December 2025 has proven to be the most challenging and taxing month for meeting my blogging objectives in at least six years; I rarely struggle to get my five obligatory articles completed like I did here at the end of the year. I am not going to allow January to give me these same challenges,
It’s hard to find an old single-screen move theater that’s thriving, even in affluent urban areas. When it comes to those walkable, revitalizing main street districts—where people collectively demonstrate their affection for old architecture by refurbishing and repurposing old buildings for niche businesses—the vintage movie theaters from the Golden Age of Cinema should ride the
This is a slight subject—or, rather, two subjects—which I am somewhat forcibly conflating. But it’s not an unfamiliar topic for this blog, and I keep coming back to it because it’s so rich with semantic potential: specifically, it’s the organization and branding of public restrooms. The only major reason this cluster of photos gets bunched
Has anyone out there ever seen a big box store with an entryway like this? Following on the heels of my article about the Bozeman bank entrance, this one is comparatively small and humble: only two doors. In an era of mounting concern for loss prevention, these doors lack the visible security apparatus the customer
Despite some glum predictions on the long-term economic health of college towns, most of the ones that harbor flagship universities still look pretty vibrant, at least if Bozeman, home of Montana State University (largest university in the state), is any example. As recently as 1970, Bozeman was a fairly obscure town that hosted the state’s
Midway through The Year of our Lord 2025, conventional retail continues its unrelenting retreat from the array of preferred American leisure activities. Simply put, fewer and fewer Americans “go shopping” for fun, at least when it comes to the time-tested paradigm of bricks-and-mortar malls and big boxes. The proof is in the pudding: more and
Among the numerous keywords I deploy here, I use “rural” far less than I initially expected when I developed this blog sixteen years ago. Sure, rural America has comprised an element of more than 45 articles over the years: not bad, but nowhere near as much as I planned. After all, the American Dirt banner
Several months ago, I did something I rarely do and took a hard line on a polarizing topic: allowing dogs (or other pets) into private businesses. I believed, and continue to believe, that dogs should not be permitted in coffee shops, gyms, hardware stores, grocery stores, or (God forbid) restaurants, unless they are a licensed
In this nation of abundant strip malls, it should come as no surprise that quite a few of them look pretty drab, underinvested, and plagued with low occupancy. Why expect anything else? As I’ve noted countless times before, America grapples with a glut of retail-oriented real estate: a supply that accommodates the demand almost
As I scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of December and the end of 2024, I have to churn out a few more pieces of low-hanging fruit or I won’t get it all done. And so, with photos taken a mere two days before Christmas, I offer the best evidence I
December 2025 has proven to be the most challenging and taxing month for meeting my blogging objectives in at least six years; I rarely struggle to get my five obligatory articles completed like
It’s hard to find an old single-screen move theater that’s thriving, even in affluent urban areas. When it comes to those walkable, revitalizing main street districts—where people collectively demonstrate their affection for old
This is a slight subject—or, rather, two subjects—which I am somewhat forcibly conflating. But it’s not an unfamiliar topic for this blog, and I keep coming back to it because it’s so rich
Has anyone out there ever seen a big box store with an entryway like this? Following on the heels of my article about the Bozeman bank entrance, this one is comparatively small and
Despite some glum predictions on the long-term economic health of college towns, most of the ones that harbor flagship universities still look pretty vibrant, at least if Bozeman, home of Montana State University
Midway through The Year of our Lord 2025, conventional retail continues its unrelenting retreat from the array of preferred American leisure activities. Simply put, fewer and fewer Americans “go shopping” for fun, at
Among the numerous keywords I deploy here, I use “rural” far less than I initially expected when I developed this blog sixteen years ago. Sure, rural America has comprised an element of more
Several months ago, I did something I rarely do and took a hard line on a polarizing topic: allowing dogs (or other pets) into private businesses. I believed, and continue to believe, that
In this nation of abundant strip malls, it should come as no surprise that quite a few of them look pretty drab, underinvested, and plagued with low occupancy. Why expect anything else?
As I scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of December and the end of 2024, I have to churn out a few more pieces of low-hanging fruit or I