Mangum, Oklahoma

Mangum, Oklahoma. What great little town. Arrived pretty early in the day after a nice leisurely 3 hour drive through the scenic back road, OK 9. After checking in to the only motel in town, but the room was still being cleaned, I stopped for an oil change, I'm at about 3500 miles on the trip, then scoped out downtown Mangum. Well, it's a few blocks, but it's the county seat. A 5 story hotel called the Hotel Franklin caught my eye and I peeked in and loved what I saw. Old lobby, peeling paint, banquet room. This is right up my alley as a photographer. I wandered across the street to the Mangum museum and asked the woman about the hotel. She told me at one time it was the largest building west of the Mississippi and east of the Colorado rivers. Pretty impressive. I told her how I was a photographer and told her about my project that brought me to Mangum. I said I would love to see inside the old hotel and she quickly called someone. Nope, since the mayor and city council weren't in yet. Then magically, her honor walked in. I told her about my project and my interest in the hotel and she quickly handed me the key. Just like that, it was beautiful. No PR people to suck up to, no red tape, just an earnest photographer connecting with a proud small town mayor. I spent the next two hours exploring and documenting the remains. Not too much is left inside and a group recently replaced the windows to prevent further deterioration, but that left cardboard boxes strewn about, but there were still pictures to be made. A lot of nice little details, which I always love. The only drawback of the aside is that by the time I got settled in the motel, it’s pretty late in the day, so I might add another day here. I think it’s a good tradeoff though.