cities in pixie dust

The town of Juzcar in Andalucia, Spain, was a typical whitewashed hill town for centuries. Until the city was approached by the Smurfs movie and decided to vote to paint the houses in the town Smurf blue in 2011. (Read more here). After the filming was over, the townsfolk could decide to go back to the traditional whitewash or stay blue. And so they stayed blue and smurfy. Here are some shots from our very quick (longer than a drive-by but shorter than a dinner trip) visit.

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See the whole set here




Remains of the old Connelly Containers buildings on Venice Island, Manayunk Towpath area.

January 1, 2010: I started out my year staying out well into the night in Zurich, Switzerland… Somehow made it home (to my uncle’s, that is) with the help of a new friend, and slept a few short hours. The next day, I woke up with a hangover the size of Andre the Giant, got kicked out by my uncle, and stumbled my way to catch a train to this place. I almost got off the train for stop #1 in Bellinzona, but there was a ton of snow there, and I was looking for sunshine.

Let’s see what I found…

More videos online here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D4B576F77A0C7644

The zombies gathered on October 24, 2009 in downtown Denver, Colorado, to walk across town and recreate Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” zombie dance. Some robots and zombie-killers as well as pirates also showed up to stand their ground in the Zombpocalypse 2009. Below are some pictures.

More photos from the Denver Zombie Crawl here

Las Vegas Boulevard somewhere in between the Strip and Fremont Street is sort of undefined. Some folks call it the “No Man’s Land” but others might call it home, or a cheap place to stay while in town. Unfinished construction projects and fading glories fill the blocks which fall north of  “The Strip” {which most folks consider to begin around Sahara Ave.} and south of the neon and LED-filled Fremont Street Experience with the classic Vegas casinos. Here are a few photos of this space in between, from my trip in February 2009, in the middle of the Great Recession of the ’00s. This is the Vegas which has fallen out of favor for its bigger and bolder and newer neighbors like Planet Hollywood and Mandalay Bay and the Wynn, but doesn’t have the vintage retro-kitsch appeal nor the World Series of Poker tournaments that the Golden Nugget or Binions have.  You don’t usually see this part of town in the glossy magazines, travelogues nor the Anthony Bourdain and Food Network videos.

The Star Motel …oh such potential~look at the neon sign

San Francisco Wear/Sally’s Rentals – Going Cheap

Original Thai BBQ… and Dreamy Drinkscape 

The Silver Spur Hotel. Kind of Old-School, Kind of Sketchy…

Strip-Mall Wedding Chapel

White Cross Drugs

Closed Brewpub near the Sahara

Maybe Miss Katrina can tell us what is in store for Vegas’s future.