Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here (pic thread)

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I'm very interested in things that are abandoned, neglected, disused, dilapidated, structurally unsound, either long-forgotten or considered an eyesore and a blight.

What's your relationship to the culture of abandonment? Post pics, share anecdotes, offer psychoanalysis if you must.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

While doing research for our Saskatchewan EP, I came across this, which all makes me unbearably sad:

http://www.interlog.com/~grlaird/uraniumcity.html

Much sadden than the quaint Nevada ghost towns that littered (in evenly spaced intervals to make the drive less taxing) the drive from Reno to Las Vegas. I found a website with pictures of the best of those towns, Goldfield; maybe I'll scrounge up that link again. But Uranium City is so isolated, it makes everything that much sadder.

― Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:16 (6 years ago) Permalink

Center For Land Use Interpretation to thread!

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

Uranium City

"In front of me is a long main hall: classrooms and offices branch off each side. It looks like it was once a fair-sized school, maybe 500 or 600 kids tops. The darkness is cut by light from exterior windows, all broken. Twenty years after the fact, there’s still the remains of textbooks and lessons scattered about. A pile of absentee slips lies next to what looks like what used to be the principal’s office. November 4, 1980: someone named Pouchain missed one period of biology; someone else missed a class of English. The excuses pile up, still written down and then forgotten.

Upstairs, amid bricks and ceiling tiles, a catalogue of the last few months of the school unfolds. Outside, it’s snowing: but inside, I’m reading tatters of someone’s social studies lesson from 1981."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

:-( If it weren't so out of the way, I say ILX should buy it up and found the world's most fractious commune.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

http://www.darkpassage.com/gate.htm

― Honda (Honda), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

Um, also if Uranium City weren't so horribly irradiated.

But still I really want to go Uranium City. Or perhaps better yet, to the town that apparently used to be Uranium City's suburb, Eldorado.

― Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

Um, also if Uranium City weren't so horribly irradiated.

Minor details!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

Maybe we'd get SUPERPOWERS!

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

Like we don't already have them. I'm talking to people ACROSS THE WORLD!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

A pic from what was apparently once a recreation complex called Pleasureland:

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

When my Latin teacher was out for three days years ago, she came back and the students had painted that (in Latin) on a huge banner above the door.

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

When I worked doing house clearances in Liverpool (which I may have mentioned elsewhere is the worst and most heartbreaking job in the world - consisted mostly of shovelling up kids shoes, used nappies and used hypos, on the first day I was glad it was raining so my rough tough coworkers couldn't see me crying) there were entire abandoned districts, streets where every window was covered in spot-welded sheets, even the graffiti was eroded by weather. It was strange, disquieting and ridiculous. It's largely why i get angry when I hear building companies talk of an urgent need for affordable housing.

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Essex County Jail page on that Dark Passage site is amazing.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

more reckless abandon in new jersey

[note graffiti]

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

Someone clearly should name a club "The Sex Plant" ASAP.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

New Jersey is the finest state in all the Union.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

I do imagine that as being the place Bon Jovi first rehearsed, it seems appropriate.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

this is inside a textile factory in brno, in the czech republic.

not so dingy=not so depressing. but it was all ripped out and shit.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

B-but surely Johnny used to work on the docks?

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

That was a LIE. LIKE ALL THEIR OTHER SCUMSUCKING CRAP! *continues to build up the caricature for the hell of it*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Essex County Jail page on that Dark Passage site is amazing.

I mean MY GOD.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 10 April 2003 23:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

a jug and a bucket and a dirty shirt. in a JAIL.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

shit i thought that was a picture of my lounge room

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

I went and wondered around inside a big huge old building on my college campus, one of my last days there. It was being renovated, but none of the workers were around, and nobody saw me go in. I found all sorts of old stuff that made no sense (artifacts on the fourth floor in a corner office indicated people had been using it to sleep and study in) and tons upon tons of abandoned furniture, empty desks, old notebooks, all variety of things. I love palimpsest. The whole experience was fitting for the end of my college career, as if after three years of disappointment and disgust I finally met the one piece of architecture on campus that I could spend hours upon hours in without any malaise, when it was already too late for either of us. The empty halls made the best sounds. I walked around in the lower floors (there was a gym, an empty swimming pool, locker rooms, and an auditorium inside) with a section of pipe I found lying on the ground, hitting railings and things to listen to the reverb.

Another wonderful thing about abandoned buildings is the freedom of movement - you can go anywhere and everywhere you like, nobody bumps into you or gives you odd looks or asks questions. I love that feeling. It never happens anywhere else, except perhaps outdoors, and that's just not the same.

― Millar (Millar), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

Jody, do you read Weird NJ?

― rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yep!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Paulinskill Viaduct (NJ):

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

A really fascinating and somewhat relevant site: http://www.infiltration.org/

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

KIM THAT SITE IS AWESOME

I went out and bought a waterproof flashlight after I read through the first time

― Millar (Millar), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

New Jersey is the finest state in all the Union.
-- Jody Beth Rosen (edito...), April 11th, 2003 9:54 AM. (later) (Jody Beth Rosen)

Them's fightin' words. . .

(i love this thread btw)

― That Girl (thatgirl), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

JBR you should visit Detroit. It's an entire major American city which is abandoned, neglected, disused, dilapidated, structurally unsound, and considered an eyesore and a blight.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

I've never been to Detroit, but I've seen pics.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

Then there's the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, IL -- abandoned in 1978.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

I heard a segment on This American Life once about a man who became obsessed with an abandoned house as a kid. As an adult he spent a lot of time tracking down the descendants of the family who had lived there and figuring out what happened to them. He had even kept a shoebox of items from the house that he turned over to a granddaughter.

It was fascinating.

― That Girl (thatgirl), Friday, 11 April 2003 00:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

(I've seen that Infiltration zine, btw -- it's excellent.)

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:01 (6 years ago) Permalink

That Infiltration link has made my night

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:03 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

disused and abandoned subway stations

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Whitepot Underjump, part of the discontinued Long Island Railroad Rockaway Line. (I just love the phrase "Whitepot Underjump.")

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

There used to be a great site called "Modern Ruins"; lots of pictures related to this topic...

― Joe (Joe), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

After Detroit, I suggest Baltimore.

― Millar (Millar), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

On the train into Liverpool there's loads of really old graffiti painted on bridges and cutting, celebrating football triumphs that are twenty years in the past. It's kinda poignant.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 11 April 2003 01:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Recently The Asbury Park Press published an article stating that Palace Amusements, the 110-year-old landmark, was in imminent danger of collapsing and would be demolished shortly. The article stated that the Palace, which closed its doors to the public for the last time back in November 1988, exhibited significant stress fractures in the exterior walls. In addition, a portion of the second story had recently caved in ... the entire block and bordering streets around the condemned structure were cordoned off with yellow police tape and orange plastic barrels. The paint of the building's once brightly colored exterior was chipped and flaking off. The multi-colored neon lights, which once framed the ever smiling faces of Tilly, hung broken and swaying in the freezing winter wind."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 02:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

Tillie at night, circa 1980:

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 03:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

http://www.ruin-japan.com/

― ron (ron), Friday, 11 April 2003 03:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

wow

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 03:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

there's really cool shit on there, plus i think i like it even better because i cant read it - really can't be bothered with pesky "words" ;-)

for some reason i really liked this one, although it's not all that "ruinous"

― ron (ron), Friday, 11 April 2003 03:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is a really great thread. That Infiltration zine is actually done by an old pal of mine.

Now I'm going to see if I can dig up any relevant photos I've taken and post away.

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 11 April 2003 04:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

"This building is truly unique, simply because it was left unfinished. It is said that it was built during a time to bring back poverty stricken Asbury Park. But the developer while building this hotel, went bankrupt himself."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 04:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

this was a weird thing i saw

― ron (ron), Friday, 11 April 2003 06:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

Having owned and actually driven my share of clunkers, this particular Google search got interesting:

http://www.overland.co.za/abandoned.html

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Friday, 11 April 2003 07:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

On an abandoned house in Kentucky:

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 10:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

James Lileks' Deadburb USA photoessay will surely make you wanna kill yourself.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 10:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

I'm very interested in things that are abandoned, neglected, disused, dilapidated, structurally unsound, either long-forgotten or considered an eyesore and a blight.

My photo's on my profile, JBR! (Also: really great thread.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

Right, that's my task for my week off. Off out with the Fuji Finepix we go!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:07 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is my favourite place in the world evah. It's just sooooo great for that hangover joint. It's now surrounded by pointy railings, but you can still get in if you need to.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

Jody, you should take the 1/9 up past 96th Street one day. Between 89th and 96th, there's a weird ghost station - there's no sign of it up on the street and you don't get much light in there because the entry ways were closed up, but there's a platform and everything, it's all covered with grafitti and it's kind of scary.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oh, erm, it's in Harwich.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

sittingpretty's reminded me of visiting battery spencer which overlooks san francisco from the other side of the golden gate strait.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is one of the grimmest places I've seen in a while...

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

Great thread, JBR. But I think that "bye bye" pic is from Fort Wayne, Indiana, not Kentucky.

< /pedant>

I will share my trespassing stories later on this fine spring day.

― hstencil, Friday, 11 April 2003 12:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

This was officially named the ugliest building in Britain a while back... it's now derelict and boarded up and inhabited solely by crackheads.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

A lot of these pix remind of the PS2 Grand Theft Auto scenes.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

What - no Chernobyl yet?

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

Vice City:

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

Look what I found when I googled for that pic!

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

Great thread, JBR. But I think that "bye bye" pic is from Fort Wayne, Indiana, not Kentucky.
< /pedant>

Yes, I caught that. But it is from a site of KENTUCKY photos.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

I've done a fair bit of trespassing myself, but I'm kinda chickenshit and I prefer to let other, more adventurous folx do it and report back with pictures. These obv aren't the safest places to be -- asbestos, peeling paint, floors and walls that could cave in at any moment, varmints, rabid dogs, or people who just don't want you there (I was chased away from an abandoned warehouse on the Brooklyn waterfront by a burly Italian gentleman who demanded to know what I was doing there and why I had a camera).

My coolest find: a small hotel in the Catskills, part of a bungalow colony that was still semi-operational. My grandmother stayed in one of the bungalows when she came up from Florida a few years ago, and my parents and I went to visit. The bungalows were in sorry shape themselves, but the hotel was incredible -- piss-stained mattresses propped up against the wall, rusty bedframes and boxsprings, graffiti from (I think) a teenage runaway (dated 1984), a broken TV, plenty of structural damage, flimsy wooden floors, broken windows, old plates and towels and linens (some neatly stacked, others scattered haphazardly), and (according to my cousin who was there too) a closet full of bats.

This has all since been torn down, I believe.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 12:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

JBR, dere are Indiana photos on dat dere site, too. ; )

here's a pic from my recent trip to Baghdad:

― hstencil, Friday, 11 April 2003 13:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

abandoned london

― pulpo, Friday, 11 April 2003 13:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

Great site. This one's really nice:

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 13:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

That "ugliest building in Britain" looks like my old high school! Wonder if it was designed by the same architect.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 13:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

MattDC's photos are of the Tricorn shopping mall in the centre of Portsmouth - about a mile or so from where I live. This has, since the 70s been one of Portsmouth's biggest embarrassments (apart from the anti-paedophile demos in 2000 and the 'Millienium Tower'). It gets named Britain's Ugliest Building about once every six months and has been abandoned since the mid 90s. Promises on the part of the council to finally knock it down have, so far, come to nothing.

When it built it won a design award. Oh and Johnathan Meades likes it.

― robster (robster), Friday, 11 April 2003 13:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

I've never hung out in an abondoned building before. Though I do spend quite a bit of my time hanging out in other people's houses alone (as I'm a Realtor). Anyway, my dad has great stories about growing up in Staten Island and hanging out in abondoned warehouses. They usually involve wild dogs and huge rats.

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Friday, 11 April 2003 13:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

That would be the 91st St. station.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 14:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

creepy

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 14:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

I will have some stuff for this thread later! I like taking photos of wrecks and derelict places.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:13 (6 years ago) Permalink

Creepy door somewhere in East London:

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/bby2k/door.jpg

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

Hole in a fence, Ealing:

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/bby2k/fence.jpg

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

Garage, somewhere in Ealing:

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/bby2k/vote.jpg

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

that last one is AWESOME.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

Some more fave sites, etc:

The Las Vegas Neon Sign Graveyard

The Guide to Abandoned Airfields

Southern California Aircraft Wrecks

I've got a bunch of pictures of the Neon Sign graveyard, but they're all packed.

There's also the "Bridge to Nowhere" on the east fork of the San Gabriel River. A road was built going up into the mountains in the early 30s, but the road was washed away a couple of years later in a big flood - only the bridge remains.

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

Was it here that someone showed me a lovely site with photos of the remains of signs on buildings, sort of ghost logos and ads on brickwork? That seems worth mentioning here.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

can i say this is one of my favourite threads ever.

― anthony easton (anthony), Friday, 11 April 2003 21:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

this Anthony agrees. I need to do one of those let's-find-a-deserted-shack hikes sometime soon. I wish I'd take a picture of this one old barn that had a poster of a puppy in it AND NOTHING ELSE.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

Martin: There's a couple of different "fading painted ad" sites out there. Frank Jump has a great one and there's a Belgian one with painted signs of Europe.

Another site I like a lot is Mountain Monograms - a collection of photos of hillsides that towns, schools, etc put their monograms on.

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

it's one of my favorite threads ever

― luna (luna.c), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

it is wonderful. i have kind of a deja vu feeling about this thread - jbr (or anyone) did you do something like this before?

― ron (ron), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

Behold Belgium, the New Jersey of Europe, in all its magnificence!

I have a large bag of little white skeletons I won at Palace Amusements.

― Methuselah (Methuselah), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oops. Link did not work:

― Methuselah (Methuselah), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

Okay, I'm an amateur: http://home2.planetinternet.be/henk/

― Methuselah (Methuselah), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

I took some relevant pictures today which I'll post when developed. I've also been working on a painted-signs-of-Mtl project for a long time (meaning I take a picture now and then). But I must get into gear on that.

― slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 12 April 2003 01:12 (6 years ago) Permalink

That one is great.

― slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 12 April 2003 01:16 (6 years ago) Permalink

Palace Amusements

The official word is that Palace Amusements is up for sale for $2.5 million and unless someone buys it by April 23, they're demolishing it. But... you can buy your very own Palace Amusements paint chips on eBay! Act now.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 12 April 2003 01:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

I saw a ton of places I'm gonna take photos of today. A derelict car showroom, a field of burnt out cars...

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 12 April 2003 15:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

Best. Thread. Ever.

Rice, CA to the thread! CB probably has more pictures than me, and might actually know how to post 'em...

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Saturday, 12 April 2003 18:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is the Folly in Gunnersbury Park (same park as the Hit Parade song):

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/bby2k/folly.jpg

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 12 April 2003 18:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

we already did this, somewhat different, thread, which remains my favorite thread ever.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 12 April 2003 19:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

yeah, thanks gabbneb, that was the one i was remembering :-)

― ron (ron), Saturday, 12 April 2003 19:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

James Lileks' Deadburb USA photoessay will surely make you wanna kill yourself.

No, it just makes me want to vomit. Lileks: Those DURN New Urbanists and their FANCY-NANCY ways, I shake my skinny fists at YOU! Me: Fuck off and die and give me all your postcards.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 12 April 2003 22:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Lileks pimpslapped, film at eleven."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 12 April 2003 22:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

http://perceptions.diaryland.com/010905_41.html

― Aaron A., Saturday, 12 April 2003 22:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

I don't really like Lileks either, fwiw.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 12 April 2003 22:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

Taking Amtrak up and down the west coast the one time I did was soooo worth it just to see an entire run of these types of images. Great way to see great graffiti as well.

Some of the highlights for these types of scenes were Barlow, Oregon, south Oakland, and Salinas, CA...

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 12 April 2003 22:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

I don't really like Lileks either, fwiw.

Yeah, I wasn't wanting to imply that, Jody. Anyway, the pictures are indeed sad, very sad but he has to interject it with his fusby LILEKSISMS, bleah.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 12 April 2003 23:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is an abandoned-during-construction Masonic Temple in downtown Providence, RI. It's been boarded up and broken into a number of times. I fell through the stairwell down one story once and cut my hands open in the pitch darkness. Good thing we had some beer with us to sooth my sore hands.

These are from Norwich State Hospital:

All of these were taken by my friend Ryan; more at his site:
http://students.rwu.edu/rjames/

There's also an abandoned train tunnel running beneath Providence's east side--from Gano Street to College Hill. It's blocked up on one end, but no the Gano end the locks have been jimmied open and parties are/were sometimes held there. Riots came of one RISD party there, and overturned/burned cop cars and lots of arrests were made (this was years ago).

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 13 April 2003 00:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

That broken picture ought to be:

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 13 April 2003 00:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

Barn at Northampton State Hospital

― brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 13 April 2003 20:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

and the theater

― brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 13 April 2003 20:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

somewhere in oregon along 101, can't remember exactly

― ron (ron), Friday, 2 May 2003 05:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 07:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 08:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 26 June 2003 11:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

Revive! (no pun intended)

Here's a tour of Chernobyl in 2003.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Do the images still work? This is my favourite picture thread. If the pictures don't work anymore, I suggest a new thread in this vain.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 26 August 2004 17:20 (5 years ago) Permalink

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 26 August 2004 17:21 (5 years ago) Permalink

someone should get rid of the bold, I dunno how.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 26 August 2004 17:21 (5 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

I just broke into the church on Noble Street, about a block from my apartment. Chicagoans know that one I mean. The Old Abandoned Church. Here is what I found:

Upon entering, all you see are desks. Actually, you don't even see that much, because the entry (a broken window) is in the basement, which is as dark as your ass. Scarier, too. The only light I brought was my camera, which put out a good bit of light, and my keychain, which has a tiny light on it which, once your eyes adjust to pitch blackness, proves to be quite illuminating. The flash reveals an RC cola machine.

Are those records? I didn't even see those until I looked at the pictures. I probably stepped on them. Like I said, it was dark.

There's a tattered banner outside the church that reads "2000," but these computers have obviously been in the basement for much longer than five years.

Another scene that I did not see until I looked at the pictures. This was unbelievable darkness to me at the time. Was I frightened? Yes... yes I was. A bit lost, too. The daunting prospect of navigating the basement of an abandoned church is what keeps people out, I guess.

Ah, but I finally found a small stairway which led here. Don't ask me what the yellow things are; I do not know. They look relatively unsullied by pigeon shit, which leads me to believe... something. No, actually, it doesn't lead me to believe anything at all.

The roof over the pulpit. The whole church is done in this amazing, beautiful blue.

More interiors:

This one is a 4x zoom of the ceiling, Photoshopped beyond reason just so you can see the detail. There are some odd tribal patterns up there that don't look very Christian at all.

This is, hands down, the most frightening stairway I have ever climbed. The sound of fleeing pigeons as I climbed was not reassuring.

The stairway led to the balcony. This is a kinda shaky 15-second exposure from the balcony railing that is still terribly underexposed, just to give you a rough idea of how large and how dark this place was.

A flash reveals that lovely blue again. This is also on the balcony.

I wanted to go up higher, but could not find the stairway in the dark. On the way out, I got lost. I do not recommend getting lost by yourself in a pitch-black basement of an abandoned church. I considered for a moment sleeping where I was, but was too frightened to. Eventually, I found the exit.

I'll go back in the daytime, explore more and more safely (I really was kinda crazy to go in there like I did), and be back with more photos.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Saturday, 7 May 2005 07:53 (4 years ago) Permalink

whoa, awesome! i want that crazy church organ!

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 7 May 2005 07:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

I want to know what those orange things are. Palettes of mob cash? That's a best-case scenario, I suppose.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Saturday, 7 May 2005 08:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

Kenan that is fucked up and crazy and awesome! Please be careful! Is this the big Orthodox-looking church about a block southwest of your apartment? If so, I've admired it from the outside before but didn't realize it was abandoned.

― n/a (Nick A.), Saturday, 7 May 2005 18:29 (4 years ago) Permalink

SittingPretty! You're from Harwich? I was there last summer making a documentary on the Principality of Sealand (which I will be shamelessly plugging on ILx very shortly)...have you met those guys? They're hilarious.

― giboyeux (skowly), Saturday, 7 May 2005 18:54 (4 years ago) Permalink

i love this thread and those pics are GREAT

― jones (actual), Saturday, 7 May 2005 18:57 (4 years ago) Permalink

Wow, cool. Somewhere I've got pix of the FLLW buildings I visited. Those were pretty creepy.

― it's mashed potato time! (dymaxia), Saturday, 7 May 2005 19:44 (4 years ago) Permalink

Lockers! The yellow things are empty metal lockers. Like in gym class. I don't know how that didn't occur to me before.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Saturday, 7 May 2005 20:07 (4 years ago) Permalink

I love this thread.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 7 May 2005 22:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

Lansdowne Skatepark: this is just south of Baltimore City. it was built in the 70s, so we're talking ancient history with regards to skateboarding. it was eventually abandoned and for years people (myself included) would hear about it through word of mouth and go there to "skate at your own risk." local BMXers would frequent it as well. a few years back they put up a fence and re-opened it by having someone monitor it under limited hours but it is still free of charge. i believe they also enforce a helmet rule, but i've heard they'll provide one there if you don't own one. these are pics of it before it was "reopened." it must have rained shortly before as there is a stream of mud running down the snake runs.

― Amon (eman), Saturday, 7 May 2005 23:03 (4 years ago) Permalink

I can spend hours upon hours in abandoned old places. I guess the chance of getting caught combined with the eerieness and odd serenity all give me a giant rush. This thread has revived my interest to do some exploring.

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 8 May 2005 00:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

the first shot of the church interior (the one with the mystery lockers) is breathtaking.

― g e o f f (gcannon), Sunday, 8 May 2005 02:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

Word. New construction is also pretty good, I think; I had some great times in my college library when the new wing was getting built.

― giboyeux (skowly), Sunday, 8 May 2005 02:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

I am very surprised by what I reading about the place I broke into.

http://www.lynnbecker.com/repeat/boniface/boniface.htm

A bit of architectural history. Built 1902. The place did not close in 2000 as the banner in the outside led me to believe. It closed in 1989. And here I was thinking, "Pigeons sure can shit a lot in five years."

The history of the Church itself, not in its current physical form, is much older and more interesting.

http://www.pgsa.org/ArchChiPolPar/StBonifaceChi.htm

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Monday, 9 May 2005 03:23 (4 years ago) Permalink

For Chicago, protecting religious structures is especially difficult. Despite a 1990 federal ruling that landmark laws are not an infringement of the free exercise of religion, Chicago still operates under a 1987 ordinance, the handiwork of 42nd Ward alderman Burton Natarus on behalf of Michigan Avenue's Fourth Presbyterian Church, that exempts all churches from landmark designation. The bottom line is that the city can delay demolitions but not stop them. Repealing the ordinance should be a top priority for anyone concerned with preserving Chicago's great religious buildings.

Jesus fucking Christ. Pardon the expression. Please don't tear this thing down. It's stunning even in the dark. I can only imagine what a treasure it is in full daylight.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Monday, 9 May 2005 03:32 (4 years ago) Permalink

Ok, so I went back. At night -- the daytime trip seemed a little too tresspass-y. Brought my tripod this time. Also, I am a master at navigating the basement by now.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 04:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

Someone I know puts out a zine with industrial decay as a theme. Thought some of you might be interested:

http://www.decaying-industries.com/rnb/

Also this dude probably deserves a mention. Great photos here:

http://www.abandoned-places.com/

There's some good stuff near where I live, but I don't have a camera!

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 05:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

hey, did anyone ever get to the dixie square mall? did they start demolishing it yet?

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 05:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

Far as I know, it's still there. If they tore it down, it would at least be local news.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 05:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

Still turning slowly back into prairie, too.

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 05:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

Wow. An American ruin.

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 08:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

More abandoned rooms!

― slightly more subdued (kenan), Monday, 16 May 2005 11:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

creepy abandoned theme parks.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 16 May 2005 16:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 16 May 2005 16:12 (4 years ago) Permalink

I found my Wright pix! Now all I have to do is scan them.

― mitzi gaynor (dymaxia), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:52 (4 years ago) Permalink

Wowswers, Kenan. Fucking awesome in every sense.

― Aaron A., Monday, 16 May 2005 19:53 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I think this thread needs a link to a page about an abandoned missle silo:

http://triggur.org/silo/silo.html

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 18 June 2005 13:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

this place is near me. my parents took me there when i was a kid. instead of tearing it down, they put up a fence and built a strip mall in front of it.

― Amon (eman), Saturday, 18 June 2005 14:09 (4 years ago) Permalink

haha, that makes it sound like my parents put up the fence and stripmall.

― Amon (eman), Saturday, 18 June 2005 14:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

R.I.P Jeff Chapman (a.k.a. Ninjalicious), founder of infiltration.org

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 1 September 2005 11:36 (4 years ago) Permalink

as a tribute, one of my favourite sites they visited:

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 1 September 2005 13:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Oh this is rich... a girl who rides her motorbike through the Dead Zone of Ukraine, with crazy high radiation... lots of great creepy photos:

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

― andy ---, Thursday, 16 February 2006 00:40 (3 years ago) Permalink

those were proven to be fake.

― kanye twitty (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 16 February 2006 00:55 (3 years ago) Permalink

can it be there is no mention of the holy land?

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/holy

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 16 February 2006 02:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

The Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke, SE London. Still the most terrifying place I have ever been at midnight on the night of an England match.

― Matt DC, Friday, 5 October 2007 12:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

― Matt DC, Friday, 5 October 2007 12:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

Nothing says 'run away' like an enormous Millwall mural.

― Matt DC, Friday, 5 October 2007 12:26 (2 years ago) Permalink

nice1

― max r, Friday, 5 October 2007 12:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

a guy at my work is into this. here are just a few of the pictures he has.

― carne asada, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:14 (2 years ago) Permalink

again

― carne asada, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:15 (2 years ago) Permalink

― carne asada, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

It's fun to hike up to the Overlook Mountain House if you're ever in/near Woodstock:

http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/overlook/overlook.html

― Hurting 2, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:35 (2 years ago) Permalink

this film is screening this weekend in NYC
http://urbanexplorersfilm.com/about_urban_explorers.htm

― carne asada, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:47 (2 years ago) Permalink

tickets here
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/21441?prod_id=5921

― carne asada, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:52 (2 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2007/11/it-will-rise-from-ashes.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/sets/72157603302647339/

― get bent, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:01 (1 year ago) Permalink

Found a huge area near me the other week...

Was pretty creepy actually.

― S-, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:24 (1 year ago) Permalink

Where is that?

― Tracksuit Party, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 10:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

Wow @ those links, Jody. That's so depressing to read & see.

― Pashmina, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 11:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/2066074227/in/set-72157603302647339/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/2066074099/in/set-72157603302647339/

Detroit Public Schools Repository

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 14:34 (1 year ago) Permalink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gunhappyhippy/1541116413/sizes/l/

Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, UK

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 14:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62705671@N00/2232306740/sizes/l/

Cleveland, Ohio

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 14:37 (1 year ago) Permalink

Oops the book repository already been linked!

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 14:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

― carne asada, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 15:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwasher/2243342888/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwasher/2243321544/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwasher/2242536891/sizes/l/

high royds mental hospital, menston, west yorkshire

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 15:08 (1 year ago) Permalink

― carne asada, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

― carne asada, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

It's so BIZARRE that the woodwork is in such good shape compared to everything else...makes it feel almost warm and liveable if you stop looking at the drained pool for a sec.

― Laurel, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

abandon Hotel resort. This is the place that was the inspiration for the movie “dirty dancing”. Although it wasn’t filmed here this is the type of place the movie was modeled after.

from my bro who took the pictures

― carne asada, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:28 (1 year ago) Permalink

― carne asada, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:31 (1 year ago) Permalink

Never seen this thread before. Is great. I was going to take a pic yesterday of the wall of a London tube station (dammit, can't remember which one but could always retrace my route to find it...it would be worth it). The tiles had all been ripped off leaving some pretty special cement patterns.

I have a thing for taking photos of places where posters should be (billboards? posterboards?) that are posterless before except for the little scraps from all the posters that were there before. There's lots of this going on at Chiswick tube station. Will dig out pics.

― Zoe Espera, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:33 (1 year ago) Permalink

this from upthread is crazy creepy

great thread kiu

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:34 (1 year ago) Permalink

There's lots of this going on at Chiswick tube station.

South Acton would be good for pics for this thread

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

deez, is that from enchanted forest?

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

No, nevermin. It's not.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

http://www.agilitynut.com/fairyparks/pa.html

Storyland. at Schellsburg, PA it seems

― water, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

Here's a link to some Enchanted Forest pictures, by someone trying to be spooky:

http://www.opacity.us/gallery70_through_the_fog.htm

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

Dogpatch USA:

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:49 (1 year ago) Permalink

Nice, PP. Here's the same place, but in color:

http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=52680&currpage=1&pp#post0

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 16:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

― negotiable, Tuesday, 16 September 2008 05:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

Nic pic! Any info on it?

― cardboard omnipresence (I am using your worlds), Tuesday, 16 September 2008 05:22 (1 year ago) Permalink

Just uploaded some photos I took of Westlake Ave. in Seattle this past summer, near the foot of Lake Union. Probably some the last conspicious squatters' paradise there will be for a long while if ever.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8031083@N04/sets/72157607316122510/

― Mackro Mackro, Tuesday, 16 September 2008 05:53 (1 year ago) Permalink