I'm sort of obsessed with them.
Let's start off this this one in the village of Pripyat, Ukraine. It never even opened because of the disaster at Chernobyl.
http://i41.tinypic.com/2wbruxd.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/1zvhg3.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Glen Echo Park, Maryland
http://i44.tinypic.com/jttn2u.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Somewhere in S. Korea
http://i40.tinypic.com/2vwz9e8.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:45 (fourteen years ago) link
What remains of the Little Dipper roller coaster ride at Chippewa Lake Park in Chippewa Lake, Ohio:
http://i44.tinypic.com/51a5na.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:51 (fourteen years ago) link
this is awesome
― zone 6 polar bear (J0rdan S.), Monday, 4 May 2009 01:52 (fourteen years ago) link
wow, how old is the little dipper? that's some pretty solid regrowth!
― juniper jazz (haitch), Monday, 4 May 2009 01:53 (fourteen years ago) link
"Chippewa Lake Park was basically just abandoned with many of the rides still standing. The park was home to 3 roller coasters - A Wild Mouse, A steel kiddie coaster named the Little Dipper and a larger wooden coaster. The wood coaster was earlier named the Big Dipper but was referred to as just "Coaster" in the later years. The ride was built about 1924 or 1925 by Fred Pearce."
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Park closed in 1978 so regrowth since then I guess.
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
i wish i had a car so i could go to chippewa lake park!
― erudite e-scholar (harbl), Monday, 4 May 2009 01:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Okpo Land in South Korea
http://i43.tinypic.com/25kgzo5.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post Yeah! I have this dream of driving across the country and visiting all the abandoned amusement parks and taking pics. I'll do it one day!
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 01:59 (fourteen years ago) link
i love these
― erudite e-scholar (harbl), Monday, 4 May 2009 01:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Benson's Wild Animal Park - Hudson, NH closed in 1987
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ilh5ix.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Lots of them here:
http://weburbanist.com/2009/03/13/abandoned-amusement-parks/
http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/parks.htm
Lots of them at Weird NJ too I think (at least they used to show up in the magazine a lot):
http://www.weirdnj.com/
And here are abandoned malls, while we're at it:
http://deadmalls.com/
― xhuxk, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Fairy Tale Forest Oak Ridge, NJ closed in 2003.
http://i41.tinypic.com/51pm2v.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:05 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post Yep - a lot of these are from those sites. Just thought a pic thread could be fun.
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Spreepark, Berlin
http://i40.tinypic.com/2ujr3tx.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
This used to be a lake with mechanical swan boats in it when I was about 13 or 14 (so, the early-mid 80s)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xole/345159587/
Sorry the guys's got a lock on the images so you'll have to look at his flickr.
― 65daysofsugban (Trayce), Monday, 4 May 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Awesome. I love this stuff.
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:22 (fourteen years ago) link
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cVF2LlOx6Zc/SV2DcpqpvLI/AAAAAAAAHic/vc77VVeA6M8/s1600/GL3
Geauga Lake Aurora, Ohio. Bought out by Six Flags in the mid-nineties who proceeded to totally ruin it. Closed in 2007. Oh how I loved it when I was a kid.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 4 May 2009 02:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Whalom Park, Lunenberg, Mass. closed in 2000 after 100+ years of operation, when its handlers went into deep deep debt. o how I loved it as a wee one, etc.
this is what it looked like in 2005 (most of the rides were demolished a year or two later):
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/4318/whal2.jpg
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8020/whal1.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4223/whal3.jpg
― voyeuristischer busch (unregistered), Monday, 4 May 2009 04:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Whalom's carousel, before & after:
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/1754/whal4.png
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1754/whal4.png
― voyeuristischer busch (unregistered), Monday, 4 May 2009 04:36 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.undergroundozarks.com/gallery/dogpatch
― •--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 4 May 2009 04:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I was married across the lake from Chippewa Lake Park!
― kate78, Monday, 4 May 2009 07:08 (fourteen years ago) link
i knew this thread was going to be good.
the cheap (mostly German) fairy forest parks i visited looked sort of abandoned, even when still open. there's some very melancholic about small-time amusement parks.
― Ludo, Monday, 4 May 2009 09:19 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark5.jpghttp://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark4.jpghttp://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark3.jpghttp://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark2.jpghttp://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark1.jpghttp://www.pushback.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ampark.jpg
There's loads more here
― Krapp's lesser-known First Tape (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 4 May 2009 09:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Also, a bumper car ride in Pripyat, near Chernobyl:
http://cache.wists.com/thumbnails/2/18/218f91f0a9c6e2ef081f02c6e3ed4976-orig
― Krapp's lesser-known First Tape (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 4 May 2009 09:30 (fourteen years ago) link
The Defunct Parks website is a goldmine!
― Krapp's lesser-known First Tape (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 4 May 2009 09:40 (fourteen years ago) link
i always love threads like this.
― MRSA Marchant (get bent), Monday, 4 May 2009 10:06 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Fantasy/ffmap.jpg
― m coleman, Monday, 4 May 2009 10:48 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Fantasy/fftracks.jpg
― m coleman, Monday, 4 May 2009 10:49 (fourteen years ago) link
here's the former petting zoo
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Fantasy/ffbarnroof.jpg
― m coleman, Monday, 4 May 2009 10:50 (fourteen years ago) link
"tom sawyer's cabin" ride
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Fantasy/fftunnelentry.jpg
― m coleman, Monday, 4 May 2009 10:53 (fourteen years ago) link
this was the 1st amusement park I ever visited. RIP
i am having trouble finding the right superlative for that "all day family fun" poster. it is a joy.
― MRSA Marchant (get bent), Monday, 4 May 2009 13:08 (fourteen years ago) link
DISNEY-TYPE PLAYGROUND
― snoball, Monday, 4 May 2009 13:22 (fourteen years ago) link
i wanna go to the three bears' house
― MRSA Marchant (get bent), Monday, 4 May 2009 13:24 (fourteen years ago) link
This thread is like the definition of the word "poignant."
Yeah, and it was great how they announced the closing right after the end of the season, so if you didn't happen to go that year, tough crap for you. Blargh. In high school I think I once rode the Big Dipper like 12 times in a row.
― naturally unfunny, though mechanically sound (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 4 May 2009 13:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Heritage USA which was apparantly built by Jim Bakker as a Christian themed park. It closed in 1989.
http://i40.tinypic.com/ncghvn.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
I went to the Alice Cooper Haunted House for halloween one year at Geauga Lake. I rode my first and only rollercoaster there.
― bela fregosi (brownie), Monday, 4 May 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Monorail from Santa's Village in Skyforest, CA.
http://i43.tinypic.com/ohoeht.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 13:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Also from Santa's Village:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2cgexco.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 14:00 (fourteen years ago) link
This thread is beautiful and very creepy and almost unbearably poignant all at once.
― Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Monday, 4 May 2009 14:09 (fourteen years ago) link
U_U
― Batsman (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 4 May 2009 14:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Six Flags New Orleans, in the Ninth Ward. The pictures of the flooded park after Katrina are astonishing, but these are more recent:
http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/main-st-six-flags-orleans.jpg
http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/six-flags-cool-zone-new-orleans.jpg
http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/six-flags-joker.jpg
― dulce est desipere in loco (Euler), Monday, 4 May 2009 14:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I went to the Santa's Village outside of Chicago all the time when I was growing up!
― homage is parody gone sour (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 4 May 2009 14:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Apparently Santa's Villages were the first franchised theme parks in the US.
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 14:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I think that my interest in this sort of thing started when I went to Asbury Park for the first time.
http://i44.tinypic.com/nn9obl.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 14:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Also from the Asbury Park, NJ boardwalk:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2nasdaq.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link
One in Japan called Utopia
http://i42.tinypic.com/2vulxlv.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:48 (fourteen years ago) link
More Utopia:
http://i42.tinypic.com/w2mu52.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Again in Japan Gulliver in the front and Mt. Fuji in the back
http://i43.tinypic.com/w1u1io.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Wow - this one is awesome. Russian themed park in Japan that was only open for 6 moths.
http://i40.tinypic.com/25p3492.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:54 (fourteen years ago) link
http://i42.tinypic.com/10wmulu.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:55 (fourteen years ago) link
that gulliver/mount fuji thing is crazy.
― Suggesteban Cambiasso (jim), Monday, 4 May 2009 21:56 (fourteen years ago) link
6 moths.
The people who financed the park started out thinking it was a good idea, but soon they saw the light.
― snoball, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Waterpark in Barcelona
http://i40.tinypic.com/53wmly.jpghttp://i44.tinypic.com/vgjzw2.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, isn't the Gulliver one amazing?!
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:14 (fourteen years ago) link
S. Korea again
http://i40.tinypic.com/wb8l92.jpghttp://i42.tinypic.com/ejvajd.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:35 (fourteen years ago) link
In China:
http://i41.tinypic.com/2wr166s.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I may actually have nightmares about this thing in Japan
http://i39.tinypic.com/qzgj8h.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link
great thread
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 4 May 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok, this may or may not be abandoned but I couldn't resist posting this slide from a children's playground in Poland
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ur5z7t.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 22:44 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, really?!
Jack Rabbit roller coaster Station - Idora Park, Ohio
http://i43.tinypic.com/30cc8iu.jpg
― ENBB, Monday, 4 May 2009 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
It always amazes me how these things just close down and just get... left there to rot and grow over. Surely the land is valuable or something, at least in some cases?
― 65daysofsugban (Trayce), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I just started a thread about Dadipark without realising you started this thread yesterday. I heard about Dadipark through work. Koinkydink. I'll post some pictures here now.
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:16 (fourteen years ago) link
http://silentuk.com/dadipark/images/img_0981.jpg
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.lost-places.nl/01/015%20dadipark/images/05.jpg
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:21 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.lost-places.nl/01/015%20dadipark/images/09.jpg
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:22 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.lost-places.nl/01/015%20dadipark/images/23.jpg
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Where have I seen this face before (reproduced somewhere, or in a movie or something. And why, at the same time, does Asbury park seem extremely familiar, yet I can't remember what it is? I suspect it may be skateboarding related).
― Edward Saroyan, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/8191353-lg.jpg
Edward, wax?
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:44 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.hullabaloo.be/fotolog/dadipark09.jpg
― Maria :D, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 02:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Scott just said, "Maria, didn't you know somebody else just started a thread today about abandoned amusement parks" but I haven't gone on ILE today except to post pictures of Dadipark. WEIRD.― Maria :D, Monday, May 4, 2009 10:07 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark
― Maria :D, Monday, May 4, 2009 10:07 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark
Weird is right!
― ENBB, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 03:02 (fourteen years ago) link
that picture is awesome
also the gullivers/fuji pic.
― Ant Attack.. (Ste), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 09:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Surely the land is valuable or something, at least in some cases?
A lot of the time the land isn't valuable at all, because it would take a lot of work to make it flat enough to build proper buildings on (as opposed to wooden barns). Also I suspect that some of these short lived parks are more tax write-offs than actual proper business propositions intended to make money.
― snoball, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 10:10 (fourteen years ago) link
This thread just keeps on giving! Gulliver and that weird white smiley face over the road are fantastic.
ENBB, do you know which waterpark in Barcelona that is? I might've actually been there (when the water was still flowing, I must add)
― Krapp's lesser-known First Tape (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 10:18 (fourteen years ago) link
wot no pictures of New Forest Lapland?
― Ant Attack.. (Ste), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 10:37 (fourteen years ago) link
No. You'll just have to imagine a picture of a disgruntled parent drop kicking an elf...
― snoball, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 10:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I love that the Fantasy Farm poster still calls Memorial Day Decoration Day!
Edward, that face is Tillie.
― tokyo rosemary, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i been to whalom park
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.roadtripmemories.com/images/roadmaveness/lucian/pinehill/holyland09.JPG
holyland usa, waterbury connecticut - cheapo biblical site recreations misterminded by eccentric local lawyer - has a lol hueg cross u can see from the highway
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 14:03 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/holy/images/CTWATsphinx.jpg
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 14:05 (fourteen years ago) link
i believe that a repurposed bust of washington
I wonder what Libertyland (Memphis, closed 2005) looks like now.
― resistance is feudal (WmC), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 14:13 (fourteen years ago) link
since it's relatively recent, not nearly as sad as a lot of the others on this thread:
http://pictopia.com/perl/get_image?provider_id=362&size=550x550_mb&ptp_photo_id=715859
― nashville - spiritual home of the cougar (will), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:19 (fourteen years ago) link
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2465834428_f89dfe8999.jpg?v=0
― nashville - spiritual home of the cougar (will), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:20 (fourteen years ago) link
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/2465824284_1c6ee58227.jpg?v=0
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/324579518_aaebe03c23.jpg?v=0
― nashville - spiritual home of the cougar (will), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:21 (fourteen years ago) link
^^ Still pretty great.
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 9:56 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmar
When I saw that was in MA I got all excited until I read the part about the ruins being demolished. :-(
― ENBB, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link
― Edward Saroyan, Monday, May 4, 2009 10:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
"Steeplechase, like the rest of Coney, was a different world at night. Here we see the circle swings on the left, the Pavilion of Fun in the middle and the parachute drop behind it. The Pavilion of Fun was built in 1907 after the park burned to the ground. George Tilyou put many of the rides (the Human Roulette Wheel, the Hoop-La, etc.) indoors, making Steeplechase impervious to the weather. The very top of the pavilion reads, "George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park." The middle of the pavilion reads "Pavilion of Fun. Geo. C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park." The large face on the building was the park's mascot and could be found all over the park."
http://www.tangento.net/images/Coney-Steeplechase.jpg
I imagine most of these parks failed because of horrible character design.
― Batsman (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Asbury Park = old boardwalk town on New Jersey shore.
Also:
http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/f/foryou_alb-greetings.jpg
― ENBB, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 15:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Let me clarify, where have I seen that face reproduced somewhere.
In fact, after some google research: even Pro skater Brian Wenning [NJ-native] took a picture of the beach friendly face for a feature in The Skate Mag.
taken from: http://ctothejl.com/shoes/nike-sb-dunk-mid-asbury-casino-metal/
That certainly corroborates my hypothesis, but I don't remember reading that interview, though!
― Edward Saroyan, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
First park I ever went to was Magic Landing in my hometown of El Paso, TX. Western-themed. They had an animatronic band just like the Chuck E Cheeze ones back in the 80s. A kid got his arm cut off by a roller coaster and it went downhill from there.
These are the very animatronic robots that used to make me cry as a toddler. You can see the oil coming out of their joints, which really doesn't comfort me at all:
http://tinypic.com/5bzbtd
― throwbookatface (skygreenleopard), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes animatronic robots are awesome but also v creepy.
From Splendid China Theme Park in Kissimmee, Florida which closed in 2003:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2roiykh.jpg
― i'm still sick, he's still drunk (ENBB), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 03:09 (fourteen years ago) link
awesome thread
― the hardest thugz the softest hugz (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 03:40 (fourteen years ago) link
some of these pictures are pulitzer-worthy,
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 03:59 (fourteen years ago) link
These pictures are very goth and I approve.
― Smart, Long, Lifephones (Bimble), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 05:38 (fourteen years ago) link
lol bimble.
x-post - I can't decide which is my favorite. I think the Gulliver one might win though because it's just so insanely bizarre and beautiful with the mountain in the back etc.
― i'm still sick, he's still drunk (ENBB), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 11:57 (fourteen years ago) link
now, that's selective.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 12:12 (fourteen years ago) link
lol yeah, no wonder it went bust
― Ant Attack.. (Ste), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 12:51 (fourteen years ago) link
;-p
― i'm still sick, he's still drunk (ENBB), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 13:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Isn't there somewhere in Japan that's setting up a Thomas Hardy village as a themepark? You want selective, you GOT selective.
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
Fantazy Land.
http://i41.tinypic.com/a48uoh.jpg
― i'm still sick, he's still drunk (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 00:29 (fourteen years ago) link
i love that name
― erudite e-scholar (harbl), Thursday, 7 May 2009 00:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey E, A+++ thead. Another great, and similarly themed, thread: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here (pic thread). Surprised this hasn't been linked to yet (if it has, I didn't see it).
― tevin "ratt" campbell (Pillbox), Thursday, 7 May 2009 01:03 (fourteen years ago) link
I hadn't seen that one actually - thanks!
― i'm still sick, he's still drunk (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 01:14 (fourteen years ago) link
this thread is so sad! esp. the sunken mushroom house and the kiddie slide in the abandoned pool
― I wish I was the royal trux (sunny successor), Thursday, 7 May 2009 03:52 (fourteen years ago) link
It's not abandoned:
― Fyodor Lolstoevsky (Pillbox), Thursday, 7 May 2009 04:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh God.
― a sweet ballet dancer (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 04:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I almost feel bad for having posted that, but it was relevant to the discussion, so what can you do?
― Fyodor Lolstoevsky (Pillbox), Thursday, 7 May 2009 04:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Re: The Asbury Park "Tillie" Face:
Tillie is the nickname of two murals of a grinning figure that was painted on the side of the Palace Amusements building in Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States. Tillie is an amusement park "fun face," painted over the winter of 1955-1956... The mural has been featured in movies, TV shows such as The Sopranos, Weird NJ magazine, and a famous photo of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band early in their career.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23021987@N06/2258955833/
― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 May 2009 04:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Tillie is pretty creepy IMO.
I love this one:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/expatrica/cyclone.jpg?t=1241720946
― a sweet ballet dancer (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 18:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I went to a swing dance in the bumper car pavilion of Glen Echo Park, Maryland (the second park pictured on the thread. It's a wonderful place to visit if you are ever in the D.C. area.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1127/819868625_c22e762632.jpg
― Virginia Plain, Thursday, 7 May 2009 20:06 (fourteen years ago) link
VP - I love that picture a lot. I want to go to D.C. just to go there. I really like the design of sign/train/etc. It reminds me a lot of a print I have hanging in my apt.
― a sweet ballet dancer (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 20:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Storyland - somewhere in PA
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/bedfstor1.jpg
― a sweet ballet dancer (ENBB), Thursday, 7 May 2009 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh man . . . .
Sex ed theme park demolished before it even opens:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8054893.stm
― Noooo! Cats are not for eating!!! (ENBB), Monday, 18 May 2009 12:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh man, skygreenleopard, I live 40 miles from El Paso. So sad I can't see Magic Landing, it looks hypnotic. If it makes you feel better, I hear 5-6 radio ads a day for Western Playland, which have great jingles. In fact, every radio ad I've heard for an amusement park has been super catchy and heartbreakingly naive.
(Just so you know, Western Playland is now in Sunland Park, NM, but El Paso still has...something you know, I'm sure.)
― cant go with u too many bees (Abbott), Monday, 18 May 2009 17:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Fantasy Gardens in Richmond, BC, Canada - themed gardens with a few of the classic "zones" - wild west, faux medieval etc. And at least 3 windmills.
http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ArtsAndCulture/2009/07/27/13-tilted-windmill.jpghttp://thetyee.cachefly.net/ArtsAndCulture/2009/07/27/7-adventure-park.jpghttp://thetyee.cachefly.net/ArtsAndCulture/2009/07/27/3-horse.jpg
― everything, Friday, 7 August 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
http://weburbanist.com/2010/03/17/uber-creepy-tour-abandoned-six-flags-new-orleans-69-pics/
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 23 March 2010 21:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh Jordan this is great! Looking through them now. <3 I had forgotten about this thread. Thanking you for the revive. :D
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 March 2010 22:58 (fourteen years ago) link
http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mardigrasHauntedhouse.jpg
The worn and weathered Mardi Gras character hanging over the roof of the haunted car ride seems menacing now
Now? Pretty sure this thing was always pretty fucking creepy.
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 March 2010 22:59 (fourteen years ago) link
http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/fade2black.jpg
love these
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 March 2010 23:02 (fourteen years ago) link
oops
Wish that they had kept the original name Jazzland.
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 March 2010 23:03 (fourteen years ago) link
My all-time favorite ILX thread! One of these amazing pix is my desktop pic.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 23 March 2010 23:27 (fourteen years ago) link
:D
Which one?
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 01:02 (fourteen years ago) link
terrific thread.
Jazzland / New Orleans Six Flags pics are really interesing
― dig yrself (lukevalentine), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 02:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Jazzland >< Sexpark
― Mark G, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 11:36 (fourteen years ago) link
http://io9.com/5584389/scenes-from-an-underground-russian-dinosaur-mine/gallery/1
― latebloomer, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:51 (thirteen years ago) link
http://cache-01.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm0
http://cache-04.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm2
― latebloomer, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:52 (thirteen years ago) link
pachycephalosaurus, meet Uncle Fester:
http://cache-02.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm6
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm7
― latebloomer, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:53 (thirteen years ago) link
http://cache-03.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm8
― latebloomer, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:54 (thirteen years ago) link
http://cache-04.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm5
http://cache-04.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/ugm4
― latebloomer, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:55 (thirteen years ago) link
:D awesome
― o sh!t a ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (ENBB), Monday, 12 July 2010 09:58 (thirteen years ago) link
These are all from Berlin's Spree Park which I know has been featured itt but I don't think these were:
http://cache-03.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/05/sp1http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/05/so8http://cache-04.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/05/sp2http://cache-03.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/05/sp14
― o sh!t a ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (ENBB), Monday, 12 July 2010 12:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh my god, those are insane.
― kkvgz, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Here's a link to some pictures of Enchanted Forest, which was featured in the John Waters film Cry Baby. My friends and I used to tresspass here and drink 40s, back when we was kids.
http://www.enchantedforestmd.org/index.php?a=48
― kkvgz, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Some more from there:
http://www.opacity.us/gallery70_through_the_fog.htm
― kkvgz, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh I've read about that one before. I have this dream of taking a big road trip and visiting a bunch of these some day.
― o sh!t a ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (ENBB), Monday, 12 July 2010 12:19 (thirteen years ago) link
An obviously cool thing about these abandoned parks is that they're outside. So if you're the type of person who likes to poke around in derelict structures, you have an easy approach and getaway as opposed to breaking into an abandoned coat factory or something. Also probably less chance of coming into contact with toxic chemicals and building materials.
― kkvgz, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Fun N Wheels, I-Drive, Orlando
http://www.pjchmiel.com/photo/elements/funnwheels1.jpg
― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Also, http://www.lostparks.com/
― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 12 July 2010 12:57 (thirteen years ago) link
not limited to amusement parks, but there's some good stuff in this thread:
Famous Places that No Longer Exist (Picture Thread)
― andrew m., Monday, 12 July 2010 14:29 (thirteen years ago) link
http://jalopnik.com/5638285/americas-abandoned-auto-dealerships/gallery/
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 15 September 2010 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcja8UBtXdk
― rent, Tuesday, 9 November 2010 05:00 (thirteen years ago) link
The project the beauty of abandoned has nice pics from abandoned waterparks and others
the link:
http://www.polviladoms.com/
― houdini, Monday, 15 November 2010 14:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I came here to post that NOLA Six Flags video two posts up.
I think it is lovely/creepy.
― Independent contractor Who manages a Road Show exclusive to Sams Club. (Nijoli), Monday, 15 November 2010 14:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Thought this may be of interest, though the sad music is kind of ott:
http://gizmodo.com/#!5799611/a-tour-of-an-abandoned-amusement-park-in-americas-heartland
― champagne hippies trying to recapture their youth (Whitey on the Moon), Saturday, 7 May 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
Nice, thanks!
This remains one of my favourite ILX threads ever.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 7 May 2011 17:48 (twelve years ago) link
Whitey that was p neat.
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
This one is still just amazing to me
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
also, this one
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
becauseofthewang
― Elegant Bitch (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
yeah ok can we talk about this? wtf is that thing holing?
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
his nut
― Elegant Bitch (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
haha oh shi...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
more Six Flags Nola, 75 hueg good pix
http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/05/creepy-crusty-crumbling-illegal-tour-of-abandoned-six-flags-new-orleans-75-pics/
― shannon HOOS of blind melSTEEN (rip van wanko), Friday, 17 June 2011 20:44 (twelve years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/zAKKfl.jpg
― shannon HOOS of blind melSTEEN (rip van wanko), Friday, 17 June 2011 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
possibly some of these repeat but theyre all amazing:
http://gawker.com/5817544/the-overgrown-squalor-of-new-orleans-abandoned-amusement-park/gallery/1
― Serial Chiller (sunny successor), Sunday, 3 July 2011 21:29 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks Sunny! A good addition to this compendium.
What fascinates me most is how these places remain in their decayed state for so long. Decades sometimes. Aren't there any kids completely ravishing the place at night? Or looters stripping the whole park of valuable iron? This never ceases to amaze me.
― Frogbs Day Afternoon (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 3 July 2011 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
Storybook Land - in Woodbridge, Virginia near Washington, D.C.
Opened in 1959, closed 1981, about a half hour drive from my childhood home
http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles49784.jpg
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblva02.jpg
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvamap.html
Great article about it from 1995, but wish it had all the haunting pictures of the ruined remains that were in the print edition. I found some current photos online though:
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow01.jpg
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow03.jpg
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall....
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow04.jpg
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow06.jpg
― Lee626, Monday, 4 July 2011 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
the map that was given to guests:
― Lee626, Monday, 4 July 2011 15:29 (twelve years ago) link
Not sure why I can't get that link to work; here's the URL:
― Lee626, Monday, 4 July 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow05.jpg
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/sblvanow02.jpg
― Lee626, Monday, 4 July 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3pm9xyKfY1r53h40o1_500.jpg
― go to party leather (ENBB), Monday, 28 January 2013 19:20 (eleven years ago) link
No-one mentioned Blobbyland yet?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/15/article-1220390-06D1E157000005DC-894_634x448.jpg
More here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220390/Pictured-The-abandoned-ruins-Mr-Blobby-theme-park-ravers-trash-site.html
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Monday, 28 January 2013 19:50 (eleven years ago) link
Oh God. Considering that Mr. Blobby is pretty much the scariest thing to ever exist in the world an I simply cannot handle an abandoned Blobby theme park. At all.
― go to party leather (ENBB), Monday, 28 January 2013 20:06 (eleven years ago) link
how did this even happen
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1902952_10154023382075707_1111416002_n.jpg
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Sunday, 30 March 2014 14:54 (ten years ago) link
That's beautiful. Abandoned Russian waterpark:
http://www.thecoolist.com/abandoned-places-10-creepy-beautiful-modern-ruins/abandoned-russian-waterpark_2/
― sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Sunday, 30 March 2014 15:14 (ten years ago) link
This combines two of my favorite things, abandoned spaces and 70s style honeymoon hotels which I guess could be considered fun parks of a sort.
http://galleries.gothamistllc.com/asset/52c1f9e107fa4e681b780e4f/mobile/PennHills-11.jpghttp://33.media.tumblr.com/8efea57695e4ca9c868ac4bed5507de0/tumblr_n6czdtsjG71rcq8imo1_500.jpg
more abandoned love here
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Monday, 30 June 2014 12:58 (nine years ago) link
I love it! That particular bathtub makes me want to barf so hard though. Tile squicks me out. I love those cabins though.
Reminds me of this resort:
http://gothamist.com/2014/05/21/kutshers_photos.php#photo-1
― how's life, Monday, 30 June 2014 13:48 (nine years ago) link
These cabins:
http://galleries.gothamistllc.com/asset/52c1f9e107fa4e681b780e4f/mobile/PennHills-25.jpg
Would totally shack up there.
― how's life, Monday, 30 June 2014 13:51 (nine years ago) link
ENBB -- my friends and I are going to explore P3nn H1lls this Saturday!!!!
― aaliyah papi (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 30 June 2014 21:08 (nine years ago) link
OMG JEALOUS
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Tuesday, 1 July 2014 01:19 (nine years ago) link
fyi:
https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10299955_10103998523398939_2462202189485741174_n.jpghttps://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/10487370_10103998524077579_2905247398861987058_n.jpghttps://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10421355_10103998523154429_4157596356634219506_n.jpghttps://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/10440750_10103998523229279_7991780633974082438_n.jpghttps://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10458638_10103998524257219_8083044456667964812_n.jpg
― DERE is no DERE DERE (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 6 July 2014 16:31 (nine years ago) link
Mirrored ceiling? Yes!
― how's life, Sunday, 6 July 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
Did the bed rotate? Tell me that the bed rotated, Matt Helm style.I don't get the big room full of furniture. Was it so worthless that the owners didn't even bother having a clearance sale?
― Welcome to the dessert of the real (snoball), Sunday, 6 July 2014 17:11 (nine years ago) link
Dude, shit was just ABANDONED, incl like hundreds and hundreds of receipts and applications w/ CC#'s and SSN's and the like...
and no bed did not rotate :(
― DERE is no DERE DERE (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 6 July 2014 17:29 (nine years ago) link
Ironically, a heart is just about the worst tub shape for a couple that likes to bathe together - the point between the two lobes gets in the way if you each lean against one side, and your legs and feet get squashed at the other end. (facing the opposite direction works even worse). You usually wind up cuddling on one side of the heart, which just wastes a ton of water on the other side. A simple rectangle or oval is much more comfortable.
I'm intrigued at that player piano though - i've never seen one with a mechanism so small it fits into a spinet. Usually player pianos are very tall with the roll stretched out vertically in the center.
http://galleries.gothamistllc.com/asset/52c1f9e107fa4e681b780e4f/mobile/PenHils-21.jpg
― Lee626, Sunday, 6 July 2014 21:21 (nine years ago) link
This thread is the best
― dem bow dem bow need calcium (seandalai), Monday, 7 July 2014 01:02 (nine years ago) link
TBH, I am a little concerned about your level of familiarity with the heart-shaped tub.
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Monday, 7 July 2014 01:02 (nine years ago) link
x-post :D
I've only once stayed at a hotel with a heart-shaped tub, when we were somewhere in New England for a few days and the only room they had available was the honeymoon suite, with a big red heart-shaped Jacuzzi right in the bedroom. But i've tried out a few others in bathroom-renovation showrooms and never liked them. And if you think they look tacky in a '70s motel, imagine how they'd look in your home.
― Lee626, Monday, 7 July 2014 02:02 (nine years ago) link
I have to go to this thing!
http://roadtrippers.kinja.com/americas-creepiest-abandoned-amusement-park-to-open-fo-1448819785/
― DonkeyTeeth, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 03:51 (nine years ago) link
OH MAN
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 27 August 2014 12:25 (nine years ago) link
I found out recently that the PRC government spent $100 million to build a China theme park in Florida that closed in 2003:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splendid_China_(Florida)
http://i.imgur.com/FeV0KUG.jpg
― 龜, Wednesday, 27 August 2014 12:33 (nine years ago) link
I have read about this. Heading to Florida tonight. I wonder where it is . . . hmmmmmm.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 27 August 2014 12:42 (nine years ago) link
They've demolished / are in the process of demolishing it apparently
― 龜, Wednesday, 27 August 2014 12:43 (nine years ago) link
https://roadtrippers.com/blog/drone-discovers-abandoned-renaissance-faire-deep-virginia-woods
http://i.imgur.com/98oRQYV.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYWe0DO4oNk
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:45 (nine years ago) link
:-(
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/09/03/arson_at_the_abandoned_spreepark_theme_park_in_berlin.html
― and in his absence, she (Lee626), Monday, 15 September 2014 01:24 (nine years ago) link
Terrible. Also: some amazing details in that article.
Mit Bilder und Video: http://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/treptow-koepenick/feuer-wuetete-im-spreepark-es-war-brandstiftung
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 15 September 2014 01:52 (nine years ago) link
Abandoned Italian Discotheques
http://www.antoniolagrotta.eu/Works___Paradise_Discotheque_divina_files/Divina_01.jpg
http://www.antoniolagrotta.eu/Works___Paradise_Discotheque.html
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 September 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link
omg!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PJtiVxG6Ig
― EMA Sumac (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 23 September 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
Also on this thread, but I think there's a fair amount of crossover between them: Desolation Photography Thread (aka Ruins Porn)
― emil.y, Tuesday, 23 September 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
I suppose kayak slalom courses, baseball parks, and beach volleyball venues constitute fun parks, certainly there was plenty of fun here for participants and spectators of the 2004 Athens Olympics, but ten years later the facilities built for them lay in ruin. It seems canoeing or baseball don't draw thousands of paying spectators in Greece.
http://cdn2.wi.gcs.trstatic.net/y0vXY7s8VDjjyQpkHbBpRWTVGm-vpvi3JrB0m0-DYR5jyJepF6MccgolPwCm6qG7b8FNiAZlKS7ihHlhMYNftw
http://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-athens-olympics-venues-2014-8
― Lee626, Friday, 19 December 2014 14:26 (nine years ago) link
Just felt a chill when I realized that the roller coaster I almost fell off of as a child looks like this
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/68e7193ca64a6b7f75a4b98d38bf1136d6aab7ba/c=0-0-1024-768&r=x513&c=680x510/local/-/media/WKYC/WKYC/2014/05/15//1400164857012-8466065735-1679dcdcb5-b.jpg
and my favorite childhood mall looks like this
http://media2.newsnet5.com/photo/2015/02/09/mall5_1423518321994_13202276_ver1.0_640_480.jpg
what's next, a tree growing straight through the center of my parents' house? full rat infestation of my elementary school? i didn't know where else to put this so i put it here.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Thursday, 30 April 2015 13:39 (eight years ago) link
I can see why you felt a chill.
My poor grandmother, I remember one Christmas taking her shopping. She said, let's head for the mall up on Austin Peay. We pull into the surprisingly empty parking lot and the mall looked pretty much like this:
http://i.imgur.com/GyOTa48.jpg
Oh, she said. I guess I hadn't seen that in the paper.
― pplains, Thursday, 30 April 2015 13:53 (eight years ago) link
i still haven't gotten a satisfying answer to why someone doesn't just raze these places and use the land for something else. why are these structures still there? i've heard "tax shelter" as an excuse/reason but I don't have any details about the financial benefits that provides. Esp compared with the blight of a large structure whose innards are covered in SNOW. when i was in hs kids used to hang out at the abandoned factories around town (RIP rust belt) but i doubt they're hanging out in the snow mall.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Thursday, 30 April 2015 14:03 (eight years ago) link
idk, my assumption would be it costs less to just leave it decay than it does to try to demolish and redevelop? but who knows rly
― gybe horses (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 30 April 2015 14:28 (eight years ago) link
I'm not a real estate head at all, but a few open-ended guesses:
For amusement parks, there is a history of redeveloping them, discussed a bit by Judith Adams in her history of the genre. The first-generation fun parks (Progressive era, Coney Island era) were often very attractive redevelopment opportunities in the postwar era. Since they'd been built by trolley companies (to draw people onto the lines on the weekends) they were almost by definition well-located for developing commuter suburbs: within the sphere of the city, but out at the edge (the end of the line, that is). Whether there was good or bad automobile infrastructure was probably a factor. Meanwhile they'd become totally unprofitable as parks (competing with TV, the movies, other diversions) and were, in any case, pretty easy to demolish. Some of them included a lot of "park-like" land (attractive for subdivision settings), as well, since, Coney aside, the typical pre-Disney amusement park was as much about wholesome picnics and concerts at the bandshell as anything else. More recent (post-Disneyland) parks, I don't know about... the only ones I've thought much about are still going concerns. Why something similar couldn't happen at Geauga Lake, I don't know. Looking at the site from space, it doesn't seem like there's just tons of development pressure in the area - there's still active farmland, for example. So maybe if you're a developer it just seems easier to look elsewhere.
Malls might be a little more complicated. Again, just speculating, but if you're looking to build anything other than a mall (which has already proven to be a failure on the very spot), mall sites might really be an albatross. They're enormous and covered with asphalt and concrete, which you'll have to rip out unless you're going with something very similar to a mall. The mall building itself is going to be expensive to demolish. They're zoned for a certain density of commercial, which again has failed, so you have to think about some other use. They're typically located at the intersections of big roads (let's say six lanes-ish) or even completely surrounded by them, and are probably near lots of other parking-lot commercial retail, in general not super attractive for residential subdivision, not to mention the possible difficulties of platting them out and laying infrastructure. They are not near transit, which is unfortunate since otherwise they could be prime opportunities for some kind of transit-oriented mixed-use scheme (assuming you could get it rezoned). My best guess would be "office park" but maybe that's not remunerative enough to justify dealing with any of this. If you're the owner, you're probably undercapitalized since you are someone who owns dead malls, so doing any of this out of pocket is impossible and getting it financed might be tricky since the bank/investors might basically think "why don't we put our money in some other guy who has land not burdened with all these added costs?"
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 April 2015 15:31 (eight years ago) link
Different things would apply in the case of the rare downtown mall obviously. Columbus OH tore theirs down just a few years back (having built it in the 80s to compete with the suburban malls). Not as unattractive of a parcel of land, but also the downtown is already kind of saturated with office space and is only in its first years of becoming attractive to yuppies and building new housing and so on. The city bought it back in the 2000s after basically threatening to evict the current management/ownership on the grounds that they were incompetent to the point of negligence (by this point it was a definitively dead mall). They kept the well-used parking garage and tore down the mall to make a "commons," which at the time appeared to be basically a holding action: develop it in a low-impact way, leaving it open for the machinations of the next smooth talker to sail into town with a strawboater and a song.
Kind of amazingly, some (admittedly undistinguished) new buildings have gone up on the flanking, street-side parcels, though they don't use their park frontage as effectively as they might. They suggest that the property might in fact remain a viable "central park" as downtown continues to yuppify and fill in its many, many parking lots and missing teeth. (There are bigger, arguably better parks not far away, but the density goes way down and the parking lot quantity goes way up thataway). Who knows, in twenty years the mall dying might prove to be the best thing to ever happen to the city.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 April 2015 15:47 (eight years ago) link
I was at the light this morning looking at this very worn-out Pizza Hut, wondering how they stay in business.
http://i.imgur.com/vXFLma1.png
And like the Waffle House next door that got turned into a Chinese restaurant, Pizza Huts are notorious for being transformed into other places of business. In 2035, will we be driving past "the old Chipotle that's now an insurance office" or saying "You can tell that it was a Chik-fil-A, the waiting room is where the playground used to be."
― pplains, Thursday, 30 April 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link
http://notfoolinganybody.com/?indexPost=1058 glad to see this site is still going (I think)?
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 April 2015 16:00 (eight years ago) link
We have a KFC turned into an independent Mexican sit-down restaurant up the street. It looks a ton better, but was probably the worst Mexican food I've ever eaten.
― how's life, Thursday, 30 April 2015 16:40 (eight years ago) link
it's going to take me a while to digest all that but in the meantime if you're into malls you gotta know about this guy! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._DeBartolo,_Sr.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Thursday, 30 April 2015 17:23 (eight years ago) link
I think the best idea for redeveloping a mall would be a school. You've got rooms, wiring, parking, food prep areas, communal areas. Why not turn it into a small college? Oh right because no one wants to build a college ;_;The one where I work is a Frankenstein's monster of a building, part of which used to be a movie studio. We have large meetings there now.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Friday, 1 May 2015 13:59 (eight years ago) link
Bunch of good stuff here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/07/04/seph_lawless_photographs_abandoned_theme_parks_in_his_book_bizarro_photos.html
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Saturday, 4 July 2015 14:26 (eight years ago) link
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/abandoned-santa-parks
― a cruet of destiny (seandalai), Thursday, 24 December 2015 12:44 (eight years ago) link
Not amusement parks, but modernist/brutalist housing estates. In Paris. These are LUSH.
http://www.creativeboom.com/photography/neglected-utopia-photographer-explores-the-forgotten-modernist-estates-of-paris/
http://www.creativeboom.com/uploads/articles/da/dad030a0709cce1d65eae4ffe7ec9b123d0cee5a_860.jpg
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 17 February 2016 09:08 (eight years ago) link
http://www.creativeboom.com/uploads/articles/dc/dc2fd89e36972344f5ddf01e3e472ffc0df25742_860.jpg
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 17 February 2016 09:09 (eight years ago) link
http://www.creativeboom.com/uploads/articles/3a/3a196ade3e5f12b0c35609fb6c536b615b68ac95_860.jpg
Jean Renaudie/Studio Montrouge at the top - he did a lot of stuff in that vein, in some very industrial/Red neighborhoods; I've poked around the ones in Ivry-sur-Seine, pictured above, and Saint-Denis. Some apects strike me as very livable and fabulous, others very bleak and challenging, and others just kinda "there." The Cité des Etoiles, outside Lyon in a much greener setting, looks spectacular. Renaudie was IIRC an unreformed old commie and really 100% believed in what he was doing as a project for a better and more humane life for the working class. There was a monograph a few years ago which I remember enjoying even if I don't think it 100% clarified the payoff of all those triangular layouts beyond maximizing light/views/connection to the terraces. Wonder how the hell you occupy/furnish some of those spaces.
Having a very hard time seeing "modernist" next to Ricardo Bofill's 1980s work (the other two). They are almost textbook post-modernist, with the in-your-face classical allusions and general interest in playing with semiotic meaning (or telling "jokes") not to mention the framing of legible exterior space (courtyards) rather than objects sitting in a field. Some of the latter part certainly overlaps with late modernism but lumping them together with Émile Aillaud's towers in Nanterre (which are of similar date but a totally different 'generation' design-wise), as this article does, is a bit annoying. /architecturalhistorian
― shandemonium padawan (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 17 February 2016 17:06 (eight years ago) link
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/boblo-island-abandoned-amusement-park?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=atlas-page
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 1 December 2016 20:14 (seven years ago) link
http://assets.atlasobscura.com/media/W1siZiIsInVwbG9hZHMvcGxhY2VfaW1hZ2VzLzk0MThmZWI5OTZjMTI2MDFlNl83MTE0NDU1OTkzXzFlYzFmYmVjZDVfay5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJ0aHVtYiIsIngzOTA-Il0sWyJwIiwiY29udmVydCIsIi1xdWFsaXR5IDkxIC1hdXRvLW9yaWVudCJdXQ/7114455993_1ec1fbecd5_k.jpg
http://assets.atlasobscura.com/media/W1siZiIsInVwbG9hZHMvcGxhY2VfaW1hZ2VzLzk0MThmZWI5OTZjMTI2MDFlNl8xMDc5MDk2NDc4Nl9kYWM5NDE4YWY5X2suanBnIl0sWyJwIiwidGh1bWIiLCJ4MzkwPiJdLFsicCIsImNvbnZlcnQiLCItcXVhbGl0eSA5MSAtYXV0by1vcmllbnQiXV0/10790964786_dac9418af9_k.jpg
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 1 December 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link
not quite an amusement park tbf but holy shit check out burj al abas, this abandoned castle-themed housing development in turkey
https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5c3f4be1b492cb1ad35e4af5-1920-1280.jpghttps://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5c3f602f7196711e1a38f736-750-500.jpghttps://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Findigodergisi.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F11%2Fburj-al-babas-projesi-mudurnu-villa-sato-1.jpg&f=1https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-pro.elsalvador.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F02%2FBurj-Al-Babas.jpg&f=1https://tele1.com.tr/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/burj-al-babas.jpg
― kiss me dadly (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 13:37 (five years ago) link
!!!!
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 13:43 (five years ago) link
amazing that these clone-stamped mcmansioncastles somehow failed to set the turkish housing market alight
― kiss me dadly (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 13:49 (five years ago) link
The proportions are so strange.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 03:36 (five years ago) link
Reminds me of those Chinese imitation euro towns no one would actually live in.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 03:40 (five years ago) link
Appropriately, this thread is filled with dead links and abandoned websites.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 9 April 2022 00:39 (two years ago) link