Broadway Street- Fort Wayne, Indiana

After we finished our photo assignment down South Calhoun Street in Fort Wayne, we decided to make our way back south via the equally interesting Broadway Street.

The laundry is boarded up but, thankfully, the cute Canton Laundry sign is still on Broadway between Washington and Jefferson:

The Brass Rail at 1121 Broadway- we like like old soda signs:

Looking south on Broadway from the intersection at Jefferson. It's nice to see a building getting some love, the pretty home of Beadrageous next to it, Antiques on Broadway, and another shot of the Brass Rail:

Aaron's Oriental Rug Gallery at 1217 Broadway (since 1973).
This gorgeous Old Fire Station Number 5 was built in 1893 and used as an active station until 1959:

The GE plant has a huge presence along Broadway:

The building at 1209 Broadway is fascinating. There isn't a business name on it but it looks like an antique shop and it did have a closed sign in the front door. The outside is very cool with lots of artsy embellishments. It is quite intriguing:

Durnell's has been there since 1950 (and yet, we've never been there). We don't know how long Broadway Joe's Tavern has been beside it but for quite a while judging from their adorable neon sign:

The building at the far left (2441 Broadway) used to be a theatre, was renovated into the lovely Catablu restaurant, and is now home to the Philmore on Broadway, a music and events venue with plans to have jazz several nights a week. The building on the far right has the name Eckrich on it which makes us wonder if it was owned by a member of the Eckrich Meats family.

Here's the lovely side of Chappell's restaurant with an advertisement for Otto Peters Drug Store. The drug store is long gone but we love that this painting has survived. Peters was Carole Lombard's real last name (born Jane Alice Peters) so we wonder if this was a relation.

Fort Wayne Mirror Works at 2829 Broadway:

Wildwood Liquors at 3019 Broadway:

Candlelight Antiques at 3205 Broadway is a really nice little antique shop:

South Calhoun Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana

By special request from Kevin over at Urban Indy, this is a post following South Calhoun Street in Fort Wayne from Rudisill to Murray Street, which is right before the overpass that leads you into downtown. It's an eclectic stretch full of great old buildings and signs and now with a mix of ethnicities breathing life into it. (click photos for larger image)

At 3702 S. Calhoun is Southside Vacuum, in business since 1947!

This building at 2730 S. Calhoun is the Calhoun Street Emporium. We love the top of the building where the name Leland is with 19 and 23 on either side of it.

At the Pontiac and S. Calhoun intersection, we liked the detail at the top of this building.

We couldn't tell what this rusty round thing on the side of the Rialto Theatre was from the street but, from the picture, we see that it reads "police alarm".

The gorgeous Rialto Theatre has had many lives. Right now, a non-profit is in the midst of restoring it into the "Rialto World Cafe and Cultural Center- a gathering place to engage and serve the growing international community".

This is a detail at the top of the building right next to the Rialto which is the store Finders Keepers.

And this is the wide shot of the Finders Keepers building at 2608 S. Calhoun. You can see both eagles at the upper corners.

At 2124 S. Calhoun is the adorable City Glass shop.

At 2302 S. Calhoun is Mannie's Place which Manta.com says was established in 1948.

We loved the look of the Mungovan and Sons Mortuary at 2221 S. Calhoun.

OK, St. Patrick's church is actually on Harrison, not Calhoun, but it was so gorgeous seen from the mortuary parking lot that we had to include a couple of pictures.

Hopefully something will go into this building at the corner of S. Calhoun and W. Masterson.
The Oyster Bar Restaurant building at 1830 S. Calhoun is so cute that we have to show 2 views.

We adore the people behind Calhoun Street Salads and Spirits for making this building look so good!

We had to take a picture of the public phone outside of Saigon Restaurant because they are a rarity now and will probably soon be obsolete.

We love old advertisements painted on the sides of buildings. This one was at Dewald and S. Calhoun.
The gorgeous Troy Laundry building at 1717 S. Calhoun which, according to this site, was built in 1914 and is one of only 3 remaining buildings in Fort Wayne with a glazed terra cotta facade (one of the other ones is the Rialto).

We loved the look of this building at S. Calhoun and Murray Street but had no idea what the HBC at the top meant. It turns out that it stands for Holsum Baking Company.

West Central Neighborhood, Fort Wayne, Indiana

If pressed, we'd have to say that West Central is our favorite neighborhood in Fort Wayne. We're suckers for architectural variety and turrets and it has those in spades. In our minds, it will forever be the epicenter of cool in Fort Wayne because Miss Carole Lombard was born here and lived here for six years (and if you don't understand the importance of that, please put My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, and To Be or Not to Be in your Netflix queue). You even have an opportunity to tour Miss Lombard's house coming up on September 12th and 13th during the West Central House and Garden Tour. We've enjoyed the home tour several times and highly recommend it. We're so grateful for people who move into these grand old houses and maintain them so well.

Castle Gallery:

Homes along Wayne Street:

On Thieme Drive:

Photos along Berry Street; this is the office of Grinsfelder Architects:

Cobblestone sidewalk:

Some apartments in this Sheridan Court apartment building have been on the home tour in previous years and they were lovely:

A couple of views of the Carole Lombard house at Rockhill and Thieme:

The Arena Dinner Theatre is right in the neighborhood:

Old Aqueduct Club Memorial facing Main Street. From the plaque "The aqueduct carrying the Wabash and Erie Canal across the St. Marys River was located just north of the bridge about where the Nickel Plate railroad crosses the river and was the playground and swimminghole for the West End Boys".