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November 9, 2014 by tomdalzell

Uptown

uptown-the-bronx-queens-s

The Uptown Bar and Grill in Oakland launched this exploration of “Uptown.”  So, once again, a tangent off of a tangent.

Billy Joel

The musical selection is obvious, even inevitable.  I don’t care for the song, but that is not relevant.  It is the choice.  And a fantastic video.  Click the album.

Runner up:

Prince

I don’t know this song.  The video is pretty wild in a 1982 kind of way.

Uptown – it conjures up a lot.  It is a cool word, and it had the advantage of not having been a song sung by Petula Clark.

In old-school slang, “uptown” meant cocaine.  Heroin was “downtown.”  Not as classy.  Leaving aside drugs, it is a name that is hard to resist when naming.

Albany, NY

Albany, NY

Athens 2

Athens, Georgia (one of my favorites)

Athens, Georgia (one of my favorites)

Barrie, Canada

Barrie, Canada

Bowling Green

Bowling Green

Calgary

Calgary

Camas WA

Camas WA

Chestertown, MD (another favorite)

Chestertown, MD (another favorite)

Charlotte

Charlotte

Charlotte

Charlotte

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

Cleveland Park

Cleveland Park

Commerce Township, MI

Commerce Township, MI

Culver, Indiana (perfect!)

Culver, Indiana (perfect!)

Garden City

Garden City

Grand Prairie, Texas

Grand Prairie, Texas

Guelph, Ontario

Guelph, Ontario

Hoboken

Hoboken

Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo

Kansas City

Kansas City

Kansas City

Kansas City

Malaysia

Malaysia

Marble Falls, Texas

Marble Falls, Texas

Minneapolis

Minneapolis

Napa

Napa

New York

New York

Noblesville, Indiana

Noblesville, Indiana

New York

New York

New York (Harlem)

New York (Harlem)

Nolanville TX

Nolanville TX

Oakland

Oakland

Orangeville, Canada

Orangeville, Canada

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Phillipines

Phillipines

Port Elizabeth South Africa

Port Elizabeth South Africa

Portland OR

Portland OR

Racine

Racine

San Antonio

San Antonio

San Francisco

San Francisco

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

Somerville MD

Somerville MD

Susanville

Susanville

Toronto

Toronto

Utica

Utica

Vancouver

Vancouver

Washingotn DC

Washingotn DC

Whittier (not bad!)

Whittier (not bad!)

Whittier CA

Whittier CA

WIxhita

WIxhita

Youngstown OH

Youngstown OH

When I showed these photos to my friend, he launched into stories about his childhood in Detroit.

Detroit billboard

They had a local soda manufactured by Faygo Beverages.  The company started out as the Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works.  In 1921 they Americanized and shortened it to Faygo.

Bottle CapBottleSign Label

One of their sodas was a lemon-lime beverage named “Uptown.”

Cartoon colorTV and drinkHe remembered the soda with fondness, and a local cartoon show created by the company named the Faygo Kid with even more fondness.  The Faygo Kid guarded the Wells Fargo Express.  The evil Black Bart was intent on robbing the stagecoach of its precious cargo, a case of Faygo Root Beer.

Sagebrush Shorty with Ted Lloyd

Sagebrush Shorty with Ted Lloyd

mellod1 deelh

The cartoon was shown on some of my friend’s favorite shows – Sagebrush Shorty, Cowboy Colt, and Auntie Dee.  Good memories!

It got him talking about a visit to Detroit soon.  Not that he has family left there, but there is a neighborhood he wants to check out.

Good.  Fine.  What about all the uptown photos?

IMG_3677

 

 

 

 

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