over the river and through my mood

earlier this week i was in an unbreakably pissy mood, so i strapped on the walking shoes and went over the bra bridge to north lawrence (where we went on the tavern tour) and zigzagged up and down locust street. (is there any town in america that doesn't have a locust street?) parts dicey, parts industrial, and parts raw coolness, it is a quiet little stretch that is easy to fly past in a car, but it has much to offer and many mysteries to decipher for those who travel it by foot.



















i found fruit trucks, junkyards, trains, graffiti, funky metal sculptures, weeds, antiques, little stores both thriving and abandoned, and two restaurants -- both mexican -- right next door to each other. the enchilada platter at la tropicana ('the trop' to locals) did away with the rest of my angst, and i spent the trek back over the river thinking about the potential uses for this empty storefront (i think it's the old BoMo building): an art gallery? cafe? jewelry store? bookstore? if you could open any kind of shop, how would you use it?