At the end of this month, I'm leading a walking tour for the Royal Asiatic Society. It's not going to involve UE, at least directly, but we are going to be visiting a lot of historic locations that I previously urban explored before demolition.
Yongsan is in central Seoul, and it's home to a 2.5-square-kilometer US army base. For the past couple decades, it's actually been known for its extensive electronics market, although the advent of the Internet has given consumers more honest options. Still, it is within this community where Korea became a giant of the global electronics industry.
So, when I was scouting out for the tour, I was surprised to discover that now the electronics market is being demolished.
Let's start at Yongsan Station, which is in the eye of the urban renewal storm.
1. Looks pretty normal from this angle, right?
2. From the roof, it becomes apparent how much wasted land is in this very central location. In the foreground is the former location of a sizeable red-light district. The tents in the middle reprsent a variety of different restaurants.
That green field in the background was the site of a deadly rooftop battle between evictees and anti-terrorism riot police, claiming the lives of five protesters and one cop. It has been sitting empty since 2009.
3. This wasted land has resulted in a community of high walls.
4. Meanwhile, on the other side of Yongsan Station, there's the ground of the former railyard, now also sitting empty. This is where they were going to build that crazy exploding Twin Towers skyscraper. That plan has been scrapped and the land sits empty.
http://www.nydaily...l-article-1.989391
5. This is the main building of Yongsan Electronics Market, now all blanketed up for demolition. I was more than a little shocked when I made this random discovery.
6. It's also the location of the very first official Hooters in Korea.
7. I've always as a rule avoided entering buildings undergoing demolition. This is only the second building I willingly violated that rule for.
8. Not too long ago, this was a fairly busy electronics mall. There would've been hardware stores on the left, and shady bootleg DVD vendors on the right.
9. Before 1990, this was a major bus terminal. The parking for the buses can still be seen here.
10. Due to the amount of debris inside, I finally got some use out of my respirator.
11. Of course I had to take more than a few selcas with it.
12. There used to be a pedway into the next building over right here. I took one of my favourite pictures of my ex-wife in there.
13. Up on the second floor, this was the section for games. You can see "Nintendo" on a couple of these signs.
14. I don't think I've ever found such a large escalator system abandoned before.
15. To justify the thread title. It was either this or "Hooters makes you happy" (shouldn't it be "Hooters make you happy"?).
16. Sambo Samsung Daewoo Geumseong -- I wonder why I only know two of those names.
17. I've been shopping here many times. I bought second ever camera just down the hall behind this (a Nikon Coolpix 4500 I think).
18. The electronics vendors in this area were legendary for being able to take malfunctioning equipment and make them sellable again.
19. The skylight at the top floor.
20.
21. Getting up on the roof was a lifesaver. I was finally able to breathe unfiltered air.
22. Another look over the empty railyard. The line of buildings in the background is along the north side of the river, with the buildings further in the distance on the far side. Original plans called for demolition to go all the way up to the river.
23. Those highrises were going to go too. I can still see yellow protest banners hanging from many apartments. The fate of that shrine was uncertain. It's a major Catholic martyr site.
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25. Looking back at the pedway stretching from the electronics market, over the railyard, to Yongsan Station. It's a major recreation and commerce center, surrounded by nothing.
