The House of 5th Avenue

I like to drive around and look at old houses. I suspended my expeditions this summer due to gas prices, and thankfully, now that gas is less than $4 a gallon here, I am back to driving through my favorite parts of historic Escondido. I think this is a trait that I inherited from my father, who spent much of my childhood pulling off highways and byways to read historical markers, and who took us to most of the antebellum plantations in the lower Mississippi Delta. Some of the grand dames were in fabulous shape; I always remember the ones that were crumbling.

Most of the historic homes in Escondido are turn of the century Victorians, built near Grand Avenue when Escondido was becoming a booming farming community. Sunkist had a huge packing plant here, and the citrus went out on trains to tables east of the Mississippi. Old Escondido has wide streets and bumpy sidewalks, mainly due to the roots of old trees, a happy sign of an established neighborhood. Whenever I see old trees I think about old homes and the shade those trees provided in the days before air conditioning.

One of the homes in Escondido pulls at my heart whenever I drive its street. From what I can gather, it used to belong to Escondido's blacksmith, and is a white clapboard Victorian with a double front porch. It is also in an utter state of disrepair, with clapboard and shingles missing. The gable on the third floor is missing a window, and there are two front doors. I don't think the door with the badly hung security door was in the original schematic. It makes me sad to see that house, especially when I think about what it must have looked like when it was first built, and the generations that grew up within its walls. I think homes develop a spirit or perhaps a personality, and I see a once proud lady now hidden behind a wall of grime, hair uncombed, teeth missing, and in need of a new dress. Maybe there will be a for sale sign and someone with deep pockets will restore it. Until then, I will just keep driving by it, curious about her current inhabitants and wondering what her former inhabitants would now think.