Homeless Happy Birthday, El Paso, October 19, 2007

Regino Olivas-Mendoza, 47, hangs around a car wash in central El Paso. He wears a sign that says, “Homeless today, Is my birthday, can you help me?”

Veteranos de Juarez, December 2006

 Ramon Covarrubias Quintana(l) and Francisco Barraza(r) are waiters at the old Martino’s Restaurant on Juarez Avenue in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The restaurant is located two blocks from the Paso del Norte Bridge that connects downtown Juarez with downtown El Paso.

Martino’s – and these waiters- harken back to the “Golden Era,” of Juarez,

Women and the Red Bus -Oct. 1975

October 5, 2007

A funny thing about photography and time: it can capture milliseconds and it can capture decades, and all in the same photograph.

28-October 5, 2007

El Panteon nuevo, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico – 1988

The cemetery came before the barrio. An ultimate act of realism.

Cristo Rapper and his wife, Armijo Park, El Segundo Barrio, El Paso / 16 de Septiembre 2007

This was a 16 de Septiembre event in Armijo Park in El Paso. Armijo is in the heart of the historic Segundo Barrio. Armijo is a people’s park. This neighborhood is in, actually, the only”urban,” neighborhood in El Paso (hard to define but you know it when you see it: Life exists on the streets)

Chihuahua de Juarez-Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico / March 2007

Juarez Street photographer heads home, 1982

Aztec warrior y cuties , Juarez / July 2007

Not much to say.

Sometimes there are just sweet moments.

Juarez. El Centro. Photography (They: pointing and shooting and remembering it. Me: the same…exactly). Hot. Summer. Lots of humanity but no frenzy. Nothing false. The show is real. No goal posts, no hot dogs (well, kind of). No band (well…a little). Skin. Innocence. Joy. A little Love.

Juarez.

Two girls on a field trip, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico / June 2007

Two Juarez girls hamming it up at the NASA traveling exhibition that was shown at the Centro Municipal de las Artes in downtown Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico in May through June.

Soy Un Oso, Hugo in El Segundo / Feb. 2007

Hugo(last name not given) shows his high school “colors,” on Father Rahm Street on El Paso’s south side. It is twilight and he has been working on a mural at the Sagrado Corazon church’s gym.

Black Cross on the FBA, August 2007

Summer on the FBA. Hot. 100.

This is Father Rahm Street, which is, actually, Fifth Street. Around the corner is El Paso Street which is the first block of America (or the last, depending on where you’re coming from).

Around the corner, to the south is where the Paso del Norte bridge from Juarez empties out. There are stories on this street, big life-journeys begin here. This is where dreams begin. Some people have called this the “Ellis Island of South America.” Maybe that’s the draw for me (my Father was born on that other immigration island in 1907). That was another dream. These are places where dreams can start.

The Black Cross mural for the violence against women in Juarez appeared a couple of years ago. Then they put a bus stop in front of it (dumb). Then they took the bus stop out but painted over the text (also dumb) about the violence to the women.

Whatever. Life passes and passes strongly. This is where I have spent a lot of my life.

Nothing stops the energy on the FBA. People are looking for their place, their direction, their dream. I’m looking. I’m there almost every afternoon.

The First Street of America #7, El Paso, Texas / August 2007

Sixth and El Paso Street is the first street in “America,” after crossing over the Paso del Norte Bridge from Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico into El Paso, Texas. This is the crossroads.

Man and three daughters, Colonia Felipe Angeles, Juarez / June 2007

Musico perdido en las ruinas de Juarez / July 2007

El Centro, the downtown of Juarez, is going down.

La Mariscal, the zone of shops and bars and (say this quietly) brothels north of El Centro, the commercial zone north of El Centro stretching to the border with the U.S., is being demolished and is, mostly, gone.

The “Plan,” has come. Progress is here. Now there is hope for those who need the border to be “clean.”

It shall be sanitized.

Dignified Man #12

Cool Norteno, Plaza de Juarez – Juarez, Mexico / June 2007

The Plaza de Juarez in Juarez, Mexico is an ancient crossroads. The plaza stands in front of the Mision de Guadalupe, a church established in 1659 along the El Camino Real. The plaza today is still a crossroads and a transportation hub and, on Sundays, is vibrant, eclectic and fully the heart of the old Centro Juarez. Much of the area north of the Centro, the Plaza, and the Mision, the area between the old Juarez commercial district stretching north all the way to the U.S. border and El Paso, is currently, being demolished. The demolition is clearing the way for a commercial development that is projected to link up with El Paso’s south side and Downtown, also scheduled for demolition, just across the river to the north.

The transportation hub that has made the Plaza de Juarez the intense and interesting center of Juarez that it is, is scheduled to be relocated away from its current location.

The “Cool Norteno,” garbed in standard norteno clothes, and others, may or may not survive the “development.”

Remnant #19, Tom Wicker’s Tire-El Paso, Texas / July 2007

This giant tire is in front of Wicker Tire Company at 701 San Antonio St. in El Paso, Texas. It has been there since the late 1960’s and has become an El Paso landmark. The tire was originally on an earth moving vehicle that worked on the Panama Canal. It was brought to El Paso in the late 1960’s, where it has rested at the corner of Paisano Drive and San Antonio Street. Before Interstate 10 came to El Paso, Paisano Drive was U.S. Alt Route 80, the truck diversion route around El Paso, part of U.S. Route 80 that was the main southern route starting in Savannah, Georgia, and ending in San Diego, California. When Interstate 10, was completed, most cross country traffic was diverted from Paisano Drive, but, the Wicker tire has endured and enriched the landscape for several generations of El Pasoans and other passerby. Highway Art, a commercial mainstay of travel in the United States in the 1930’s through the 60’s, has become true art and and this one endures as a true El Paso landmark. Tom Wicker, son of the founder of Wicker Tire Company, maintains the Giant Tire, repainting it approximately every three years, “Or sooner if it’s graffiti-ed,” says Mr. Wicker .

Additional Notes on US Highway 80

Snatched Mexican day laborer sits in the back of a Border Patrol van, El Paso 1999

Most “illegal immigrants,” incarcerated in El Paso are laborers who’s immigration activity is, merely, a two way commute, finding them returning to Juarez, Mexico, at the end of a work day. Being incarcerated by the Border Patrol inconveniences the worker but does not deter the activity. Wages in Juarez average around $5 to 6 day. In El Paso a Day Laborer makes an average of $ 25 to 40 a day. The difference in wages makes the bureaucratic discussion of deterrence moot.

Pit Bulls, Memorial Park, El Paso, Texas / May 2007

Carlos (last name not given) in Memorial Park with his Pit Bull Zues. They both had a lot of scars. They both are fighters, and it appeared they had more in common with each other than either could have with anyone of their own species.

Pit Bulls.

Asked why he liked that particular breed of dog, Carlos replied, “They don’t give an inch. Neither do I.”

Defiant, wary and proud, Carmen the maquila woman, Juarez/2002

Carmen Sotelo Rodriquez is the face of the Post Global economy. She worked at a Phillips plant in Juarez,Chihuahua, Mexico. The plant had moved from three shifts to one shift and by 2002 the company had migrated most of its assembly operations to China. She is shown standing in front of the plant on the city’s south east side. This photo was shot on assignment for Bloomberg magazine.