After our opening at the Octagon Gallery in Westfield on Friday, we headed to Fredonia for dinner and drinks with friends. Deb’s friend Steve rode with Allen and me to make sure we didn’t get lost. Along the way we passed through Brocton, a tiny village within the town of Portland in Chautauqua County. It would have been easy to overlook Brocton all together if we’d been driving through during the day, but at night its old store fronts and abandoned businesses seem fantastically lit by a combination of rickety street lights and the stars in the sky.
I quickly snapped half a dozen mental images as we whizzed down E. Main Street which cuts Brocton in half along Rout 20. Just as we reached the end of the strip, Allen insisted we turn around so I could take a picture of something he had seen. We circled around and I grabbed this shot. Allen felt the connection to my work would be interesting to me, and he was right. It’s an abandoned doll shop Called Pegg’s Enchanted Doll House and Hospital. I can’t wait to go back some night and take more pictures in Brocton.
