From Excelsior Needle Co. to Timken: The Rise and Fall of Torrington's Standard Plant

Image
The Standard Plant and a Century of Making Things It was a hot May week in 2023, and J and I were already sweating through our shirts before we even made it to the entrance. We turned into the driveway off North Elm Street and passed a large Caterpillar backhoe holding up the red, white, and blue at the top of the arm. Patriotic machinery. Only in Connecticut. We moved toward the back of the complex with our eyes open, scanning for any sign of people or activity. We found cameras instead. A few of them, well-positioned across one of the buildings and up on an electrical pole, covering angles that made our original entry plan useless. We backed off, found a Plan B, and stepped into a dark room washed in tinted green light, then took the stairs down to ground level. The former Standard Plant sits along North Elm Street at a sunken grade, one story, with another building rising over the roadway to the far right when you're standing in front of it from North Street. It's the kind o...
Post a Comment

25th Anniversary of Notorious B.I.G.

 







Two weeks ago we remember the passing of Brooklyn's Notorious B.I.G. I took a tour of the murals dedicated to the rap artist synonymous with East Coast hip hop/rap culture. On March 9, 1997, Biggie Smalls was murdered in yet a still-unsolved case at the young age of 24. Six months after his rival in the rap game Tupac Shakur met a similar fate. March 9 marks the 25 anniversary of his untimely death.

The "King of New York" mural was nearly destroyed in 2017 when the landlord of the two-story building wanted to renovate it but local community members and even the Mayor's office banded together to prevent the destruction. The mural was created in 2015 by Naoufal “Rocko” Alaoui and Scott "Zimer" Zimmerman.







In addition, I strolled up to the very steps Christopher Wallace would have walked back and forth from. The building housed the apartment he grew up in. Just down the block is another mural on the side of a barbershop and a new mural on the corner pharmacy.








Also found in Bushwick Brooklyn the Biggie Smalls mural by Danielle Mastrion is outfitted with the iconic colorful sweater and dark shade fit.







Finally, I could not capture the anniversary murals located on the rolled-down gates of Fine Care Pharmacy located on Fulton Street. However, across the street, there is the black and white mural on the Respect For Life Beauty World barbershop.




Sources:



1. Walker, Ameena, "The Notorious B.I.G. mural in Bed-Stuy won't come down after all", May 23, 2017, NY Curbed

2. Alexandrauzik, "Street Art Candy: The Notorious B.I.G. by Danielle Mastrion", November 11, 2013, BushwickDaily

3. Quinn, Anna, "See: New Biggie Smalls Murals Unveiled in Brooklyn", March 10, 2022, Patch

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ball & Socket Manufacturing Co. | From Civil War Buttons to an Arts Complex

Image
This one stings a little. Not every location hands you a story worth telling and then slams the door before you can photograph it, but the Ball & Socket factory had other plans for J and me that day. The cold was the first thing I remember. A sharp Connecticut chill that had absolutely no interest in our ambitions. We worked our way into the inner courtyard, feeling reasonably optimistic, and then hit a wall literally. Locked doors on every side. No entry points that weren't either sealed or watched. The only building we managed to get inside looked less like a historic factory and more like a very long parking garage that had given up on itself. Even the boiler house was off the table. We circled, debated, and eventually made the call that every explorer has to make when a site is still secured and possibly still monitored: we walked. Some days you document. Some days the building wins. We never went back, and before we got a second crack at it, word came down that the complex...
Read more

From Excelsior Needle Co. to Timken: The Rise and Fall of Torrington's Standard Plant

Image
The Standard Plant and a Century of Making Things It was a hot May week in 2023, and J and I were already sweating through our shirts before we even made it to the entrance. We turned into the driveway off North Elm Street and passed a large Caterpillar backhoe holding up the red, white, and blue at the top of the arm. Patriotic machinery. Only in Connecticut. We moved toward the back of the complex with our eyes open, scanning for any sign of people or activity. We found cameras instead. A few of them, well-positioned across one of the buildings and up on an electrical pole, covering angles that made our original entry plan useless. We backed off, found a Plan B, and stepped into a dark room washed in tinted green light, then took the stairs down to ground level. The former Standard Plant sits along North Elm Street at a sunken grade, one story, with another building rising over the roadway to the far right when you're standing in front of it from North Street. It's the kind o...
Read more

Inside the Abandoned Horsman Doll Factory in Trenton

Image
  You’ve got to move when the chance is right. That’s something I keep telling myself—but just as often, I forget it. Or ignore it. And then I end up learning the same lesson all over again. It happened on a quiet afternoon when I pulled up to the old Horsman Doll factory. The place has long been abandoned, but it still holds stories—ones I try to capture through my lens. The main gate was slightly ajar. Not wide open, but just enough for me to slip through with my gear. It was one of those rare opportunities. But across the street, half-hidden behind a rundown house, a group of men sat drinking and shouting over each other. The kind of scene you don't want to get caught up in—especially alone, carrying expensive camera equipment. I hesitated. I debated. I bailed. My gut told me to walk away, so I did. I figured I could find another way in. I circled the block, hoping for a back entrance or even a broken window low enough to climb through. I found one window that looked possible—bu...
Read more

Dennings Point Brickwork - The Abandoned Ruins

Image
  Located halfway between Albany and New York City lies Beacon. Located in the state hiking park is Denning's Point Brickworks which turned out clay bricks before exhausting the resource by producing as much as 400,000 bricks for New York City's flourishing building boom in the early 20th century. Manufacturing the very bricks that make up the iconic Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center. Since its initial operation in 1885, it has also produced other products such as concrete, paper clips, and composite wood before coming to end in 1980. Second-floor landing. Intricate graffiti. Currently, the building is being slated for renovation by Clarkson University's Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries for use as an environmental education facility. Titusville Two-Story Boiler. Unknown condition. View from the roof. đŸ§± Did You Work at Dennings Point Brickworks? Were you or a family member employed at this legendary Beacon brickw...
Read more

Diner Dreams and Declines: The Kullman Dining Car Company

Image
  While exploring the area for a different site, I stumbled upon this abandoned property, marked by a large pile of household refuse and debris from commercial demolitions, improperly discarded. As night began to fall, I hesitated to venture inside alone. This caution might have been fortuitous, for on a subsequent visit to Newark, New Jersey, I discovered a makeshift bed crafted from an oversized couch. It seemed someone might be using this as a makeshift sleeping area, unwittingly inhaling potentially lethal chemicals not meant for human respiration. The entry to this forsaken place was through a semi-open truck loading dock, obstructed by a concrete barrier, presumably to halt further looting of the structure or to deter unethical contractors from dumping their illegal waste under the veil of night. Once an industrial site, this property was marred by environmental pollutants such as metals, paint, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Ninety-one years ago, it was operational before fa...
Read more