FADING_endlessly: words_original works_non-fiction

Thursday, June 30, 2005

We left Toledo, amidst a downpour, at around noon. We made our usual stop at the Goodwill in Bellevue. I didn't buy anything, but Missy purchased a copy of The Scarlet Letter. It was still raining when we arrived at our maternal grandparents' farm on the outskirts of the village of Greenwich. We spent the evening playing crokinole, watching the ballgame, and otherwise hanging out with the family.

Friday, July 1, 2005

We headed out at around ten in the morning for Malabar Farm State Park in Lucas. Our route took us through the city of Mansfield. Just outside of the city I spotted this sign.

We passed the new Mansfield Correctional Institution on the left, and could see the old Ohio State Reformatory off in the distance.

Mansfield reminds me off a smaller version of Detroit, Michigan. It has closed factories, boarded up houses, confusing roads, and is in a general state of disrepair.

However, also like Detroit, there is cool stuff to see and do if you know where to look, or if the fates align in your favor. Thanks to my adventurous spirit, some road construction, and the aforementioned hand of destiny, we stumbled upon the E&B Market, which was used in Shawshank.

This is the grocery store where Brooks and Red had jobs after they were paroled. It is a small mom and pop type place. I purchased a bottle of water, a packet of blue kool-aid, and a gumball from the gumball machine. Personally, I think there should be a plaque of some sort explaining this location's importance in movie history.

Then we found our way to a little park on Main Street. This is where Brooks went to feed the pigeons. We couldn't discern exactly which bench was used in the movie (again, I feel there should be a plaque), but after much deliberation, my sister decided that this must be the one--otherwise we would have spent all day trying to figure it out.

Mayhap the ideal way to make this pilgrimage would be to carry along a portable DVD player with the movie, but that was beyond our means, do ya ken what I'm saying.

After a few wrong turns--like I said, the streets are not well-designed or well-labeled--we continued on toward Malabar Farm.

We arrived just in time for the scheduled noon tour. There was some sort of deal where if you bought a ticket for the house tour, you could take the wagon tour at a discount. We figured what the heck, why not...

Before we went inside, we learned something of note from the tour guide. More on that shortly.

Malabar Farm was the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Louis Bromfield. Among the people who counted him a friend was Humphrey Bogart. They were such good friends, in fact, that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at Malabar Farm. That was my interest in the place.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met while shooting Howard Hawks's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?" And the rest, as they say, is history. (They made three more pictures together after they were married.)

Anyway, Bogie and Bacall were married in this exact spot on May 21, 1945.

The story goes that the wedding was originally supposed to be held outside in the gardens, but this was in the day of "party" telephone lines, so during the preparations, word got around, and a bunch of locals showed up to stargaze. Thus, the ceremony was moved indoors.

The wagon ride, so-called, wasn't really a wagon ride. The wagon was more like, I don't know, a troop carrier--I don't really know how to describe it--and it was pulled by a big, ole tractor. It was enjoyable nevertheless.

As we had learned from the tour guide earlier, the tree toward the end of Shawshank is just next to Malabar Farm.

Alas, it is on private property. The wall has long since been torn down, but you can see the browning of the grass to the right of the tree, where it used to stand.

In addition to being on private property, the tree is surrounded by an electric fence.

I suppose this was a wise, if selfish, move by the owner, because otherwise I would have been tempted to jump the fence.

So, we had a moment of quiet meditation, then continued further down the path.

Our next destination was my birthplace, where most of my dad's family still resides: Ashland. But before we went to Grandma's house, we had another pilgrimage to make: the Huntington Bank on Main St. This is the bank that Andy visits toward the end of Shawshank. It is almost exactly as it appears in the movie. Alas, being that it is a bank, we didn't figure they would appreciate us taking pictures. And neither my sister nor I was feeling personable enough to ask for permission. So it goes.

We spent the rest of that evening with our grandmother and then went back to Greenwich.

Saturday, July 2, 2005

This was the morning of the annual Firelands Festival Parade in Greenwich. The parade is so small, that it is unlike any other parade you will ever see. I have a lot of fond memories revolving around it. Plus, there's free candy!

The family all had lunch at the festival, then everyone went his or her separate way.
The midway--again, smaller than you can imagine--felt even more lacking than years past.
Our cousins were all busy with previous engagements, or, in some cases, were just being anti-social. Missy and I watched some of the softball tournament, but despite the assortment of interesting rednecks, that quickly got old, so we decided to go to Mansfield to see War of the Worlds.

Driving through Mansfield, I saw a marquee on an old movie house, advertising a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey the following weekend. See, cool stuff to do if you know where to look.
We snuck in some of the aforementioned free parade candy to snack on during the movie. I thought it was okay. Terrible writing. Terrible acting. Very cool special effects. Three out of four stars.

On our way back to Greenwich, we decided to go ahead and look for the reformatory. Thanks once again to my keen sense of direction, we found it without too much trouble.
When we turned the corner and saw it, my heart skipped a beat. I am not prone to hyperbole, so believe me, I beg, when I tell you that it was awe-inspiring and humbling and magnificent.

And I took this picture while standing on the trunk of my car.

Sunday, July 3, 2005

While the rest of the family was at church, I enjoyed the peace and quiet, and had my mind blown by Soren Kierkegaard.
Then we had a big family dinner, at the end of which, I held my four-month-old first cousin-once removed, Graham, for the first time. The adorable little creature fell asleep in my arms. Is there anything more perfect than a baby's finger nails? I tell ya, I'm ready to start a family of my own. Ahem, any time destiny wants to lend me a hand in this department, I'd say thankya. When my arm eventually fell asleep as well, I passed Graham off to his mother, and went out back to play croquet with my cousins.

Our cousin Anna--the person in the family nearest my age--joined us for our excursion to the reformatory.

The reformatory opened way back in 1896. It closed in December 1990.
In 1993, the reformatory and its surrounding grounds were used extensively for the filming of The Shawshank Redemption. Shortly after filming was completed, most of the outlying structures and wall were torn down to make room for a new prison.
A few years later, the main building was featured in Air Force One.
The reformatory is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is now maintained by the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society.

There are three themed tours available: the tower tour, the dungeon tour, and the hollywood tour. Obviously, we wanted the hollywood tour. Supposedly, there are tours every hour, on the hour. Reservations are not necessary, nay, reservations are not possible. So, we left shortly after 1:00, intending to take the 2:00 tour. Alas, we got there and discovered that the 2:00 tour was sold out. I muttered something underneath my breath about doing my part to plan ahead, all for naught. Anyway, we went ahead and bought tickets for the next tour that was not sold out.

So, as we had time to kill, we wandered around the grounds.

As you face the building, these are back around to the left.

That side dead-ended at a fence, so we went around to the right side, and around the back.

I took these next three pictures with my rinky dink little camera.

Looking at that last photo, the Richland County prison is off to the left. We were warned that if it even looked like we were taking pictures of that prison, our film and/or cameras would be confiscated. We must not have looked suspicious, because we didn't see hide nor hair of The Man.

To our estimation, this is a possible location of the scene in which Andy and Red discuss Zihuatanejo.

We still had time to spare, so we checked out the museum/gift shop. It left much to be desired. I only purchased a magnet and a lighter.

And then finally, it was time for our tour, and we all say thankya.

Almost immediately, I found our tour guide to be annoying, but he was only a volunteer after all, so God bless him. He gave us some brief history and then mentioned that the paint is lead-based, so we should be sure to wash our hands after the tour. Swell.

And then the fun began...

We went to the room where Andy's desk was in the movie and then continued on to the warden's office in the adjacent room.

This is where the safe had been.

And this is my homage to the directorial stylings of Frank Darabont.

The room in a halfway house where Brooks and Red each lived after they were paroled was actually another room in the prison building. My eyes welled up when I saw this...

This large open area was used as the cafeteria in Shawshank.

The entrance to the room was used in Air Force One.

Then we moved on to the prison barbershop, which was used as the library in Shawshank. With my sister running interference, I snagged a piece of the broken tile floor.

Then we headed into the cell block. These weren't used in the movie. That was a set built in a Mansfield warehouse. But they're still pretty darn cool, do ya kennit.

I don't remember how many stories of cells were stacked on top of each other, five or six, maybe. Someone pointed out that some of the cells still had books and other belongings in them--we didn't really have much time to dawdle and inspect them all.

My sister took this picture of me...

...and I took this one of her.

Some movie set pieces were left behind...

I took this picture of Andy's escape tunnel.

And Missy took this shot of the sewer pipe.

As you can see, there is plastic covering them, probably so people don't climb in. But I think they are missing a golden fund-raising opportunity. They could charge people five bucks for the chance to pose in the tunnel. I would have done it. And Missy suggested that for a certain price, one should be able to wander freely around the building.

We also visited the row of solitary confinement cells--again, not in the movie. The generic nickname of "the hole" is appropriate.

The tour did include other sights and points of interest, but I have mentioned the main attractions.

It was well worth the trip. In fact, I wouldn't mind going again sometime.

So, we returned to Greenwich. And then my sister and I packed up our belongings and made our way back to reality.


	Thursday, June 30, 2005 We left Toledo, amidst a downpour, at around noon. We made our usual stop at the Goodwill in Bellevue. I didn't buy anything, but Missy purchased a copy of The Scarlet Letter. It was still raining when we arrived at our maternal grandparents' farm on the outskirts of the village of Greenwich. We spent the evening playing crokinole, watching the ballgame, and otherwise hanging out with the family. Friday, July 1, 2005 We headed out at around ten in the morning for Malabar Farm State Park in Lucas. Our route took us through the city of Mansfield. Just outside of the city I spotted this sign. We passed the new Mansfield Correctional Institution on the left, and could see the old Ohio State Reformatory off in the distance. Mansfield reminds me off a smaller version of Detroit, Michigan. It has closed factories, boarded up houses, confusing roads, and is in a general state of disrepair. However, also like Detroit, there is cool stuff to see and do if you know where to look, or if the fates align in your favor. Thanks to my adventurous spirit, some road construction, and the aforementioned hand of destiny, we stumbled upon the E&B Market, which was used in Shawshank. This is the grocery store where Brooks and Red had jobs after they were paroled. It is a small mom and pop type place. I purchased a bottle of water, a packet of blue kool-aid, and a gumball from the gumball machine. Personally, I think there should be a plaque of some sort explaining this location's importance in movie history. Then we found our way to a little park on Main Street. This is where Brooks went to feed the pigeons. We couldn't discern exactly which bench was used in the movie (again, I feel there should be a plaque), but after much deliberation, my sister decided that this must be the one--otherwise we would have spent all day trying to figure it out. Mayhap the ideal way to make this pilgrimage would be to carry along a portable DVD player with the movie, but that was beyond our means, do ya ken what I'm saying. After a few wrong turns--like I said, the streets are not well-designed or well-labeled--we continued on toward Malabar Farm. We arrived just in time for the scheduled noon tour. There was some sort of deal where if you bought a ticket for the house tour, you could take the wagon tour at a discount. We figured what the heck, why not... Before we went inside, we learned something of note from the tour guide. More on that shortly. Malabar Farm was the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Louis Bromfield. Among the people who counted him a friend was Humphrey Bogart. They were such good friends, in fact, that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at Malabar Farm. That was my interest in the place. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met while shooting Howard Hawks's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?" And the rest, as they say, is history. (They made three more pictures together after they were married.) Anyway, Bogie and Bacall were married in this exact spot on May 21, 1945. (photo by David FitzSimmons, all rights reserved) The story goes that the wedding was originally supposed to be held outside in the gardens, but this was in the day of "party" telephone lines, so during the preparations, word got around, and a bunch of locals showed up to stargaze. Thus, the ceremony was moved indoors. The wagon ride, so-called, wasn't really a wagon ride. The wagon was more like, I don't know, a troop carrier--I don't really know how to describe it--and it was pulled by a big, ole tractor. It was enjoyable nevertheless. As we had learned from the tour guide earlier, the tree toward the end of Shawshank is just next to Malabar Farm. Alas, it is on private property. The wall has long since been torn down, but you can see the browning of the grass to the right of the tree, where it used to stand. In addition to being on private property, the tree is surrounded by an electric fence. I suppose this was a wise, if selfish, move by the owner, because otherwise I would have been tempted to jump the fence. So, we had a moment of quiet meditation, then continued further down the path. Our next destination was my birthplace, where most of my dad's family still resides: Ashland. But before we went to Grandma's house, we had another pilgrimage to make: the Huntington Bank on Main St. This is the bank that Andy visits toward the end of Shawshank. It is almost exactly as it appears in the movie. Alas, being that it is a bank, we didn't figure they would appreciate us taking pictures. And neither my sister nor I was feeling personable enough to ask for permission. So it goes. We spent the rest of that evening with our grandmother and then went back to Greenwich. Saturday, July 2, 2005 This was the morning of the annual Firelands Festival Parade in Greenwich. The parade is so small, that it is unlike any other parade you will ever see. I have a lot of fond memories revolving around it. Plus, there's free candy! The family all had lunch at the festival, then everyone went his or her separate way. The midway--again, smaller than you can imagine--felt even more lacking than years past. Our cousins were all busy with previous engagements, or, in some cases, were just being anti-social. Missy and I watched some of the softball tournament, but despite the assortment of interesting rednecks, that quickly got old, so we decided to go to Mansfield to see War of the Worlds. Driving through Mansfield, I saw a marquee on an old movie house, advertising a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey the following weekend. See, cool stuff to do if you know where to look. We snuck in some of the aforementioned free parade candy to snack on during the movie. I thought it was okay. Terrible writing. Terrible acting. Very cool special effects. Three out of four stars. On our way back to Greenwich, we decided to go ahead and look for the reformatory. Thanks once again to my keen sense of direction, we found it without too much trouble. When we turned the corner and saw it, my heart skipped a beat. I am not prone to hyperbole, so believe me, I beg, when I tell you that it was awe-inspiring and humbling and magnificent. And I took this picture while standing on the trunk of my car. Sunday, July 3, 2005 While the rest of the family was at church, I enjoyed the peace and quiet, and had my mind blown by Soren Kierkegaard. Then we had a big family dinner, at the end of which, I held my four-month-old first cousin-once removed, Graham, for the first time. The adorable little creature fell asleep in my arms. Is there anything more perfect than a baby's finger nails? I tell ya, I'm ready to start a family of my own. Ahem, any time destiny wants to lend me a hand in this department, I'd say thankya. When my arm eventually fell asleep as well, I passed Graham off to his mother, and went out back to play croquet with my cousins. Our cousin Anna--the person in the family nearest my age--joined us for our excursion to the reformatory. The reformatory opened way back in 1896. It closed in December 1990. In 1993, the reformatory and its surrounding grounds were used extensively for the filming of The Shawshank Redemption. Shortly after filming was completed, most of the outlying structures and wall were torn down to make room for a new prison. A few years later, the main building was featured in Air Force One. The reformatory is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is now maintained by the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society. There are three themed tours available: the tower tour, the dungeon tour, and the hollywood tour. Obviously, we wanted the hollywood tour. Supposedly, there are tours every hour, on the hour. Reservations are not necessary, nay, reservations are not possible. So, we left shortly after 1:00, intending to take the 2:00 tour. Alas, we got there and discovered that the 2:00 tour was sold out. I muttered something underneath my breath about doing my part to plan ahead, all for naught. Anyway, we went ahead and bought tickets for the next tour that was not sold out. So, as we had time to kill, we wandered around the grounds. As you face the building, these are back around to the left. That side dead-ended at a fence, so we went around to the right side, and around the back. I took these next three pictures with my rinky dink little camera. Looking at that last photo, the Richland County prison is off to the left. We were warned that if it even looked like we were taking pictures of that prison, our film and/or cameras would be confiscated. We must not have looked suspicious, because we didn't see hide nor hair of The Man. To our estimation, this is a possible location of the scene in which Andy and Red discuss Zihuatanejo. We still had time to spare, so we checked out the museum/gift shop. It left much to be desired. I only purchased a magnet and a lighter. And then finally, it was time for our tour, and we all say thankya. Almost immediately, I found our tour guide to be annoying, but he was only a volunteer after all, so God bless him. He gave us some brief history and then mentioned that the paint is lead-based, so we should be sure to wash our hands after the tour. Swell. And then the fun began... We went to the room where Andy's desk was in the movie and then continued on to the warden's office in the adjacent room. This is where the safe had been. And this is my homage to the directorial stylings of Frank Darabont. The room in a halfway house where Brooks and Red each lived after they were paroled was actually another room in the prison building. My eyes welled up when I saw this... This large open area was used as the cafeteria in Shawshank. The entrance to the room was used in Air Force One. Then we moved on to the prison barbershop, which was used as the library in Shawshank. With my sister running interference, I snagged a piece of the broken tile floor. Then we headed into the cell block. These weren't used in the movie. That was a set built in a Mansfield warehouse. But they're still pretty darn cool, do ya kennit. I don't remember how many stories of cells were stacked on top of each other, five or six, maybe. Someone pointed out that some of the cells still had books and other belongings in them--we didn't really have much time to dawdle and inspect them all. My sister took this picture of me... ...and I took this one of her. Some movie set pieces were left behind... I took this picture of Andy's escape tunnel. And Missy took this shot of the sewer pipe. As you can see, there is plastic covering them, probably so people don't climb in. But I think they are missing a golden fund-raising opportunity. They could charge people five bucks for the chance to pose in the tunnel. I would have done it. And Missy suggested that for a certain price, one should be able to wander freely around the building. We also visited the row of solitary confinement cells--again, not in the movie. The generic nickname of "the hole" is appropriate. The tour did include other sights and points of interest, but I have mentioned the main attractions. It was well worth the trip. In fact, I wouldn't mind going again sometime. So, we returned to Greenwich. And then my sister and I packed up our belongings and made our way back to reality.