Wichita State University - Parnassus Yearbook (Wichita, KS)

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L, ,4.if'S! T il ? xiii' ' TZ'1K3T5 AMW fm' photos by Madeline McCullough CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The exclusively male clientele of the Smokers' Parlor have their picture taken one afternoon with the wooden Indian. Photo taken circa 1890 Unemployed short order cook, Vietnam veteran, convicted felon and self-professed wino Bill Chambers sits in the doorway of the Blue Lounge, a bar in the Old Town district. He sports a black eye and broken foot, hazards of the trade. l!26f8S You ain't my woman and I ain't yo' man. You can't take my picture. Smitty wanted a five-spot for the privilege of taking his picture. 1129185 Once the Vogue Art Theater, and more recently renovated as the Marple, this art deco building has since fallen prey to the disco beat. Many once-defunct businesses in the area become popular spots after they are renovated. ll25!8S Roc Platt tlirts with Judy Cornet! during happy hour at the Looking Glass. l!25!85

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' -.1.l..l 5 ' X tru Photo courtesy of the Wichita Historical Museum Bringing Together The Old Town People The people who live in Old Town run the gamut of humanity. While their backgrounds and social classes are different, the word that kept popping up when they talked about the area was 'familyf' There was a real sense of pride with the variety Old Town had to offer. Some of the residents of Old Town aren't pretentious about where they live. 'This is skid road, this is bum's alley, said Chicago. He was living at the Eaton Hotel until his leg healed. He said he had fallen off a roof in Grand junction, Colo., while trying to retrieve a frisbee for a small boy. He had been on crutches for eight months, had ll casts, and had six months to go. Because he couldn't get any benefits in Col- orado, he ended up in Kansas. Chicago was a biker from the '60s which is when he got hooked on drugs and alcohol. His face is younger than his 43 years except for his eyes, which show the drain of countless alcohol-induced amnesiac nights. Tatooed underneath his left eye are four tears. 'One for each year I spent in the pen that time. He'd been in and out of jail, he said, but was not a habitual offender. His family is well-off, he said, but they don't try to keep in contact with him because of his addictions. B.G. Estill, who has lived at the Eaton Hotel for years, turned 94 on Feb. 17. He does not have a drinking problem, although he was once arrested and fined S12 for betting on horses. Each morning he walks to j.R. Meades for a breakfast of scrambled eggs and then returns to sit in the lobby of the Eaton, looking out the large picture windows. 'I look for accidents, it's abit of excitementf' he said. 'There are a few, jaywalkers and the liken' On most afternoons he walks downtown to the library. On Sundays he often walks the 26 blr H 't Us 'Lund Ui JM Methodist Church. 'I can't hear what the preacher says but I like the singing theref' Estill has held steady work for most of his life and enjoys the freedom of being on his own. He makes for a dapper ap- pearance, sitting in the lobby's wicker chair he has claimed as his own. 'I like it here. They have a sprinkler system. A lot of people burn up in fires, so I looked for thatf' His social security gives him just enough to provide for his needs, including bingo, the only gambling he does anymore. He does not plan on leaving the Eaton. 'I don't have too many years left in me.' Rickey Baker lives in a refurbished apartment building on East Douglas. He came to Wichita because of a relationship which has since gone sour. He ended up in Old Town after he was 'asked to leave' his lover's place. 'When I tell people I live downtown near the Eaton, they think I live in a little hole-in-the-wall, rundown, rat-eaten place. They don't even realize what's here. I can go to Brandon's, or walk the streets on Douglas - I don't hang around down here all that much but I am aware of what's going on. I know some of the winos by face. For me, I don't see the winos Cas a probleml. Having lived in Chicago, l've seen things far worse than anything here. The problem with the area, he said, is the same problem with the entire city -- businesses are afraid to take a chance. He said a friend of his has often said, 'The bars are tardy, tardy, tardyf' He listed Bran- don's as an example of businesses refusing to acknowldge certain facts of life. Half their clientele is gay there and the owner has said, 'If this place goes gay I'll close it down.' I have a friend who's gone in full makeup, the Boy George look, and wasn't hassled. I went semi- leathered and had no problemsf' 'I'll never forget living here because this building is filled with good memories, because of the people I've met. They're more than people, ' 'c ': ' I M lm 'N' I M ' put on airs. I think that has to do with Old Town. Everyone living here is doing so because they're getting a second chance or are being who they want.' Jack Baldwin, who leases the parking lot between Rosen Bros. and Leben Bros. pawn shops, has seen a lot of sad, peculiar things over

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The Fam the years. 'One old boy rented a parking spot from me for ing in advance. He was from out of town to have his fun liked his alcohol. He'd been here three or four days, here and going to clubs. 'One morning his car was gone, didn't see him that day he'd left early. The next morning I saw him sidewalk. I asked him about his car, I was kind of 'Well, I'm out looking for it. I lost it somewheres. I went to a nightf He'd gone to several and forgotten which he'd left it in. Spent the week trying to find it.' Baldwin laughs when he recounts those stories of alcoholics and transients who get rolled or forget their hard night's drunk and walk away barefoot. Six days a week, his lot. Next to his small shack is a grocery Cart full of used plastic spoons and forks, bits of paper, old jars and a tinguisher. hThat's where I put myjunk that I collect. It thing to haul it around in. He considers himself a businessman. It's slow cept for the morning and evening rush. His cigarettes, unfiltered, have melted the blue vinyl in the first two fingers of his gloves he wears when it is cold. He does not trust the 'rummies' because of what he called their sadistic streak. He remembered when a tran sient scattered his parking receipts wasrft lookin 'He hated people, I gues and could give me some them away, scattering them to the caused me alittle trouble g. S in it