Lee Theater

The old Lee Theater in Little Rock was built in 1940, but it has been abandoned for decades. And now it seems that the roof of the building has finally collapsed, taking down the boarded up doors and revealing the pile of debris that stands in the former lobby.



The theater had been named one of the state's most endangered historic places in 2015 by Preserve Arkansas (and some of that history is sadly, quite sinister). Now the old theater is nothing more than a shell, just the fragile facade of a long-forgotten place.

The End Of The Year

We are now in strange time that is the week between Christmas and New Years, where some people are off work but others are working and the kids are all home from school. It's even odder here in Arkansas, with unseasonably warm temperatures (it was 76 degrees outside yesterday). It doesn't seem right to be looking at Christmas lights and seeing people walking around in shorts, but that's global warming for you.

But speaking of weather, it was really foggy out the other night. So, of course, I grabbed the camera and ran out to get a few pictures. And as always, the really cool fog then immediately started to dissipate. But I headed to downtown Little Rock, and ended up at the top of a parking deck by Main Street. This is the view of the Simmons Bank building, next to another building with a bit of brick that looks like it was ripped off like a piece of paper from a book.



And the view from another parking deck, which overlooks the intersection of Main and Third Streets.



And then on Christmas Eve, we took the kids over to the State Capitol to see the decorations inside. It was actually an ideal time to visit - there really weren't that many people inside. I guess the government offices were closed, since there weren't any politicians or staffers around (and I'd much rather bump into the Wet Bandits/Sticky Bandits, Mr. Potter, The Abominable Snowmonster, or the Grinch than bump into most of our elected officials).



It was good that thing the Capitol was empty because Elliott decided to grab onto a flag pole and pull on it, causing it to crash onto the marble floor with a loud crash that seemed to echo across the entire building. Luckily the security guards didn't throw us out after that.



And one last shot from the Capitol - hope everyone reading this had a great holiday and a good end to 2025!

Capitol Fireworks

The state government of Arkansas has made some truly baffling decisions this year (like making AETN disaffiliate from PBS or the whole Charleston prison debacle). But the one good thing that our state government is able to pull off is a pretty decent fireworks show. We set up on a hillside behind the Capitol, which is away from the crowds. The only issue this year was the wind blew all the smoke from the show towards us, so by the end of the show you could hardly even see the fireworks.

At The End Of The Day

The other day, there were some clouds in the sky that looked like they could make an interesting sunset. So Jonah and I headed out to see, driving to Riverfront Park in North Little Rock. I set up the camera under the I-30 bridge while Jonah explored the river. It's really cool that he wants to tag along and go with me while I take pictures (or he was just wanting an excuse to get out of taking a bath and going to bed, who knows).

While the sunset wasn't as vibrant as we hoped, there was still some nice color in the clouds hanging over downtown Little Rock that night:

After Hours

The other night I had just gotten Elliott to sleep when a loud jolt of thunder shook the house. Luckily Elliott is a pretty heavy sleeper, so it didn't seem to bother him. But the sudden pop-up summer thunderstorm was a good excuse to go and grab the camera and run out to try to get some pictures. 

There is a parking deck downtown that I've thought would be an ideal place to try to get pictures of lightning over the Little Rock skyline. So I hurried over as lighting brightened the sky like the flashes from a bunch of paparazzi's. I got to the top of the deck and set up the camera. But of course, the thunderstorm started to fizzle out. I managed to get just one little bolt of lightning before the storm sputtered out.



The deck also provides a really nice view of the old Albert Pike Hotel, which was built in 1929.



The clouds cleared out after the storm, and the moon appeared low on the horizon. So I headed to the car and hurried out and ended up by the State Capitol building. The moon had an orange and rusty tint to it, and I found a spot to get a picture of it next to the dome of the Capitol. It took a few tries to get the right exposure, but ended up with this shot. For the record, this isn't a fake AI image. And it's not photoshopped to make the moon look larger. This was all in camera (the details, if you're interested: f/8.0, 1/30 second exposure, ISO 800, taken at 290 mm with a zoom lens).

Dark And Stormy Night

Some storms were about to hit, so I decided to run out with my metal tripod and see if I could try to get some lightning pictures. I rushed over to Riverfront Park in North Little Rock, and set up under the new I-30 bridge. But of course, the storm system sort of fizzled. There was no lightning, but there were some cool clouds in the sky for a few minutes.

Two Rivers

One evening last week, there were some interesting clouds in the sky. The clouds might make for a cool sunset, so Jonah and I hurried over to Two Rivers Park. We headed to the pedestrian bridge over the Little Maumelle River, but stopped to get a few pictures of some distant storm clouds that hanging over the I-430 Bridge.



And those interesting clouds did indeed make for a pretty cool sunset. They turned a deep orange as the sun sank below the low foothills of the Ouachita Mountains.



We stayed for a bit, as the light continued to fade out and the sky transitioned into night.

Under The Bridge

The newly rebuilt I-30 bridge, which cost 634 million dollars and took four years to complete, recently opened up. And along with it, large swaths of Riverfront Park which had previously been home to construction equipment. I had some free time so I headed to the park, and set up the camera under the bridge for a few pictures.



The bridge is nice, I guess. I mean it accomplishes the goal of getting cars across the river. But it's a bit boring, though. For all the money they spent on it, could it have hurt them to make it look nicer? When the Golden Gate Bridge was built, it cost $35 million (which was the equivalent of $610 million in today's money). But for the same amount this looks like the basic and cheapest bridge option from the first Sim City game.

Pettaway

Last weekend was the Mardi Gras parade along Main Street in the SOMA area of Little Rock. We were actually able to participate this time, riding along on the float for the Paper Hearts Bookstore (the kids seemed to love it). Before the start of the parade, all the floats had to line up and wait. We were parked along a side street in the Pettaway neighborhood, and as we waited I saw something that looked like it might make for a decent picture. So I returned a few days later, when hopefully the street wouldn't be so crowded with parade floats and marching bands.

When I got there it was still busy. There were a bunch of construction workers and trucks around - the city was redoing the sidewalks. I parked and managed to get a few quick pictures without hopefully getting too much in their way. But what caught my attention was this quaint old house, sitting in front of the hulking edifice of the old VA hospital. The hospital closed a long time ago, and the building had been empty for awhile. It's currently being turned into apartments.



Not too far away is a wooden carving of the Lorax, from the Dr. Seuss book. Carved below is the word "UNLESS," which is from a famous quote in the book: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Which seems really fitting in this bizarre new world we see ourselves in now, as National Park rangers are being cruelly and needlessly fired and millions of acres of National Forest lands are being offered up for destruction. It's really heartbreaking.

The Fog Is Getting Thicker...

The fog from that morning got thicker as the day went on, and by evening there was hardly any visibility. Which was, of course, perfect time to get out and take pictures again. After getting both kids to bed I hurried over to the Big Dam Bridge.



It was a little eerie to see the bridge seem to fade out and disappear into the fog.





Despite the thick fog, there were still several people out walking on the bridge.



As I was standing here taking photos, a loud siren started to blare. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit startling. I may or may not have jumped and did a little scream. Apparently it's a warning to boaters (which there weren't any) that water was about to released from the dam.



I walked away from the siren, and followed the bridge as it passed over the Murray Lock. From here, the buildings and lights drifted off into the foggy expanse of the river.



And one last shot from the bridge, as the fog swallowed and enveloped the night.

Out In The Snow

Enough of the snow had finally melted and I got the car out and tried to get a few pictures. The original plan was to go to Burns Park, but it was gated shut. So instead I went to downtown Little Rock to look around.



The first stop was MacArthur Park and the Museum of Fine Arts. Some bumps in the snow were catching the late afternoon light and creating some interesting shadows.



The museum was open, and it looked like there was a wedding being set up inside. I can't imagine how much stress that bride went through when that much snow dropped right before the wedding.



And then the old Little Rock Arsenal building, surrounded by a blanket of snow:







From there I headed over to the Old State House (The Snowld State House?). It looks like it hadn't opened at all since the snow started, since the sidewalks and grounds hadn't been cleared of snow yet.





I headed down Markham Street and ended up at Union Station, which had a few tracks through the snow in the parking lot.



It was starting to get dark when I got to the State Capitol building.



A path had been cleared on the sidewalk, although it was still icy on the steps (maybe I should have slipped and fallen so I could sue the state for damages!). If you look closely, you can see someone built a little snowman on the steps.



And this is the view from the Capitol, looking down Capitol Avenue towards downtown.



It was starting to get dark, but I made one last stop along Capitol Avenue. This is the view looking back up the street towards the Capitol. The snow has a bit of a yellow tint on it, which is from the sodium vapor street lights (instead of the usual cause of yellow snow).

Snow Day

I didn't really believe the predictions that we'd get much snow last week. I guess I have residual trauma from when I was a kid and winter storms would hit other parts of the state and somehow miss us. It was painful to get up early to watch the local news to see the long list of closed schools scroll across the bottom of the screen, only to see your school name sitting next to the word "OPEN."

So I woke up Friday morning and was a little surprised to see a thick blanket of snow covering our front yard. This is our birdbath, with about 10 inches of snow on it.



And the tall oak trees in the neighbor's yard, coated with snow:



We live in a hilly area, and our street always turns a bit treacherous during winter storms. So usually we try to avoid driving anywhere if we can, but I did get out early that morning and walked through the neighborhood to look at the snow before it got all trampled.

Walked by this fire hydrant, which hadn't had any yellow snow added to it yet by any passing dogs.



A few cars had gotten out, this is the view along Breckenridge Road.



And then I headed down to the neighborhood park, with its old playground equipment. It was kinda funny how the snow decided to take a slide down the slide.









And the diving board at the pool. Will have to remember this photo in a few months when it's a 103 degrees outside.



And I was probably being watched closely by the CCTVs (or the IcyTVs).







And then one last photo, of a small creek that flows through the neighborhood. The snow makes it look a lot prettier than it does the rest of the year:



While the hills make it hard to drive, they do make for some good sledding. The rest of the day was spent watching the kids sled, making an attempt at building a snowman, and then sitting inside in the heat (luckily it wasn't an ice storm and the power didn't go out).