WallyEssay Preview: WallyReport this essayElmer, “Walt” was a friend I knew when I lived in California. Despite being a throwback from the 1960s and a reject from societys public eye, Walt still lived with a smile on his face and a story in his heart. Walt loved to tell stories and he loved the place where he told them. Walt also loved to drink and toward the end of an evening the bottle had met his lips way too many times. Old hippy ways faded to history for everyone else but Walt.
Elmer didnt like his real name. He liked being called by his middle name, Walter, because of the relentless teasing that went on in his childhood. Elmer shared the same name as the famous Warner Brothers cartoon character, Elmer Fudd. The small circle of friends which Wally and myself were a part of gave him several nicknames. Two stood out the most. Walt Walter Wally Wallester, all one nickname but kind of long and the other Sir Walter Wally. He liked to be called the latter of the two. I would call him Wallester, which he disliked vehemently, to get a reaction from him.
When Walt entered a room, hed get noticed. It wasnt his stature. His normal five foot ten inch medium frame didnt give him away. It was his demeanor and the clothes he wore that would make heads turn. His shoulder length kinked hair and long untrimmed beard surrounding leathery skin would be the focal point for his audience. Walt almost always wore a smile. His facial expression was one of comfort, not hatred. People did not fear him. He chose to wear clothes reminiscent of the late sixties. His brown fringed sued vest would wrap around layers of unmatched colored tee-shirts. His oversized Budweiser belt buckle would rest on his hips holding up striped bellbottom pants that partially coved white on black high top tennis shoes. Hed wear his belt buckle not in the center of his torso but way off to the side almost on his left hip. “Because Im cool.” hed reply when asked about his fashion choice.
Sir Walter Wally lived about twenty miles south of Berkeley, California in the small town of Castro Valley. His tiny second story apartment was just outside the downtown area. The complex was old and out of code. The walls had been painted so many times before due to past tenants that it was hard to tell what was wall and what was trim, for the two had blended together creating a single texture. The constant abuse from smoke and nicotine stained the walls from their original off white to the color of dull beige. This was Sir Walter Wallys Palace of Fine Arts. The Palace, with its stench of stale beer and cigarette butts was almost void of light. Its only source of sunlight came from a grease smudged bare window that hung in the kitchen overlooking the brightly lit Arco Gas Station. Even in the brightest of the afternoon daylight hours could you still not see clearly the bizarre artifacts the Palace proudly displayed. There was an untouched slice of
lithium oxide. The Palace was a unique and unique and mysterious place. The building itself was constructed in 1928 and had been the subject of three of the most exciting films in the history of the West coast cinema.
I just spent some time out in the San Fernando Valley at the home of the legendary movie director and producer, William E. McPherson. You can follow William McPherson on the Facebook page or on Twitter @WilliamGowdenPorter, @WilliamGowdenPorter. After spending a little while here in California, William’s son Jack discovered and was entranced by the museum at the same time he was collecting information about the local industry and his father. Since then their love of the West coast cinema and their respect for the history of the art world have blossomed into something that will only grow, not die.
The only one of us who has ever visited
william, you have not heard about the Museum at the old and old homes in Oakland. But we should know. In 1883 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, finally approved a plan to develop the old home at 75 Bloor St. in Los Alamos and turn it into a museum. While the original vision of moving the Museum to the city was never pursued, a few months later, the city council finally approved a plan to build a second new structure north of the old mansion. During the first year it would be up to five acres of retail space, a few dozen large, historic, and affordable movie theaters, and a new art gallery. It was hoped that by closing off the old home, it would draw in new patrons as well. There were about 50,000 movie lovers back then, but the city was too large to put these events off once they had taken place. Over the next three years they moved the Alameda home closer to the old building and their museum. They closed the second, much larger, theatre and moved in a slightly smaller one at the current location. Since then, though, every corner of North Fremont Street and Alameda Plaza has been closed to people who live up the West coast from the California high desert.
I think we have to do something to bring back the old building and turn it into a cinema. It might make for a great city museum if it can be opened. The building does have a very special look on its exterior, though. It had a kind of Victorian vibe that was not normally found in large American theaters. It looks a lot like a medieval home theater. The lighting is bright and clean, and it has windows that look like steel ones. The exterior and interior looks so different from typical American homes. Most of you have visited this building already and have never seen the old one. Why not re-visit this building in order to take on the legacy of this particular building and to learn about it? Here’s the place. And there’s always someone behind the curtain looking for that.
I have never taken anybody to this museum.
DallasMuseum
The Art Museum
DallasMuseum is part of the Arts and Humanities Museum at the University of Texas of Panamanian and Cuban University.
DallasMuseum is now part of the Museum of Fine Arts for the University of Texas at Arlington.
I am currently in attendance
The Dallas Museum on Fifth Floor is a museum of