Walk #19: Unknown Building Materials Stacked in Front of the Burlington Headquarters Building

Address: 1004 Farnham St.

Information: Burlington Headquarters Building

Lunch: Bento Box #8

Destination Review: This is a big, white-stone building on the edge of the Old Market, right next to the Gene Leahy Mall.

It had some nice details to photograph.

It also had some strange-looking building materials stacked out front.

And it had another Door to Nowhere.

The Walk: I took a nice walk through the mall. There I found a really cool motion sculpture doing weird things with the water.

I had lunch on a bench in the mall.

The Lunch: Lunch was OK, but nothing to shout about. Ranch dressing was good for dipping stuff in. The Nature Valley Granola Cups were pretty good. I added a cheese snack because I felt this box needed some protein. I don't mind dried cranberries on things, but they’re not much all by themselves.

Lunch Ingredient Deals:

Apple: A Fuji apple was 40¢ at Hy-Vee minus a 25¢ Ibotta rebate, which made it 15¢

Cucumber: 50¢ at Fresh Thyme minus a 25¢ Allrecipes rebate made it 25¢

Granola Cups: I found these at Hy-Vee with a tearpad for a try-me-free rebate. So the whole box was free after rebate.

Pretzels: An 8 ct. bag of Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels was $1 at Dollar Tree, or 13¢ per bag.

Art Project: Embellished Frame

Walk #18: Harry Buford House, Surrounded by a Big Fence

Address: 1804 North 30th Street

Information: Harry Buford House

Lunch: Bento Box #23

Destination Review: This one has an interesting story behind it. Harry Buford was a prominent African-American businessman who happened to be living in the time of segregation in Omaha. The unwritten rule was if you were black, you couldn’t live west of 30th street. Buford slightly broke this rule by building his house on the west side of 30th street.

Nowadays, the house has a big fence around it, so it was hard to get good pictures.

The Walk: I walked around the block. On the north side of the house, the fence finally ended, and I was able to get a good picture of that side of the house.

I parked in a church parking lot behind the house. The church looked like it used to be a supermarket, and it had a bunch of neat-looking paintings on it.

I had lunch in my car, parked in the church parking lot.

The Lunch: This one wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped. The salad was pretty good, but after all the ham and pickled vegetables, I got tired of all the salt. The orange was a nice dessert, though.

Lunch Ingredient Deals:

Ham: A package of Carl Buddig Honey Ham was 68¢ at Walmart.

Lettuce: A head of green leaf lettuce was on sale for 99¢ at Fareway.

Tomato: 34¢ at Fresh Thyme.

Art Project: Embellished Frame

Walk #17: Broomfield Row House, Signed by the Architect

Address: 2502 Lake Street

Information: Broomfield Row House

Lunch: Bento Box #11

Destination Review: J. H. Broomfield was a prominent African-American architect in Omaha. He is also the only architect I’ve ever heard of who signed his work.

The row house is now an apartment house in a very run-down neighborhood, though it does have an inviting porch.

It has some nice brickwork and a great old coal chute.

The Walk: The neighborhood wasn’t too inviting.

Across the street from the row house, though, there was an old, closed-down factory.

It provided many opportunities to photograph some beautiful examples of urban decay, so I walked all around it.

The Lunch: I must say that I’ve gotten so behind on posting these that I don’t really remember this lunch very well. I guess the black bean burgers were OK, the vegetable medley was a lot like the corn salsa I like to make, and the berries were berries. As you can see, I ate lunch in my car.

Lunch Ingredient Deals:

Avocado: I got one for 99¢ at Target. Subtract a 5% off Cartwheel coupon and the 5% off Red Card discount and it was 89¢. Subtract a $1 MobiSave rebate on avocados and it was free.

Black Beans: Bush’s Best Black Beans were 92¢ at Walmart. Subtract 50¢ from a $1 off 2 coupon from the 5-14-17 SmartSource insert and it was 42¢.

Red Bell Pepper: Got one for 88¢ at Fresh Thyme.

Strawberries: Got a container of California Giant Strawberries at Aldi for 99¢.

Tomato: Got one for 34¢ at Fresh Thyme.

Vegetable Broth: A can of Kroger Vegetable Broth was 69¢ at Baker’s.

Art Project: Embellished Frame

Walk #16: Broatch Building, Complete with Hot Fudge Sundae

Address: 1209 Harney Street

Information: Broatch Building

Lunch: Bento Box #14

Destination Review: This is another Old Market building, which is very well-preserved and on one of the busier Old Market streets. I couldn’t really get a good picture of it from the front because of where it was placed, but I tried to get a little bit of the side of it.

I did get some good pictures of some of the interesting details of the building.

Inside the building was a jewelry store, as well as a stairway leading to some loft apartments.

The Walk: I walked around the block, and this gave me a chance to take pictures of one of my favorite Old Market buildings, the Baum Iron building.

Not only does this building have beautiful old details, but they’ve preserved their awesome painted sign on the side.

I once did an art piece based on that sign back in the 80s. It still looks exactly the same today. Back in the early part of the 20th century, cities were full of those great painted signs. Now all you see of them, if the buildings they were on haven’t been torn down, are faded, ghostlike remains. Except for the Baum Iron sign. It still looks just like it did when it was painted.

The Lunch: I had my lunch over at Hollywood Candy again.

I like salami and crackers. The banana was OK. I didn’t finish the strawberries.

Because it was close to my birthday, I totally ruined the “healthy lunch" idea by getting a hot fudge sundae at the Hollywood Candy soda fountain. Hey, folks, it was my birthday sundae!

It was EXCELLENT, including the delicious chocolate mudslide on the whipped cream.

Lunch Ingredient Deals:

Banana: I got a That’s Smart Banana from Hy-Vee for 13¢. A 25¢ Ibotta rebate on bananas made it better than free.

Strawberries: A 16 oz. package of Driscoll’s Strawberries was $1.98 at Walmart. Subtract a 50¢/1 Driscoll’s Berries coupon I got for doing a survey in the Driscoll's Email Club, a 25¢ Checkout 51 rebate on berries, a 25¢ Ibotta rebate for any item, and a 25¢ Ibotta rebate for strawberries and it ended up 73¢.

Art Project: Embellished Frame

Walk #15: Breckenridge-Gordon House, Complete with Rubber Duck

Address: 3611 Jackson Street

Information: Breckenridge-Gordon House

Lunch: Bento Box #13

Destination Review: This is a mildly pleasant-looking old house. I couldn’t get a good picture of it because there were too many trees in front of it. I did get some pictures of various features of the house and yard.

Like many of the Gold Coast houses, this one had a Gold Coast Historic Brick out front.

It had some nice brick columns holding up the fence.

One of them seemed to imply that this was a good place to get coffee.

The owners are keeping this place up well. The front door is inviting, and the front porch was so nice I was tempted to have my lunch there, but since it was private property, I demurred.

There’s a beautiful fountain in the front yard, complete with rubber duck.

The Walk: I walked around the block. On the way back, I saw a cute little house I just had to take a picture of.

The Lunch: Since I didn’t want to impinge on private property, I didn’t have lunch on the front porch of the house. Next door, there was an apartment building with a handy picnic table in the parking lot, so I impinged on its private property.

The quesadillas were OK; the guacamole made them better. I’m not a big fan of plain strawberries, but these were edible.

Lunch Ingredient Deals:

Avocado: Avocados were on sale at Fresh Thyme for 77¢. I got a $1 Allrecipes rebate on avocados that week plus another $1 rebate from MobiSave on avocados, making this a $1.23 moneymaker.

Lime: Limes are always a quarter at Aldi. Rarely does any other deal beat that price.

Strawberries: Driscoll’s Strawberries were $1.98 at Walmart. I used a 50¢/1 coupon from Driscoll’s email survey club, got a 25¢ Checkout 51 rebate on berries, a 25¢ Ibotta rebate on any item, and a 25¢ Ibotta rebate on strawberries, making them 73¢.

Art Project: Embellished Frame