Tag: Suckers

  • So Long, Suckers: 11 Closed & Abandoned Candy Stores

    [ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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    When it comes to abandoned candy stores like these 11 examples, sweet has turned to sour quicker than toothache sufferers turn to their dentists.

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    Whipsawed by the varying vicissitudes of a changing retail culture, macroeconomic trends and good old urban blight, traditional Mom & Pop candy stores are circling the drain and nobody’s standing by with a plug. Flickr user Bartosz Brzezinski (JohnnyGotHisGun) captured the sour state of one such example – the long-abandoned K&M Candy Store in Detroit’s McDougall-Hunt neighborhood – on December 30th of 2013.

    ReSCue Me

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    Remember the days when stores thought they’d last forever and thus spent lavishly on brand-specific frontages? Maybe Flickr user JJ’s (My Blue Dragon) shot of the abandoned Russell Stover Candies (“RSC”) store on Linwood Blvd in Kansas City, MO will jog some memories – if not a few fillings. Ironically, the KC Royal Blue & White tiled facade has held up remarkably well, which is much more than we can say about the store itself.

    Store-gasm

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    Contrary to any and all expectations, LA Greens Candy Store is neither green nor is it located in Los Angeles – 5477 Chene St. in Detroit, MI is where the abandoned store can be found. It also doesn’t sell candy anymore. The windowless and unoccupied (at least, not officially) building was snapped by Flickr users Gary Tucker and Modesto Speed (ClevelandSGS) on July 24th, 2013 and March 17th, 2002 respectively.

    Candy, Tickets and… Things

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    Methings the 100th St Candy Store in the heart of Manhattan’s East Harlem shoulda maybe stuck to its core competence… that being Candy. Kudos to Flicker user Jake Silby for snapping this shot of the abandoned store’s all-inclusive sign on November 28th, 2011.

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    So Long Suckers 11 Closed Abandoned Candy Stores

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    [ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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  • Suckers! Japan’s Ubiquitous Octopus Playground Slides

    [ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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    Weird anthropomorphic, gaudily painted concrete octopus slides lurk within hundreds of Japanese playgrounds, silently traumatizing generations of kids.

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    These playground octopi climbing frame/slide installations are so common and have been around for so long, it’s really no surprise Japanese parents are nonplussed by their ominous presence – doubtless they played on the very same structures when they were kids.

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    Visibly showing its age, the pastel pink cephalopod playground set above can be found at Hattori Ryokuchi Park in northern Osaka. It was visited by Akira Nakajima in 2009, David Kawabata (sleepytako) in 2013, and Trout Monroe (troutfactory) on January 1st of 2015.

    Two-Toned In Tokyo

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    Nestled into a small playground in the Kitasenju neighborhood of Tokyo’s crowded Adachi ward, this unusually two-toned octopus slide and the manicured grounds surrounding it are pristine enough to be a zen garden… for kids. One wonders if children are even allowed to climb on it.

    Reddy Or Not

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    Unlike many American playgrounds whose old lawsuit-encouraging equipment continues to be updated in the interest of safety, Japan’s vintage octopus slides are, were and will always be perfectly safe… not to mention easy to maintain. Take the venerable installation above, which needed nothing but a new coat of paint to make it good as new. Once sun-bleached as pink as a beached conch in Flickr user sallyhancox’s 2009 photo, it blazes fire engine red in her image snapped two and a half years later.

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    Suckers Japans Ubiquitous Octopus Playground Slides

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    [ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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