Sad City's Guide To Cruising Hartford

If there is one thing we probably know better than just about anyone, it's cruising around Hartford. Our love of driving around and checking out the city extends to years before Sad City started and has been the source of countless posts on this blog. While we can navigate even the remotest city streets with ease, some aren't as well versed in the streets of Hartford. For those who are looking to get out and explore Hartford we present this handy guide to cruising Hartford. For best results cruise Hartford during a warm sunny day.

The Albany Ave Substation

The Hartford Courant's Jenna Carlesso wrote an an interesting article about the opening of a new police substation in downtown while the substation on Albany Ave remains closed. It is interesting to note that while the North End clearly needs the extra police presence more than downtown, it is also important that workers and business owners feel safe while coming into town for the few remaining jobs downtown.

We've visited the closed substation on Albany. It's a place to see oddly positioned security cameras, redundant signs, a basketball court wrapped in a yellow fence, and some locals hanging out and shooting the breeze.

Stating The Obvious

Public places always need to have rules in place for citizens to abide by. No dogs, glass bottles, and obscenities, (actually misspelled on this sign) are all common and reasonable rules. But no gang activity? Isn't that a bit self-evident. And does anyone believe putting it on a sign will do anything to curb gang activities? Is the idea that gang members will see the sign and go "alright guys, we need to break it up and play a game of bridge instead, the sign says no gang activity."

Odd Security Camera Positioning

This security camera mounted on the now closed Albany Ave police substation does not appear to be positioned correctly to make optimal use of its surveillance abilities.

Hartford Pay Phone #30

Occasionally we return to last summers and a classic Sad City project, the charting of Hartford's remaining pay phones. This project came about when we realized that Hartford had been home to the first pay phone in the United States. While it would have been easy to write an essay lamenting the rise and fall of both Hartford and the pay phone over the last century, we thought that to be a little too obvious and instead decided to go about tracking down all over Hartford's still working pay phones.

More Hartford Houses Of Worship

We continue our series on Hartford Houses Of Worship with this hodgepodge collection of Houses scattered pretty much all over the city except the South End, which reminds us that we haven't got out to the there enough lately.  This brilliant mural is on the side of the North End Church of Christ on Albany Ave and is a welcome colorful addition to the cityscape.

One of our real disappointments in Hartford is the lack of good graffiti. We feel like all cities, especially somewhat downtrodden cities, should have a lot of exciting, vibrant graffiti. For whatever reason Hartford seems to be lacking in that respect. Maybe we are just looking in the wrong places.  Either way this is a welcome addition.

Hartford Houses Of Worship: North End

The North End is an area of Hartford that gets a bad rap, and in many respects that reputation is deserved.  While it is a very poor area with a fair share of crime some out of town readers and Sad City residents might be surprised to learn that we do on occasion walk the streets of the Hartford neighborhood and to date we have yet to be shot but we will keep you posted if that changes.  While exploring the North End and stuffing our faces with Jamaican beef patties, we took some more pictures of Hartford houses of worship.  The above house is located on the corner of Albany and Woodland across the street from an abandoned lot we profiled last summer.

Hartford Houses Of Worship: Albany Ave

What day better than the day after Easter to debut Sad City's latest Hartford project, the Hartford Houses of Worship.  Places of worship come in all shapes and sizes and probably more so in an old New England city where some churches date back a hundred plus years.  Hartford is no exception, having what we would guess is a couple hundred houses of worship coming in all shapes and sizes. For our first edition we took a selection of houses of worship photographed on a sunny afternoon stroll down Albany Ave. This is in no way comprehensive, as there are just too many to expect to get them all.

Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #26

Hartford Pay Phone #26 is located at the corner of Albany and Magnolia  outside of Ivana's Fashions. Phone #26 appears to have adopted some fashion sense from Ivana's as it is one of the more fashionable phones we have seen. The color scheme of the building, the phone, and the clothes drop box are very fashion forward. Phone #26 is housed in a black box,, more fashionable than the usual silver housing. Finally a splash of graffiti gives the area around #26 a contemporary feel. #26; where all the "in" people make their calls!

Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #23

Pay phone #23 is located at the corner of Albany & Bedford in the North End outside of the Wonder Package Store and the Super Deli. When we approached number #23 we asked the gentleman in the picture if he was going to use the phone. He responded that if he was going to use a pay phone, we would use the two around the corner, that are #15 & 16 in our search. We didn't think much of it, but after todays Hartford Courant story of wire taps and controlled drug buys in the North End, we wonder if maybe this guy knew something about something.

Sad City Visits A Revival Meeting

Sad City visited a revival meeting at the King's Chapel Church of God on the corner of Albany and Woodland on a Sunday evening. We were amazed by the power of the speakers voice and lungs as he barely even slowed down to take a breath. The lighting didn't allow for great video but we recorded a good audio story that's about 5 minutes long but worth the effort. Perhaps the girl in the story can use our handy pay phone search to locate a phone to call with.

Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #14

After an earlier submission was disqualified for not working we have found pay phone #14 in the Sad City Pay Phone Search. This working pay phone is showing it's age but still holding on. Located on the corner of Albany and High, #14 holds a certain place in the heart for Sad City.

Get "Free" Wacky Newspaper in Exchange for "Donation"

While we have truly reached the dog days of summer in Hartford, there isn't any slowing down for Sad City (we will wait for winter, when we will hole up in our apartments and play XBox all evening.) In just the last week we were on WCCC where we announced a weekly spot with good friend Craig The Porn Star. We also visited Bushnell Park for a party thrown by our friends at The Hartford Party Starter's Union, saw the return of Chuckles to the site and continued the great Pay Phone Search.

Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #2

Introducing Hartford pay phone #2 in the Sad City Hartford Pay Phone Search. This pay phone is located in the parking lot of the R&D Food Market on the corner of Garden and Albany. To the left of #2 we can see his deceased brother pay phone. Presumably #2 out lived his brother by keeping hydrated with some refreshing Dasani.

Send me your pay phone pics!

Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #1

We have our first pay phone in the Sad City Pay Phone Search. This particular phone is on the corner of Vine and Albany. It is reported that the phone is working but will not accept incoming calls. (Hmmmmmmm) I feel that Albany Ave will be a good source of more pay phone finds. Be sure to