Mystery Solved: 1419 Austin Highway

Okay, at least once a week, for two years I have been driving past this building:It's a castle, in the middle of Austin Highway! With a super cool train in the front! It's NOT a train, it's a magic latern!
It's practically a fortress.

After coming out to the site on two different occasions to take pictures, I finally notice this sign:

Interesting, it's a castle with a train out front, with a serious security fence and with gargoyles at the front door. What in the hell is this place?

One of the reasons I started this blog was because there's a story behind every building, sturcture or lack there of. And this place at 1419 Austin Highway has a super cool one.

It's owned by a man named Jack Judson and inside is the Magic Latern Castle Museum. Way back in the day, movie projectors were called Magic Laterns. Here is the link:

http://www.magiclanterns.org/

Mr. Judson also has a nature trail (that's pretty popular with the birding set), here's that link:
http://www.go-texas.net/Jack-Judson-Nature-Trails/

I'm going to make it a point to see if I can make an appointment to see the museum really soon.

I have no idea why this restaurant failed.

Ah, who the hell would not want Mexican/Chinese food? Seriously, the possibilities are endless: Mexican Fried Rice, Kung-Pow Burrito, Deep Fried Won Tons filled with Refried Beans. Mmmmm, I regret never having dined here. However, the sign is killer: a vaquero lassoing a dragon? It's a tat waiting to happen!

3303 Broadway

3303 Broadway WAS the home of Inter-Continental Motors Corp, San Antonio's Volkswagen Dealership.

Now, it's largely abandoned:

According to the Bexar County Appraisal District website (http://www.bcad.org/), the property was purchased in 2000 by a real estate agency. They seem to be sitting on this rather large (1.1205 acres or 48810 square feet) property, because there are no "For Sale" signs to be seen.

A few links for the history of the property:

The Samba has a few cool pics of the dealership in its heyday:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/dealers/intercontinentalmotorscorp_sanantonio_tx.php

Also, dealer Rod East (yes, that is his name) got his start at Inter-Continental:

http://www.rodeastvw.com/MiscPage_4

A shot of the back of the building, with a travel trailer sitting on the property. Note how large the trees are, indicating how old the property is.

Here is a shot of the old showroom. I guess one of the owners of the real estate company needed a place to stash their old Dodge:

One last note: notice all of the brickwork, you don't see that kind of thing in modern car dealerships. This was a showplace for Volkswagens (and at one point Porsches), and now it's another empty space lacking purpose or meaning.

Pat Booker Road

Pat Booker Road is located in Universal City, Texas. It is the main road through this small 'burb and the main retail area.

Our first stop in the UC is the Nursery that closed the weekend my husband and I moved in to our house.

We were pretty disappointed that the place had closed, it would have been nice to have a nursery less than 2 blocks from our house.

Here is a shot of the fenced in outdoor portion of the nursery, including the greenhouse:

This a pic of the front of the building, to show what a large, empty space this really is:

It's disheartening to see things like this for many reasons. This was someones business, their livelihood, their life, people worked here, people shopped here. When geographers talk about "sense of place", they are talking about the cultural aspects of how humans interact with their environment and how that relationship is what "makes" that place special.

For this nursery in a rather small military community, it undoubtedly had its "regulars", folks who came in and interacted with the staff and each other, sharing gardening tips; talking about their families, telling stories. The nursery is gone and without human involvement , it's just an empty, decaying building.

What could this empty space, built for a very specific be redeveloped into?

Introduction

Geography is many things. It's where things are located and why those things are there. It's the significance of those things in terms of spatial relationships and their place in both the built and natural landscape.
Why am I fascinated with Empty Spaces? I can't really answer that question, but I'm going to examine it. Empty big box retailers, abandoned fast food locations, places that are just empty for whatever reasons will be the main focus of this page. Naturally, I will also go off-topic. You've been warned.