yeah ok can we talk about this? wtf is that thing holing?
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
his nut
― Elegant Bitch (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
haha oh shi...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 7 May 2011 19:37 (thirteen 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link