2 Who let the kids out? 4 Core curriculum:
Summer means freedom College Hill trainer opens pilates studio for the kids, maybe too in Clifton Square. much.
6 Big hats and tiny
sandwiches. Must be tea time at St. James Episcopal Church.
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER Vol. 7 No. 8
COLLEGE HILL
• CROWN HEIGHTS • UPTOWN • SLEEPY HOLLOW
JUNE 2012
FLYOVER COUNTRY PIONEERING WICHITA PHOTOGRAPHER EDGAR SMITH LIVED IN THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD, BUT DID HIS BEST WORK FROM HIGH ABOVE. PAGE 10
images: wichita-sedgwick county historical museum
Edgar B. Smith, pictured above right with his bi-plane, was a pioneering Wichita photographer who took flight lessons from Clyde Cessna and put them to good use documenting the growth of the city from the air.
LETTERS
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Bigger than Ever!
STARTS FRIDAY JUNE 8TH
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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z JUNE 2012
STRAY KID STRUT A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
chool is out and the kids are home. At least we think they are home. They have a tendency to wander off. Which figures. You buy a house, stock it with snacks, video games and 10,000 LEGO pieces, and still they wander. It was scary at first. “OH MY GOD! WHERE ARE THE KIDS?� And we would dash out the door and up and down the block in frantic search of them. They’re short so hard to spot sometimes when they get beyond the hedges, but we always find them. Sometimes you can catch a glimpse of their heads bobbing above a friend’s backyard fence, enjoying a visit to their trampoline. Other times, you have to knock on a few neighbor’s doors until you find them inside enjoying their kids’ snacks, video games and LEGOs. After a few missions, it became less of a mad dash and more of a routine. I don’t want to say that we’ve stopped looking for them but, reader, we’ve stopped looking for them every time. They’ll be back. Maybe it’s different with your kids. We understand. But we’ve decided so long as our boys remain within shouting distance, we’re not going to worry so much. That’s why we moved to College Hill, stocked the garage with bicycles and hockey sticks and the medicine cabinet with bandages. It’s hard to imagine that back in Brooklyn we would have let them wander five feet from the stoop. But here? Go outside, kids, make some friends, skin some knees. But please, PLEASE, do your nervous old mom and dad a favor as you walk out the screen door. Don’t let the cat out. She never comes back. BARRY OWENS EDITOR
A SALE SO BIG we outgrew the tent and gave it a building of its own!
WRITE THE EDITOR: We welcome your letters. No subject is out of
bounds, so long as it is local. Letters should not exceed 300 words and may be edited for clarity and length.
E-MAIL US: editor@collegehillcommoner.com WRITE US: 339 N. Yale, Wichita, KS, 67208 CALL US: 689-8474 ADVERTISE: jessica@collegehillcommoner.com, or 689-8474 THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER Volume 7 issue 8 June 2012
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Published monthly by the college hill commoner 339 n. yale wichita, k.s. 67208 316-689-8474
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z JUNE 2012
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Pilates instructor Tina Marie Bergen, left, helps client Chelle Talbott, with a stretching excercise.
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z JUNE 2012
Core Curriculum: Trainer Opens Pilates Studio in College Hill Light Within Pilates opens this month in Clifton Square
Bergen, center, is owner of Light Within Pilates, which opens this month in Clifton Square.
Bergen, who lives in College Hill, formerly ran a pilates studio in Santa Monica, Calif.
Tina Marie Bergen has a simple goal for her clients. She wants them to feel better. Once they feel better, she says, they will look better. “I want people to focus on feeling good first,” says Bergen. “When you start feeling good on the inside, you will start to look good on the outside.” Bergen, who lives in College Hill, is a fitness instructor who combines elements of pilates, Yoga, strength and flexibility conPhotos: Barry owens ditioning in her “I want people to focus on feeling good,” says Bergen, at left. “When you feel good, you will start to look good.” Bergen training. Light Within offers private, semi-private and group classes by appointment. Below: Cover of Bergen’s excercise video. It includes a blurb on Pilates, her stu- the jacket from actress Chelsea Handler, a former client. “I can honestly say it’s changed my body — and my life,” it reads in part. dio, opens this in floor studio space. It is only a block other benefits, Bergen says. Bergen works out on month “Much more than appearance, it is Clifton Square. from her home. one of her machines. “I live here,” she says of the neigh- designed to help you feel as relaxed and Bergen will offer private, semi-private and group class- borhood. “I wanted my business to be balanced as you look to enhance your beauty from the inside out,” she says. es. (Sessions are by appointment only. here.” Pilates helps build flexibility, and “It is a very intelligent way to Call 727-4000). strengthens the abdominal muscles, work out. When you’re done, it’s not Bergen, a licensed pilates instruclower back, pelvic floor, hips and like you just got a work out and your tor, formerly ran a studio in Santa diaphragm, an area commonly referred body feels tight. You feel more open.” Monica, Calif. The Wichita native to as the core. The conditioning rouBergen’s studio, above Mend returned last year. Late last month, she showed a vis- tine strengthens the core, improves Physio Therapy in Clifton Square, itor around her new light-filled, second breathing, balance and posture, among opens June 2.
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z JUNE 2012
Know what’s missing in College Hill?
YOUR IDEAS.
We want to know what YOU think will improve YOUR neighborhood! Help us make College Hill a better place to live by joining us for a conversation about the future of the neighborhood. College Hill Neighborhood Meeting June 19, 7 PM East Heights UMC
Visit us at: collegehillneighborhood.com or call 682-4722
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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z June 2012
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PHOTOS BY KATIE GORDON
TEA TIME t was the old english tea at st. James espicopal church, a may tradition at the college hill church. the silver was polished, the Jaguars gleaming (this year’s event included a car show, British imports, of course) and ladies hats were in full flower. hundreds of local ladies, gentlemen and youngsters attended the tea, which is a fundraiser for local charities.
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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER z June 2012
Valid during lunch hours only. Expires June 30.
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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ JUNE 2012
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ JUNE 2012
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HISTORY
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images: wichita-sedgwick county historical museum
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ JUNE 2012
Left: An early aeriel view of the East High School campus. Credit goes to Edgar B. Smith, pictured above with his bi-plane, a pioneering Wichita photographer who took flight lessons from Clyde Cessna and put them to good use documenting the growth of the city from the air. Top: Smith’s calling card.
FLYOVER COUNTRY Edgar B. Smith lived in the Old Neighborhood, but he did his best work from high above. BY BARRY OWENS “The engine conked out,” photographer Edgar B. Smith once recalled to a newspaper reporter in 1960. “There we were over the city and no parachute.” As the story goes, this was Smith’s first attempt at an aeriel photograph in Wichita. Aviation pioneer Walter Beech was at the controls. Smith was out on the wing with his camera. “Walter motioned for me to get back in the plane,” Smith continued. “In my haste, I dropped most of the plates that I had exposed while flying over the city.” Smith survived, of course, even if those photos did not. But there would be plenty more to come. Smith would go on to a long career in photography, documenting Wichita’s booming aviation industry from the ground and the growing city from the air. He left behind an important legacy. If you wonder what this city looked like between about 1920 and 1950 and go looking for the photographs in the archives, chances are good that Smith’s name is on the prints. Smith was a Wichita native, the son
of a postal worker, born in 1896. While he was still in high school he went to work as an apprentice for photographer Homer Harden (whose work also survives in the archives). An ambitious boy, he also signed up for flight lessons at the same time. He graduated in Clyde Cessna’s first class in 1917. After World War I, where Smith served as photographer for the Army Signal Corp. he returned to Wichita and went into commercial photography with business partner Maurice Hodge in 1924. The pair photographed menswear samples, and colorized the prints by hand, to ease the burden of traveling salesmen. The business only lasted a few years before Smith went into business for himself, opening a studio downtown on Douglas. It was then that he trained his lens on the city, its factories, businesses, cultural centers and nearly every model of aircraft produced during his career. He flew with all the early aviation pioneers, including Lloyd Stearman, Clyde Cessna, Matty Laird, Ted Bradley,
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Earl Beach, Al Mooney and Clay Brukner. When Charles Lindbergh landed his “Spirit of St. Louis” in Wichita, Smith was there to make the photograph. Smith and his second wife, Mildred, moved to 2925 E. Douglas in 1960. The pair lived upstairs, above the first floor
studio where Smith took up color photography and making portraits. It was from here, late in his life, (he died in 1966) that Smith found time to reflect with a Wichita Eagle reporter on the highs and lows of his career. Shortly after his first ill-fated flight, it seems, he had another rough landing in Oklahoma. One, that he joked, put him in the grain business. “I had to put my plane down in a wheat field, where, on landing, I almost hit a horse and I turned the plane over,” he recalled. “Natives thereabouts came trampling out to see my upturned airplane. They stomped down quite a bit of wheat and the farmer who owned it, in no uncertain terms, told me I was to buy it.” It wasn’t many days after that, he went on to tell the reporter, that he got himself into the livestock business. “A pilot I had working for me landed in a field and hit a cow.”
THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ JUNE 2012
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Bringing renewed value to College Hill homes through house aquisition, rehabilitation and reintroduction to the market place. The following properties are either completed remodels or under construction and are available for purchase. Properties still under construction can be custom-built to buyer's tastes and desires. 401 N. DELLROSE (College Hill) 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2,200 sq ft above ground, new roof, new kitchen, new bathrooms, new detached garage, new driveway and sidewalks, new interior/exterior paint, new windows, new tile, refinished hardwood floors, new central HVAC, new electric panel, and much more... (est. completion 9/1/2012) $199,000 419 N. TERRACE (College Hill) 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 2,010 sq ft. Detached 2-car garage, full brick, new bathrooms, updated kitchen, new paint, finished basement, new driveway. (move-in ready!) $192,500 Listing SOLD! 413 S. COURTLEIGH (Eastborough) 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2,500 sq ft. Architect Michael Cathcart and Mark Farha redesigned this mid-century ranch. New improvements include high-efficiency furnace, all new plumbing, new vinyl casement windows, new R40 attic insulation, new electric service panel with updated wiring. Completely new bathrooms and kitchen. Hardwood floors refinished look stunning. Concrete replacements includes driveway, sidewalks, front porch and back patio. Roof replaced with impact-resistant concrete tiles. New cedar privacy fence with front and back porch pergola. (est. completion 3/1/2012) $260,000 SOLD! 302 N. CLIFTON (College Hill) 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3,600 sq ft, unfinished basement. This 100-yr old home has had all lath/plaster replaced with modern drywall. All new plumbing and electrical including fixtures. New zoned high-efficiency heating and cooling. Attic and all walls newly insulated. All windows replaced with efficiency windows. New kitchen and bathrooms. New 2-car detached garage. New sidewalks, retaining walls and driveway. New paint inside and out. New hardwood floors, floor tile and carpet throughout. (est. completion 5/21/2012) $330,000 657 N. BROOKFIELD (Woodlawn Village) 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3,319 sq ft, new kitchen, full brick, new interior paint, new privacy fence, new driveway, refinished wood floors. (Move-In Ready!) Listing $325,000 8915 E. WINDWOOD (Tallgrass) 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 5,048 sq ft. Remodeled kitchen and bathrooms. New paint inside and out. New concrete patio. New tile, carpet, oak and stained concrete. All new appliances. (NOW AVAILABLE!) $350,000 1027 S. APACHE (Eastlink Village) 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,232 sq ft. Split level floorplan. (est. completion 5/15/2012) PRICE AVAILABLE SOON 323 N. OAKWOOD (Oakwood Estates) 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,410 sq ft. Ranch with a full basement of which 900 sq ft is finished basement. (est. completion 6/15/2012) PRICE AVAILABLE SOON 410 N. OAKWOOD (Eastlink Village) 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,022 sq ft. Split level floorplan. $169,000
316 . 518 . 0711