I have driven past Ritzville, Washington too many times to count. It sits 60 miles west of Spokane, just far enough off Interstate 90 to be easily ignored, either as I head on toward Seattle or as I turn off onto US Route 395 toward the Tri-Cities. I have, on several occasions, gotten off the eastern exit of Ritzville (it is a two exit town), sometimes as a place to launch off onto back roads, and once to stop at a highway mini-mart. But I had never been past that mini-mart, down the road, into Ritzville itself.
It was never ritzy—it derives its name from its founder, Philip Ritz, not from monuments of glamour and glitter. Even so, I had heard it was a fine little town, with a picturesque, though deteriorating, downtown. So one evening this week, I drove off the first eastern Ritzville exit, and continued down the road past the mini-mart, to see what I had been passing by all these years.
This post is in: Architecture, Grain Elevators, Rural Washington
I have to say that the pictures of the town are beautiful and kind of disturbing, almost dismal.
Comment by Laura — August 21, 2009 @ 11:04 pm
Oh my… what great pictures … espcially the High School and the building with the suspended doors. You could make one of your great photo books with these pictures & I bet all the people in Ritzville (how many is that??) would buy one. Wonder if there are pictures of what it used to look like. Thanks for the side trip. Twas fun.
Comment by astork — August 21, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
Wonderful pictures Larry! I agree that the old high school works better as an old psych hospital
Comment by Jennie — August 22, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
As *probably* one of the few people in Ritzville who appreciates good art (or maybe not), I have to say … errm… bravo for catching the beauty (dismal though it may be) of the place. I love these photographs, as you know, and they they deserve a show at a gallery/cafe/bedroom space. I have some ideas on that score.
Specifically, my favorites are the door knob on the Ritzville Hotel, the Chevy truck, the train museum, and Weber’s Repair. You should have gotten a nice photograph of that cottage on West Broadway. I hear that lady has nice cats.
Comment by Amber — August 25, 2009 @ 4:49 pm
wow. you know, in these pictures, you make Ritzville actually pretty.. I have lived here like 6 years, and it so sad that everything has fallen to pieces. the old high school is my favorite place to go and to think. the school is so beautiful, and its funny, i think of it as an old insane asylum. lol. but anyways, Ritzville needs more people to come, and more people to help it be fixed up.. the town could be so beautiful, if the inhabitants would just take care of the town in which they live in!
but word of advice, a lot of the people here have their heads up there asses..
Comment by Chyla — November 25, 2009 @ 9:42 pm