting empty...

 

I've been linking to LoopNet images of the shopping center's former setup and lease plan throughout this description, and just for kicks, here's one more photo of the old VCF before its move.

 

(It's worth noting that the old VCF logo remains up on the roadside pylon. The more things change...)

 

Value City Furniture (now closed) // 8044 Giacosa Place, Memphis, TN 38133

 

(c) 2018 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

WEEK 1 – Memphis Kmart Closing, I

 

Prior to the liquidation, books occupied the former café space, but for the closing sale they had been consolidated out here in front of the former pharmacy. Something else I'm kicking myself for: if I had seen that copy of Jimmy Fallon's “Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada,” I definitely would've bought it!

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

RAKE visningsrom, Trondheim - 31.10.-9.11.14

Troy, PA. August 2019.

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If you would like to use THIS picture in any sort of media elsewhere (such as newspaper or article), please send me a Flickrmail or send me an email at natehenderson6@gmail.com

Japanese-American camp, war emergency relocation, [Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif.]

 

1942 or 1943

 

1 transparency : color.

 

Notes:

Original caption card speculated that this photo was part of a series taken by Russell Lee to document Japanese Americans in Malheur County, Ore. Re-identified by D. Johnson, 2006.

Title from FSA or OWI agency caption.

Photograph shows overview of camp with Abalone Mountain in the distance.

Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944.

 

Subjects:

World War, 1939-1945

Japanese Americans

Concentration camps

United States--Oregon

 

Format: Transparencies--Color

 

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

 

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

 

Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection 12002-55 (DLC) 93845501

 

General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac

 

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a35016

 

Call Number: LC-USW36-789

  

Relocated to the former Sears across the street for a first-of-its-kind House of Sport concept.

 

Victor, NY. June 2021.

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If you would like to use THIS picture in any sort of media elsewhere (such as newspaper or article), please send me a Flickrmail or send me an email at natehenderson6@gmail.com

Relocated from Colchester Zoo & Canvey Island in Essex is

J343 BSH, Leyland Olympian / Alexander H43/25D for its first season in Torbay for English Riviera Sightseeing Tours.

: to locate again : establish or lay out in a new place

 

They're not by any means under the Federal witness protection program but the floral MOCs have been moved to a much safer spot on the wall at the top of the stairs together with other sets built on display. Wasn't even looking for them when I got in the store but one of the staff who recognized me pointed out their new location. They'll remain on display as long as the original Flower Box remains on display at the LEGO House.

Up at the front of the store, another change that took place was the relocation of the recycling bins from a spot along the front end itself to this new alcove right beside the restrooms. Previously, this space had been home to three community display boards that, evidently, the store decided to remove.

 

Personally, I like this location for the recycling bins better, both in that they're closer to the doors and in that their previous location was, in my opinion, kinda awkward (even more so now, given that the manager's office they were up against is now a family restroom). Too bad I didn't get to make much use of their new spot, seeing as how we had finally received curbside recycling service by this time! :P

 

(c) 2018 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

Many of the Nubians you’ll find living at either Nubian village were relocated here during the latter half of the twentieth century as construction of the High Dam in Aswan neared completion. The construction of the dam essentially meant that the Nubian communities had no option but to move

 

Taken @Aswan, Egypt

Remodel, Week 5

 

(cont.) ...and on that note, a fair amount of the merchandise that used to be housed over near the bakery has already found itself relocated to make room for the produce walk-in cooler. As you can see here, prepackaged bread, as well as (on the other side of this shelving) prepackaged muffins, bagels, and tortillas, have all been temporarily placed between the meat department's coffin coolers and the beer aisle, which runs perpendicular to said coolers. In the background of this photo, you can get a better, more zoomed-out indication of just how large the produce cooler will be. Also, for reference, here's a shot taken from over at the bakery, looking toward the spot where I was standing for this pic.

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

WEEK 12 – BAM Southaven Relocation: Old Store, Set 1

 

And now, here’s a closer look at the Pop World section itself. (I’m assuming Pop World is what the section is supposed to be named, anyway, judging by the stylization of the hanging logo!) Lots of pop culture (or "nerdy," if you must XD ) merchandise calls this area in BAM stores home, ranging from graphic novels and manga to actual physical collectibles like those plushes and (my favorite!) Funko Pop! Vinyl figures. Lest you think that this is something BAM alone has had to resort to, it’s worth noting that Barnes & Noble stores carry this stuff as well, all in a simple effort to stay afloat. (FYE does too, and you saw how it still didn't help them!)

 

(c) 2017 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

WEEK 51 – Barnes & Noble Ole Miss Relocation Revisited (I)

 

I have this strange tendency to upload photos from Oxford anytime EXCEPT when I’m actually in town. Which, you know, is a majority of the year, so it’s pretty talented that I do this. I did the same thing this exact time last year, as a matter of fact (you might recall my Oxford Walmart album update). This time we’re doing another album update, as Albertsons Florida Blog correctly guessed on Tuesday, and as is clear from the photo you’re looking at above this spiel: the next chapter in the Ole Miss Barnes & Noble campus bookstore saga. (cont.)

 

Barnes & Noble at Ole Miss (inside the University of Mississippi's Jackson Avenue Center/former Oxford Mall; now closed) // 1111 Jackson Avenue W, Oxford, MS 38655

 

(c) 2019 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

The blue jay was none too pleased after I moved the feeder into better light. He expected it to be where he left it and it took a few minutes to relocate it.

Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Valley, on the northern bank of the River Tees.

 

The Tees was straightened in the early 19th century for larger ships to access the town. The ports have since relocated closer to the North Sea and ships are no longer able to sail from the sea to the town due to the Tees Barrage, which was installed to manage tidal flooding. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, on which coal was ferried to the town for shipment, served the port during early part of the Industrial Revolution. The railway was also the world's first permanent steam-locomotive-powered passenger railway.

 

Stockton is an Anglo-Saxon place name with the common ending ton, meaning farm, or homestead. Stock is thought by some to derive from the Anglo-Saxon Stocc, meaning log, tree trunk, or wooden post. Stockton could therefore mean a farm built of logs. This is disputed because when Stocc forms the first part of a place name, it usually indicates a derivation from the similar word Stoc, meaning cell, monastery, or place. Stoc in place name such as Stoke or Stow usually indicates farms which belonged to a manor or religious house. It is thought that Stockton fell into this category, and perhaps the name is an indication that Stockton was an outpost of Durham or Norton which were both important Anglo-Saxon centres. Stockton was a township in the ancient parish of Norton until 1713, when it became an independent parish in its own right. Norton and Stockton's historic roles were reversed in 1913 when Norton was absorbed into the borough of Stockton.

 

Stockton is reportedly the home of the fossilised remains of the most northerly hippopotamus ever discovered. In 1958, an archeological dig four miles (6 km) north-west of the town uncovered a 125,000-year-old hippo's molar tooth. However, no one knows exactly where the tooth was discovered, who discovered it, or why the dig took place. The tooth was sent to the borough's librarian and curator, G. F. Leighton, who then sent it to the Natural History Museum in London. Since then, the tooth has been missing despite efforts to locate it.

 

Stockton began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on high ground close to the northern bank of the River Tees.

 

Stockton was described as a manor by 1138, and was purchased by Bishop Pudsey of Durham in 1189. During the 13th century, the bishop changed the village of Stockton into a borough; the exact date the borough was founded is unknown, but it was being described as a borough by 1283. When the bishop freed Stockton's serfs, craftsmen moved to the new town. The bishop had a residence in Stockton Castle, which was a fortified manor house, the first recorded reference to which was in 1376.

 

Stockton's market traces its history to 1310, when Bishop Bek of Durham granted a market charter to our town of Stockton a market upon every Wednesday for ever. The town grew into a small but busy port, exporting wool and importing wine, which was in demand by the upper class. However, even by the standards of the time, medieval Stockton-on-Tees was a small town, with a population of only approximately 1,000, and the town did not grow for centuries.

 

Scotland captured Stockton Castle in 1644, and occupied it until 1646. The castle was destroyed at the order of Oliver Cromwell at the end of the Civil War. A shopping centre, the Castlegate Centre, now occupies the castle area, and this is scheduled for demolition in 2022.[needs update] No known accurate depictions of the castle exist.

 

The Town House (now called the Town Hall) was built in 1735, and Stockton's first theatre opened in 1766. In 1771, a five-arch stone bridge was built, replacing the nearby Bishop's Ferry. Until the opening of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge in 1911, this was the Tees's most downstream bridging point. From the end of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution transformed Stockton from a small and quiet market town into a flourishing centre of heavy industry.

 

In 1833 the then Bishop of Durham, William Van Mildert (1765 - 1836) gifted five acres and the land of an existing burial site called "The Monument" (originally a mass grave from a prior cholera outbreak) to the town of Stockton. Upon this land, the process of building of and designing the gothic style Holy Trinity Church began, using funds originally allocated for church building in the Commissioners' church Act of 1818. It was designed by John and Benjamin Green, and construction began in 1834. It was consecrated as an Anglican church on December 22, 1835.

 

Shipbuilding, which had started in the 15th century, prospered in the town through the 17th and 18th centuries, with smaller-scale industries also developing. These included brick, sail, and rope making, the latter now reflected in road names such as Ropery Street in the town centre. Stockton became the major port for County Durham, the North Riding of Yorkshire, and Westmorland during this period, exporting mainly rope, agricultural produce and lead from the Yorkshire Dales. Iron making and engineering entered the local economy in the 18th century

 

The town grew rapidly as the Industrial Revolution started, the population grew from 10,000 in 1851 to over 50,000 in 1901 as workers moved in. The discovery of iron ore in the Eston Hills resulted in blast furnaces lining the River Tees from Stockton to the river's mouth. In 1820, an Act set up the Commissioners, a body with responsibility for lighting and cleaning the streets, and from 1822, Stockton-on-Tees was lit by gas.

 

In 1822, Stockton witnessed an event which changed the face of the world forever, and which heralded the dawn of a new era in trade, industry and travel. The first rail of George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway was laid near St. John's crossing on Bridge Road. Hauled by Locomotion No 1, Stephenson himself manned the engine on its first journey on 27 September 1825. Fellow engineer and friend Timothy Hackworth acted as guard. This was the world's first passenger railway,[citation needed] connecting Stockton with Shildon. The opening of the railway greatly boosted Stockton's economy, making it easier to bring coal to the factories; however, the port declined as business moved downstream to Middlesbrough.

 

Stockton witnessed another development in 1827. Local chemist John Walker invented the friction match in his shop at 59 High Street. The first sale of these matches was recorded in his sales-book on 7 April 1827, to a Mr. Hixon, a solicitor in the town. Since he did not obtain a patent, Walker received neither fame nor wealth for his invention, but he was able to retire some years before his death. He died in 1859 at the age of 78, and is buried in the parish churchyard in Norton village.

 

The first bell for Big Ben was cast by John Warner and Sons in Norton on 6 August 1856, but it was damaged beyond repair while being tested on site, and it had to be replaced by a foundry closer to Westminster, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

 

To cater to the increased population, a hospital opened in Stockton in 1862, and a public library opened in 1877. Public transport also became important. Steam trams began running in the streets in 1881, and these were replaced by electric trams in 1897.

 

Stockton was still dominated by the engineering industry in the 1930s, and there was also a chemicals industry in the town. Buses replaced the trams in 1931. Public housing also became necessary, and in the 1930s, slums were cleared, and the first council houses were built.

 

On 10 September 1933, the Battle of Stockton took place, in which between 200 and 300 supporters of the British Union of Fascists were taken to Stockton to hold a rally, but they were driven out of town by up to 2,000 anti-fascist demonstrators.

 

In the late 20th century, manufacturing severely declined, with the service industries developed into the town's primary employers.

 

The Ragworth district near the town centre was the scene of rioting in July 1992, when local youths threw stones at buildings, set cars alight, and threw missiles at police and fire crews. The area later saw a £12 million regeneration which involved mass demolition and refurbishment of existing properties, and construction of new housing and community facilities.

 

Stockton lies on the north bank of the River Tees. The town's northern and western extremities are on slightly higher ground than the town centre, which is directly on the Tees. Stockton experiences occasional earth tremors. For example, it was the epicentre of a tremor measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale on 23 January 2020. The town has many areas outside of the town centre; Fairfield, Portrack, Hardwick, Hartburn, Elm Tree Farm, Norton, Roseworth, Newtown, Bishopsgarth and Oxbridge. Norton is the second largest centre in the town.

 

Stockton-on-Tees has an oceanic climate typical of the United Kingdom. Being sheltered by the Lake District and Pennines to the west, Stockton is relatively dry for the U.K., with on average 25 inches (643 mm) of rain a year. Its climate is more continental climate than other parts of the U.K., with above average summer temperatures, and below average winter temperatures. Summer highs typically reach approximately 20 °C (68 °F), while winter lows can fall to several degrees below 0 °C (32 °F). The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate).

 

Stockton town centre is the heart of the borough. The High Street—the widest in the UK—heads north through the town centre from the junction of Bridge Road and Yarm Lane, to Maxwell's Corner, where Norton Road and Bishopton Lane begin. Dovecot Street runs west from the High Street's midway point, and further north, Church Road extends east toward Northshore and the River Tees. At the centre of the High Street stands Stockton-on-Tees Town Hall, dating from 1735, and the Georgian-style Shambles Market Hall. Around the town hall, the largest outdoor market in North East England, which has been in existence since the 1300s, continues to be held every Wednesday and Saturday.

 

Much of the town centre has a Georgian and late medieval influence, with a number of listed buildings and a variety of architectural types, which help to define the town's identity. The shops predominantly have narrow frontages stretching back to gain floorspace. This burgage plot style is particularly evident around the marketplace and on side streets such as Silver Street, Finkle Street and Ramsgate. There is also the surviving ruins of the gothic style church in Trinity Green, which dates back to 1834.

 

Before 2022, the town centre retail was largely concentrated within two shopping centres, Castlegate and Wellington Square. Wellington Square has open shops on pedestrian-only paths whereas the Castlegate, opened in 1972 and currently undergoing demolition, was a building which incorporated a multi-storey car park and an indoor market. Its façade was a dominant feature along the south east of the High Street, its site bounded by Finkle Street, Bridge Road and Tower Street. The Riverside dual carriageway and the River Tees run almost parallel to the rear of the centre. The Teesquay Millennium Footbridge links the Castlegate Quay on the north side of the river to Teesdale Business Park and Durham University's Queen's Campus on the south side in the ceremonial county of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Situated at the north west end of the town centre is Wellington Square shopping centre, built on the old Wellington Street. Opened in 2001 at a cost of £43 million, it houses 46 shop units.

 

The town centre has retained a number of original yards such as Wasp Nest Yard, Hambletonian Yard, and Ship Inn Yard. Most notable is Green Dragon Yard, a courtyard of restored historic warehouses within a series of alleyways. Considered the cultural quarter of the town, this houses the Green Dragon public house, the Green Dragon Studios (recording studios) and Britain's oldest surviving Georgian Theatre.

 

Alongside retail outlets, Stockton town centre also has a variety of services including national banks and building societies, travel agents, a post office, hairdressers, beauticians, cafés, and restaurants. The refurbishment of some period buildings has provided space for small firms including solicitors, recruitment agencies, and accountants.

 

Since the construction of the Tees Barrage in 1995, the level of the River Tees through the town has permanently been held at high tide, creating a backdrop for riverside events and facilitating watersports activities such as rowing, canoeing, jet skiing, and dragon boat racing. Stockton town centre is elevated above the river, and is separated from the riverside by the A1305 Riverside Road, a dual carriageway which runs parallel to the river from Northshore to Chandlers Wharf.

 

From the town centre, Bishop Street, Silver Street, Calvert's Lane, and Thistle Green offer views of the river where it meanders around Teesdale Business Park. Durham University Queen's Campus can be seen on the opposite side, alongside the skyline of Middlesbrough in the middle distance and Roseberry Topping in the Cleveland Hills, approximately fifteen miles (24 km) south east.

 

Chandlers Wharf is situated on the north side of the river where Bridge Road approaches Victoria Bridge. The area is characterised by a mixture of office and residential accommodation, including the colourful twelve-storey Mezzino student apartments at Rialto Court, a Mecca Bingo hall, Burger King and the two-storey Grosvenor Casino, which opened in September 2011. Adjacent to the wharf is Castlegate Quay, which was once the town's main dock. The quayside is still occupied by Georgian warehouses which have been converted into a number of business units, restaurants, and a gym. A full-size replica of Captain James Cook's ship HM Bark Endeavour was once moored at the quayside, but was sold and moved after refurbishment to a mooring in Whitby. The Teesside Princess, a two-deck river boat, is docked alongside, and offers river cruises all year to Yarm via Preston Park.

 

Both the north and south banks of the Tees are retained by steel sheet pile walls, and have footpaths along the river edge. The Tees Walkway on the north bank of the river can be accessed from the town centre by the Teesquay Millennium Footbridge or the Riverside Footbridge, and incorporates a cycle path which forms part of the National Cycle Network.

 

The 11-metre Aeolian Motion wind sculpture stands on a grassy slope overlooking the riverside, which becomes an amphitheatre during large events. From Castlegate Quay, the tree-lined path along the waterfront toward the Princess of Wales Bridge opens into green space and a car park for events. Beyond the Princess of Wales Bridge, the slipway at the River Tees Watersports Centre is situated at the western area of Northshore, which is currently under development, and which leads to the Tees Barrage.

 

The town is served by two main arterial roads: the transpennine A66 (east/west) and the A19 (north/south). The A19 connects Stockton with York in the south, and extends to Peterlee and Sunderland, to the north. East of the town centre is the A1046, a mostly dual carriageway which runs through Portrack as Portrack Lane, a major retail zone, particularly for home furnishings and DIY. From Portrack, the A1046 continues to its northern terminus at Port Clarence. The A139 connects the town centre with the northern suburb of Norton. This was the original route for the A19 before a bypass was built to the east of the town.

 

The A177 runs from Stockton town centre to Durham. Known as Durham Road, it passes Sedgefield en route, and is a major route in to and out of Stockton.

 

The A66 connects Stockton directly to Middlesbrough (8 miles (13 km) to the east) and Darlington (10 miles (16 km) to the west). Beyond Darlington lies the A1(M). The A66 is connected to Stockton centre by the A135. The old A135 was renumbered A1027, and this continues through the town to Billingham. The A135 is named '1825 Way' to commemorate the former Stockton and Darlington Railway's opening; the 1825 Way's northern end is St John's Crossing, adjacent to the old Stockton Railway Station buildings.

 

A number of bus services operate in Stockton, and most services pass through the High Street. The services cover large areas of the region including Middlesbrough, Teesside Park, Thornaby-on-Tees, Billingham, Sedgefield, Durham, Sunderland, Peterlee, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Stagecoach on Teesside and Arriva North East are the major service providers, while six smaller companies also operate in the area.

 

Stockton station, located above the High Street, serves the town; however, more regular and long-distance trains run from nearby Thornaby.

 

Northern routinely serves both stations with local and regional services, whereas at Thornaby TransPennine Express runs an hourly service between Saltburn-by-the-Sea and Manchester Airport via York and LNER stops once both ways every weekday between Middlesbrough and London King's Cross.

 

Teesside International Airport is partially located within the borough, several miles west of the town. The airport offers domestic flights and services international festival destinations, especially in the EU.

 

Stockton is famous as the home of the friction match and the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which operated the world's first steam-hauled passenger train in 1825. The town also has the world's oldest passenger railway station building. Industry and engineering remained central to Stockton's economy over many years, and major industries have included shipbuilding and repair, heavy engineering, steel, and chemicals manufacturing. However, during the twentieth century, Teesside's heavy industry declined dramatically.

 

Since the 1980s, Stockton has seen an increase in service industries. The development of Teesdale Business Park on the south bank of the River Tees has created commercial space with many large service providers opening call centres and offices in the area. Durham University's Queen's Campus is also situated within the Teesdale development, which is linked to the town centre by the Teesquay Millennium Footbridge, Princess of Wales Bridge, and Infinity Bridge.

 

In 1995, after four years' construction, the Tees Barrage was commissioned, permanently holding the upstream river waters at the level of an average high tide.

 

In 2007, funding from the European Regional Development Fund and English Heritage secured the ruins of the Holy Trinity Church, and renovated the site into Trinity Green, removing the site from Historic England's 'Heritage At Risk register'.

 

Work is under way to develop the north bank of the River Tees in Stockton with the £300 million Northshore scheme, which will include new offices, leisure facilities, housing, a 150-bedroom hotel, and a new campus for Durham University.

 

In 2012, a long-term scheme aimed at transforming the town centre area was announced, with investment of approximately £38 million, just over £20 million being contributed by Stockton Borough Council, and the remainder coming from the private sector and grants. The investment programme aimed to attract more retailers, businesses, and shoppers to the town by opening up new spaces and links to the River Tees, providing easier access and parking, and capitalising on the town's heritage and cultural assets.

 

Plans include the introduction of an expansive plaza area 'Infinity View' that will open up the pedestrian area to dramatic views of the award-winning Infinity Bridge. Under the scheme, the banks of the River Tees will be transformed with a series of impressive light installations which will stretch along the waterfront, from the Princess of Wales Bridge to the Millennium Bridge. This permanent colourful illumination is intended to add value to the riverside businesses and restaurants and play an important part in the council's events programme throughout the year.

 

Stockton is one of 12 towns in England to share in £1.2 million of funding, support from retail guru Mary Portas and her own team, as part of the Portas Pilot scheme. Selected from over 370 applications, Stockton's Town Team Consortium, comprising Stockton Council, Tees Music Alliance, Durham University Queen's Campus, town centre retailers, A Way Out and Stockton Heritage in Partnership, will have the opportunity to share in expert advice and guidance from a range of retail experts.

 

The Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative is a 20-year vision for regenerating the urban core of the Tees Valley, the main focus being the 30 km2 (12 sq mi) area along the banks of the River Tees between the two centres of Stockton and Middlesbrough. The master plan has been drawn up by environmental design specialists Gillespies, the eventual aim being to bring distinctive high-quality city-scale assets to the centre of the Tees Valley, including the town centres of Stockton and Middlesbrough. The project will include the existing developments at North Shore, Stockton and Middlesbrough, with many others over a 15- to 20-year period.

 

In February 2020 it was announced that the Castlegate Shopping Centre is set to be demolished in 2022.

 

The mean weekly income for Stockton residents was £522.70 in 2017. This is below the U.K. mean of £538.70. In some parts of Stockton, most households' income is below the poverty threshold. The mean privately rented house in Stockton cost £525 per month in 2017, compared with a mean of £480 across North East England.

 

The town recorded 125 crimes for every 1,000 people in 2020, higher than similarly sized Darlington and Hartlepool and 29% higher than ceremonial County Durham's 89 out of 1,000 average. The most common crimes in 2020 were "violence and sexual offences"; 4,445 of this type were recorded in 2020. Eight out of 14 crime trends improved compared to 2019. The Eastbourne and Newham Grange Ward recorded the worst crime statistics in the town. The borough came out lower than the four other Tees Valley boroughs in 2017.

 

Stockton comes under Cleveland Police's jurisdiction. There are two police stations in town, town centre main and Newton neighbourhood. Teesside combined courts are located in Middlesbrough.

 

HMP Holme House, in Portrack, is a 1211-capacity Category B prison for male adult prisoners who are either remanded in custody or convicted. It also accommodates a small number of young offenders aged 18–21 years. The prison opened in May 1992 and mainly serves south of county Durham as well as north of North Yorkshire.

 

In the 2021 census, the borough was recorded as having a population of 196,595 with 50.9% being female.

 

For religion, 51.1% identified themselves as Christian, 39.1% having no religion, 3.4% Muslim, 0.4% Hindu, 0.4% Sikh, 0.3% Buddhist, and 0.3% answering 'Other' as well as 5% not answering.

 

For ethnicity, those who identified as White were 92.0%, Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh were 4.6%, Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African were 1.1%, Mixed or 'Multiple ethnic groups' were 1.4%, and the 'Other' ethnic group category recorded 0.8%.

 

For sexuality, those who identified as Straight or Heterosexual were 91.6%, Gay or Lesbian were 1.4%, Bisexual was 0.9%, Pansexual was 0.2%, Asexual was 0.0%, Queer was 0.0%, 'All other sexual orientations' were 0.0% and those who did not answer were 5.9%.

 

Stockton centre also has a number of restaurants, amusement arcades, a bingo hall, a snooker club, and health and fitness facilities.

 

Stockton Calling is an Easter Sunday music festival which has taken place across several of Stockton's music venues annually since 2010. In 2019, it celebrated its 11th year, and was headlined by Sophie and the Giants.

 

The Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF), one of Europe's largest open air festivals, has taken over the town once a year since 1988. Spread over a long weekend, for either four or five days, it attracts over 250,000 visitors, and features a variety of acts such as circus, comedy, music, dance and street theatre.

 

The annual riverside firework display happens on the first Sunday closest to 5 November, and is typically attended by up to 100,000 spectators from the wider region. The year's events always conclude with the Stockton Sparkles Christmas festival and associated markets.

 

The ARC Theatre & Arts Centre on Dovecot Street was built in 1999, and comprises a multi-purpose arts centre for cinema, theatre, dance, and music. It has three floors including four venues: a 260-seat theatre, a 100-seat studio theatre, a point/music area accommodating 550 standing, and a 130-seat cinema. It also has exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, a café, and two bars.

 

The Georgian Theatre at Green Dragon Yard is Grade II listed, and is the oldest Georgian theatre in the country. Originally opened in 1766, it fell into disrepair during the 19th century, but later functioned as a sweet factory and then a community building. Between 2007 and 2008, the building was given a full makeover along with the neighbouring Green Dragon Studios, and now serves as an intimate venue for live entertainment with a capacity of 200.

 

The Grade-II listed Globe Theatre built in 1936 is at the north western end of the High Street, the theatre reopened in 2021 following extensive restoration. It was built on the same site as two previous theatres, and has hosted many famous acts such as Buddy Holly, the Platters, Guy Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Cilla Black, Carl Perkins, Cliff Richard, the Shadows and Chuck Berry. The Beatles famously played the Globe on Friday 22 November 1963, the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

 

On 12 June 2016, Stockton Council launched The Stockton Flyer, a stylised model of a flying steam locomotive in a plinth on Stockton High Street. The Flyer was unveiled to mark Queen Elizabeth II's official 90th birthday on 12 June 2016. The Stockton Flyer appears from the plinth every day at 1 p.m., and often draws a crowd of people watching the rising and lowering of the structure.

 

Designed by Phil Johnson of Ratho Forge, the wind sculpture Aeolian Motion was constructed at the end of Silver Street in March and April 2001. The design is said to impart a unique identity to the seating area, reflecting the character of Stockton, and creating a sense of place.

 

Public services provided in Stockton include a general hospital, health advice centres, dental and medical surgeries, a library, churches, employment advice centres, youth projects, energy advice centres and an international family centre. A cluster of municipal buildings is concentrated primarily along Church Road. The police headquarters is the only emergency service station located within the centre, next to Stockton Central Library.

 

The University Hospital of North Tees is located in the town and serves south east County Durham. It is part of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust.

 

Stockton has a number of public parks and nature reserves. Most notable is Ropner Park, a Victorian-style park on the outskirts of the town, near Hartburn village. Opened in 1893 and renovated in 2007, the park has tree-lined avenues approaching an ornate water fountain, surrounded by rockeries and floral displays. Overlooking a lake, a bandstand features live band music on Sunday afternoons in the summer. Seasonal fairs and occasional organised events are staged at the park throughout the year. Close by, there is also the smaller park housing the ruins of the Holy Trinity Church, now called Trinity Green.

 

Further upstream is Preston Park, a 100 acres (40 ha) public park by the River Tees. The park hosts many events each year that attract people from across Teesside and further afield. Preston Hall, once the home of Sir Robert Ropner, is situated within the grounds, and is now a museum. The park also houses 'Butterfly World', an artificial tropical environment housing various species of exotic butterflies and reptiles.

 

Downstream is Portrack Marsh Nature Reserve, a 50 acres (20 ha) nature reserve by the northern bank of the river between the Tees Barrage and the Tees Viaduct near Portrack housing estate. It is the last remaining wetland on the lower Tees. Ownership of the reserve is divided between the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and Northumbrian Water, but the reserve is managed by the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. The western and northern parts of the reserve are mature marsh, while there are a series of man–made ponds in the south east.

 

The town's main leisure facility is 'Splash', a large wet and dry facility on Church Road which includes a 25m pool with a wave machine and flumes, a learner pool, a spa pool, a two-storey fitness facility, dry multi-activity spaces, a café and Sportwall & dance facilities. The Castlegate Quay Watersports Centre also offers opportunities for sailing and paddling on the River Tees.

 

Stockton Central Library on Church Road is the largest public library serving the borough of Stockton-on-Tees. Built in 1967, it was fully refurbished in 2011 at a cost of £1.9m. It occupies two floors: the ground floor incorporates Stockton Borough Council's Customer Services Centre, an adult lending library, and a children's library, while the first floor houses the reference library (the central reference department for the borough), a family history suite, a computer suite with free internet access, and the 'Starbooks' café. The library also has conference facilities and an exhibition area.

 

Stockton is a Church of England deanery of the Archdeaconry of Auckland, in the Diocese of Durham. The churches of St Peter, Stockton Parish Church (St Thomas'), and St Paul are in the town. Holy Trinity Church was built as an Anglican church, later became Greek Orthodox, and was then destroyed by fire in 1991. The ruins remain on site.

 

Stockton is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, and is home to the parishes of St Bede, St Cuthbert, English Martyrs and SS Peter and Paul, St Joseph, St Mary, and St Patrick.

 

Stockton also has a sizable Muslim population (6,675), with mosques such as Farooq E Azam Mosque and Islamic Centre serving this community. The Farooq E Azam mosque is especially of note, due to the recent council decision to allow the call to prayer, or Adhan, to be played once at week at an agreed volume, the first mosque in the north-east of England to do so.

 

Stockton Cricket Club was established in 1816, and has been located at the Grangefield Cricket Ground since 1891. The club currently fields three senior teams at weekends in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the Dukes North East Premier League.

 

Stockton Football Club existed from 1882 until it folded in 1975. They played at the Victoria Ground which also held greyhound racing (one of two venues in the town to do so along with Belle Vue Park). The club's assets were transferred to Norton Cricket Club, who subsequently founded the Norton & Stockton Ancients Football Club. There are two other football clubs in the town. Stockton Town F.C. play in the Northern Premier League Division One East after consecutive promotions winning the Wearside League in 2016 and Northern League Division 2 in 2017. Meanwhile, Stockton West End currently play in the North Riding Football League Premier Division.

 

Stockton Rugby Club, established in 1873, is the local Rugby Union team. Home games are now played at the Grangefield Ground following a community partnership agreement with Stockton Cricket club and Grangefield Academy in 2015.

 

People born in Stockton include:

Francis Arthur Bainbridge, physiologist

Matthew Bates, footballer

Jamie Bell, actor

Neal Bishop, footballer

C. J. Bolland, electronic music producer in Belgium

Daniel Casey, actor

Lee Cattermole, footballer

Ivy Close, actress

Edward Cooper, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross.

Brass Crosby, Lord Mayor of London

Freddie Dixon, motorcycle and car racing driver

Lesley Duncan, pop singer-songwriter

Maurice Elvey, film director

Charles Foulkes, Canadian Army officer who served in the Second World War and became a four-star general

Jonathan Franks, footballer

James Gaddas, actor

Martin Gray, footballer

Will Hay, comic actor

Frank Hawley, Japanologist (1906–1961).

Richard Anthony Hewson, jazz-funk music producer

Thomas Hornby, cricketer

Peter Howells, cricketer

Robert Icke, director and writer

David Ingman, engineer, Chairman of the British Waterways Board 1987–1993

Heather Ingman, Professor of English, novelist and journalist

Jimmy James, comedian

Richard Kilty, sprinter

Macaulay Langstaff, footballer

Jordan Nobbs, footballer

Geoff Parling, England and British and Irish Lions rugby player

Luke Pearson, cartoonist

Colin Renfrew, archaeologist

Joseph Ritson, literary critic and editor

Franc Roddam, film director/producer

Graham Rowntree, England rugby player

Thomas Sheraton, furniture designer

Michael Short, Professor of Engineering and author

Paul Smith, singer in rock band Maxïmo Park

Peter Smithson, architect

Calvert Spensley, American politician

Bill Steer, co-founder and lead guitarist of extreme metal band Carcass

Jeremy Swift, actor

Bruce Thomas, new wave bass guitar backing musician

Denis Thwaites, footballer murdered in the 2015 Sousse attacks

Stephen Tompkinson, actor

Lee Turnbull, footballer

John Walker, inventor of the friction match

Eric Young, footballer

 

Other notable residents include:

Duncan Bannatyne, entrepreneur, moved to Stockton when he was 30, before he made his fortune.

William Christopher, Hudson's Bay Company captain and explorer

Alan Davey, former civil servant, council administrator and BBC Radio 3 controller

Elizabeth Estensen, actress

Don Heath, footballer, winner of the 1968–69 League Cup

Harold Macmillan, MP for Stockton (1924–29, 1931–45), later Prime Minister (1957–63), invested as Earl of Stockton (1984)

Michael Marks, founder of Marks & Spencer, started his business career in Stockton in 1883.

George Orwell, author, resided for a year (1944–45) in Greystones, near Carlton, a village in the borough.

Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, MP for the town (1962–83), co-founder of the SDP

Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, film directors, both lived in Stockton during their youth.

We got the first of many looks at Zion's iconic Watchman while we were waiting in line for a potential campsite in the South Campground.

 

The Zion Nature Center apparently has exhibits and activities for young visitors; it hadn't yet opened for the summer season at the time of our visit. The motorhome reflected in the windows belonged to folks who, like us, were waiting to see if there would be any space for them in the campground.

 

The Zion Nature Center was built in 1934 and originally housed a cafeteria and gift shop. There were also tourist cabins nearby; they have since been relocated, apparently mostly outside of the park. It was remodeled for use as a nature center in 1972, and restored to its original exterior design just a few years ago. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_buildings_and_structures...

 

Here's a brief NPS video about the building...

 

www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=294E9710-155D-451F-67...

 

I don't normally handle wildlife but this fella seemed pretty vulnerable hanging out at a busy park. So a fter a few quick shots we tried to discretely relocate him to a safer spot.