Photos 8A

This is a pretty big-ass post, I am saying that right now... so much so, I'm splitting it into two parts. But, it's for a good reason: I wanted to take photos of this area for a long time.

The first two shots aside, I lived in that area of town for 14 years: from 1986 until 2000. There has been quite a bit of change, including street-rerouting construction (more on that later). That said, let's get to this!

First off, these two shots were taken downtown, at Ohio and Capitol:
This is the Indiana State Capitol. It's a very nice building, and this was the only shot I took. I would've taken at least two more, but then my bus came.

I turned around, pointed the camera up, and took this shot. I really like this one.

Now, the remaining shots are from the Riverside Park/White River area. It's a damn nice area, with parks, golf courses, and... it just looks so fucking beautiful. And hey, if I do some more digital coloring, these double as good ol'-fashioned background fuel!

This is the intersection of 16th and E Riverside Drive. For some reason, it used to be either "North Riverside East Drive" or "East Riverside Drive". I always used "East Riverside Drive" whenever I sent letters or other mail. But, this is a street that runs north and south, so they renamed it slightly, based on where it was next to the White River. Now it's E Riverside Drive. So, as an example, an address there would now be "2001 North E Riverside Drive" instead of "2001 East Riverside Drive". That sounds weird, but that's the way it seems it is.

This is the old house I grew up in. It kinda looks a bit worse since I was last there years ago (and, uh, two weeks ago, as I was looking for spots to take photos from). That birdbath and some of the bushes are still there. What is no longer there are the awnings (we took those down when we lived there, but still) and a big-ass tree that SHOULD be in the center of this shot. I still cannot believe they cut that tree down, man!

Front view of said house. That tree on the left, is, by the best of my recollection, still there.

You can't see the street, but this was taken at the intersection of 21st and E Riverside. What is on the far left side is a golf course, and it used to be that sometimes, I would find golf balls in the street or they would sometimes fly into windows.

I'm trying to find information on the structure in the center. That has been there for many years, and is named after the person responsible for the construction of Riverside Park, Thomas Taggart. Heck, he's responsible for the entire parks system here in Indianapolis. Indy Parks headquarters is not far from this spot.

Now, the area around this structure didn't always look like this. 20 years ago, that median wasn't even there, and there was a second road where playground equipment is now (on the far right side). That was filled in and built over due to expansion of the recreation center and the erection of said playground equipment.

Close up of Taggart Arch (I think that's what it was called; I'll have to check again...) I wish I could get closer, or even inside... but they put in a fence around it because of vandals. Damn vandals and their damn vandal-ing! Dammit!

My attempt at a ground-view shot. I kneeled down and held the camera down to the ground. I wanted to get the shot juuuuuust right... but it just doesn't seem that way. It'd look a bit cooler if that damn fence wasn't there.

These two shots were taken within feet of each other. The odd thing about the second one is that, if this was taken at a MUCH earlier time, I would be standing in the middle of a street. I said earlier that in order to expand the nearby recreation center and put in other improvements, changes had to be made, medians had to be put in, and streets had to be altered or eliminated altogether. I seem to like these two, but again, I wish I could've taken shots of the arch from inside.

Would you believe this mighty lake started out as a mere rain puddle? It's not even 20 years old. I'm pretty sure it started out this way. I mean, I used to pass this area on the way to school for many years.

Anyway, years ago, there was severe weather in the area over several nights, and it left behind a big puddle (about 1/4th the size of the lake). Over time, it just stood and stood until it was made into a lake. (I think the drainage pipe that was put in near it - somewhat visible on the left - had quite a bit to do with its lake-ification.) For a while, there was fencing around it, but now there isn't.

That's the end of the first part. The second part covers the rest of my walking around this area - including farther up the street that now connects to E Riverside - even though, just a few short years ago, it didn't.