My family and I made a trek down to Galveston last weekend to enjoy a beautiful day sea side. We had a great time - we built sand castles, jumped in the waves, and munched on snacks coupled with the grit of sand in our teeth. I hadn't really been to the city since before hurricane Ike. Things have really changed there. The pace is slower - and not in a good way - almost morbid, the energy in the air that used to thrive in Galveston, seems no more - where has it's spirit gone?
After we packed up our snacks and sand shovels we drove around the city for a while - Phil and I gasped and then paused in silence, as if almost to pay our respects to the city that has fallen forgotten. I recall going to Galveston as a child as a vacation spot - hip and happening, lots of business. I remember crowning over the causeway and cruising down Broadway and just being in awe of the gingerbread Victorians and quaint bungalows. Actually, I think that was my first glimpse of real architecture - what 8 year old do you know that recalls every detail of touring Bishop's Palace? But now, it seems so empty.
As a designer, I look at architecture like that and weep inside. How could such treasures of hand-made history be left to rot and decay among the salty air of the city? How could such amazing spaces and memories be...alone? It's just not right.
I imagine gilded ladies all in their fine imported silks and gentlemen with their handlebar mustaches waltzing hand-in-hand shop-by-shop up and down the strand, and yet today, the only reminder of that kind of joy is the rusty historical marker placed on the facade of a shoebox building. (sigh)
It makes me so sad Texas! Where's the love? Let's stop investing in these spec-home stick framed glorified shacks and put our money back into preserving the backbone on which our roots were built. Our family even has records of my great-grandparents coming into port to America through Galveston - so cool! Let's show the love for the man who climbed up on scaffolding 10 stories in the air without a harness to lay a piece of hand-cut stone, just so he could go home and put a decent meal on the table for his family and in return provide a little bit of innocence back to us.
So I am prayin' hard - Brown Design Studio Galveston? New Hope Church Galveston Campus? or just some wishful thinking?! I would love to be an instrument of helping to breathe life into a city so deserving. Please send your donations to Gina Brown Restores Galveston Fund... lol... no, no, there's no fund....YET!
