DON'T WAIT TO TAKE PHOTOS

Sometimes, I get lucky.

Like a lot of photographers who enjoy documenting America's roadside businesses, there are many targets on my to-do list. Too often, I neglect to photograph those businesses before they are gone forever.

A fast-food place named Guido's comes to mind. For years, I chuckled whenever I drove past this joint on Higgins Avenue here on Chicago's Northwest Side and saw their sign proudly proclaiming for all to see:

NOBODY BEATS OUR MEAT!

I assumed that sooner or later, I'd get around to photographing Guido's. But I never did -- and one day as I drove by, I noticed, sadly, that Guido's was gone.

I had a similar experience years ago in Denver. I had always meant to take photos of the Cooper Cinerama Theater, resplendent in its orange paint job. But I never did that, either. I did manage to shoot some Kodachrome transparencies when it was showing a 70mm revival of "Ben-Hur," but by then new owners United Artists Theaters had repainted the buildings beige. The pain in not snagging photos of the Cooper when it was still orange was offset slightly by the knowledge that the theater was torn down a short time later.

That's why I was glad to have photographed a number of buildings at the intersection of Central and Montrose avenues. About two weeks ago, I had my little digital camera with me during a walk up to Walgreens and I shot some images of venerable -- and closed -- businesses.

When I walked to Walgreens last night, I noticed that all of those buildings had been demolished. The photo above of C Davis Rentals is one of my favorites. You can see more photos on my Flickr pages.

The moral of this story is that if there's something you've been meaning to take a phot of, do it now.

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