I spent some time at the Downtown Artist Market on Saturday and after setting up, I walked up to what is called the Old San Francisco District of El Paso.  Its a curious sliver of a neighborhood that looks like it was originally part of Sunset Heights before the freeway cut though town.  There’s been a lot of activity in the area with the construction of the Chihuahua’s ballpark, and I wanted to see what effects if any, this has had on the area.   I walked up the new pedestrian walkway, turning left at Franklin and about halfway down the block was the first sign of  “progress.” The neighborhood laundry has been closed and looks to become some kind of establishment that sells alcohol:

 The 60 day TABC required posting was on the door and the lot was fenced up.  I’ll bet the cost of entry downtown for a bar/grill establishment has gone up in the last year so, making this location a prime target. It’s a short walk from the ballpark with street parking. Winding around to Missouri, facing east there is another building now empty that used to be a grocery:

There was no obvious activity.  l’ll bet it won’t be long before something fills the empty space.  The rest of the buildings are residential apartments so you have to figure that some sort parking requirements will  go into effect to help the residents.  Either that or on game night you just don’t leave your house unless you are coming back after the game.  It’s a pretty cool little spot retaining, for now, a lot of charm for this often forgotten part of town.  I shot a few more pics before I heading back to the market:

For the full set of pics see: San Francisco District on flickr