Favorite Photos from Auburn's Gay Street

Winter in the South is often a hard time to get motivated, at least in the world of photography. This is a summer place. So I thought I would start a new series on my site called "10 Photos from..." and 10 Photos from Gay Street in Auburn is the first installment of my 10 Photos series. This idea is not original to me, it came from a great photographer from Whales, James Popsys, and I decided to make it my own.

The premise behind these images is to do a photowalk in a very specific area, in this case Gay Street from Samford to Glenn, to document or record everyday life on a normal everyday day. I started with this street in Auburn because it has a lot of history, and a lot of character (if you want a deep dive into the history of Auburn's street names there's a book on that, Auburn: A History in Street Names by Sam Hendrix).

The actual "10 Photos" part is a set that is going to be posted on my Instagram account. That is where the chosen "10 Photos" (or 10 slides) will reside. Below I offer a larger selection from the photo shoot because I have the space for it here on my site. The full size high resolution images will be on my Flickr Gallery 10 Photos from Gay Street in Auburn.

Part of what I love about doing an exercise like this is it forces you to slow down. I can't remember the last time I have taken a few hours to casually walk down several (familiar) blocks? I had never done this before on this particular street. And I've walked the length of this street (from Samford to Glenn) hundreds of times before.

I once was told the two best skills a photographer can ever obtain are patience and observation. When you employ those two skills, it's amazing how much you discover from the same worn out path you've traveled many times before.

Construction on Gay Street

One of the most striking observations one could make about Gay Street in 2024 is the enormous mix between old school vintage Auburn and the new high-rise that is clearly tomorrow. One of my favorite photos that tells this story is this house below. A long standing real estate hold out when all this development progress started was this (not so little) house on the north-west corner of Samford and Gay. This entire area was bought up (I still miss the BBQ House) and these huge 70 foot tall condo-apartments are currently being built on the property. They now go right up next to the house where the house sits literally in the shadow of the high-rise buildings.

I remember the time when, a few yeas ago, Newk's Eatery built a restaurant over in this area on Gay Street and we all thought it was great to have another restaurant nearby. It's been torn down now. Apparently here in Auburn construction is only rivaled by Las Vegas. But progress is progress and I'm starting to get use to the mix of old vs new and the beauty they provide as they mix together.

The Old School Gay Street

Old school vintage Auburn does still exist, as I think it always will in some form or another. There are still a few colorful greek houses on the east side of the street. Along with the houses are a mix of really old apartment complexes. They seem like they are just barely hanging on at this point. The wrecking ball has to be calling, but for now they are still standing. I love that one of them still has an old Bell South phone booth in the yard (no phone, just the booth and book cover part).

The Orange Bricks of Auburn

I'm not going to call them "red bricks" they are certainly more of an "auburn" color, but either way, the bricks themselves are something very much a part of the Auburn building culture in this town. There is a very specific design specification to the bricks used in all the buildings in this part of town. It makes for an incredible aesthetic quality to the landscape that just feels like Auburn.

The bricks are something really unique, and they add an incredible beauty to the area on Gay Street from The Hotel at Auburn University, over to Samford Hall, to The Laurel Hotel and Spa, all the way down to The Standard. All of which were visible on Gay Street on this particular day. The image below of The Hotel at Auburn University is probably one of my favorite of the afternoon. The sun had just lit up the south side wall of the building just as I arrived and it became a fiery orange in the sun.

The Cleaners on Gay Street

One of the most fascinating parts of Gay Street is the number of old school cleaners still in existence in 2024. Most, but not all, are still in operation just as they were decades ago. I love these old buildings. These places haven't changed, and anyone who knows Auburn knows Thatch Hut Coin Laundry.

Gay Street, The North Side

As you walk your way down the street from Samford to Glenn you make it to the mid section where there is an almost brand new Publix. My mind will forever go back to the Burger King and Tiger Rags that use to be in that space. While I love Publix, they didn't make the editing cut this time. Neither did my church across the street even though their steeple looked beautiful in the sunset colors. I also had several shots of the Auburn Candle Company nearby but I never could get the traffic to cooperate.

Hamilton's on Magnolia and Auburn Bank were next on the walk and those have been staples in the downtown Auburn area for a long time. The Auburn Bank building is new, and I'm really thrilled with how this image turned out. I got there just as the sun went down. I didn't think I was going to get this particular image until the car directly in front of the doors left and gave way to big glass lobby doors. I love the sky reflections in the glass contrasted with the orange bricks.

The Standard on Glenn-Gay

This had to be my favorite shot of the afternoon. What an incredible building rounding the corner of Glenn and Gay. The view from the roof has to be amazing, and the timing of the sun going down right as I got there made the orange bricks blaze. My only regret with the set of images on this day was the traffic. I didn't have time to wait for a break in the traffic as the sun went down, and the traffic was just relentless. The vertical image was a little better with traffic. I like both.

So there it is. My "10 Photos" from Gay Street. Obviously the above is more than 10 photos, but the 10 chosen photos are posted on my Instagram. I haven't decided where my next 10 will come from yet. It may be another street in town, or in Opelika, or a nearby park. Leave a comment below if you have a suggestion.