Photos from Dayton, Ohio 08-29-05

Schlientz and Moore Funeral Home on Wayne
Ave. obviously didn't think this awning through all
the way when they ordered it (or perhaps they did).

The Silver Fox Nightclub, James H. McGree Blvd.

Big beautiful empty buildings on the corner of Valley and
Troy, about 1/4 mile away from the new baseball stadium.
I guess economic development based on minor league
baseball only goes so far.

Can recycling plant on First Street (you run by
LOTS of strange and surly characters around here).
Old man picks fresh okra from the garden right off
of Germantown and Adellite in West Dayton.

The Real Dayton, Ohio USA

in Photos

Probably like many people in many areas of the USA, I get sick and tired of being sick and tired about the Disney-esque way that my local world is presented by our local corporate media wizards, or the hordes of bad PR agents working to sell the fantasy viewpoint that EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE AND DANDY in our Grand City of Dayton, Ohio.

The pictures tell another story. Here they are. Some of them are disturbing, while others are just ordinary depiction of life on the streets - our true surroundings. All of them were shot with a digital camera while driving through various neighborhoods and sections of this midwestern city where airplanes and funk music were invented.

All photos and captions are Copyright 2005, David B. Sparks (davidbsparks@yahoo.com)

Photos from 08-22-07

Crowd of Kids near McClain and Bolton Streets involved in some sort of neighborhood controversy involving the Dayton Police Dept.

A shirtless east side boy enjoys the freedom of East Dayton's "shirt-free" zone while waiting in line at the Wyoming Street Kwik and Kold for some cigarettes.
There is no building that cannot be made into a ghetto church in Dayton.
Labor Solutions is big business in Dayton.
Building at the corner of Valley and Troy Streets
Going to the methadone clinic on James H. McGee Blvd.
Graffiti compliments of Dayton's most prolific
tagger, Tase, on Warren Street in Dayton.
An empty former funeral home on North Main Street.
Man "adjusts" his pants while walking down
Xenia Ave. on a Saturday afternoon.
East side kids check out a souped up Mazda on Erie Ave.
Row of abandoned houses on Hivling Street in Dayton.
Katie's Place on East Fifth Street: a gentlemen's club featuring
dancer's with the freshest C-section scars in a three-county area.

Dog waits in the back of the truck at the Sunoco
on Wayne Ave. while the owner fills up.