The Jersey Lilly (Beer Joint), 1946, at
19th and Park Lake Drive

Lanny French told us: “In my youth,(about 1948) I lived 2 blocks from Jersey Lily on Park Lake and it had sawdust flooring. They would change it ever so often and discard the old sawdust out back. When it rained the lost coins from beer purchases lost in the sawdust would rise to the top of the heap. Wonderful fun for a young boy. It was about a block west of the 19th & Park Lake corner on the North side of the street. Seems like there may have been a Drug Store there later.. Also although not related, there also was a Midget Car race strip a block or two further west down Park. Again before I knew better, we would go over after the races, collect cigarette buts,strip them down and re-roll them with a little cigarette rolling machine we had found.”

Photo from the Harry Blaize Photographic Collection, The Waco-McLennan County Public Library.

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HARRY BLAIZE PHOTOGRAPHY
By James Jasek

Harry Blaize was born March 22, 1921 in Waco,Texas, He lived at home with his parents most of his adult life at 2805 Morrow Ave. His father, Harry Carter Blaize, lived from 1888 to 1974, and his mother, Ethel Bohner Blaize, lived from 1891 to 1973. Other than spending a few years in the Army, Harry lived with his parents until his death November 6, 1993. He never worked and was a life member of the Model Railroad Club and the Photo Forum Photographic Club. He was an active amateur photographer who had his own darkroom and processed all his one film and made prints in his darkroom. I first met Harry when I was invited to join the Photo Forum Camera Club in 1964, and we became life-long friends. The Camera Club met at the Tom Padgitt Building on South 13th Street. Harry did not drive a car and one of the members of the club would pick him up a his home and bring him to the Camera Club meeting. Harry would take the city bus downtown then wander the streets of Waco shooting pictures of buildings all over the city. Then, he would take the bus home and work in his darkroom. He never married until later in his life. His father was a realtor and had his own business, The Blaize Realtor Company. in later years when his parents were too old for Harry to care for them, he hired a nurse to care for them. When his parents died Harry married the nurse.

Harry used a Leica IIIf camera and walked the streets of Waco taking pictures of buildings and of things that he found interesting. Before Harry died November 6, 1993, he donated his photograph collection to the Waco McLennan County Public Library.