CULTURE CLASH Galveston - Nov./Dec. 2022

Turtles About Town is a

the

that highlights the City of Galveston

efforts of

Island

Network to protect endangered

on the upper Texas coast. Turtle lovers of all ages have the oportunity to see 50 colorful Kemp’s ridley

the

that have been installed

since 2018. Businesses,

graciously

while local artists

to give each one its own

and meaning.

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ALLEY LIFE

LETTER FROM PUBLISHER:

If one of the most alluring draws of Galveston is the historic architecture and untold history, you’ll get extra bang for your buck in our back alleyways. Alleys make for the perfect escape from the chaos of the main drag. They provide access to a more everyday way of life via our trashcans, abandoned toys, alley art, and the sounds of our neighbors washing dishes to the tune of the evening news. This is not for tourists eyes, this is unabashedly Galveston.

The team at CC recognizes these backspaces, although rough around the edges, provide a special texture to our great city and may be one of our untapped gems. In this issue, we highlight alley life in all its grit and glamour. Why are they scary? How are they being used and how can alleys provide new communal space?

We hope this issue gets you thinking or more importantly reminds you to appreciate your alley life. But most of all we hope you read, enjoy, and share.

Write us an email or shoot us a comment any time online: CultureClashGalveston.com CultureClashGalveston@gmail.com

Janese Maricelli Publisher

ON THE COVER: “If you search you might find that everything’s connected via one thin line.” by Catherine Stroud. Catherine is a long-time Galveston artist, musician and teacher. Her work can be seen around Galveston in alleys, on building walls and doors, in various galleries, and possibly in your neighbor’s home collection.

Learn more about Catherine on Instagram @Catherine.Stroud

*This magazine is NOT printed on recycled paper or with soy-based inks YET! But we are working on it. Help us get there, advertise or sponsor us! E-mail for more details CultureClashGalveston@gmail.com.

“Do you wanna walk down the spooky alleyway?”

MY MOM CHUCKLED WITH A DARING SMILE AS WE JUST FINISHED WATCHING A MOVIE ON THE STRAND IN DOWNTOWN GALVESTON. As we turned the corner to feel the thrill of darkness, I started to feel more than the breeze kissing the goosebumps on my skin. I caught myself looking back to see who’s watching me in the shadows, and I was searching for who might be hiding near the fire escape, or the gutters, or just behind the street light staring a hole into the back of my head. Alleyways are a location where my nightmares brainstorm their scariest ideas over dinner together.

Alleys scare me because of the crime that occurs in alleyways. I took a deep breath when we finally got to the end of the alley. I thought of the countless occasions people have been robbed, stabbed, and murdered in alleyways like the one I just walked through. Years later, it would make itself known to me in front of my eyes.

In the summer of 2022, a group of people from all over met for a local event called Ghost Tours. It’s an educational event to learn about the history of Galveston, and potential haunting of the island. As this group was walking to several buildings in the downtown area, a man was following the group in his car. When the tour guide went to confront him, the man threatened to shoot him. The group started to get nervous, so the tour guide asked everyone to walk to another location, away from this aggressive man. The tour took a turn in the alley behind a house they were at moments before, and when the man was seen outside of his car threatening to shoot everyone who was there. The crowd started running, and within this crowd was my mother and I, running for what felt like our last moments. “I thought I was going to die tonight,” my mom said, recalling the story to my sister. Luckily, this man was arrested as soon as the police arrived. Thankfully, no one was injured. As much as I said I fear alleys, one did potentially save lives that night. It offered a shortcut to escape this man and his yelling, and for that I am grateful, as I am sure others from that night are too.

Alleys scare me because of the potential dangers that could happen, but if it hadn’t been for that alley that night, I would have never witnessed him waving his arm up, like he had a gun in his hand. We wouldn’t have started running.

Photo Courtesy of Vecteezy

Back to the Back Streets

THIS ISLAND AWAITS YOUR EXPLORATION, ESPECIALLY IF YOU THINK YOU’VE BEEN ALL OVER BUT HAVEN’T YET WALKED AND DRIVEN ALONG ITS ALLEYWAYS. BACK STREETS OFFER CONNECTION, INTERWEAVING BETWEEN OUR CITY STREETS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF TRAVEL ROUTES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER. Alleyways also offer social connections and can serve as environmental corridors.

Glimpses of “Nature’s highways” can be seen along Galveston’s back streets on the east end, north of Broadway, where plants and flowers spill over from homes along historic streets canopied in old Live Oaks. Along these gravel and oyster shell routes are where dogs are taken for walks on roads less traveled. Birds flit along fences in back yards from one property to the next, especially during peaks of migration in the fall and spring. Butterflies float in rays of sunlight traveling east to west at sunrise, or west to east at sunset. Legions of dragonflies and a few bumblebees buzz and dart. Vegetable, flower, and

By: Leslie Whaylen

herb gardens extend beyond property lines, with pops of bright colors and fragrant smells. Spider webs spun uninhibited in corners serve as weather forecasters, with webs closer to the ground signaling potential bad weather.

Beyond providing additional travel routes across our island and restorative space and time in Nature, our back streets provide an opportunity for us to connect with each other. Alleyways offer another location where neighbors can meet and greet each other. Recently my neighborhood held an outdoor public event in an alleyway where our community members cooked and ate a meal together while the children played in front of us “on the street”. Because many alleyways are not paved, vehicles usually are driven at a slower pace. Nimble navigation is sometimes required for some of our back street passageways where pot holes, steep entrances/exits, and other obstacles are encountered. Focused attention is prudent on watching for others (vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists) who may not be aware of alleyways. For Galvestonians, being mindful of our island’s curbs and corners is always a good thing. Go get your discovery on!

of

Activating alleys for a LiveLy City

By: Jennifer Hampton

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Alleys are places of drama – enticing in their narrow linearity, exciting in their perceived risk, and scaled as stage sets, where the human body figures large against a constrained backdrop and directed lighting.

ALLEYS ARE ALSO QUINTESSENTIALLY ABOUT MOVEMENT, WHETHER BY INDIVIDUALS PERAMBULATING AND PEDALING, VEHICLES ACCESSING BUSINESS BACKDOORS, OR WATER FLOWING FROM ROOFTOPS TO DRAINS. With this excitement, potential for human encounter, and utility in moving people, merchandise and water through the urban fabric, alleys possess compelling potential to produce a vibrant secondary public realm that might also help to repair the ecological performance of our cities.

Many cities in the world have discovered this capability of alleys to stimulate public life, interpersonal commerce, and enhanced ecological function: Melbourne’s lanes dissect oversized blocks to create networks of people places; Christchurch’s and Auckland’s lanes are loci of vibrant shopping, afterwork gathering and nightlife; Tokyo’s narrow shopping and market lanes are filled with 24-hour commerce; and Chicago’s residential alleys bring neighbors together while filtering stormwater, keeping it out of overloaded sewers.

Galveston’s alleys possess this same promise, and there is now a surge of interest in reclaiming alley space as a public realm that is useful for more than only service deliveries. Gehl Architects’ recommendations for using downtown alleys as “green lungs,” ISI’s Nord Alley celebrations and World-Cup-Watching that engaged over 3000 people this past year and exemplify this movement of rediscovering and remodeling our alley networks to greater purpose.

Keys to successful, livable alleys include making a public realm, safe spaces, and a healthier more beautiful city, simply by activating alleys within the urban environment! People should be able to stop and enjoy spaces off of busy city streets. Alleys should be part of a city’s identity, not neglected ‘backside’ spaces. Alleys should contribute to healthy functioning ecosystems of a city, providing corridors for movement and habitats for plants, insects, and birds. Alleys should be safe at all hours and all people should be able to safely use alleys.

With improvement, alleys can begin to support more life and uses. By looking at the big and small changes that can be made in buildings, ground, environment, water treatment, atmosphere and safety of alleys, the City of Galveston can make a large impact. Factors such as water run-off, lighting, canopies

or shelter, and minimal furniture, should all be considered. And while not all of these improvement areas will be applicable to every alley renovation project, each effort promotes higher-functioning alleys.

Integrating multiple functions into an alley can be easy with a little planning. Thinking about maintenance schedules, commuting times, events and activities can help alleys become the true public amenities that they are for the city. Alleys can be very dynamic places, bringing many types of users together in one little strip of space, creating some very interesting corridors and nodes for the city.

Love the alleys? Alley activism can change the way we engage with our city. Let’s start a bigger conversation on how to capitalize on Galveston’s back alley space.

Steps Towards Alley Improvement

1. Talk to your neighbors.

2. Clean up your alley.

3. Evaluate if there are major failures or dangers in the alley.

4. Determine the easy changes, like adding potted plants and chairs, versus long term plans, such as redoing pavement.

5. Find out if your alley is in a historical neighborhood.

6. Make plans, and divide tasks. If necessary, speak to an architect, landscape architect, or engineer.

7. Talk to city, obtain necessary permits.

8. Make your alley changes for a better Galveston!

Photo Courtesy of Vecteezy

Alleys of Galveston

By: Roxie D. Hall

GROWING UP EXPLORING THE BACK ALLEYS OF GALVESTON IN MY YOUTH GAVE ME A SENSE OF EMPOWERMENT AND EXCITEMENT.

I HAD LITTLE CONTROL OVER OF HOW FAR I COULD EXPLORE, MY BIG MAMA (MY MOTHER’S MOTHER) WAS STRICT AND HAD EYES EVERYWHERE. What I could control, was where I would explore on my self-guided adventures. The alleys of this beautiful island gave me agency over my surveillance as my sister and I acted out the plots from the latest Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys novel. The homes seemed larger than life and the sudden scurry of the local alley cats would send our hearts racing and our feet running.

As an adult, the back alleys provide needed relief from tourists and their lunacy induced driving on the main thoroughfares. I still enjoy the adventurous nature of ducking off into an alley as if only I know the secrets that rest behind those houses and random buildings. These island alleys are sometimes seedy, dank and dark. Most times though, these back alleys are mysterious portals transporting you to the other layers of life happening in the city.

Thinking about the idea of alley life, mural art and the architecture of Galveston, it had not occurred to me that alleys and all of those interesting back buildings are considered a part of the architecture of the city! Well, thanks to Google, I found a book!

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Photo Courtesy of Engines of Our Ingenuity

The Alleys and Back Buildings of Galveston: An Architectural and Social History by Ellen Beasley (tamupress.com) is the 1997 Ottis Lock Award for the Best Book on East Texas History as presented by the East Texas Historical Association. This book investigates how alleys and back buildings are largely omitted from studies of urban America’s environmental development. This work illuminates rental alley houses, carriage houses, stables, servant housing, slave quarters and other secondary structures. These buildings have occupied the backyards and alley landscape of Galveston since its early days of growth. Beasley, a preservationist and writer, interweaves written documents, oral interviews and pictorial portrayals to highlight a vibrant, authentic perspective of the buildings, inhabitants and the visual, physical, and social impact of Galveston’s alleys and alley life from the founding of the city well into the twentieth century.

Finding this wealth of information has reignited my passion to take a more artistic approach to my own artistry and community engagement moving forward. I am proud to be BOI! The more I learn, or should I say re-learn about my birth city, the more deeply I fall in love. I truly love this hunk O’ dirt and look forward to doing my part to preserve and share the depth of Galveston’s cultural contribution to world history.

The Alleys and Back Buildings of Galveston: An Architectural and Social History

By: Ellen Beasley

Alleys and back buildings have been largely overlooked in studies of the American urban environment. And yet, rental alley houses, servant and slave quarters, carriage houses, stables, and other secondary structures have lined the alleys and filled the backyards of Galveston since its early days as a growing port city on the upper Texas Gulf Coast.

Like their counterparts in other cities, these buildings and their inhabitants have had a profound visual, physical, and social impact on the history and development of Galveston.

Interweaving written documents, oral interviews, and pictorial images, Beasley presents a vivid picture of Galveston’s alleys and alley life from the founding of the city into the twentieth century. The book blends a unique combination of research, photography, and the voices of those who have lived and live along the alleys. Beasley has uncovered and analyzed a wealth of new information not only about the back buildings of Galveston but also about their occupants and the complex cultural forces at work in their lives.

Back alleys as spaces of urban exploration

By: Jeffrey Ian Ross

ASSOCIATED PRESS

If I have time or I’m doing research, I explore neighborhoods of large urban environments, and if I feel safe the back streets and alleys located there.

FOR ME THE BACK ALLEY, IN PARTICULAR, IS PLACE TO ESCAPE, TO EXPERIENCE DISTRACTION AND POSSIBLE DANGER, FOR REFLECTION, AND INSPIRATION FOR CREATIVE ACTIVITIES; A PLACE THAT MIGHT PROVIDE A SHORTCUT, AN OPPORTUNITY.

Back alleys are also important to me because many of the individuals and the activities that they engage in that I study spend considerable time in these public spaces. In particular, important social actors transit through, work and occasionally live in the back alley including the homeless, dumpster divers, police officers, graffiti writers and street artists.

There is a different sense of order in the back alley as compared to the front or façade of the buildings that line the alley.

In addition to the road which might be constructed out of asphalt, stone or brick, drainage is less important in back alleys as it is in the front of the buildings. Because of poor or nonexistent drainage, there are often puddles of water located there, alongside vehicles parked in the back alley, some of which are abandoned.

We might also see rodent bait station that are used for rat abatement.

Back alleys typically have lots of doors leading to apartment buildings or businesses. The brick or concrete at the back of buildings is frequently a different color than at the front. Why? It’s cheaper to use these kinds of materials in these places. Often pieces of brick and concrete at the lower levels of the buildings are missing because over time, all types of vehicles have hit the structures. Sometimes the walls have graffiti or street art or both placed on them. We may see graffiti on the walls and on the garage doors on the loading docks. We may also see electrical poles that are hidden from the main streets

Look further up the walls and depending on the city and the age of the building, you might also see metal fire escapes typically painted black. There are also signs with messages like no trespassing, no soliciting, no loitering, and violators will be prosecuted that are posted, and sometimes CCTV cameras strategically located on the buildings.

It’s typically dirtier in back alleys than in the front of the building. Garbage, waste and other sorts of debris in addition to metal dumpsters, of all different sizes, are frequently laden with graffiti, and sometimes with stickers at the back of buildings in the alley are visible. The smell of sewage and rotten trash is often noticeable

People are often unhappy in the back alley. Sometimes homeless people sleep in the shelter of a door well at the back of buildings. If they’re not resting, they may have left their personal belongings there, hoping no one will steal them, while well they panhandle or forage for food on the street.

Not only is the back alley often a repository of human waste, the cast offs, and the wreckage, but a place of commerce and consumption (beyond informal, and illegal transactions, the sale of stolen goods, the practice of “forbidden” and illicit sex, and the use and sale of illegal drugs), and temporary residence (for the down and out).

Finally, we may find animals rummaging for food or taking shelter. I’ve encountered stray cats and dogs. Dogs that homeless people may have as company might be hiding. Rats, raccoons, and mice too numerous to mention are located in these areas.

Not all cities have back streets and alleys, but most large urban centers do. The back alley is a subset of a larger whole (the city and neighborhood), and it is deserving of scholarly attention.

In urban planning, urban geography, and street crime, one of the frequently neglected aspects of the urban setting are the back alleys of our large urban environments, and what takes place there.

In many respects, the back alley conforms to what sociologist Erving Goffman in his book The Presentation of Everyday Life, said about the back stage; that physical area that is hidden to most people where

What do back alleys look like; how would I describe them?

Photo Courtesy of Vecteezy

a different language, behaviors and norms are engaged in and activities displayed

The public frequently neglects the back streets alleys and tends to concentrate their activities on the façades of buildings. That’s understandable because important sources of commerce are typically located on the main streets (or front stages). Rarely acknowledged however is that the front stage would not be able to properly function without the backstage (i.e., the back streets and alleys).

Some cities due to urban development have more back alleys than others and over time back alleys change, sometimes transformed into livable or green

spaces. We see this happening in locations where the property prices are very high, and property developers are willing to construct alternative housing arrangements. Occasionally back alleys are turned into cute enclaves where hipster businesses are located like technology or media companies, cafés, and music venues use them as entrances to clientele.

Part of the back alley phenomenon has to do with how the city grew and/or was originally laid out.

There is complexity and diversity in back alleys, to be explored, to be digested, to be categorized, and from which social scientists can draw connections to traditional scholarship.

featured artist

Catherine Stroud

She began her study of the arts at an early age; too shy for words, she found comfort in color and passed her time alone, creating. She studied with Parsons School of Design in Paris and graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University.

Her love of the arts inspired her to live in France for four years, traveling the globe before making this island her home. She carries with her the love of French impressionism and expressionism that she studied abroad.

Catherine creates vibrant melodies of color and contour, infusing her paintings with rhythm and a soft landscape of emotion. She hopes to provide a soothing space that invites the eye to meander and the mind to relax. Her works can be found in local galleries and expositions.

See more on Instagram @catherine.stroud

Catherine Stroud is a local artist and teacher, residing in Galveston since 2009.

Alley Scavenger Hunt

HEROES & HOUNDS

LAUNCH

Thurs. Nov. 10th |5pm - 7pm

Galveston Island

8423 Stewart Rd, Galveston, TX 77554

Featuring live music, food

beer,

adoptable

Galveston Island

THIRD EYELAND

Sat. Nov. 19 |4pm

Galveston Island

8423 Stewart Rd, Galveston, TX 77554

Featuring an

Wed.

SING-A-LONG

| 5pm – 9pm

Bar 1706 23rd St, Galveston, TX 77550

23rd Street Station

$$

or Thomas

song

Sat. Dec 3| 2pm

Galveston

2127 The Strand, Galveston, TX 77550

$1- $2

event

HOGWARTS

Sat. Dec. 10 | 10am - 2pm Kempner Park 2704 Avenue O, Galveston,

ANNUAL

Quarter

413 20th St, Galveston,

77554

77550

SAN ANDRES

I made it

The panga pulled in down the beach aways from where Marlon and I were waiting. It came near the Hotel Delfines. I was already starting to get drunk on the rum some “friend” kept shoving down my throat. Then I found out it was spiked with crack. I felt the numbness of my lips and throat and went to grab my backpack, which was taken from the beached panga where we were awaiting the pick up. I start running around crazy trying to find my bag. The Colombian skiff was already on the shore. The bartender has it I find out, and he’s got my bag emptied out on the floor. He doesn’t believe it’s me in the ID picture. I look at it. I don’t believe either.

It’s too dark to write. Turn on the light and disconnect from the train you were in.

Stuck in a moment of indecision, whether or not to step outside. Stuck in a moment with the mirror, staring at a maniac.

I finally get the bag back from the bartender, away from Tom the Queer, and hurry down the beach hoping to catch the panga before it leaves. I’m feeling the cocaine and thinking it might not be such a bad thing on a trip like this.

By the time I reach the boat, it is just getting ready to launch. I neither hesitate nor ask questions. I ran into the water and jumped up into the skiff.

It was a big panga with a huge hull and two two hundred horsepower engines. It had some muscle.

The following is an excerpt from the autobiographical novel “Leaving is Returning” by Robert Kuhn.

As soon as I was in, it was a cluster fuck. I could smell Colombian joints being passed around over the thick air of gasoline. I was a worried for our safety

The captain was yelling and messing around with one of the engines that kept cutting off. They were trying to siphon gas out of one of the tanks on deck and into the engine, but they were too rushed and couldn’t succeed. Everyone was flipping out.

They didn’t even notice that I was there. They need light to see, but every time someone turned on a flashlight, another yelled about the police.

The captain was a big black guy that reminded me of a Rasta Ton Loc. He had a big belly, and a big bass crass voice. He kept shouting for rum, weed, whiskey or beer. “Rum! Weed!” he would holler, and one of the mates would pass it to him.

By the time that we got out of the Islita’s harbor, things cooled down a little bit and they realized that they had no idea who I was. “What the fuck? Who the fuck is this?” they yelled.

“Cual panga?” someone finally calmed down and asked me.

“Para San Andres,” I replied.

“How the fuck does he know where we’re going?” one of the crew asked themselves.

Then someone vouches for me, that they saw me standing on the beach when Marlon was doing the negotiating.

“Two hundred and fifty dollars,” they told me. If not, they said they would drop me back off on the rocks.

We were in such a hurry to get out of there I knew that was a lie. I was a little worried that they might just shoot me and throw me overboard though.

“No tengo,” I told them. I told them all I had was about forty dollars, which was still an exaggeration. I knew that I had less than thirty dollars in Nicaraguan and Colombian bills together after the few beers I had at the bar and the forty cordovas I got swindled out of by two crackheads. It costs twenty cordovas a piece.

It didn’t matter anymore. I gave them all I had and knew they wouldn’t count it until the morning anyway. They took it, but were not happy.

We sped off over the dark, cold sea crashing over the top of every wave in our way. It didn’t matter what was in our way. We were flying blindly.

I got the last space in the boat. I was ass down in the bow, with no foot room on a plastic gas tank lodged in between two big plastic gas drums that held sixty gallons apiece. There was gasoline everywhere. My pants were soaked with it. My dick and balls started to burn from it. I knew this was going to be a long hard ride. I already had to pee. I knew I could hold it for a little bit, but the discomfort was rising. The boat cracked down after every wave, and each wave cracked me down onto the plastic handle of the gas tank that I knew would soon either smash my tailbone or shoot up my ass. It was uncomfortable to say the least, a condition that would soon rise to pain and anguish and later to joy and recovery.

and

the first police boat, the captain of the slurring his speech and it was difficult for anyone to

At first, the boats were little more than red could have

“Hey, you watch for da plane,” he said. “Keep eye on dat boat. Where de boat

slurred.

One of the crew jumped past me into the hull, pulled out a black canvas bag and handed it back behind me. I didn’t look back to see what type of guns they were. “Keep watchin’ da plane! Whe de plane?

We were getting much closer to the boats now. I feel certain that if they were looking, they could have seen us. We took it nice and slow, trying to sneak away without them hearing or seeing the white of our wake in the black sea. I was just waiting for a big spotlight to shine right on us. We were in their panga. got close

I was wondering what else there was down in the hull and if I would be expected to shoot if things started to get hot. By this point, I’d already pissed in my pants once and feeling it warm and pleasant, decided

Interested in what happens next? Find his book at Barns & Noble, Amazon, or from the publisher at

People of Galveston

“How do you feel about Galveston alley ways?”

Elizabeth Joy

When I first moved here there was something intimidating about these little pockets where the light didn’t hit and trash cans sat. Then I moved into a garage apartment, in the alley. It’s sorta hidden, out of the way. There’s something private about it. There’s ivy that grows between the cracks of my building. And there is light - it just peaks through at sunset and leaves you wondering how far down the sun is.

The alleys aren’t just for old boxes and stray catsthey’re for you and me to experience the in between of where city streets and neighborhoods meet. They keep Galveston gem’s hidden, like bits of art and alternate routes, and yet they are a Galveston hidden gem in and of themselves.

Alexis Labao

The alleys in Galveston are hidden pockets away from the noise of the city. There’s always cool art hidden in the alleys downtown that are definitely underrated. I remember spending my weekends in high school exploring the alleys looking at new art and taking pictures with my friends.

Caitlyn Sulak

One thing I really love about the streets of the Strand especially is the artwork on the sidewalks and the buildings. The alleys can make me a bit nervous at night, but some of them are well lit, and I haven’t seen anything specifically to make me nervous other than the fact that it’s an alleyway at night. But the artwork is really gorgeous, and I enjoy hearing the singers as I walk down the streets.

I feel that often times,

think of

as

back roads where deals are made, crime ensues, and trash rots. True as that may be, they are a luxury. You see, last summer in New York City, everywhere I stepped, there was trash; piled high on the side walks, stinking up every walkway, and assaulting the senses. You know why Manhattan is so smelly? No alleys. We in Galveston have the luxury of space; between homes, a place for trash to be kept off-property - all thanks to alleys.

Mackinzie Finklea

Photo Courtesy of Vecteezy