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Posts Tagged ‘Abandoned’

Dealt: 12 More Abandoned New & Used Car Dealerships

01 Jun

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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From low low prices to low low sales: at these abandoned new & used car dealerships, showroom traffic’s been reduced to a permanent state of gridlock.

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McNamara Pontiac trade-ins lot, Colonial Ave, Orlando Sep 2009

Pontiac hasn’t made or sold any vehicles since GM discontinued the historic brand five years ago; the iconic Indian Chief logo vanished from Pontiac products decades earlier. As such, McNamara Pontiac-Isuzu‘s magnificent neon sign is truly a blast from the past on multiple levels. This Orlando, Florida dealer has been closed and abandoned for some time now and the fate of its sign is in jeopardy. If Chief Pontiac could shed a tear, he surely would.

Lost Kees

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On September 20th of 2003, Flickr user Onasill ~ Bill Badzo visited this strikingly lonely abandoned car dealer and service center in Brookhaven, Mississippi. We’re guessing he didn’t receive the expected level of service.

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Dig that ornate filigree trim just a-rusting away in the salty Gulf Coast breeze! Though Kees Motor Co. would appear to be as deserted as the day is long, peeking through the front window appear to be an American flag, office furniture and the headlights of a mid-1960s vintage vehicle.

Mission Not Accomplished

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Signage of any kind is sorely lacking at this abandoned used car dealership in San Francisco’s Mission district, unless one counts the mystifying image gazing out from the front facade’s central window. Kudos to Nik Daum for capturing this carefree yet car-less scene sometime during the summer of 2010.

Citation Not Needed

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Citation Motors of Oakville, Ontario, closed in 1988 for reasons that remain unclear: some say it had its concession license revoked while others point to the fact that BMW was reducing its dealer network at that time. Perhaps hoping he’d someday be allowed to sell Bimmers again, the owner has kept the “ghost” dealership (and at least a few unsold period BMWs) in reasonable, “frozen in time” condition.

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When contacted recently by a reporter from Jalopnik, the owner merely stated “you have to be crazy about cars, like you and I, to enjoy owning a place like this.” Crazy… like a fox!

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Dealt 12 More Abandoned New Used Car Dealerships

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[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Smell Ya Later! 12 Abandoned Fish & Seafood Canneries

25 May

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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The advent of refrigerated ships radically changed the fish and seafood processing industry, leaving dozens of isolated and uneconomical canneries behind.

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The former Canadian Fishing Company salmon cannery at Butedale on Princess Royal Island, British Columbia, is typical of the genre. Located in the midst of the region’s rich salmon fishing grounds for convenience and expediency, the mossy-roofed cannery and the associated 400-population town of Butedale prospered from about 1911 through the mid-1950s.

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When the cannery closed, there was no reason to stay in Butedale – it’s become a steadily deteriorating ghost town. Kudos to Panoramio users Denis Dwyer and Jack Borno for capturing these enduring images of the abandoned CFC cannery for posterity.

Bayside The Point

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Flickr user Jonathan Khoo (jonjk) brings us the remarkable Bayside Canning Company building in Alviso, California, which last canned fish back in 1931. The firm mainly employed Chinese immigrants; a tribute to whom can be seen in some of the delightful murals added to the factory’s outer walls at a much later date.

Uzbekis-Can

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A fish cannery without fish is like a sea without water, which pretty much describes both the above abandoned fish cannery in Muynak, Uzbekistan, and the once-wet Aral Sea which once supplied the cannery with fish. Over 80 miles (130 km) of toxic desert sand now separate Muynak’s abandoned fish canneries from the still-receding seashore, and few if any fish now live in the concentrated toxic soup which comprises the much-diminished Aral Sea.

Oregon Fail

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What’s better than building a cannery on the waterfront? Building one on the water, of course! Brilliant concept aside, it takes more than location, location and location to keep a cannery’s books in the black and this abandoned cannery on the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon is a case in point. Credit Flickr user Eli & Anne-Marie with the above ethereal scene captured on September 10th, 2011.

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Smell Ya Later 12 Abandoned Fish Seafood Canneries

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Well, Done: 10 Past-Their-Prime Abandoned Steakhouses

17 May

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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These abandoned steakhouses once served up prime cuts of beef to steely-eyed dealmakers wielding steely knives. It’s enough to drive a Mad Men man mad!

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Mad Men may be coming to an end but classic steakhouses – those dimly-lit sanctuaries swathed in musky leather and red velour – have already ridden into the sunset. Did it help that besides doling out the most non-hipster fare imaginable, roadside steakhouses made most of their profits on overpriced, watered-down cocktails? No, no it did not.

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Flickr user Ryan (RetailByRyan95) photo-documents one such misteak-house, as it were, at the Jefferson Commons plaza in Newport News, VA. Perhaps the fad for all things Texan faded out along with the late and unlamented Urban Cowboy fashion trend, or might it be that the Texas Steakhouse & Saloon’s steaks had all the consistency of a grilled cowboy boot?

Steaks & Ladders

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“I wish I was in, Tijuana, eating barbecued iguana”... A decades-old Wall Of Voodoo tune could have been the inspiration for the above abandoned steakhouse’s decor – and possibly the menu as well. Only Flickr user Phillippe Reichert visited this unnamed abandoned steakhouse in Trinidad, CO on July 11th of 2013 where he captured the mystifying image above.

Oh The Irony

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Time was even a two-horse town like Brantford, Ontario had at least one steakhouse. They now have one less since The Iron Horse picked up its cowcatcher and went to the big sizzling grille in the sky. According to the hopeful-sounding copy on the For Lease sign outside, the building has a bar area, a banquet room for 100, and “Many Other Possible Uses”. It would seem “Steakhouse” is no longer one of them.

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Well Done 10 Past Their Prime Abandoned Steakhouses

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Abandoned Highway to Seoul Sky Garden: New Elevated Park

16 May

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Deemed unsafe and left to rot, a stretch of highway in a prime location beside a train station in Seoul, South Korea will soon get a new life as an elevated park. Built in the ’70s, the structure provided access to and from a local market that served as a crucial point of trade in the region for decades, but vehicles were banned after failed inspections in 2006. For years it has sat unused while pedestrians are forced to take a long route around it to get to the station.

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It was supposed to be demolished, but officials consulted residents and experts to see if there was another option. Pedestrian walkways can be hard to come by in any city, and the dozens of elevated parks that are popping up around the world prove that reclaiming and rehabilitating abandoned infrastructure can be an economic boon as they bring new green space to urban settings and create new connections between neighborhoods.

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Dutch architecture firm MVRDV won a contest to design the park, filling it with massive circular plant pots filled with 254 different species of flowers, shrubs and trees to create a “living dictionary of the natural heritage of Korea.” A greenhouse will grow new plants to populate the pots, and pedestrians can stop at a number of cafes, street markets, flower shops and other vendors.

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Once completed, the 55-foot-high structure will cut the walk around the railway station from 25 minutes to 11, and is expected to generate 1.83 times its cost in economic benefits.

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[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Buzzkill: 10 Sweet Abandoned Apiaries & Busted Beehives

11 May

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Honey, I’m not home! These abandoned apiaries and busted beehives once dispensed sweet liquid gold but now lie deserted, de-pollenated and depopulated.

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Fancy some honey? The charming red brick building housing The Altamaha Apiaries in Gardi, Georgia dates from 1900 and originally served as a post office / general store. At some point a local family took over the property and set up an apiary. Now gently deteriorating and festooned with flowering vines – descendants of those that once provided fancy pollen, perhaps – The Altamaha Apiaries no longer offers honey but serves instead as a favorite photographic subject for abandonment addicts.

Mutiny On The Botany

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Abandon a commercial beehive box for 8 days and you might not notice much difference. Abandoning a hive for 8 years is another story, however, and since every picture tells a story (thanks, Rod Stewart), kindly shift your gaze to the vine-encrusted hive above. According to The BeeHolder, this British bee box “had been neglected due to the beekeeper being hospitalised 8 years ago.” Hopefully the cause wasn’t being stung multiple times by his honey-making servants.

In The CatBee Seat

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Better not bug this cat, it might start shooting bees out of its mouth. That would presume the ginger feline had been eating bees, mind you, and considering it’s resting in the midst of an abandoned apiary you’re free to draw your own conclusions. Kudos to Flickr user brainfeet, who captured this slightly surreal scene on May 17th of 2010.

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Buzzkill 10 Sweet Abandoned Apiaries Busted Beehives

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Hole In None: 12 Abandoned Miniature Golf Courses

03 May

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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No ifs, no ands and above all no putts. These 12 abandoned miniature golf courses are as silent as the 18th at Augusta when the green jacket’s on the line.

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The only birdies you’ll find at the Shipwreck Island Waterpark‘s kitschy minigolf course in Panama City Beach, FL are those busy building nests in its mouldering infrastructure. Kudos to Flickr user epyonxero (John Moore) for capturing the abandoned minigolf course in all its spooky black & white glory on August 30th of 2013.

Sandy Trap

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Sometimes miniature golf courses go out with a whimper, other times they exit with a bang… and the collapsed course above epitomizes the latter. Flickr user LennyNJ was in the right place at the right time – late December of 2012 in Point Pleasant, NJ – when he snapped the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Wow, Sandy must really hate minigolf.

Gone On Safari

Safari Joe's abandoned minigolf Tulsa

Safari Joe's abandoned minigolf Tulsa hippo

Safari Joe’s miniature golf course is closed but Walmart’s doing just fine, go figure. This abandoned 80s-era minigolf course located east of Memorial on Admiral in Tulsa, OK won’t go gentle into that good night, however.

Safari Joe's abandoned minigolf Tulsa

Safari Joe's abandoned minigolf Tulsa

According to Flickr user Tom Baddley, “As of the end of 2008, this course has been razed and turned into an auto lot. The rhino and hippo are still there, along the fenceline near Admiral, and the main sign is still standing.” Is anyone surprised the rhino’s horn is damaged?

Snake Eyes

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Rolling Dice by The Tumbling Stones? Photographer Eliot Niman posted the above images of an abandoned miniature golf course near Fenton, NY on October 2nd, 2011. According to Niman, “This was part of a failed and abandoned convenience store opposite the entrance to Chenango Valley State Park on Route 369.” Not quite convenient enough, one might say.

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Hole In None 12 Abandoned Miniature Golf Courses

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Deserted Aisles: 11 More Creepy Abandoned Supermarkets

26 Apr

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Supermarkets? More like Stupor Markets, amiright? That’s the case with these 11 abandoned supermarkets where “checkout” is more than a state of mind.

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Cleanup in aisle… well, all of ‘em actually, and you’d better bring a hazmat suit along with a bucket & mop. Almost 30 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident turned Pripyat into a creepy radioactive ghost town, the city’s snazzy supermarket recalls the good old days – Soviet style – when the shelves were stocked and the shopping carts had wheels.

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Urbex ubergeek Florian from Abandoned Kansai visited the abandoned supermarket just off Lenin Square back in January of 2011 and lived to tell the tale – and post the images above. According to Florian’s native guide Maxim, Pripyat was a privileged place before the 1986 disaster and the central supermarket “was one of the few places in the Soviet Union that actually sold Chanel Nº 5.” Now it just stinks.

Well, ByeVee

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The soaring “V for Victory” signpost standing resolutely Ozymandias-like in the Iowa summer sun indicates the above abandoned supermarket above was once a HyVee. Flickr user Andrew T…has left the building captured the forlorn state of the place in June of 2012, sometime after HyVee consolidated their two existing Newton, IA stores into a newer, larger complex.

Howard’s End

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Abandoned in 1999, the old Howard Park Super Pride supermarket on Liberty Heights Avenue finally succumbed to the wrecking ball after ShopRite selected the site for their new store.

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Though it’s good to see any neighborhood revitalized, the oddly gentle demolition of the Super Pride’s landmark sign had to bring a tear to more than a few local eyes.

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Deserted Aisles 11 More Creepy Abandoned Supermarkets

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Played Out: 10 Cheerless Abandoned Toy Factories

06 Apr

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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There are few things sadder than an abandoned toy, and abandoned toy factories take that sense of lost innocence to dramatically deeper depths of despair.

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As if an abandoned doll factory isn’t creepy enough, Flickr user Bousure ramps it up to eleven via some nightmarishly awesome photo-processing techniques. Taken in early September of 2011 at an undisclosed location, Bousure’s haunting imagery will surely disturb all those who enjoyed playing with dolls when they were kids… and, well, everyone else too.

Unmade In China

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The pace of change in China is truly startling at times – perfectly good buildings just a few years old are casually knocked down so something bigger and better can be built on the site. Take this sharp-looking toy factory (check out that gnarly gate!) in Zhangmutou, southern China, that had the excavators sicced on it in July of 2013. Flickr user Chris (dcmaster) checked out the factory as the heavy machinery moved in for the kill.

Game, Set & Matchbox

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Lesney Products & Co. Ltd was one of Britain’s few postwar economic success stories. Founded in 1947, the company made “Matchbox” brand die-cast miniature vehicles by the millions until labor issues and the side-effects of Thatcherism drove the firm into bankruptcy.

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The company’s last and largest factory, set astride the Lee Navigation canal in London’s Hackney Marshes, closed in 1982 and Flickr user Sludge G (sludgegulper) snapped it in April of 2009. The abandoned complex, stripped of its machinery and sullied by vandals, was finally demolished in 2010 with the Matchmakers Wharf retail, commercial and residential complex now occupying the site.

LaLa Land of Toys

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Once “The West’s Largest Exclusive Toy Wholesalers”, Pensick & Gordon lorded over the California toy universe from this ominously imposing building in what is now LA’s trendy Arts District. Built in 1907 as a wholesale grocers warehouse, the factory was abandoned by the early Eighties and just recently underwent conversion into condominium lofts. Kudos to Flickr user Kent MacElwee who snapped the building and its faded signage in September of 2013.

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Played Out 10 Cheerless Abandoned Toy Factories

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Stopping Shopping: Eleven Eerie Abandoned Supermarkets

16 Mar

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Aisle be back… NOT! These closed and abandoned supermarkets give us a preview of the coming apocalypse – zombie or otherwise – when shopping simply stops.

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Once bustling, busy and brightly lit, abandoned supermarkets evoke a certain type of grim dreariness tinged with decay so palpable one can smell it… or is that just the foetid aroma of a packaged meat section needing a cleaning it’ll never get?

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Credit Flickr user Wampa-One for choosing an ominously overcast day in November of 2011 to capture this abandoned and label-scarred Foodland store in St Louis, MO, and for returning almost a year later as it was being demolished.

Blue On Blue

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Still abandoned but what a remarkable contrast from that doomed Foodland! Formerly a Vietnamese supermarket in San Jose, CA’s Japantown, this seafoam green & white supermarket once offered shoppers an eclectic range of SEAFOOD, GROCERY, GROCERY and ORIENTAL FOOD. Flickr users Travis Wise (Photographing Travis) and Paul George (snowcrash98), respectively, bring us the above images snapped on different blue-skied days in 2014.

Unfree Market

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Mr. Gorbachev tore down that wall but unaccountably left this Stalinist supermarket standing – go figure. Snazzy blue stripes notwithstanding, the former supermarket from the former East Germany no doubt offered shoppers a typical variety of Warsaw Pact specialties such as cinderblock-sized bars of soap, left boots, and rendered horse-hoof jello.

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Shopper also enjoyed free parking for their two-stroke Trabants, a bonus in a land where “free” was a four-letter word. Credit Flickr user Patrick Scholl (.patrick.) for visiting this abandoned DDR supermarket in January of 2013, camera in hand.

Terminal ACME

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New Jersey doesn’t get much bleaker than this seriously abandoned ACME supermarket in Egg Harbor City – and that’s saying something. Flickr user Kevin Jarrett (kjarrett) visited the decrepit and decaying market situated off US Route 30 on December 14th of 2014, and came back with the above images of retail despair.

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Stopping Shopping Eleven Eerie Abandoned Supermarkets

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Terminal Velocity: 10 Abandoned Intercity Bus Stations

08 Mar

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Long distance bus transportation has been in decline for decades, leaving countless abandoned bus stations to watch time and potential passengers pass them by.

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The old abandoned Greyhound Bus Terminal at the corner of Third and Sycamore streets in Evansville, Indiana opened in 1938 and dazzled Depression-weary commuters with its cheerful sky blue exterior and sleek Streamline Moderne styling. Flickr user cmh2315fl captured the old terminal on a sunny April day in 2012.

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Though abandoned for many years, the terminal cost just $ 150,000 to build so Greyhound definitely got their money’s worth. In 1992 the terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 2012 it was renovated, restored and adapted for use as office and community space at one corner of Evansville’s Bicentennial Park.

Going, Going, Ghana

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Flickr user Sarah (lotor-matic) snapped the above shots of a disused STC bus terminal while visiting Ghana’s Cape Coast in October of 2008. The terminal must have been quite a sight back in the day but now its exposed roof beams make it look more like a beached and bleached whale skeleton than a former transportation hub.

Sad State Of The Union

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If we’re talking about the old Union Bus Station in downtown Oklahoma City, then one might say its state is… terminal? The station operated from 1940 through 2013 and the building was (and still is) distinguished by a blue vitrolite front facade that’s proved to be as durable as it is beautiful. At one point destined for demolition, the property has been bought by a local developer who has pledged to preserve the building’s Art Deco attributes and striking signage through the course of redevelopment.

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Terminal Velocity 10 Abandoned Intercity Bus Stations

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