Teddy Bear!

We have shown you, our readers, a few works of Pueblo art. You may have seen this one while walking or driving around downtown Pueblo, Colorado. It's a giant teddy bear holding a heart. The artistry on this is wonderful and intricate. You can stand in front of this wall for probably half an hour and not see everything that is at work here. It's definitely a friendly face when you are on your way somewhere!

Rawlings Library

Pueblo City County Library District (PCCLD) is a wonderful tool! On almost the same level as Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), PCCLD has libraries throughout Pueblo, CO, as well as a few satellite libraries in nearby towns. The main library is the Rawlings Library on Abriendo Avenue. There is plenty of parking; a cafeteria; a Youth Services area complete with toys, kids' games, a storytime room and a puppet stage with puppets you can borrow; plenty of internet and catalog computers; a 3D printer and a 3D simulator; LOTS of nonfiction and fiction books for every age; really wonderful Hispanic resources, both for English-speakers learning Spanish and Spanish-speakers learning English; a floor devoted to genealogy and history; a news museum, movie theatre and gallery on the fourth floor; and lots of festivities, activities, events, classes and really nice librarians. For a bibliophile, what more could you want?

From the New City to the Edge of the Old

Let's begin our journey in Anywhere, USA.  You know what I mean.  This intersection, the junction of Pueblo Boulevard and Northern Avenue, is indistinguishable from any other intersection of its type in any suburban area in any city of the United States.  We see the "anchors" of the modern community:  Wal-Mart (or is it walmart now?), McDonald's, and so-on with a backdrop of asphalt and framed out nicely with a foreground of more asphalt. 

Our architectural legacy from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries will consist of slabs of concrete and sewer pipes.  The above-ground portions are nothing more than inviting facades on giant sheds, constructed from materials that will be devoured by time and exist for future archaeologists as little more than rust stains on the concrete below.  Head east on Northern until you make it to Lake or Orman, and make your way north into Mesa Junction.  You can see the scenery slowly start to change as you leave the new areas and head into the heart of the old Three Cities.

Pueblo, Colorado of the olden days was built by master craftsmen and financed by people who intended to create utopia.  You can find modest apartments that have more architectural grace and lasting value than pretty much any architectural endeavor made in town in the last half-century.

Keep moving through, and you'll end up at the Rawlings library, which is actually an interesting piece to leave off on.  This building is an expression of....?

Where are we going with all of this?  Can we hope to revive the civic pride that created the old city for future generations?  What more than the motives of the commissioner of any building determine what is erected?  As we move toward the future, can we reconcile the profit motive with the drive to create a more beautiful, perfect world?

Creatures

Pueblo, CO has a large selection of Creatures' artwork, on different buildings throughout town. Here is a very new piece of art. We watched them working on it a few days in a row a couple weeks ago. This particular piece is right in the drive-thru parking lot of Mexi-Deli on Abriendo Ave, across the street from Rawlings Library.

Walking Along Northern Avenue

If you are trying to lose weight or if you are otherwise into jogging and fitness, a wonderful sidewalk to walk or run on in Pueblo, Colorado, is the sidewalk along Northern Ave between Cambridge Ave and Pueblo Blvd. As you can see from the picture, the entire thing is wiggly like a snake. For blocks. It adds at least a mile, I'm sure. And if you are the kind of person that walks everywhere as transportation, as I do, you might not need or even want that added mile. Therefore, when I walk between Pueblo Boulevard and the Colorado State Fair Grounds area, I ignore the presence of this sidewalk entirely. I walk a straight line, through the grass and across the sidewalk multiple times. The nice thing about ignoring the sidewalk is that you can get some intermittent shade from the trees and maybe even pick a few apples from the apple trees, if you can find some that are ripe without bugs in them. There are also some pleasant rosebushes and gardens along the way, so the walk can be kind of nice.

Find This Church! Pt. 2

What a beautiful church! It's actually very large, if you go around on the right side. It seems to be unoccupied, so I don't think you can go there for services, but if you take a walk kind of southwest of Pueblo's Rawlings Library, maybe you can find it and take a look at the building anyway. Pueblo, CO has a lot of beautiful buildings and, although a lot of the churches are not much to look at, some of them are.

Find This Steet Corner!

Marigolds and Cosmos make a lovely combination! Can you find this Pueblo Colorado street corner? Here's a hint: It's on the same street as the church shown in the last post! That is, a bit east of the Colorado State Fair Grounds.