(photography book, i meant to add)
― just1n3, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll have to check that out Justin3, looks interesting.
xpost:
It was something that struck me when I first moved to the US from Australia, the bankrupt business left standing, signs and all. Old restaurants, lumber yards, sign still in tact, weeds coming up through the parking lot.
I can't really remember seeing much like this back home. If a business went bellyup, either the signs got taken down and it stayed empty for however long...or it got turned into something else.
I guess I find the 'business graveyard' concept unique in a way. Not in a good way. In a mostly disturbing way. But it's just such an oddity to me I can't help be morbidly fascinated by it.
I mean, a new example is the Mervyn's here in Folsom. Big ugly strip mall building, completely empty, signs still up...it went belly up 2 or more years ago and the signs are still there, as though it's still open. Kinda confounds me in a way. At least take the signs down...
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link
mcmahon's timber yard, limerick
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs923.snc4/73683_10150117688229918_709809917_7723307_1011392_n.jpg
― decent skinsmanship (Michael B), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
awesome clock is awesome
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
We had a business near my old house outside of Baltimore called Value City Furniture. It was an anchor store in an outdoor strip mall that had originally been an indoor mall. Like, the indoor mall was all closed-up and off-limits and if you went up to a window, it looked like an apocalyptic wasteland but the side facing the street had been repurposed. Anyway, Value City was huge – like the size of a Macy’s or something but filled up with crappy furniture and floor lamps and panther statues and the like.
http://www.eurostylelighting.com/images/splashes/floor-lamp.jpghttp://www.fabulousfurniture.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/300x300/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/c/s/cs1121_1.jpg
So one day, I was driving buy and Value City had a CLOSED sign on it and there was garbage in the parking lot and I was like “Well, that’s how it goes in this economy…” But months later, I was driving through the alley next to the store, so I could get to the hardware store next door and discovered that Value City was still operating out of its own basement while the first and second floors were closed up and desolate. It was pretty weird to discover that they had been there the whole time.
― kkvgz, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:26 (thirteen years ago) link
wow. So were they keeping it hush hush? I picture something liek "Talk to Hal the baker, he'll give you the secret password. Knock once on the blue mailbox on the corner and wait for further instructions."
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, no. Down in the alley, there was a window into a well-lit showroom and a sign, but facing the 4 lane highway, there was just an empty parking lot and a huge shuttered-up building with unlit signage.
― kkvgz, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
How weird.
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
do the row houses have decomposing dead bodies in them in real life?
― sarahel, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 19:30 (thirteen years ago) link
lol sarah. I saw the row houses and my first thought was 'Hamsterdam!'.
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 16 November 2010 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
The one deserted west Baltimore rowhouse that I’ve ever been in (for a Habitat for Humanity volunteer gig with my church group) had a dirty mattress in it with magazine pictures of r&b singers tacked to the wall. The floor was strewn with broken glass, feces, the occasional condom and lots and lots and lots of hypodermic needles.
― kkvgz, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 19:41 (thirteen years ago) link
there was one last week: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-vacant-home-fatal-20101108,0,643733.story
― another al3x, Tuesday, 16 November 2010 19:59 (thirteen years ago) link
http://docomomo.ie/wordpress1/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/16012014_DOCO01_Limerick_Competition_Docks_003LR.jpg
Ranks Mill, Limerick. They tried to topple it with dynamite a few years back but weren't successful.
― tayto fan (Michael B), Wednesday, 8 April 2015 14:03 (nine years ago) link
https://irishurbanexplorations.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_5460.jpg?w=1200
― tayto fan (Michael B), Wednesday, 8 April 2015 14:05 (nine years ago) link
now spreading in NYC: "ZOMBIE URBANISM"
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2016/08/zombie-urbanism.html
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 18:17 (eight years ago) link