MOD NOTE: This was in a hidden forum for a couple weeks because Jon didn't know whether or not this would fly on the forums. Just so everyone knows Jon makes sure not to mess with ANYTHING in these buildings and is there for the purposes of photographing only. I also happen to think its very interesting
"Forgive those who Trespass"
Saturday, running on three hours of sleep, I decided to go with my friend to do some urban exploring in Gary, Indiana. I had never been down there, and aside from the three buildings I had planned to see I did not know much about the city other than it was absolutely swarming with abandonments.
I was amazed, however, that when we got down the entire city itself is practically a ghost town, with the only business that was thriving in the downtown area being the currency exchange. The entire city is quite sad, as we drove through a few of the neighborhoods due to the one-way streets, and almost every other house or so was boarded up and decrepit. The downtown area is also very bad, with many vacant lots due to a major arson spree in 1997, and countless abandoned buildings with their doors wide open. Then there are some that have had faux facades built over their entrances, to make them look "cleaner".
Then of course, there's the Jackson family home, now silent and free of Michael Jackson fans. A fence was recently built around the front lawn, there was almost no grass left when the memorial was set up in the front lawn due to all the foot traffic stomping it down.
We had planned to visit four buildings, we only made it to three due to the shortened December daylight, and the fact that the first building was much larger than I had thought. This thread will be for the first place, and that place is City United Methodist Church.
Built in the 1920s with a large contribution by US Steel, the church has been closed since 1975.
The sanctuary was recently used for filming of the new Nightmare on Elm Street remake, and the piano I believe was leftover from when a separate music video was filmed here as well. Many of the keys still work.
The sanctuary is decrepit, but has very few signs of tagging and vandalism. Some of the colorful stained glass is even intact.
The leftover piano is one of many in the church. The original organ was found near the stage, barely recognizable. There are two more in the basement; the one I found was severely water damaged.
Churchgoers were welcomed by a nice fireplace. At its peak the church had 3,000 members. By 1970 there were only 100 or so attending mass.
Much of the upper level walls are in rough shape. I'm not sure what the large red bricks are made of but they seem to break very easily. All three buildings I visited are built with them.
Upstairs is a gymnasium. The complex housed the church, some retail shops, an auditorium, a gymnasium, and a school.
City Methodist was one of many vacant structures damaged in the arson spree of 1997.
Surprisingly the steel lockers have not been pulled out by scrappers.
The locker areas are all contained around this staircase
Furniture probably dating back to the 60s and early 70s continues to rot away in the building.
Seaman Hall Auditorium once had seating for 997. The auditorium has a massive balcony with most of the seats still intact. The ground level seats were probably picked clean by scavengers.
I'm not quite sure why the stage has a nice collection of dirty 80s/90s clothing growing on it.
The only remaining seats are on the balcony, and the back rows
City Methodist had alot of fireplaces. There's also a bunch of film negatives scattered throughout the place; could've been from the NoES crew, or a pissed off urbexer.
The place also had several staircases, all of them nearly buried under debris, making them extremely difficult to climb.
Someone let the monster out of the closet...
School's out forever.
Arts and Crafts
A mural inside a classroom that has greatly suffered from taggers and time
Time-out chair
Room 301 was one of many damaged by the arsonists.
That's it for the church. This place has a large basement but I did not take the camera down there, had enough trouble getting down there as it was. Will get it next time.
Also want to mention that this place was the first time I encountered more people in an abandoned building. We were on the second level checking out the banquet room when we began hearing voices downstairs, and they didn't sound like the folks smoking outside the place across the street.
Then we heard them walking around downstairs before they started heading up. We kind of got off to the side, behind some boards; just so we could watch who was coming, and then figure out of we needed to bail out or not.
Two men with cameras came up the stairs, glanced around, then continued upstairs to the gym, not seeing us. We decided to sneak upstairs and see what they were up to.
Couldn't believe it, but it turned out they were there urban exploring as well. The one guy had been there a week earlier, and brought his friend for today's visit.
We introduced ourselves and bullshit for a few minutes before continuing onward, but we could hear them throughout the building the rest of the time we were there.
Next stop: Palace Theatre:
Edit by Jon: Since this is now in the public forum I will once again stress this is very dangerous stuff and should not be attempted unless you know what the hell you've got yourself into. Be safe!
Last edited by [jonrev] on January 2nd, 2010, 10:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
Since the collapse of the steel industry Gary has got to be one of, if not the worst city in the US. I cant imagine what it would be like to live there. Sweet pics though.
Gary was, for awhile, on the top of the list for the highest murder rate. I think they've recently fallen off the top 10 though. Still a very rough area, but more like a city-version of Harvey. In the neighborhoods it seemed like every other house or so was boarded up; Harvey does not have that.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
And I don't know if you're ever played Silent Hill (the game, not that blech movie) but some of those pictures look like they were taken straight from it. Especially this: Looks just like a scene in Silent Hill 2 where the main character finds his own dead body watching static on tv.
Also, This is totally a Rocky Horror reference! Awesome!
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking, isn't thinking of.
^Thanks all! Never played Silent Hill but I've had alot of people say these places look like something out of it. The church in particular reminds me of a post-World War II bombed city.
"When you die at the Palace, you really DIE at the Palace." -- Mel Brooks
Heading a bit south on Broadway from City Methodist we find the 1925-built Palace Theater
Despite the sign; the Jackson Five never performed here. The Palace closed in 1972.
In 2002 when Miss America came to Gary, Donald Trump had the theater's marquee and boarded up doors/windows painted to make the place look operational. Also added to the marquee were the letters "Jackon Five Tonite". After MJ's death, the banner was hung over the letters.
After MJ's death there were huge sheets of paper plastered on the doors where people could write letters to the Jackson family. Once they ran out of paper they took to writing on the old theater signs.
I've been told that the city has been working in the week since this trip to build a faux-facade over the vacant storefronts and theater entrance. Same deal they did just a bit north on Broadway. The Palace's old entrance will most likely all be covered up.
The Palace has great architecture:
Unlike City Methodist or the third place where all they need are welcome mats, you have to find a way into the Palace. First thing you see as your eyes adjust to the darkness is the MASSIVE stage
The Palace hosted stage shows, vaudeville acts, and eventually movies.
The balcony here is even bigger than the church's auditorium
Behind the curtain is the wreckage from the catwalks and lighting rigs that have fallen over the years
To the right of the stage is a corner of stairs that lead upstairs, and down to the flooded basement. Up one level we find the dressing rooms with some of the furniture and mirrors still intact.
Up another level and we find...
...a workshop with a door that probably accesses the fallen catwalks backstage. There's also roof access and a mattress up here.
The Palace once seated 3,000; in the last 5 years or so, most of the seats have been destroyed or stolen.
In the lobby a few panes of glass and arched doorways remain as the firebricks around them continue to crumble.
In the theatre's main entrance the suspended cieling has collapsed.
The ticket box office is still mostly there. We had to keep very quiet in here due to the people just on the other side of the doors waiting for the bus to arrive.
Accessing the balcony is extremely difficult due to the amount of debris that has fallen onto the stairs, and the fact that the handrails are all broken off.
As we head up into nosebleed section, we find off to the right...
...the projection room.
The film from the final movie is still here. I found some empty canisters, but none of them had movie titles on them.
In the storage room next door we find this:
Why don't you take a seat...
Surrounding the south and west sides of the theater are apartments and retail; the entrance to the Palace takes up a storefront; while apartments and a doctor's office occupy the two stories above.
Heading back downstairs we find a hole in the brick wall leading to the apartments.
To the left is the alley and the Palace theater itself. Along this hallway's right side is the complex of Dr Valenzuela's offices. I found a page of the Gary Post-Tribune from 1972 in the doctor's office.
The hallways are very long and crammed. This building was built with the same "firebrick" as City Methodist, so it has also been greatly weakened by time.
Some of the apartment rooms still have furniture and blinds inside. Most of them still have the foldaway closet beds rotting away.
This one still has funky wallpaper
So now after spending an extra hour or so in here after finding the apartments, we now just barely have enough time for stop #3; the old art-deco Post Office
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
Nice. Jon are you ever worried about falling debris while exploring these buildings? It's pretty clear that they aren't in the best shape physically. How long does it take to explore? And what kind of trouble can you get in for poking around in here? Are these buildings even owned by anyone to prosecute you?
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w00dland wrote:Nice. Jon are you ever worried about falling debris while exploring these buildings? It's pretty clear that they aren't in the best shape physically.
The Palace was the only place I was real concerned about; we could hear chips of the suspended cieling in the auditorium falling to the ground a few times while we were there, but for the most part the floors are somewhat stable.
Now a building like this... you couldn't pay me to explore: My friend that I was with for this recent trip went inside that building for this shot. It's now being demolished.
All 3 buildings I went to in Gary were built post-WW1 with this weird "firebrick" with a concrete mesh layered on top, then the drywall or whatever else to cover it, and it does not hold up well at all once the protective drywall falls off.
A few dumbasses, not too long ago, knocked this wall down in the Palace simply by throwing bricks at it, while filming it: http://trespassertv.com/video/f3fd24db5 ... -this-wall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
w00dland wrote:How long does it take to explore?
The first and second visits to Dixie Square took about 6 hours each due to the enormous size of the place (800,000 square-feet of retail space). Smaller buildings like the Palace and City Methodist we were in for about 3-4 hours. The Post Office we were only there about a half hour since there was not much to see, and we were running out of daylight. Gary is so loaded with abandonments that to see everything you would probably have to spend the night down there. Aside from the three places I visited there is an abandoned:
Sheraton high-rise hotel Huge Bolt and Screw factory Bowling Alley, possibly two Apartment complex Booze store and apartments Ruins of a burned down auditorium Countless storefronts and apartments along Broadway Half-demolished Holiday Inn with a homeless person inside Homes by the hundreds Union Station
w00dland wrote:And what kind of trouble can you get in for poking around in here? Are these buildings even owned by anyone to prosecute you?
Gary owns the church and probably the Palace. Not sure if the feds still own the Post Office or not. Harvey has once again handed Dixie Square to a developer (with no known plans for the place).
I'm not a lawyer, so don't quote me on this, but as long as you are familiar with the difference between breaking and entering and simple trespassing, and are not tagging or doing something stupid, the worst is usually a small fine and/or a "get the hell out". Both Gary and Harvey have so many other things to deal with that the rollers usually leave the photographers alone.
Bottom line: It's trespassing, but don't do something stupid and know what you're getting yourself into, and you should be OK.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
Yeah back in May they filmed scenes at City Methodist, and I think a few other places in Gary. They brought a huge bobcat in the church to push all the debris on the floor off to the side.
Hey Jon, are you gonna upload the pics from that old post office?
And after looking through all of this I sorta wanna go explore Banbury Place in Eau Claire which was an old Uniroyal Tire Plant. Huge 2 million square foot place, and its chained shut. Rumor says its haunted.
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Let's take a walk down Broadway. Just a bit north of the Palace are the ruins of the Memorial Auditorium. About 80% of it was burned down in the 1997 arson spree. It is supposed to be saved due to the fact it was built to honor war veterans. We didn't make it in there due to the sun going down and we were still trying to get to the Post Office.
Further north we find Thom McAn shoe store terrazzo flooring; a relic of a once 850-store chain. This in front of one of the buildings with a plywood faux-facade.
Walk a bit further north and we find the former JCPenney department store, which was later a Walgreens. You know the city is really bad when Walgreens can't even survive here.
And finally, just a bit east of JC-Walgreens we find the old art-deco Post Office.
The old Gary Post Office was built in 1937. The architect was Howard Cheney
All the post office needs is a welcome mat. You can literally walk into this building right from the sidewalk; no fencing or boards whatsoever at the main entrance!
This long-neglected building has been closed since the late 70s.
The massive sorting room takes up most of the building's lower level.
The floor of this place is made of wooden blocks, designed to be more comfortable to stand on for long-periods of time. This same design feature played a major part in the spread of the Great Chicago Fire. The "ring" with vents going around the sorting room, I've been told, was for security people to watch the sorters and make sure they were not stealing mail. However, we never found a way into this passage.
"Lock the door and throw away the key. There's someone in my head, but it's not me! --Pink Floyd"
These doors lead to the loading station for the city's mail trucks.
While structurally the Post Office is in probably the best shape of the three buildings I went to, it has been the victim of gangbangers/drinkers/etc.
Next to this desk was a giant safe, the heavy door was still easily movable. This is an HDR shot; HDR is unfortunately almost a requirement for doing any shooting in Gary.
The feds do not own the building anymore, I've learned that the local township does.
Back in the lobby are stairs that lead to offices.
Plain-old drywall does not survive long in natural climate.
All this shot needs are the twins from The Shining
Like City Methodist and the Palace; the Post Office is built from the same crappy "firebrick". Interestingly, it once lined this hallway that is already supported by regular bricks. Then the drywall was layered over the firebrick. Once the drywall deteriorated, the firebrick was next to go. On the cieling you can also see where the scavengers have picked the light fixtures clean... typical finding in most abandoned buildings. If it's not shattered it's stolen.
Because we spent the extra hour in the Palace after finding the apartments, we did not have much time to explore the Post Office before it got dark, so this is it.
Will definitely be returning to Gary soon; so many more buildings to explore!
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
Some really sweet pictures there Jon, you'll definitely have to go back and take some more for us sometime. I feel like many of us drive by Gary but never really drive into it. Amazing how its on its way to becoming a modern ghost town.
Top 5 wood-5-Goliath 4-Ravine Flyer II 3-Phoenix 2-Voyage 1-El Toro Top 5 Steel- 5-Velocicoaster 4- Maverick 3- Fury 325 2-Steel Vengeance 1-X2 Coaster Count: 444
Not much has changed in Penneys since my last visit in August.
"Shipping Damage" -- This was the package pickup area of Penneys
Seems like Penneys is really going for the "open-air" shopping experience.
Most of what you see here occurred this past year, and most of it after the winter time. By summer I'm sure more will collapse.
Shoe department
Walgreens pharmacy area which was not remodeled as Toys R Us for The Blues Brothers
Hell in a Cell
Dixie's life in a nutshell; Is it Fair? Will it Build Better?
Egg Foo Young... found in the back of Rorry's Womens Apparel
Rack
Restaurant of Beautiful Things
Sign (sled?) from Polk Brothers; a long-gone electronics and appliance retailer.
Careful with that Axe, Eugene -- One of the oddest finds of the day was a recently-placed axe in front of the now-collapsed Thom McAn storefront.
Steel Jungle
Ladies stockroom in Turnstyle. Above it is the office area, which has recently had the shit tagged out of it.
"Christ-Chair"
This little workshop is hidden above a hallway going from Block C to the service court. The floor creaked badly as I walked across it, and the stairs were held on by hinges.
"Night Bars, Guitars, Run-down Motels like Shacks" -- City Life Disco
The "Frozen Foods" sign in Jewel has now completely vanished. Jewel seems to have been hit by vandalism recently as some of the plywood covering up the windows has been knocked down, and the old customer service counter has been smashed up badly.
This is the damage caused by the fire last July. The collapse occurred about a month after the fire.
"Blowout Sales" -- Everything must go! Down to literally the bare walls!
I should now mention it was I believe under the 10-degree mark all day. The mall was completely iced over and we were sliding all over the place. Plenty of close calls but no falls.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
I think you are brave doing what you are doing. I wouldn't want to go into these places for 4 reasons. One is there might be drug dealers or people on drugs in them, 2 is there might be gang members in them and they might think you are invading their turf, 3 is the places could collapse as they just look rundown, and terrible, and 4 is the trespassing thing. Stuff like this amazes me. Here we have a thriving business in Melrose Park called Kiddieland, and it's being bought out by Costco because of the high-priced valued land, but yet there are places in this country in which the business and houses are terrible, but yet no one is willing to rebuild in those areas. If they don't want to rebuild put some more forest preserves (trees in general) up for how many we have lost do to people tearing them down just to put up a super huge mall.
I know this isn't the Kiddieland topic, but in back of Kiddieland, they have a golfcourse (putting range) abandoned for sometime now, and yet Costco didn't try to buy that land. It should get some traffic down that street as it's by a college over there.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
It is rather interesting that these huge businesses won't take the step into revitalizing a decrepit area. In Dixie Square's case, however, whoever buys it and decides to finally demo the place also needs to pony up the extra $100,000 (probably more) to finish asbestos removal, which is something many developers don't seem to want to tackle.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
^I'm told you can get a guided tour any day of the week by walking up and ringing the bell, just say you are a photographer and really appreciate old architecture. They will not however let you take pictures.
Somewhere in Florida a village is missing its idiot. He can be found in Washington D.C.
