In the early fall of 1982, I, accompanied by some girl pals, began making trips from midtown Omaha and Benson, where we lived, to downtown Omaha. I did not know it then but I was doing research for this very piece. I was young and dumb and curious. We would ride the bus or beg a ride from someone’s unknowing mother–anything to get downtown and go on an adventure. There was always the hope of meeting someone strange with a whole complicated, worldly story unlike my own and an active drive to feel like I was in a big city. Or just not boring Benson. Anything to get out of my own neighborhood, which I had scoured for clues my whole childhood. I knew every building, back alley, bike path, grown over, abandoned swimming pool and to-be-avoided-Scary-Larrys like the back of my own hand. Probably not unlike most kids, it seems to me that most of my early assessments of almost anything were either Totally Boring or Very Cool. Downtown and its polychromatic wanderers were in the Very Cool category.

1981. (Above Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

I think you should probably take time and catch up on the trail by reading Then & Now: The Goodrich, Pease and Drexel Buildings and The Goodrich, Pease and Drexel Buildings Part Two: The Look Book, if you haven’t already. We’ll wait for you….

 

Farnam Street, from 14th to 16th was really pretty incredible in the early 80’s. (I plan on writing articles on these topics and businesses in the future but just a little narrative for now.) 14th on up to 16th, headed west on Farnam, is one of my favorite strips to walk in all of Omaha. Something about the incline and the way those shops on the south side of the street sit, from my early days, struck me with that Not In Omaha feel. I know now it was because these blocks were largely unchanged from their earlier days. Omaha really did used to be chock full of shops and thriving downtown businesses. Of course the W. Dale Clark Library and  Internorth were newer buildings then but that south side of Farnam was intact. My absolute favorites were Cosmo’s Wig Shop (1517 Farnam), the ultra swank entrance to the oddball, mysterious apartments (1511 Farnam) of what used to be the Hotel Diplomat (although I didn’t know a hotel used to be there), the Magic Theater sign and curious window displays (1417 Farnam) and the old folks home at Paxton Hotel then called the Paxton Manor (1403 Farnam).  Also, I swear there was a drug store on the first floor of the Paxton Manor where we would buy candy and sodas for our tireless jaunts and I’m thinking it was the Beaton Drug Store.

 

(Sanborn Map courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

This Sanborn Map of the 14th-16th Farnam Street area is pretty incredible. I’m assuming it is post 1961 due to the Hotel Diplomat’s presence on the map. Originally created for assessing fire insurance liability in urban areas of the United States, Sanborn Maps are so interesting (to me) with all of the hand written details and color categories. And the stains and smudges. I love those. The Sanborn Map Company was an early holding of a younger Warren Buffett in the early 1960s through his first investment partnership. This map shows the Barker Building on 15th and Farnam (see Then & Now: The Goodrich, Pease and Drexel Buildings), the Hotel Diplomat, as well as the Securities Building on 16th and Farnam (see The Case of Napier’s Booterie and the Securities Building for more details.)

 

Detail of the previous Sanborn Map.

 

Paxton Hotel with great minutiae. Goodrich building at 1415 labeled “rest” possibly still Harkert House at that time or another luncheonette–coffee shop before Alice’s Good Food of the late 60’s. The 1417 Pease building shows “skylights in roof.” 1419 does not offer many details. Of note, the two buildings that flank 1415, 1417 and 1419 have Fire Proof Construction–obviously a concern and focus of the map.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.) I believe this to be from the late 1970’s.

 

I am pretty obsessed with the above photo. After researching, I believe it was taken before the downtown survey of 1981. The Goodrich is shown in pretty rough shape. There is a glass facade above with some type of stone pilaster below. The shop windows of 1415 are quite different than they appeared both before and after this photo. The sign says “Damage Store.” “New Things are Happening. New Things are Coming! Salvage WHSE”. It must have been a warehouse of salvaged, damaged goods. The most interesting sign says “Through the portals watch things happen! at the Damage Store.” So cryptic and good! There is also a sign hinting a 26th and Farnam location. I cannot tell for sure if they were coming or going from 1415. It almost has an end of the world vibe or religious tone. I was elated to get a glimpse of the Magic Theater sign.

 

Early 80’s downtown had an edgy feel and was rundown in areas. There was still a lot of quirk mixed in with remnants of the once booming downtown. Many businesses had evacuated for out west. I remember the brilliant characters walking the sidewalks and it sounds made up, but some were announcing the end of the world, loudly. Likewise it was not odd to see prostitutes, dressed in incredible garb, walking the streets in broad daylight, although more commonly seen from 24th to 26th and Farnam. Being that I always had to pop into Cosmo’s Wigs when I was downtown, I became familiar with their largely sex worker clientele. It was still common to see men wearing three piece suits waiting for the city bus as well as professional women in dresses and Dress for Success suits.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

The above photo is pretty interesting. Not only is it bleached out, which I love, but the negative is reversed, showing everything backwards. It is odd that the city planning department would keep this in their files. The upper part of the Goodrich is in better shape than the previous photo. The lower half shows the tiny square panes above the doorways with long slender windows, doors and two different addresses revealed.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

Okay, here we go. Same photo but corrected. The door labeled 1411, I believe, must lead to the apartments above. 1415 is now on the far right, leading into what looks to be a frame shop or gallery, of sorts.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

Fantastic shot of the the frame shop in 1415, Omaha Magic Theater in 1417 and the Olympic Lounge in 1419. The light up arrow sign is primo and sleazy at the same time, complete with mirror picture windows. This is the first time that I have been able to track the red and black Asian design (featured below the window that the sign is anchored to) that I mentioned in an earlier article. I have included a current shot of this detail later in the article.

 

 1981

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

1981 Downtown Survey photo. In this great photo we can see the Paxton Manor, with Vand’s Shoe Repair on their first floor in 1409. The Millard Television truck is almost stealing the show. 1415 is now occupied by Capitol Optical. Capitol cleverly used a very late 70’s-early 80’s diagonal cut wood facade-sign lending a modern vibe. The Magic Theater is leasing 1417. Olympic Lounge is 1419 and 1421 houses the Olympic Restaurant at this point.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

1981 Polaroid from the downtown survey. The 1413 doorway of the Goodrich is labeled Dr. Andrews, optometrist. I would assume he worked closely with the Capitol Vision Center.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

Detail of the Goodrich windows from 1981.

 

(Photo courtesy of the Omaha City Planning Department and the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission Photo Archive.)

 

Magic Theater

 

So allow me to tell you a bit about the Magic Theater, if you are not already familiar. This photo is reminding me of how much of a mystery they still remain in my mind which is a very good thing. To enjoy mystique in 2016 is a rarity. Jo Ann Schmidman founded the experimental theater in 1968 in the Old Market. I think they were originally in the Passageway. Megan Terry was a playwright, actor and director at the theater–in many ways the face of the Magic Theater. They toured nationally and internationally and enjoyed an avant garde status in artistically meek Omaha. (The theater eventually moved up to the 16th and Harney Lerner’s building. Later was closed and sold in 2007.) From my point of view in 1984 , not only did they have the Best Name but the Magic Theater represented for me, a sort of Andy Warhol’s Factory. I don’t know who was involved in setting this up but the Magic Theater began allowing punk bands to rent out their space for concerts. This was at a time when not a lot venues were willing to give the hardcore kids a chance. Miss Cassette went to numerous shows at 1415 Farnam Street in my formative years. The Magic Theater was weird, in the best way and not unlike a a strange, local, cable show that you might come across late at night while staying in another city.

 

1985. Makeshift stage at the Magic Theater. Photographer unknown.

One summer night, when we were all packed into a show, I wandered into a back area looking for the restroom. There were always cool, what looked to be, half-finished art projects lying around. Some were probably props and sets for plays, in all actuality. For me, it seemed like the Velvet Underground or Candy Darling might stroll by at any minute. There might have been a chair made of peacock feathers or a treasure chest filled with rubber eyeballs. It was all quite innocent and comic bookish in retrospect, but for those days, it felt like I was in New York City. I remember finding a large console television with pink flamingos glued all over it in a hallway. I mean, there was a serious amount of flamingos. I was transfixed. I remember telling my boyfriend, at the time, (Pre-Mr. Cassette) how much I loved it–the whole concept of the tv. Then I walked on to the bathroom. When I returned, he handed me one of those pink flamingos, like he had just gotten me a tissue. He must have ripped that thing right off of that tv. This was fitting with his well meaning cave man tendencies. So although I wouldn’t react the same way now, that night I walked out of the Magic Theater with a pink flamingo under my arm. It is memories such as this that serve as telltale for why those other venues were not always so eager to trust the punk scene. I am truly sorry for my participation in some of those less than honorable situations, especially when the Magic Theater showed us nothing but respect. When I think of the Magic Theater now, it is with deep fondness, rather than guilt. Anyone who knows me could tell you that I walked around with that flamingo, aptly named, Pink Chicken, for a good year after.

 

 2016

 

Drexel building. 1419 Farnam. Current photo of the Asian design revealed when they took down the previous facade during the Jimmy John’s remodel.

 

Current photo of backside of the Paxton (far right), 1415, 1417, 1419 and 1421. The Barker Building is on the far left. Still visible– the Olympic Lounge sign as well as a floating door.

 

Doors that go to nowhere are amongst my favorite things in life.

 

Thank you for reading my blog. As always, I would treasure your comments. Please feel free to leave a story or comment by clicking on the header title. Thank you, Omaha friends.

 

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