Fairy Tale Building

There's just something about the old Baranger Studios building that captures my imagination. It's one thing to look at a building and envision a history right out of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It's quite another thing to find out the building really does have a whimsical past.

For me, the magic lingers here, even though the building now plays host to accountants and eye doctors. Not that there is anything un-magical about accountants and eye doctors. Hey, a good CPA at tax time can work real wonders, and it's pretty incredible to finally get the right glasses prescription...

But that's not quite the magic I think of when I look at this dramatic, mysterious place. I think Baranger Studios is filled with ghosts that dance to the twangy pings of mechanical music boxes. (Just keep your ears open the next time you walk past it at night if you don't believe me.)

Or maybe it's just an old building in need of a power wash. Are you in that tragic camp of people? Our world seems determined to rationalize the whimsy right out of all of us. From elementary school teachers to newscasters to self-righteous commenters on Patch, there are buzzkillers everywhere, even in our enchanted little town.

Let that B up there on Baranger Studios remind all of us to believe. In magic. In make-believe. in finding the pixilated in an increasingly HD world.

For details on Baranger Studios and its wondrous past, see my posts here and here.