Enter the Dragon
By: ShadowBat , Posted on June 27, 2011
Just happened to stumble upon this, while in the general area (alright it was on my radar for a while, but I completely forgot until now). Saw that it could be an easy spot to get into and I kept it in mind for later that night. As my plans for the night fell through as usual, I made the journey back to check it out.
This building will house much needed science labs for a fast growing and renewing college campus anxious to shed it's banal institutional image with a host of new architecturally significant structures. The focal point here will be a full height atrium with a soaring spiral staircase. Should be real impressive when done.
Quatro Concrete: The Abandoned Cement Truck building
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on June 24, 2011
It's not every day you come across a building filled with abandoned cement trucks. When you do, you keep your mouth shut on where it's located.
Adventure
One of our minions down at the research department was surfing satellite images and raised questions as to what the hell this place was. It seemed abandoned enough, so it made it onto the to-do list and was picked up along with a few others in the immediate area.
Upon arrival, there's zero people around, and that's not surprising - because there's really nothing else around here. Making our way over concrete blocks and aggregate mountains, eventually we slide down into a lot full of rusting old machines. This stuff hasn't seen any action in decades.
Making out way forward we go towards the real target - a huge abandoned warehouse style building. Having read the report on this dump, My personal assumption would be that it would be empty and boring. Boy was I happily wrong.
Instead we found a large supply of old cement mixers and related parts - and a clue to this buildings deeper history. The windows - the ones still in place that is - are painted in a crazy mix of colors. High on one wall is a painting of kids playing basketball. At the far end of the building, a basketball hoop hangs high. Clearly, this place was once a gym. But for who? and when? There's no schools over here, or churches, or anything else, for that matter.
Upstairs we find a row of battered ancient filing cabinets. All are empty. There's a touch of graffiti, dating back to the 1980s - a very rare archaeological find considering how little original graffiti exists today.
On a desk in the corner is an address book - all hand written. In it there's not just names of business contacts, but where the owner of this book met said people. It seems to be the address book of the owner of the cement company. Curiously I thumb through it looking for older relatives of people I that might have ended up in a book like this - though sadly it seems they never crossed paths. (Would have been a pretty amazing find on a personal level if there was a connection).
Satisfied we had seen it all and shot everything worth shooting, it was off to the next location. Someday we'll get around to getting the exact history of this place - but definitely not today. It's bright and warm out, and there's the ever present to-do list, with 4 more spots to hit before day's end. Such is the weekend grind around here - and so it goes.
The Goss Hotel
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on June 21, 2011
History
The Goss Hotel opened in 1919 and eventually grew to become a sprawling campus resort. After the original owner died in the 70s, coupled with a lack of interest from younger clientele looking for a different vacation experience than what The Goss offered, the hotel shut down in 1986.
Adventure
Today, this location attracts visitors of a different sort - those looking for a vacation that enters a world of decade and depravity, where destruction and decay are seen not as blight, but an attraction worth traveling hours by car to see.
Located in the middle of nowhere, this is a lawless place. Abandoned and exposed to the elements, some buildings here have collapsed, while others are left for the picking by scrappers and vandals.
Some parts of this property are outright dangerous - piles of crap are everywhere - ceilings falling in, holes in floors. Not a place for the faint of heart.
Other sections are brilliant, and a must see attraction. The pool area is an amazing biology experiment all of it's own - with plants growing across a mossy damp floor. The main lobby is another location of intrigue, as evidence in 'new' walling highlights some of the renovation work done in te 1980s meant to help reopen the hotel. This of course never happened, leaving the sprawling room as an illicit canvas for notorious interior decorators to experiment with styles.
All in all, the Goss is not to be missed. See it now, before it caves in on itself.
Donkey Kong’s Revenge
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on May 31, 2011
In a nearly forgotten part of queens one can find this tragic concrete cesspool. A true monument to the Bloomberg era of NYC governance. For only under Bloomberg has NYC witnesses an economy that was largely based on one huge 'redevelopment' scheme. Old mom and pop businesses, factories, and assorted buildings were forced to sell out - occasionally under the threat of eminent domain ( the most unamerican law ever passed) - and 'real estate developers' swooped in to tear down the old buildings and replace them with huge ugly condos. This created a temporary bump in jobs, exclusively in the construction field, but eventually crashed. This crash left ridiculous sights such as Donkey Kong's Revenge here a common sight all over NYC.
Current History: This mess of a construction site has sat abandoned now for at least 2 years, and has been stalled for at least another year or 3 before that.
Adventure: This place just attracts people, and the instant someone finally cut a hole in the fence and ripped the lock off the back gate, the people flooded in. Me and Sleazy arrive upon the scene and within 2 minutes find a Mexican sleeping in one of the man plywood construction rooms on ground level. Unimpressed with his insufficient stock of alcohol, we make our way to the next set of construction rooms and find blueprints scattered in the wind. Anything of actual value has already been looted, though I can't say I was expecting to find much here. We head upstairs and find the open exposed mess of the upper floors to be a curious tower over the area. We spot a couple coming through the hole in the fence and wonder if they'll bother coming upstairs. Eventually we move further up, until we reach the upper level, where a Raccoon curiously eyes us from the top of the stairs. Cute but troublesome, we avoid the small beast and head back down to notGreet that couple that came in. We lurk around and manage to give them the piss shivers without even trying. They leave, and we lurk by the entrance in the dark as the male comes back in, then leaves when we hiss at him. Loser. Who's afraid of the dark? We eventually leave, searching for better loot, more alcohol, and more lame people to menace. Because when the abandonment sucks, there's always idiots to fuck with.
Bushwick Trailer Park
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on March 31, 2011
By now you've probably heard of the
Brooklyn Trailer Park Commune. They were evicted from their warehouse space by the FDNY. Upon being pushed out, they took up residence in an abandoned lot which was an old RR siding lot off of the old
Bushwick Freight Yard (currently leased by the NY&A RR to Kings Lumber, who receives rail cars of bricks and lumber).
This eviction seems to have been completely illegal. Kings lumber knew who was living on their land - that is - if it's even their land. So far as i can see the trailers were on a plot that used to be an old railroad siding that has not been in use for decades. This siding was probably never formally abandoned, but if it was - the rights of ownership most likely go to adjacent property owners.
Of course, some idiots say 'the commune people should follow the law' - Ridiculous. it appears in this case they did, and that those who booted them off the property - Kings lumber and the NYPD - did not. But hey, why not beat up on the weirdos? It's a sick sad NYC tradition. Then again,
animal torture (?) isn't something we like here, either.
The last press article merely stated the trailers were now on the street while the commune folk tried to find a place to store them. We just happened to come across these trailers one evening on the Greenpoint waterfront. Claims that the trailers were damaged when removed from the lumber yard seemed unfounded. All looked to be in good shape for their age.
What will become of these trailers, no one knows. With no residents and no private land to place them, I wouldn't be surprised if they're sold off.
BS Hospital
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on March 14, 2011
History:
Built in the late 1800s, this is a very old NYC building. Sadly, it is one that seems doomed to decay and crumble into dust. It currently sits fenced off on an under utilized campus awaiting an uncertain fate.
To paint a more gloomy picture, some of its neighboring buildings from the same era were landmarked with an eye towards preserving their rich history in medical research. No answer for why this particular building was overlooked could be found online.
Its sturdy walls and construction, along with the fact that it is still very much structurally intact after all these years of neglect, is a true testament to those who build it.
Wandering around the campus, looking from building to building, we couldn't help but to be drawn into this fantastic structure. This building was very much like the hundreds of others I've seen over the years, but it had a certain charm to it. Despite all that has been thrown against it, and the absolute neglect of its owners, it's still standing, firm and tall.
Here's to hoping that someone with half a brain finds a use for this place.
Sex On Fridays Gas
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on March 4, 2011
I'm calling this one SOF gas in tribute to the NE Queens writers that ripped the face off this spot.
Abandoned for a few years now, this gas station is prime real estate for viewing graffiti from passing subways, as well as a reat place for an improved game of drunken soccer on a Saturday night.
M Fine’s old abandoned warehouse location
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on March 3, 2011
This old low rise abandoned warehouse building has an eventual date with the wrecking ball. Its current ownership seems to be a blurry line between the NYC government and a huge waste management company (aptly named 'Waste Management') who noted on it's demo application:
Read More Here
Highest Lowpoint
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on February 21, 2011
At the highest point in the system lays this lowest layup track, dipping below all others and dead ending. The logic behind this strange structure has long been lost, and the track here was both little used and recently removed during the current viaduct rehabilitation project.
Glenwood power plant graffiti
By: Bad Guy Joe , Posted on
Here's a set of photos showing just some of the Glenwood power plant graffiti. Over the decades, this abandoned power plant became a mecca for writers looking to paint without interference from the police.
