Detroit

[JamesVincent]

There (obviously) has been a lot of talk lately about the biggest bankruptcy of an American city in our history, and in a city that has played such a large role in our history. Whether it was auto manufacturing or a large port on the Lakes Detroit was an essential part of our monetary history. While we could go on all day long about the bankruptcy, and I'm sure we could wander into politics, which we wont, I found a depressing but beautiful series of photos done by photographers/ researchers who have studied abandoned properties/ cities for years and turned their attention to Detroit.

http://www.weather.com/travel/modern-ru ... s-20130715

But there is a haunting beauty to the decaying ruins of a post-industrial city such as Detroit, which has become the largest American city to file for bankruptcy. And this is what photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre captured in their series "The Ruins of Detroit" (Steidl, 2011). In the images above, Marchand and Meffre document a city's disintegration, showcasing structures that were formerly a source of civic pride.

[fortinbras]

I was wondering if the State of Michigan could balance its books by selling Detroit to Canada. After all, Detroit is north of Windsor, Ontario. Do you suppose that Canada would insist on the tenants being evicted, or would it at least insist that they learn English?

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

... I found a depressing but beautiful series of photos done by photographers/ researchers who have studied abandoned properties/ cities for years and turned their attention to Detroit. ...

Thank you for posting that link. I have an intense affection for decayed urban landscapes, and abandoned places and things. The linked website has some lovely examples.

I offer in return a favorite of mine (http://englishrussia.com/2010/03/12/ekranoplan/), the slowly decaying hulk of the Lun class ekranoplan on the Black Sea coast.

SMS Möwe

[Judge Roy Bean]

As long as humans and politics are involved, there will be scenarios where wealth pours in in anticipation of even more wealth. But it's not a never-ending flow and the opportunities may disappear. The timeline length changes - it could take more than a century or it might even happen in decades or a few years.

There are macro and micro versions of Detroit. All of them are as a result of the flight of wealth to more attractive venues.

[JamesVincent]

Thank you for posting that link. I have an intense affection for decayed urban landscapes, and abandoned places and things. The linked website has some lovely examples.
SMS Möwe

Your welcome. I, too, have a fascination with ruins of civilization. I've watched countless documentaries on everything from Angkor Wat to the Mayan and Incan ruins to Chernobyl. Some of the more interesting ones, to me, were Subic Bay Naval Base and one documentary I watched about Chernobyl that was based on an archeological study done to measure decay of a modern city. Unfortunately, I've been kinda limited in my travels and have yet to see these places for myself.

However; being in the position I'm in has allowed me to see someplaces that are not famous but are immensely interesting to me and my kids. I've taken them through some of the abandoned coal mines and sand mines in West Virginia, taken them down abandoned rail lines in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and old mills and other buildings around Maryland. Growing up the way I did allowed me to see some of these places over a period of time of 30+ years and explained the differences to the kids of what has happened over time. They loved it, especially my son who is very into trains. And for him to see the narrow gauge lines, including abandoned engines and cars used in the coal mines to transport to the main rail lines nearby, was priceless.

[JamesVincent]

As a contrast, pictures of Pripyat 25 years after the Chernobyl "accident".

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

James,

I am thoroughly envious of your opportunity to share your affection and knowledge of mining architecture and technology with your children. That sounds like a simply wonderful experience.

My travels also have been quite restricted, but as a child my parents made much effort that I see Canada. I have always been a history buff, and so as a consequence I visited, I think, the majority of Canada's fortifications. I believe the only significant exceptions are the Prince of Wales fort in Churchill (a stonework Vauban fortress located in the arctic tundra!) and the St. John's, Newfoundland coastal defence works.

I have an intense fondness for architecture of that kind and very much hope at some point to be able to visit certain sites worldwide, in particular the Channel Islands defences. Few things make me happier than a moldering early 20th century coastal defence battery...

And on that point, I offer the following in exchange for Pripyat: a recent photo survey of Ft. Drum in the mouth of Manila Bay: http://concretebattleship.org/Slideshow ... offitt.htm

SMS Möwe

[Burnaby49]

Don't forget the ruins of the WWII gun defenses set up here in Vancouver!

http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/919694.html

For some reason the government thought the Japanese might take a notion to invade Vancouver so they put up concrete defense positions at the harbour entrances. Not enough to give any respectable invasion fleet a moment's worry but enough to reassure a jittery population. No doubt there were similar facilities set up along the American west coast.

[JamesVincent]

We had the same thing here in the States. I know there were multiple areas set up but a local one is outside of Lewes, De called Fort MIles. The only thing really left now is several "submarine towers" which were supposed to allow watchers to spot a sub snorkeling outside Deleware Bay. One of the towers has been restored and modernized and the Merchant Marine used it as a radar station now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Miles

The sub towers extended up and down the coast from Bethany Beach, De to Cape May, Nj. A lot of them still stand but are in disrepair. Some of the actual gun emplacements are still there and the magazine bunkers.

[JamesVincent]

... but as a child my parents made much effort that I see Canada. I have always been a history buff, and so as a consequence I visited, I think, the majority of Canada's fortifications.

SMS Möwe

I also grew up with parents who liked to travel to historical places. My stepdad is a naval engineer therefore I got see just about every major naval base both on the East Coast and some on the West Coast. I also grew up and had a lot of family in West Virginia and actually had family that had worked in some of those mines while they were open. I've been to just about every historical fort on this side from Fort Ticonderoga on your border to Fort Sumter in South Carolina and, thanks to him, got to attend the launching of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill, a frigate that he had worked on.

I have loved taking my kids to some of the places that I went to as a child. Unfortunately we haven't been able to go to as many due to money restrictions but their seeing a good deal anyway.

[Pottapaug1938]

Don't forget the ruins of the WWII gun defenses set up here in Vancouver!

http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/919694.html

For some reason the government thought the Japanese might take a notion to invade Vancouver so they put up concrete defense positions at the harbour entrances. Not enough to give any respectable invasion fleet a moment's worry but enough to reassure a jittery population. No doubt there were similar facilities set up along the American west coast.

They should have built Martello towers to the original specifications. They would have been just as helpful, from a military standpoint, and would be tourist attractions today.

[Burnaby49]

Don't forget the ruins of the WWII gun defenses set up here in Vancouver!

http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/919694.html

For some reason the government thought the Japanese might take a notion to invade Vancouver so they put up concrete defense positions at the harbour entrances. Not enough to give any respectable invasion fleet a moment's worry but enough to reassure a jittery population. No doubt there were similar facilities set up along the American west coast.

They should have built Martello towers to the original specifications. They would have been just as helpful, from a military standpoint, and would be tourist attractions today.

Not at all! Our costal defenses showed their value in real action against the enemy. Unfortunately the enemy turned out to be an unarmed freighter going about its peaceful business.

In addition to monitoring ship traffic the Point Grey and later the Point Atkinson Batteries were charged with using an “examination gun” to fire a stopping round, or warning shot, at vessels that did not identify themselves to the examination boats or the observation post. If these stopping rounds were ignored the batteries were supposed to sink the offending vessel. Point Grey gun was often limited in its ability to fire these stopping rounds. The water in front of Point Grey is shallow so ships generally pass on the opposite side of the channel, at a long range from the gun. In addition to this Point Grey is often shrouded in fog, which obscures the target.

The firing of stopping rounds was relatively frequent and could be fired as often as once a day. In one incident on September 15th 1942 gunners from Point Atkinson and Point Grey identified a fish-packer that had accidentally ignored the examination line. The battery at Narrows North fired a stopping shot at the approaching vessel. The round skipped across the water past the intended target and hit the Fort Rae a recently launched freighter undergoing testing in the harbour. The Fort Rae took on water and was forced to beach itself until it could be patched up and pulled off the shore.

http://vancouvertraces.weebly.com/point ... ttery.html

[Pottapaug1938]

That's why there should have been a Martello tower with the original armament. A muzzle-loaded smoothbore would have made a nice boom as it fired, without the risk of actual damage to anything, and the booms would have reassured the locals that The Army Is Doing Something To Protect You.

[Burnaby49]

And for those of you interested in ruin porn, a few photo exhibits of the Soviet contribution to the German Democratic Republic:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zei ... 43056.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 94061.html

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo ... 75674.html

[JamesVincent]

http://www.weather.com/travel/eerie-aba ... s-20131202

Old shelves with abandoned display items at the abandoned toy store 'Toy Loft' in Connecticut. The store, abandoned in 2007, also featured a mini golf course, arcade games, laser tag, and a Wiffle ball court. (Flickr/TunnelBug)

[Jeffrey]

I would suggest that perhaps a more interesting bankrupcy is coming up down in Puerto Rico.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/201 ... burger_bar
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-0 ... -drop.html

This has the potential to be a lot juicier for a lot of reasons. Unlike a city, this is the population equivalent of Connecticut declaring bankruptcy. Detroit defaulted on ~$20 billion in debt, PR is looking at defaulting at up to 4 times as much debt. There are interesting legal issues raised as a default is prohibited by the PR constitution however since it's impossible for the Island to pay back what it owes, a workaround will have to be developed to get around that roadblock. Since the bonds benefited from extensive tax benefits they were quite popular investments, meaning their recent problems have affected quite a lot of people financially.

[JamesVincent]

http://www.weather.com/travel/cleveland ... s-20131223

Most travel photographers aim to capture cities with with beautiful images of sun-drenched landscapes or majestic skylines. Photographer Seph Lawless (a pseudonym) prefers to explore the darker corners of cities and document the "poor, abandoned and forgotten" places of America. The slideshow above collects his photos of abandoned schools, asylums, hospitals and houses from Cleveland, East Cleveland and northern Ohio, weathered structures and decaying buildings that have been reclaimed by nature.

[JamesVincent]

http://belloblog.com/2013/12/23/1942-ti ... -in-paris/

Back in 2010 a Parisian apartment on the Right Bank, near the Opéra Garnier, left unoccupied since 1942 was discovered.

It was owned by Madame de Florian – a socialite and an actress – who fled to the South of France during the second world war, leaving everything behind. She never came back to Paris but kept on paying her rent until the day she died when she was 91.

It’s only after she died that someone – a Commissaire Priseur – Auctioneer – re-enter her apartment for the first time in over 70 years.

[JamesVincent]

http://www.boredpanda.com/abandoned-places/

[JamesVincent]

http://www.viralforest.com/sarejevo-olympics/

In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics. Just a decade later, the region was torn apart by a bitter years-long conflict, leading to widespread death and suffering. One not-so-familiar effect of this war was the toll it took on the Olympic infrastructure which had been built not that long ago. Today, these structures stand as a visual reminder of how quickly things can change.