So here's the film at 11.
Apr. 3rd, 2004 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
titusnowlIt's not really film, just this:
That's the postcard that had plagued us for so long. It's in such a very distinctive location, up on a hill like that - and yet we could find no proper hill, much less any buildings that would have been a motel. As you can see, the "address" listed is very vague. Were they measuring three miles from the center of Longview? No appropriate building site exists there. Was the "Broadway Terrace" near the street called Broadway? But that's nowhere near Highway 80. Such confusion!
Then Justin noticed a driveway that went up a hill and disappeared, next door to a copy shop in Pine Tree/Greggton. Interest was sparked.
Today's purchase of the 1960 Longview phone book (scans will appear shortly in Justin's journal) gave us a further clue, as the Broadway Terrace was then still operational, and given an address of 604 W Hwy 80.
Further confusion! That block of Highway 80 is in the middle of the business district! That specific block is car dealerships, not hills nor motels!
Then we drove past the driveway again, and decided to be sneaky and go up there. We parked in the lot of the copy shop, in a spot right next to a used-car dealership that would provide a legit-looking reason for our car to be there, and we took a hike.
Up the driveway, past a retaining wall, through a grove of overgrown hedgey trees... and into what was most definitely the ghost of a motel. The foundations remained, complete with the ghosts of linoleum and perfectly-tiled squares where bathrooms and shower stalls once stood. The central drains of the showers were plugged with flowers; the holes where the toilets were once hooked up still had pipes in them. There was a piece of a doorframe and part of the door, with knob still attached, lying next to one foundation. One large foundation held four units and had a distinctive curve at the corner. Each corner of the lot had a two-unit building, and there were a pair of two-unit buildings and a strangely curved-edged foundation in the center of the lot. I assume the curved building was the motel office, as it's the only foundation in the entire lot that didn't have a bathroom.
We also found a men's shirt, red plaid; a pair of boxer-briefs, Calvin Klein; several used condoms; a bright pink lighter; and assorted other detritus to indicate that it's a well-known spot to the local kids. Pretty good idea of 'em - the height, combined with the trees that now grow just outside the wall (which do not appear in the postcard) block the place from the road pretty effectively, although they also block any quick escape should the cops show up.
After we realized this was our place, it was pretty easy to figure out where we went wrong with the address. The 3 miles is counting from the city line as it was then drawn (as indicated by all the Kiwanis and other clubs' signs, just past Spur 63), and as for the address given in the phone book, well... the current address is something like 1404, but the current numbering system is for "Marshall Highway," as 80 is known in Longview, and starts at Center Street. Since the address in the book is given as "Hwy 80," we figured they must've meant the part of it that goes through Pine Tree/Greggton, which was then known as "Gladewater Highway." Apparently the numbering for THAT section of the highway used to start at Pine Tree Road, because if you use that as the base, the address reconciles perfectly.
Justin had his Yashica Mat twin-lens reflex camera with, although we'd forgotten the digital camera. We were going to use up the roll of film, develop it tonight, and try to scan the negatives, but we ended up three frames short of a full roll, and 120 film is too valuable (both in terms of cost and in terms of images per roll) to waste 'em just to finish the roll up, like I would with my 35mm. So we'll see sometime later this week.
I love doing stuff like this.
That's the postcard that had plagued us for so long. It's in such a very distinctive location, up on a hill like that - and yet we could find no proper hill, much less any buildings that would have been a motel. As you can see, the "address" listed is very vague. Were they measuring three miles from the center of Longview? No appropriate building site exists there. Was the "Broadway Terrace" near the street called Broadway? But that's nowhere near Highway 80. Such confusion!
Then Justin noticed a driveway that went up a hill and disappeared, next door to a copy shop in Pine Tree/Greggton. Interest was sparked.
Today's purchase of the 1960 Longview phone book (scans will appear shortly in Justin's journal) gave us a further clue, as the Broadway Terrace was then still operational, and given an address of 604 W Hwy 80.
Further confusion! That block of Highway 80 is in the middle of the business district! That specific block is car dealerships, not hills nor motels!
Then we drove past the driveway again, and decided to be sneaky and go up there. We parked in the lot of the copy shop, in a spot right next to a used-car dealership that would provide a legit-looking reason for our car to be there, and we took a hike.
Up the driveway, past a retaining wall, through a grove of overgrown hedgey trees... and into what was most definitely the ghost of a motel. The foundations remained, complete with the ghosts of linoleum and perfectly-tiled squares where bathrooms and shower stalls once stood. The central drains of the showers were plugged with flowers; the holes where the toilets were once hooked up still had pipes in them. There was a piece of a doorframe and part of the door, with knob still attached, lying next to one foundation. One large foundation held four units and had a distinctive curve at the corner. Each corner of the lot had a two-unit building, and there were a pair of two-unit buildings and a strangely curved-edged foundation in the center of the lot. I assume the curved building was the motel office, as it's the only foundation in the entire lot that didn't have a bathroom.
We also found a men's shirt, red plaid; a pair of boxer-briefs, Calvin Klein; several used condoms; a bright pink lighter; and assorted other detritus to indicate that it's a well-known spot to the local kids. Pretty good idea of 'em - the height, combined with the trees that now grow just outside the wall (which do not appear in the postcard) block the place from the road pretty effectively, although they also block any quick escape should the cops show up.
After we realized this was our place, it was pretty easy to figure out where we went wrong with the address. The 3 miles is counting from the city line as it was then drawn (as indicated by all the Kiwanis and other clubs' signs, just past Spur 63), and as for the address given in the phone book, well... the current address is something like 1404, but the current numbering system is for "Marshall Highway," as 80 is known in Longview, and starts at Center Street. Since the address in the book is given as "Hwy 80," we figured they must've meant the part of it that goes through Pine Tree/Greggton, which was then known as "Gladewater Highway." Apparently the numbering for THAT section of the highway used to start at Pine Tree Road, because if you use that as the base, the address reconciles perfectly.
Justin had his Yashica Mat twin-lens reflex camera with, although we'd forgotten the digital camera. We were going to use up the roll of film, develop it tonight, and try to scan the negatives, but we ended up three frames short of a full roll, and 120 film is too valuable (both in terms of cost and in terms of images per roll) to waste 'em just to finish the roll up, like I would with my 35mm. So we'll see sometime later this week.
I love doing stuff like this.
