Bring on the Holidays!!

I really don't mean 'bring on the holiday', but it made a nice headline..Thanksgiving has come and gone, and December is in the headlights. My experience with December over the years has been mixed. I have played catch on X-Mas day, I have had pipes freeze on X-Mas Day..I prefer to the former anytime! Remember, we have had a pretty nice and calm Fall. The sun makes a U turn and starts heading NORTH on December 21 or 22. Alright!
Had to laugh when someone said 'they opened up the intersection of 5th street and 1st avenue today', 'that is HUGE".....Well yes it is, HOWEVER this is not the first time this intersection 'opening' has been HUGE......Seems 5th street was U.S. Highway #6. Yep, the same U.S. Hwy #6 that goes thru Durant, Wilton, West Liberty, Iowa City, Coralville, (now the Strip) and on to Des Moines, and on to the West Coast, originating on the east coast.. RIGHT THRU Coralville! Now you know 'why' we had motels along 5th street over the years.. Blue Top, Pine Edge etc. Opening the 1st Ave(HaydenFryWay) and 5th street corner is nice and we sure were ready, but in 1921 this corner was 'opened' for the first time, as a PAVED intersection! Woohoo! Right on that corner, NW corner that is, stood Koser's Store. This was DOWNTOWN Coralville! When paving came from Iowa City to this corner, it extended on west to roughly the site of Lowe's in Coralville. THAT was a BIG deal.. Paving...imagine,, no mud, clean streets etc...The rest of the story is that Mayor Ed Koser (owner of Koser's Store on the corner) thought that this was such a big deal that he had 5 street closed from 1st ave, west to his house (about 100yds) and the citizens had a BIG street dance! Ha! Sounds like fun! Next time you drive thru this intersection remembe that in 1921, this WAS a BIG deal!! .........Now you know.....IF you have any questions about Coralville history, or thoughts on this subject, or need to know 'who' or 'what' or 'why' things happened here, OR if you have a question about 'why is that house there' or 'who built this building' ,, let me know and I will try my best to find out!! Till later,, "NO SNOW" !!

It is late Fall here in Coralville. Thanksgiving Day is this week. I swear the it was the 4th of July just a couple weeks ago. Must be me getting older...It is...Progress on 1st avenue has been HUGE the past week. You realize that once there is frost in the ground the paving company has to stop. THAT is why they poured a TON of cement last week. They really went to it! This project started early last Spring and is getting close. They will NOT be done with all the fancy stuff and the landscaping until Spring, BUT the street will open, all lanes, north and south in the next few days. The Clear Creek bridge work will go on 'forever', so to speak. Don't look for that to be completed for awhile. Do you remember the bridge PRIOR to the bridge we have now! Ha! 2 lane, steel beams along the sides, and wooden planks.. Yep, about 1970 or so, that is what we had until then.. This bridge and creek have actually been a pain in our 'butt' forever. The bridge that will be completed in the Spring is the 5th bridge at this location. Coralville has to have one here to accomodate crossing Clear Creek. With THIS new bridge you will be able to walk/ride/roller blade underneath along the trail system. Should be neat. I will not be roller blading, but I WILL walk the trail. Sounds neat. We will have access right to the confluence of Clear Creek and the Iowa River. This will be cool and I look forward to it.
Take a look at the X-Mas lighting along the Strip. This is pretty nice. Here is a fun one.. When I was a kid here in Coralville, we had Christmas lights too. We had ONE string of lights in town. ONE! They were put up annually by the City. They stretched across 1st avenue at the south side of the old Clear Creek bridge. ONE string. They were regular sized light bulbs in red, green, yellow. Good old X-Mas spirit. It was all we had and everybody was happy. Guess things have progressed a little since then. Nice to chat, make sure you say HI!

..Wow what a FUN weekend!. Lots of people in town for the IOWA football game. We went to Gus' Tavern on Friday Nite.. End of playing shuffleboard and LOSING 15-1.. I could blame my partner Patty, but it was not all her fault.. This is one of those games where you get 'pucks' and you slide them about 20' or so, and try to keep them on the 'lane'..The lane is covered with salt etc to make them slide. The other team can knock your pucks off etc....IF any of you recall, they had a game similar to this in bars back in the day. Most of those games had bowling pins, and you would slide your puck like you were bowling. The pins you 'hit' went UP, and you kept going against someone else etc. WHen the pins went UP the machine made a nice clangy, bells, etc noise,...kind of 'tavern' noise etc.. Fun....Since I did so bad, I assume I am not spending enough time in a tavern??....Hmm,...They had one of these 'bowling machines' in the old Wagon Wheel in Coralville. I played it a million times.. 1st time was when I was a kid..Lots of fun. My Dad would give me a dime or whatever just to get rid of me while he talked to other guys in Coralville...NO redeeming qualities to the game, but at least I felt BAD as to my prowess..The old Wagon Wheel is gone, but not forgotten. Koser's Store is gone too, but not forgotten. If you have any old photos that I could scan, let me know. I have a lot and am always working on more. I heard from friend over the weekend that I had NO idea of his whereabouts, etc. Tom Bruner found me on facebook. He lived on 8th avenue in about 1962 or so.. SEE, facebook can be fun! Cheer on the Hawkeyes this week! I am always here so drop me a line at rex@rexrb or here!!