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There’s a nice-looking grade school in Sylvia. To see an old picture of the old school, check out this from WSU’s Special Collections.
A closed cafe. I liked the blue aqua seafoam-colored awning and the Pepsi-Cafeness about the place. It has 1962 written all over it. I’ll bet they once sold returnable bottles of Pepsi – the kind with bottle caps. Does anyone else remember seeing flattened and scarred bottle caps in the streets, mixed in with the sand?
Yes, I was a member of the Pepsi Generation. In adulthood, I switched over to Diet Coke, but as a kid, it was Pepsi all the way. Well, that and grape-flavored pop (yech, I’d say now.) Grape Crush, that was the name. There was also Orange Crush – which wasn’t too bad.
There was 7-Up: “You like it; it likes you.” 7-Up was also “the uncola.” One of the Pawnee Rock coaches used to call my brother “Uncola” instead of Unruh.
And “Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper, too?” I guess “10-2 & 4” was the earlier Dr. Pepper slogan, inferring, I believe, that one should drink a bottle of the (nasty) stuff at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
We grew up calling these soft drinks “pop.” People in faraway places called the stuff “soda.”
A garage in downtown Sylvia. (And a Pepsi machine.)
You know, we like to take pictures of the most interesting buildings, which unfortunately often excludes business that are open. There’s a doctor’s office – a doctor comes to town on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And there’s a bank…
It’s great that the town has a bank (Citizens Bank of Kansas), but this building is an ordinary building without much character or charm.
Our eyes are drawn to the older buildings and so sometimes how we present small Kansas towns may be a bit misleading. Don’t get me wrong, Sylvia’s block or two of Main Street isn’t awash with thriving businesses, but it does have some.
This is the Hair Hut. Don’t know if it’s open or not. I took the photo because it was one of those old Phillips 66 cottage-style gas stations. The building behind it is the doctor’s office.
It’s a shame old buildings in a town aren’t rehabbed/renovated, but I suppose it’s cheaper to put up a rather characterless structure, while either tearing down the old or leaving them in place.
Bushton has a “new” post office and bank, and the old still stand. After being a cafe, the bank is now a sports bar; and the postoffice(along with the old drugstore)is a museum.
So, sometime, the old gets reused.
Fortunately, not all the old buildings get torn down, thus leaving memories and material for photographers.
Such as our Cheryl, and Dave, who both provide us with great pix !!!
Thanks, H-43. It’s nice to be appreciated. We have fun going to these places and taking photos to share with you all.
You guys come to mind when we’re out …. I’ll see something that will remind me of something one of you has mentioned.
Last time I passed through Rice County, I thought of you, Ray.
And, climbing up a mountain in a tiny town in Colorado, I took photos of something I know Janet will love to see.
Maybe you don’t know it, but you each travel with us. You each bring a unique perspective to Flyover People and we are so grateful for that. 🙂
PS, Ray. Guess I’d better turn on the TV. Has the Indy started yet? When I was 5 or 6, I peeked through the chain-link fence and saw part of the racetrack.
Yeah, if you have your TV on, you can see they finally got the track dried enough to race. I haven’t been out there in years since the beginning of the fighting between IRL, CART, and others. Got into NACSAR, and now that fascination has worn very thin. Just getting old, I guess. Do watch a bunch of golf, although most of the time I’d rather be out playing instead.