 |
| Grinnell Drive Looking East, 1973 |
Explosive tract home growth over the ‘50s-‘70s meant that
many areas of Davis were conspicuously “raw” at any given time, as seen in this
1973 shot of a Stanley Davis “Alpine” model (in the center) on Grinnell Drive
abutting what will be the new Slide Hill Park.
As shown on the excerpt from the Davis Street Atlas, we are looking east and the photographer is
standing in the to-be park.
The second photo shows the same location, only 41 years
later, in 2014.
 |
| Grinnell Drive Looking East, 2014 |
A couple of observations. First, in the far distance of the
1973 shot we see a tall tree looming behind the Alpine model Stanley Davis home
facing us. Although these homes were built on an open field, one home buyer
“lucked out.” By an accident of nature she or he got a lone surviving tree in
an otherwise barren landscape.
Second, my experience in taking decades-later pictures of
scenes is Davis is that landscaping makes it almost impossible to see what was
there originally--as is the case here.
I used to see this as an unfortunate thwarting of what I
wanted to show. But more recently I have started to view landscape visual
obstruction as a blessing. It is testament to just how much more pleasant
people can make their environments.
