Lets See Your Abandoned and Dilapidated Buildings / Ruins

lucky7 wrote in post #19025078

That's an awesome "before" shot. I take it this is the same truck that ended up on the ground? You guys (or whoever) could have put a couple test dummies in first?

Yes! I wish I could have seen it. Haha.

My friend Jim had much larger huevos than I!

lucky7 wrote in post #19025270
Yes! I wish I could have seen it. Haha.

My friend Jim had much larger huevos than I!

Edit, these are from August 2009.

If the engine were still in it, the balance may have been very iffy.

Agreed. Jim is also an engineer now. Haha.

lucky7 wrote in post #19025270
Edit, these are from August 2009.

Just two months prior to my first visit.
I believe the truck was gone by my second visit.

Yes, I don't recall it being there too long. I've seen some interesting things in and around there. Haha.

Found the trashed RV we stumbled upon

Transformers was at the train station (Michigan Central Station) in Corktown.

I wish I still had all these raw files as I would certainly do different editing...Haha.

lucky7 wrote in post #19025439
Yes, I don't recall it being there too long. I've seen some interesting things in and around there. Haha.

I'm sure you have, considering the amount of time you say you've spent there.

I was only able to get some people together for an outing the two times I've been there,
and one of those guys pulled me back from falling through a three-story-high
drop ceiling which looked nothing like a drop ceiling from above.

Are you still in the area, Dane?
Can you tell us anything about the renovation/reuse project?

lucky7 wrote in post #19025445
Transformers was at the train station (Michigan Central Station) in Corktown.

Yes, the first movie included that.

I was never able to organize others to agree on an outing there.
I would've loved to see and photograph that place!


One or two other movies featured the Packard site, however.

I'm 30 miles north of the city (still), but I don't really spend a whole lot of time down there anymore. I'm willfully ignorant on many of the 'projects' going on now. I haven't the slightest idea what they're up to!
Wish I could say more, haha.

You really did have to pay attention to where you were walking. Holes in the floor, broken steps, and so on. A friend got mugged and had his camera gear stolen and found it a pawn shop (lol), another friend got robbed and got his walled and phone stolen. Ironically enough I have gone by myself on occasion with never anything bad to report. Lots of homeless people, even more groups of people wandering/exploring. It was a lot of fun at the time. Haha.

We always wanted to head to Northville to the psych building, but there were so many rumors of guards and alarms that we just didn't ever make it. There were lots of other places we didn't go to - not a huge fan of breaking and entering, haha. I only ever went in if there was a previous opening.

SkedAddled wrote in post #19025447
Yes, the first movie included that.

I was never able to organize others to agree on an outing there.
I would've loved to see and photograph that place!

One or two other movies featured the Packard site, however.

I had no idea. Interesting!

Huh. My first time there, we parked on Bellevue Street, right in the middle
of the southern end of the complex. We were met by a HUGE African-American man,
challenging our reason for being there. He apparently suspected we were there
to set fires, but he was appeased by our display of cameras and tripods.
5 of us, all carrying similar gear, obviously won him over.

I felt physically safe the entire time I've been there, except for the one close call.
Even the roofs seemed solid, with obvious cues to the places to be avoided,
and we heard others inside, but encountered no one.

Too bad you missed Northville. Across several visits between 2008 and 2010,
we may have been lucky in not being found, but I don't believe TIDs were yet
being used by local authorities. I went there solo once, but there was too much
water and tunnel flooding from recent rains for me to have much access.
As I was leaving, sound of a motor drew closer, and I made it out of sight
into the woods just before a grounds custodian came around the corner of
my exit building on a large lawn tractor.

SkedAddled wrote in post #19025442
The irony is that it's
a Chicago location in the movies, while Detroiters and Chicagoans know
it's most certainly NOT in Chicago

Reminds me of this photo I took at Packard in 2009... Despite the "Gary" name all over that wall, its not in Gary! Made me wonder if someone was trying to lure folks to a huge non-existent decrepid former auto plant in "Gary".

SkedAddled wrote in post #19025466
We were met by a HUGE African-American man,
challenging our reason for being there.

Reminds me of a guy who chased me away from an abandoned church further down the road on W. Grand Blvd. I'd driven around the block about five times and decided it looked OK to give it a quick peek inside... I parked and a was met by a guy claiming to be "security". His breath smelling like a brewery and his grimy clothes suggested otherwise; most likely he was the lookout for scrappers working inside! So all in all he probably did me a favor; I've never run into scrappers and I sure don't want to!