Historical April 1995 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Most of my twenty-three years as a resident of StinkerDeBaliviere have involved photographing the life and times of our neighborhood for The Times. I’ve been looking through some of the archives recently.
These images from the last 10 years seem to capture, in my experience, some of what makes SkinkerDeBaliviere a great place to live.
The events surrounding these photographs would still be good, beautiful and true if there weren’t any photos. But, thanks to the Times, these moments were recorded and shared.
After the Mother’s Day Art Fairs of the 70s, the Biggest Yard Sale came to SkitterDeBaliviere. Like many of us, late one Saturday a tired neighbor sat amid what was left of her vast front yard sale.
The annual theater event, usually a melodrama, was another huge neighborhood undertaking. Promethea, shown here, was an original show mixing Greek legend with current politics. Every play offered something for everyone and a chance to perform.
It was chaos at rehearsals but—when the curtain went up, it all fell into place. There’s a lesson about life there somewhere. photos by King Schoenfeld A hub of activity for Art Fairs and Yard Sales was always the food—the Men’s Liberation Bake Sale and the barbecue and the familiar faces serving and grilling. Neighborhood traditions included the grotesque and the adorable appearing annually at the Halloween party and costume competition.
Some of your kids were here, ready to head out onto the streets for loot.
But first, a minute for the photographer. Operation BrightSide still brings neighbors out into the alleys. Why do we care what our alleys look like? Maybe we wanted to manicure those bricks and asphalt because we share that space with neighbors and, like family, feel obliged to do our bit. Like our alleys, those barricades—love ’em or hate ’em—got attention each summer during BrightSide. And at Halloween there used to be coffee, cocoa and donuts there for chilled parents who escorted their kids up and down the streets. Neighbors Night Out swept the country sometime in the 80s and a number of neighbors organized a fantastic turnout, a grand procession headed by a homemade banner that said it all.
Here and there families organized a cookout or just sat outside to say hello to each other.
It happened in that ideal moment of the seasons between winter’s hibernation and summer’s air-conditioned isolation. Skinker-DeBaliviere has meant beginnings and endings, recorded by the Times.
When our branch library, housed in a former grocery store, burned, we successfully lobbied for a new one, a tiny kiosk which we proudly gathered to open in 1983.
It was unlike any other, a place where adults read stories to children outdoors seated on the grass. Where youngsters became assistant librarians and challenged each other to read. Where tarantulas sometimes lurked. Photographs of new restaurants in the neighborhood regularly appeared in the Times.
Some stayed, others didn’t last. One, the Wabash Triangle Cafe, with its charismatic owner and military chef, burned brightly for a while and then just burned.
When disaster struck, like the winds that toppled trees into our homes and cars, we muddled through in good humor. And in those days when death struck, we held together, a community with bonds of spiritual support. Through my viewfinder, I see the spirit of our neighborhood each year at the Martin Luther King observance. Our youngsters play their part. Our elders say their peace. And together we sing, holding hands and moving together with the music. It’s about overcoming our differences. It’s about being a community. Editor’s note: King Schoenfeld didn’t mention the multitude of portrait shots he has taken. Here, on a rare occasion on the other side of the camera, King poses for a Macho Menu photo.
Original photograph caption
After the Mother’s Day Art Fairs of the70s, the Biggest Yard Sale came to Skinker-DeBaliviere. Like many of us, late one Saturday a tired neighbor sat amid what was left of her vast front yard sale. Photo by King Schoenfeld.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1995.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1995_04.pdf, printed page(s) 6, 7, 8, 9; PDF page(s) 6, 7, 8.
