County View

Awaiting the April 29, 2008 County Commission meeting to commence with prayer and allegiance to the flag, it occurred to me I was perhaps sitting in the very spot I had as a teenager about to embark on a five-day journey to San Francisco.

BITD, the Greyhound bus station occupied the parcel currently hosting Government Plaza. That anyone had the gall to give Greyhound marching orders, to rip down a landmark of such distinction and shoo them due west to Highway 90 next to What-A-Burger, is beside me. In that terminal we also lost our only public town hustler, Bobby, who was denied status given the Peanut Man due to the nature of his infamy.

Sadly, no one attempts to sell himself in front of the new station, where traffic speeds by too fast to appreciate nuances of human splendor.

Now lots of people stand out front Government Plaza. But like the real estate market, I can’t tell who’s plying and who’s buying, though I did spy a young woman sitting on a bus bench and her wink and smile was mischievous enough to prick hypothalamus – though wasted upon me too clever to risk rendezvous’ in light of day and shadow of Government Plaza. Besides, she lacked my penchant for more hair under the arms and at least a few curlies on the chest .

Down the street was the Princess House, catering to royalty of the male persuasion, and drag shows not at all a drag – all this and a restaurant serving the best hamburgers and fries in town, attracting even surreptitious breeders, people who back then lived as I sometimes still do, on the edge.

But hardly anyone wanted to be seen standing on those streets come dark. Dauphin Street was but a dream in the boyish minds of Mike Dow and James Busby, doomed to remain a dusty run-down courtesy of Mobile’s cranky bluebloods who didn’t want or need gains from expansion or growth in MoeBeel.

“We don’t want no strangers coming in here, Darlin.” “Only unsavory people go downtown after dark.” “You wouldn’t catch me dead down there when night sets in.” Luckily, we still have people who think that way and do stay away at the risk of spoiling the fun of current night adventurers. They’re called West Mobilians.

Downtown was the place to go if one wanted to partake in the forbidden – the daring lived down there near the water’s edge, symbolized by a 6×12 wooden pier and ornate lamp post. But now a real city has come out of the closet ( I’m personally still in though) and told the world “here I am, come and get me.” Dauphin Street has become a coquettish sister of Bourbon and like Paris we have sidewalk cafes such as Spot of Tea, and late-night debauchery to the beat of marquee bands playing clubs with names like Monsoons, in our sweet spot.

We’ve tamed our squirrels and revived a hotel worthy of persons with refined taste, The Battle House. For years we could only envy other urbanites who carried on about their traffic jams, road closures, the pure joy of being stuck in traffic.

Now if one wants to kill time it’s as easy as getting in a car and heading to Airport Boulevard on Friday, say around noon. The really adventurous will seek out a string of school zones about the time the kiddies get out, pack a picnic lunch and bring along a cozy book to read.

I once read Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” starting at the foot of Government and scooting west on Airport to the airport, a whole chapter consumed at one of our new sweet spots, Schillinger Road. I ran into some friends and we got out and stretched our weary bones, caught up on EADS and the price of rice in Bangkok.

Imagine our surprise when the red light turned green 10 minutes earlier than usual! We scrambled, cheeks flushing, to our respective cars, those behind us still asleep or too polite to lay on their horns.

All this I pondered while digesting news that Albert Hofmann, father of lysergic acid diethylamide-25 passed away in Geneva at age 102, and glancing over what was clearly a bland agenda. The most exciting thing was the meeting being rescheduled for Tuesday because Monday was Confederate Soldiers holiday.

Perhaps because of this president Steve Nodine experienced a schedule conflict arriving very late to find Mike Dean sitting confidently in the presidential throne. It was an awkward moment I secretly and shamefully wished had escalated, but finally Dean yielded and the two exchanged chairs to a collective sigh of relief throughout the bus station-turned-political-arena.

There were two deserved presentations. Michael Davis of The Independent Living Center was honored for providing over 20 years of service to people with disabilities in the Mobile area. TILC assures that people who are disabled have equal access to facilities and rights in the workplace and at home.

A 16-year-old swimmer named Opie James Leon the 4th, or TJ, was recognized for his win at a recent National Club Swimming Association challenge, qualifying him for a shot in the Olympics. This young man can swim the 100 meter butterfly in 55.29 seconds. Congratulations to Michael Davis and TJ Leon for jobs splendidly done.

Contact Preston Brady at preston@lagniappemobile.com.

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