rose alley

Much of what survives visually of the neighborhood displaced for Hemisfair ’68 comes from photographs made during the urban renewal process. Houses, businesses, churches, and other structures were systematically photographed before they were acquired and demolished.

These images are invaluable historical records, but they can also be strangely quiet. Buildings are typically photographed from the street, centered in the frame and identified by an address. People are often absent. There are few signs of the ordinary activity that made these properties a neighborhood rather than simply a collection of structures.

One photograph of 214 Rose Alley is different. Children appear outside the house, momentarily transforming a property record into a glimpse of neighborhood life. They remind us that the buildings being documented were also places where people grew up, played, visited relatives, knew their neighbors, and accumulated memories.