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I thought it'd make for an interesting thread to muse about now demolished/long gone locations you either knew of but never got to explore before they were gone or places you only found out about after they were gone.
For me the first one that pops into my mind is the old Vacation Village casino (https://web.archiv...ow.asp?locid=21360) that used to be south of the strip here in Las Vegas. My family used to eat there on occasion when it was open, but I don't know why I have a lasting attachment to the place. An amusing memory I have of the place is that my dad used to call it the "Vagrant Village" even when it was open (I'm not sure why, it wasn't THAT bad lol, a solid average for small off-strip casinos).
It closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2004, so it was only a brief window where exploring wold have been possible. Today the Town Square shopping center stands on the former site.
However, I just toady found that one site I've had on the back-burner for years is now gone. I'm not even sure what the actual name was, but I knew it as the IHOP Casino due to it being an IHOP restaurant with a hotel attached. It was just west of the strip on Tropicana. It closed sometime in the mid 2000s and sat there for a good many years just begging to be explored. I never got around to it, and now its gone! Gone! Oh well. I'm actually surprised it was there as long as it was because that is a prime location and things change quickly around here.
Anyhow, I'm sure I'm not the only one with similar regrets for not having acted before somewhere was lost to the sands of time.
https://www.flickr...tos/133428921@N04/ | |
Exploring regret is a poor past time...
timing is everything.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
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Fort Worth meatpacking plant.
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I'll hit that place next weekend.
Drives up to a gravel lot......
Ezekiel 25:17 | |
I learned about an abandoned movie theater nearby, apparently it was really easy to get into and had stood in ownership limbo for over a decade. Of course, when I Googled it, I learned that demolition had started that weekend.
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The first thing I missed out on: the Japanese Government General Building of Korea.
After Japan annexed Korea, they built this huge modern government building on the grounds of one of the main palaces of Seoul, as a huge geomantic fuck you to the Korean people.
Here you can see it towering over the traditional gate to Korea's main palace.
From the other side, you can see how the palace is intentionally overshadowed by the building.
The building more or less survived the war and came into use by South Korean governments for decades.
In 1995, demolition slowly began. In 1996, I visited Seoul for the first time and saw the building all covered up in a green netting. I would confused why they would demolish a perfectly ordinary building, not really understanding the history behind it.
Now, looking back and knowing what I know about Korean demolition, I could've easily slipped past the net and explored this significant building right before it was destroyed.
Here's a demolition picture taken sometime after my visit.
The palace has been undergoing a long-term reconstruction project to restore it to pre-Japanese occupation and is now one of the country's top historic tourist sites.
[last edit 12/18/2017 3:01 AM by Steed - edited 1 times]
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Nothing really big but there were a few houses in the area that stood for YEARS upon YEARS untouched then as soon as I wanted to explore them they vanished..lol
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Rolling Acres for sure. When I found out about it the mall was already mostly demolished besides the chandelier. Would have been great but there are plenty more places out there to explore.
My advice, plan quickly and do your research. A lot of malls lately are getting turned into "Amazon fulfillment centers", so the life span of an abandoned mall could be shorter now.
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The saddest thing for me was when I was in middle school and looking at the abandoned waterpark Surf Cincinnati
http://abnf.co/OH-surf_cincinnati.htm
And I spent a lot of time plotting as to how I could get my parents to let me go and when I found the address and put it in Google Maps I found a church there. How naive I was back then...
Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm? | |
Cane Hill Hospital.
It was arguably the best derelict asylum the UK ever had - in terms of scale, grandeur, decay and the amount of belongings and stuff left inside. Seeing photos of it in the mid-00s was the first real catalyst I had that propelled me on the path to becoming an actual explorer, but sadly by the time I managed to get out for myself the first time (June 2009), it had already been around 2/3s demolished and what was left standing had been gutted. I will always kick myself that I didn't get started just a year and a half earlier when it had all been still standing.
Aerial photo below taken some time before closure....
I actually regret not seeing more of the asylums that were around during my early year or so of exploration - Graylingwell, St. Mary's (Stannington), St. George's (Morpeth), St. Lawrence's (Bodmin), Severalls, Cherry Knowle, Park Prewitt, St. Ebbas, Stone House were all ones I could have seen if I'd been a little bit more experienced and well connected. But Cane Hill was the big one.
Severalls has only just been demolished and was pretty much the last of the great 'age of asylum explores' facilities left standing.
I guess I was lucky to see the asylums that I did, as there is simply nothing else like them in the UK now. There were numerous hospitals I could list off that I missed as well, Middlesex with it's trio of porcelain slabs in the morgue, Lincoln General with it's amazing architecture. The Radcliffe Infirmary which was in my home town about twenty minutes walk from my house and was utterly huge, the list goes on. Luckily I got to explore a small amount of The Radcliffe Infirmary that was saved from demolition, and that was brilliant.
[last edit 12/26/2017 10:39 AM by mookster - edited 1 times]
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The Haney Correctional Institute!
I had heard from so many more experienced UE explorers in my area about this place and a few people who used to use it as a paintball field. According to my research and the stories I heard the building was absolutely massive with tons of POE's and every person I talked to said the place sent chills down their spine which is my favorite kind of abandonment. Another plus was that it was a bit of a hike into the forest to get there but there would be at least no chance of anyone in a neighborhood seeing us trespass.
Everyone I spoke with "believed" it was still standing so without doing my own research like a total rookie I dragged a bunch of my friends all over the forested area in the dark looking for the building, only for one of my friends to google on their phones that the place had been demolished in 2012. I was so upset! This was in 2015 so we had missed it by 3 years :(
I will literally never get over this.
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Seems like every 5 years this type of thread comes up.
For me I would have killed to see Worcester State hospital right after it was abandoned. I really liked that building.
As far as lost opportunities. I had the offer of a good friend to take me to Danvers, Northampton, and Met State all in the same weekend. I just had to get to Boston. This was circa 2003 and fresh out of college I just didn't have the money. A few years later when I did they were all (mostly) gone.
Everyone has a dark side, mines just a little more illuminated. | |
I noticed this one place about 2-3 weeks ago and was extremely eager to go and explore it and i planned to go tomorrow. However, today while on the bus I saw that it was being demolished. So there goes that adventure.
The real kicker is I've passed by there at least 50 times and didn't notice it until recently.
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