Day 81: An Old Building

Day 81: An Old Building
Originally uploaded by hcuevas_98

In one of the older sections of Richmond, there is appears to be an abandoned wooden building which I believe may have served as a school or school offices at one time. I came across this structure while my son was at baseball practice and I couldn't resist checking it out. As one can see, everything is made of wood. There is wood rot in the typical places and the paint, which I am sure is loaded with lead, is peeling everywhere. I love the character of older homes and couldn't resist taking a photo of this piece of history.

Day 51: Old Fashioned Barbershop

Day 51: Old Fashioned Barbershop
Originally uploaded by hcuevas_98

This morning, I found myself in older section of the city. If I'm not mistaken, this part of the city is either western Jackson Ward or Carver. That said, across the street from Maggie Walker HS, was this barbershop. Now I don't have a problem going to places like Supercuts or the HairCuttery, but nothing beats a hair cut from a barber.

Do you know why the barber pole is white, red and blue?

The origin of the barber pole is associated with the service of bloodletting.[1] During medieval times, barbers performed surgery on customers as well as tooth extractions. The original pole had a brass basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin which received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow.

 The red and white stripes symbolize the bandages used during the procedure: red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. Originally, these bandages were hung on the pole to dry after washing. As the bandages blew in the wind, they would twist together to form the spiral pattern similar to the stripes in the modern day barber pole. The barber pole became emblematic of the barber/surgeon's profession. Later the cloths were replaced by a painted wooden pole of red and white stripes.  Copied from Wikipedia