Monday, January 1, 2007

Before Shots

Maureen says:
Happy New Year! Tom spent most of yesterday and today at the restaurant working on the floorplans required to obtain our demolition and construction permits.

Behold: two (poor quality) "Before" photos of the space.



Above: the view from behind the bar. Squint and you'll see the fuzzy glow of the front door EXIT sign near the upper right; the tall rectangles to the left of the door are street-facing windows that Tom covered with brown paper.

Below: the reverse angle; the bar is all the way to the back right. Together, these photos give you a good sense of the 15' wide by 65' long space we have to work with. (I don't have the ceiling height measurement handy, but it's quite high and the ceiling itself is decorative tin).


860 Elm Street is just one part of the building that locals knew as McQuade's Department Store and still refer to as the McQuade's building. If I recall correctly, Tom said that the restaurants stands in what used to be part of men's clothing.

Though I never visited MQuade's, I imagine it similar to the department stores of yore in Lynn and Salem, Massachusetts where my parents shopped as young couple. In my mind's eye: pneumatic tubes carrying cash and coin from the counters to the offices; clerks who knew not only your name, but your budget and preferences; maybe even a lunch counter or a soda fountain, where you could order cherry cokes and egg creams.

But enough with the nostalgia (and that for an era I have no authentic memories of at that). We're not sure if it's Tom's camera or an unsteady hand that gave us the photos above. This weekend, we'll try my camera with me behind the lens.

2 comments:

tammy said...

How fun is this! Carolyn put me on to you, and I'm looking forward to eavesdropping some more from the safety and comfort of my easy chair. Happy renovations!

Anonymous said...

welcome, tammy! thanks for the good wishes!!