Posts

Showing posts from January, 2024

Greenpoint Nurses' Residence: Inside Brooklyn's Abandoned Quarters

Image
1940s Greenpoint Hospital Campus Tax Photo There is a certain kind of quiet that only abandoned buildings have. Not peaceful, quiet. More like held-breath quiet. The kind that makes you hyper-aware of every footstep, every creak, every shadow shifting at the edge of your vision. I found that quiet on a cloudy afternoon in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, standing outside a chain-link fence and looking up at the old Nurse Quarters of Greenpoint Hospital. I had stumbled onto the building almost by accident. I was deep into researching other vacant structures across the borough when the Nurses' Residence turned up on the blogs. The fact that it sat close to home made the decision easy. One overcast day, I drove slowly down the block on a hunch, scanning the fence line. That is when I spotted it: a gap, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. No rope. No gear. Just an opening and a window of time between passing cars and foot traffic. I slipped inside. The entrance foyer stopped me cold...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hillside Ave NEMET Nissan Dealership

Image
While navigating the bustling Hillside Avenue, renowned for its commercial vibrancy, an unusual sight caught my eye – a forgotten fragment amidst the urban sprawl. There, standing in stark contrast to its lively surroundings, was an abandoned Nissan car dealership, its story silently screaming through the vibrant graffiti splashed across its glass windows. Graffiti, in its bold defiance, often signals abandonment in a city that seldom sleeps. Like a green light in the ceaseless flow of urban traffic, it beckons the curious and the adventurous. This day, it called to me. Approaching the property, the exterior of the dealership was a canvas of urban artistry, yet it hinted at a deeper solitude. Beyond the graffiti-adorned walls and windows, the building seemed untouched, a lone island in a sea of city life. Slipping into the property, an unexpected sound broke the stillness – the laughter and chatter of children playing. Only then did I realize the proximity of a school, creating a delic...
Post a Comment
Location: 153-12 Hillside Ave., Jamaica, NY 11432, USA
Read more

Five Corners Reid Hill Shopping Plaza

Image
  My memory vividly holds onto a recent exploration, one that still feels fresh and exhilarating. I stumbled upon this site quite unexpectedly while en route to another location. The building, with its street-level windows gaping open, seemed to beckon me, an invitation too enticing to ignore. Despite a security vehicle parked out front, a testament to its off-limits allure, my instinct whispered that there was another way in, a path less obvious than the front door. Navigating to the rear of the shopping plaza, I found my entry point - a human-sized hole punched through the wall, as if tailor-made for an explorer like me. I couldn't resist. Slipping through, I crouched into a world forgotten by time, an ancillary room that led to a larger, open space. The sight that unfolded was a study of neglect and decay. Grey plastic tiles, water-damaged and forgotten, were blanketed in a tapestry of green and brown moss and mold. It struck me then, the familiarity of these tiles - a staple in...
Post a Comment
Location: 2 Forest Ave, Amsterdam, NY 12010, USA
Read more

Pennsylvania's Forgotten 'Chop Shop' Factory (Lost Archives)

Image
  It's hard to believe it's been so many years since I stumbled upon that enigmatic, medium-sized factory in Pennsylvania. The memory, dating back to 2016, is like a photograph slowly fading at the edges, leaving behind a mosaic of vivid yet disjointed images. The exact location, shrouded in the mists of time, eludes me, despite my best efforts to pin it down on my ever-expanding Google MyMaps. I remember it as the 'chop shop' factory, a moniker I whimsically assigned but now regret not investigating further. The scene, as I recall, was something straight out of a gritty noir film – a pile of black rubber car tires heaped to one side, the floor covered in a fine layer of dust and grime, and the walls adorned with a kaleidoscope of oddball graffiti. It was a place that whispered stories of clandestine activities and hasty departures. Gaining access to this mystery location was surprisingly easy, a stark contrast to the complex mazes of some larger sites. Its relatively s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Inside the Abandoned Rockaway Metal Products Factory in Queens (Photos)

Image
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 has held 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. ...
Read more

Former NYPD 65th and 73rd Precinct Stationhouse

Image
If you walk down East New York Avenue, it is easy to miss the old police station that once watched over the block. Your eyes go first to the Howard Houses, those tall brick towers that rise on the left like a wall. The former precinct squats beside them, low and dignified, its stone face worn by nearly a century of weather and worry. By the time I began paying attention to it, the building already had an expiration date. The city had picked it as the site of new affordable housing. Demolition was set to begin in full in November 2025. On paper, it was a win for a neighborhood that has carried more than its share of struggles. For the building itself, it was a quiet death sentence. I wanted to see it before it went. The main trolley line that ran down East New York Avenue was the Bergen-East New York Line, operated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). It served as a key east-west route in the Brownsville area until many city trolley lines were converted to bus routes sta...
Read more

eBay Vintage Lens Buy: Rare Taisei Kogaku (Tamron) 135mm f2.8

Image
Rare Taisei Kogaku 135mm Twin Tele 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.  Sharp Kogaku 135 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...
Read more

Inside the Abandoned St. Michael and St. Edward Church in Brooklyn

Image
For weeks, I had been orbiting the perimeter of the impending demolition of the Church of St. Michael and St. Edward, a once revered church in the heart of Fort Greene, like a moth drawn to a flame. The neighborhood, a patchwork of tight project housing, seemed indifferent to the fate of this historic edifice. The intel I had received suggested that entry was as simple as scaling a wooden fence, yet the timing had never felt right. Until one day, it did. With a mission in New Jersey looming, I knew it was now or never. The demolition was advancing at a startling pace, the church's twin steeples already reduced to rubble. The skeletal remains of timber beams and rusted steel frames peeked out from the ruins, a testament to the relentless march of progress. Summoning a surge of courage, I seized a moment of quiet in the bustling housing project and vaulted over the fence. My heart pounded in my chest as I slipped unnoticed into the church grounds. The once grand entrance now stood as...
Read more

Abandoned Cotton Mill (Baltic Mills Complex)

Image
A rotten-out four-story mill.  In before the wrecking balls. This mill surely did not need an interior demolition of its own because inside the wooden floors had already sagged and caved in from years of decay and neglect. The solid stone walls stay true to the craftsmanship and mortar the bricklayers hundreds of years ago laid down with expertise and solid workmanship. Now the structure awaits the fateful day when the demolition crew rides in and delivers its final blow into forgotten history. The ground floor was mostly dark and decayed.  A plethora of rotting wood littered the ground. The stairs leading to the first floor revealed there won't be any venturing upstairs. The flooring was completely rotten and caved in. From the steps of the staircase, you could look straight up and see the clouds in the sky. There was no way up without falling right back down to the ground floor. Ground Floor Interior Boiler House Smokestacks Venturing to an...
Read more