My Street
Fresno is a grid, a veritable checkerboard of a city. Except for the downtown area, all the streets either run east-west, or north-south, and they are long, stretching beyond the city proper, and out into the countryside, and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. This post is about one such street in Fresno, my street: Butler Avenue.
Consider this post a photojourney in which I begin near the downtown area and head east toward the mountains, stopping every half-mile or mile to take a picture. The entire trip will span approximately 20 miles.
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All cement, brick, and asphalt, with barely a tree or plant in sight
A neighborhood emerges
Fresno's ubiquitous row of palm trees
A little further on
The neighborhood by the university at which I work
Now we're near the IRS
Lined with Olive trees
Getting near my house
This is not my beautiful house
Behind the bushes on the right is a golf course
Looking East from the front of my house
This is my house
The neighborhoods are coming to an end
A vineyard and orchard emerges
Butler is terminated by some farmer's field
And Butler starts again on the other side
And, it stops again
A vineyard and a farmer's home
Getting closer to those foothills
A little further on
Ladies and gentlemen, the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas
View My Saved Places in a larger map
This map covers an area slightly larger than the territory I drove for this photo-excursion. The blue flag identifies my house.
Wrote the following comment on November 29th, 2009 at 4:01 am #
Wow, a spark of creativity!
I really like this, Anthony!
And ‘ya know what? Just a few hours ago I was mentioning the very thing you’d written about to some strangers with whom I was speaking at a nearby corner market.
Yeah! Seriously! It was the grid thing – the N/S, E/W grid pattern of Fresno, that is, and how the roads’ll just keep on going until…
Yesterday evening, the Iron Bowl – THE NCAA’s gridiron rivalry – was played on “The Plains” in Auburn. The final score about which you may have heard, was 26-21 – Alabama over Auburn. Though they were given the annual invitation, ‘Bama didn’t show up and start playing football until the second half.
Of course, I owe my life to Auburn – LITERALLY – so I know on which side my bread is buttered. You see, that’s where Dad met Mom after he served during the Korean War aboard the USS Juneau.
It’s been so wet in these parts that some farmers have had difficulty bringing in their crops, and some have failed, including sweet potatoes, which rotted in the ground. Cotton, though it’s been defoliated for weeks, has just recently been harvested. And soybeans are in, and corn… well, the jury’s still out on it whether this year’s crop will be considered an overall failure.
The machinery is quite heavy, you see, so their concern has been being mired in the field. We needed about 10 dry days before they could start harvesting.
Yesterday after the game, I went and caroled with St. Mary’s of the Visitation Catholic Church (where I’m attending RCIA) as entertainment for Santa’s Village, a local Christmas season go-see kids event. Today, I felt like a Shetland pony… a little hoarse. It was the hooping and hollerin’ followed up with about 3+ hours of singing – in 30 minute sets w 15 min breaks in ~50°F weather.
Be sure and check out the pics I took afterwards. Some are abstract, thought not all. Artsy-fartsy is good… but not a steady diet. Today, I shot a bunch more for a set I’ll entitle “Stuff in the Backyard.” It’s a bit abstract, too – though not in the weirded out sense.
For your readers’ benefit, that’d be Flickr.com/SouthernBreeze.
Oh yeah… I thought the “This is not my house” shot was cute!
Wrote the following comment on November 29th, 2009 at 4:30 am #
Hey Kevin – I went to your site, and my favorite photo was the one called “Snowbird”. Keep in mind that I am former Stoner, so that my impair my aesthetic sensibilities. As I might have said back in the day, “Duuude, that picture is trippin.”
Wrote the following comment on November 29th, 2009 at 5:04 am #
What a fun trip! : ) I have to wonder, though, how long it took you to make the drive with all the photo-stops (and detours around the field.) It truly is an amazing transformation from one side to the other…
Wrote the following comment on November 29th, 2009 at 6:10 am #
Melissa – The whole trip took about an hour and a half, and it was fun. I think I am going to have to do more photo expeditions regarding life in the valley.
Wrote the following comment on November 29th, 2009 at 7:15 pm #
To use the sophisticated terminology, “Way cool.”
The Talking Heads reference made me giggle.
Wrote the following comment on December 1st, 2009 at 5:27 am #
Anthony,
Thanks for sharing. Cool to see where you are at now. You’re a long way from Wheaton, IL!
Wrote the following comment on December 4th, 2009 at 6:27 pm #
Great post dude! That’s a little valley speak for ya.
“Life if the Valley” A photographic exploration by Anthony Velez. Sounds like a book to me mate!
Wrote the following comment on December 10th, 2009 at 12:36 am #
This is very cool, Anthony. Hey, I know those sights!
Another interesting Fresno street to photojournal would be Van Ness Ave, from downtown to the bluffs. The only socioeconomic group under-represented on that long street is the middle class, which I’ve always found sort of interesting.