Sake Japanese Bistro, Tenth Street
Stephen Bybee
Columbia, MO
January, 2011
Unlike some of the photographs I have taken of downtown Columbia since the late 1990s, this view of Sake has not significantly changed since the image was made. Once again, January 2011 was a very productive time for me, and this image was taken on a snowy night, with falling snow visible in the distant view of the alleyway. Compositionally speaking, my decision to include less than the entire building in order to include more of the tree was intentional. The tree is a crucial component of the composition, as is the sliver of alleyway that runs east to Hitt Street. So while we have established that this building has not changed in the 13 intervening years, the area around this building is changing dramatically. Immediately north of this address a building is rising quickly to occupy the entire site that was once home to U.S. Bank and its parking lot; the Pasta Factory is no longer housed in the Stephens Publishing building at the far left of the image, nor does its sign grace the southwest corner of the building; the massive steel beams, faintly discernible in this photo, no longer span the alley from the Stephens building to the Stephens annex, the publishing annex having been demolished in 2020. And on a very recent visit to 16 S. 10th Street, it also appears that the beautiful street tree, its branches arching protectively and artistically across the corner of the building in this photograph, has been removed. Let’s hope its eventual replacement understands the esthetic relevance of its predecessor.