New Times, Cover Story, June 2, 2011

S A N L U I S O B I S P O C O U N T Y ’ S N E W S A N D E N T E R T A I N M E N T W E E K L Y

J U N E 2 - J U N E 9 , 2 0 1 1 • V O L . 2 5 , N O . 4 4 • 6 4 P A G E S • F R E E • W W W . N E W T I M E S S L O . C O M

Learn more about the state of local businesses and shops [12]

Ohhh nooo! [23]

Shredder

Discover more about SLO County’s COLAB [10]Mark Freear sets his hand to intriguing tiles [25]Bask in the warmth of Giuseppe’s new oven [40]

FILMWant another Hangover? [35]

Consider

the beauty

of vacant

spaces

waiting to

be filled in

downtown

SLO [18]E m p t y v i s i o n s

BY STEVE E. MILLER

Ne g a t i v e s p a c e

On an assignment in Santa Barbara for the Sun, New Times’ sister paper to the south, I had the opportunity

to walk down a fair bit of State Street. I was fascinated by the many vacant spaces occupying the main drag of a fairly well-to-do city. As I stared through the windows from the sidewalk, I was even more interested in the beauty that attended the absence. I didn’t have a suitable lens on my regular camera to press up

against a window to get some photographs, so I took out my iPhone4 and started capturing images of the empty businesses. The lines of the walls, the ceilings, the natural light, the stuff that was left behind—it all combined to develop a theme that later echoed in storefronts along Higuera, Marsh, Monterey, and other streets in San Luis Obispo. The images represent many things: Perhaps some mark the end of someone’s dream, business,

/p o s i t i v e s p a c e

Discover the beauty in

downtown’s empty

structures

BY STEVE E. MILLER

EMPTY continued on page 20

working life, so it’s quite a dichotomy to celebrate the beauty of the spaces meant to hold merchandise or food for shoppers but that are now unoccupied because of the economy, remodeling, retrofitting, or various reasons unknown. Some spaces represent expectancy, poised for an incoming tenant, a promising new enterprise determined to succeed. Maybe papers have already been signed and merchandise, activity, people, life are even now on the way. Some have been empty for a long while—years, even—while others are only recently so. They are dusty from disuse or ongoing work on improvements. But whether they are soon filled with new or returning business or sit vacant for time to come, they are, for the moment, intriguingly empty. ∆

Steve E. Miller is the staff photographer for New Times and the Sun. Contact him at semiller@newtimesslo.com.

EMPTY from page 19