Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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Archives #5: Best Graffiti Piece of 2017

Street Art by Philly native Septic The Outlaw





I believe this to be one of the best graffiti works I have ever come across in my explorations during the last year. It even beats out the Brooklyn skull mural that I found to be widely creative and a great use of an abandoned space. The intricate, detailed eyes and wrinkles. The use of the full length of drywall really captured my attention once I entered this warehouse in Pennsylvania.

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