Abandoned adventures, places and history from New York and other states.
Abandoned Church of Divine Flames
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The main attraction 😍😍😍
A surprise I would never forget.
One cold morning, S and I headed across town to check out a church many Instagrammers have trodden upon when this church became known for its abandonment in the sprawling green lawns of this residential neighborhood. It seemed every day when the first image appeared of this church's unique stained glass windows everyone all of a sudden appeared within its walls within the next two weeks. Mind boggling how one picture starts out online and all of sudden everyone knew about it.
S and I parked the car and took a spin in front of the church only to realize that from the street level you could see another feature of this church prominently displayed in full view (main photo above). It was the plastic/glass rods hanging from the ceiling. Finding no entrance from the front, we went around and made our way past the high chain link fence and entered the partitioned side of the walkway to the busted door lock. Making our way inside, I headed straight for the chandelier and clicked away happily until S shouted to come take a look inside the main church hall.
👀
Inside was just the way it was even months had passed since the last posting of this property. Everything was in unblemished condition with the exception of bad graffiti in the balcony seating some immature scoundrel(s) decided to mark up. The red seats, in particular, showing their age where many congregants sat for years and years of church service. Behind the pulpit stood the shimmering and brightly colored stained glass depicting the red hot yellow flames smoldering bush from a green base. It was all there and more from the very first moment I saw it appear in my Instagram feed.
Center Aisle
Balcony
The Biblical Bush
On the side stood the piano forlornly waiting to be hammered into religious harmony. Behind stood a standalone church kitchen and backroom where I assumed the congregation gathered for light lunches and church dinners. Chairs and tables piled high throughout. The only sound emanating from the room was water dripping down from somewhere. A tell-tale sign of an unmaintained roof. After clicking away with delight we headed upstairs to check out the rooms and find the way up to the balcony overflow seating. After finding it and shooting from above, we found more empty rooms, office storage and a standalone room which must have been a church classroom due to the blackboard. Nothing of note besides the balcony existed upstairs. So we made our way down the basement level.
No sweet melodies
Center View
Front of Pulpit
Down in the basement, we found a pitch black room large enough for a dancehall party of 100 people or more. If I remember correctly there was a disco ball or not. It has been awhile since I visited this church. My memory a bit fuzzy of what I explored down in the basement. Nothing of note and no tools to aid us in lighting the room, we made our way underneath the chandelier and clicked away at all angles until we decided our time was up and left.
Office Room
Bumping our fists heading to the car, another exploration completed in the books.
Rockaway Metals Products (RMP) began as a sheet metal fabrication factory beginning in 1961. RMP occupied the site from 1971 to 1987 leaving a plethora of hazardous waste materials onsite. From 1990 to 2004 the building housed various tenants which even included an auto repair shop. Rockaway Metals a manufacturer of filing cabinets and other metal products closed down in 1987. It was leased a few years ago to different owners who did not manage the 4.85-acre parcel. The 155, 000 square foot building has long been an eyesore and trouble in the neighborhood since its closure. A coastal storm in March 2018 blew debris materials to adjacent properties. Rockaway Metals was acquired by Nassau County in 1995 by tax deed. The county holding onto the property for 22 plus years. In February 2011, the site was damaged by fire and condemned soon thereafter. For more in-depth legal ownership of the property, you can read more below in the source list under U.S. v. 175 INWOOD ASSOCIATES LLP.
A remarkable lens from Japan, very sharp wide open, of the famous zeiss inspired design with preset aperture. It's well made, all glass and steel, with excellent color and contrast. The optics in this lens are amazing, it is simple and it works. It's bokeh and colour rendering are brilliant and it's as sharp as a razor. This is one of the mythical lenses of the days of lore, and hard to find even on ebay. There is about 340 degrees of rotation on the focus ring. The lens came with a 2X adapter as well. This series of lenses (model 680) were made between 1962 & 1969. The included tele converter is shown in the picture. This gave the kit the twin tele name.
Also known as the Taisei Kogaku [Tamron] Tamron 680 Twin-Tele 135mm f/2.8. A rare lens with the hard to adapt praktina mount. Mounting this lens onto to a EOS Rebel won't be easy. I have been trying to source an adapter for my Canon 600D Rebel but so far all information has pointed me to praticka B mount adapters…
One thing to be aware of when purchasing from flea bay (eBay) and other places is look for any instances of fungus matter inside the lens elements. It can be either in the front or the back. You can't clean fungus easily with these lens since the cost to have them cleaned is not proportionate to how much they cost. The expense is more than the purchase price. Nothing makes you feel worse than a huge spot of fungus or the beginning of fungus growth. So make sure you double check and look over more than twice over pictures by sellers online and in person.
There are remedies out there that say you can destroy it by placing the lens on a windowsill and let the sun take care of it. This can be met with some success but in actuality may cause the lubrication on the aperture blades to run or even leak causing the aperture mechanism to stick and lock up rendering it useless.
So take these words of wisdom and inspect lens merch with care.
For a long time, this venerable and formidable pump house has withstood the treachery and explorations of many urban explorers. Only a few have ever found its true location within the state lines of New York. Before, only well researched urban explorers found this pump house long before it graced the pages of Will Ellis' Abandoned NYC's long heralded and well-published website. It has stood for many years from the gaze of any unsuspecting explorer travelling within the state who may by happenstance found it just by driving. Unfortunately, you cannot "drive" and see this pump house. This place is located deep in a mixed-use neighborhood encased in businesses no one unsuspecting would find for it to be located there at the end of the adjoining driveway.
Once inside, the treasures to behold can be found. Inside you will find old boilers, coal dust, century-old coal, a flooded basement, three entombed car frames and an infinite supply of remarkable graffiti artwork. Thi…
I was torn between the name I was going to bestow on this post but chose the appropriately named "Orbit Glum" since "Orbit Gum" didn't quite have the same feel when I explored this local gem months ago. My friend J and I walked the long city block towards the property from our parking spot inside a grocery store. A massive chunk of land was left barren after a past demolition. MC Complex had stood there as a massive space. A huge complex wiped away. Orbit Glum once produced flavors, aromatics, and fragrances.
Making our way to the end we turned right and made our way to the property when we came upon a homeless man 'cleaning up' the place as he sifted through debris blocking one of the entrances to the property. We quickly said a few hellos and made our way further to the back to cross over to the other side thanks to a large pool of stagnant water. Our new friend implored us to come in but we politely declined and…
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