Part Two.

We see this over and over and again and again. Once a department or furniture store. An old building sleeps behind the metal panels. Inevitable Antique Store finale.

Central Wisconsin coin. Don't think you're dealing with those stupid downstaters.

That’s . . . new?

Or not? I’ve never seen that caliper-style decoration. The entrance is wrong. The bricks are too new. But the HOWARD is old.

It hasn’t been a bank for a long time, and you can tell by . . . ?

By the windows on the ground floor. The awful windows.

If your feet are below ground and you’re on the first floor, something’s wrong.

If you’re in the basement and there’s a full-height window in the room, something’s wrong.

There is such a thing as Mansard Brutalism, I just decided.

Yes, I know, “Brutalism” doesn’t mean “brutal.” But it’s come to mean that now, partly because the word fits exactly.

This is a nice rehab. Awning is superfluous, but that's a small complaint.

The windows look like they're dealing with allergies.

THIEL

Didn’t Hemingway’s mother dress him up as a girl?

One of those signs that nothing’s going on upstairs anymore.

New sign in front of an old remnant, a reminder of a name Mom and Dad knew from their times, but now is mostly forgotten. Twenty years, no one will know.

Perhaps it’s cursed

Fantastic original pre-war modern commercial design and materials.

The beige color had a long run, popping in and out from the 30s to the 60s.

Sounds like an exhortation from a children’s game.

You have to wonder if the guy who paid for this rehabbing stood back when it was done, gave it a good thoughtful look, and thought “well that was a bad idea.”

I’ve never seen this before. FOIL! YES, THE EXCITEMENT OF FOIL!

It’s not original, obviously; that’s a standard Midwest Kasota-stone small-town theater, possibly a Leibenberg & Kaplan? Googling. . . well, built in 1937, remodeled in 1996.

Something of a mess, but who cares.

OUMB, transitional style between 70s and 80s.

“Is there any way we can double our utilities bill? I’m tired of not paying more for air conditioning."

I suppose I would’ve thought this was cool if I was a kid. Now it looks like a gross injustice on the building.

Ho ho.

With no snow around, and the location being Wisconsin, it has that “Walking Dead” feel.