"They shall beat their swords into ploughshares " comes from the book of Isaiah. It's been used as a metaphor for a transition from one industry or economy or another. The real transition, of course, is in the way resources are in the types of resources, and the ways they are, used.
An example was 5 Pointz, an old water meter factory converted to artists' studios in Long Island City, just four kilometers from my apartment. Its owner also held a competition every year to decide which artists would grace its exterior with mural art. It actually became a tourist attraction; people would ride the 7 train from Manhattan just to see the building as the train made its turn from Court House Square to Queensboro Plaza.
Sometimes I fall into the cynicism that tells me if I like something enough, it won't last. In this case, that jadedess was justified: The owner sold the property, tore down the factory and build just what this city--and the world--needs: two luxury condominium towers, which kept the name "5 Pointz."
But some property-use conversions are more welcome. I am thinking of what David and Louise Stone have done in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Their Bicycle Recycle shop, like other similar programs, "rescues" used bikes and either refurbishes them or strips them for parts to repair other bikes. Some of those bikes are sold; others are donated. And some of the the bikes and parts are used to train volunteers who work with them. Their work, they say, is motivated by their knowledge that bicycles can change lives.
What might be most unusual about them--aside from the fact that they started Bicycle Recycle when they were of a certain age--is their location. Yes, it's was a factory. What it made, and what distinguished it, seems about as incongruous for a bicycle-related enterprise as anything can be.
The name says it all: The Pajama Factory. Today it houses other businesses and artists' studios, in addition to Bicycle Recycle. But it wasn't any old pajama factory: It was the largest of its kind, where, starting in 1934, the Weldon Pajama Company produced more of the garments than any other facility in the world. (Was Williamsport ever described as a "sleepy" town? Sorry, I couldn't resist that one!)
The complex, however, dates to half a decade before the first sleepwear was made in it. The Lycoming Rubber Company, a subsidiary of the US Rubber Company, built it between 1883 and 1919 as a place to manufacture their tennis, gym and yachting shoes--and their most famous product, Keds sneakers--in addition to other rubber goods.
From Keds to pajamas to recycled bikes--that's certainly an interesting trajectory. And the Stones sound like interesting people.
