3 Comments Posted by RR

It was born from the absolute boredom of waiting for a few wiggerish buddies to get done with their NYC style tags. I tried to make it a mix of Anthrax and Iron Maiden style letters because their's were so...well...*ethnic*. I wanted to make a statement for Heavy Metal since most graffitti has a rap influence to it.

Brilliant. you Sir are a man amongst men! i love it.

What a site of amazing photographs. I am impressed with your work Mott.

This particular place has stunning archetecture. It is always sad to see public property that could be a community resource wiped out forever.

Often there is just no money or will to preserve. Too bad to Massachusets has spent a gadzillion dollars on state history for oddball projects that attract the attention of politicians. For example the structurally troubled schooner Ernastina and the lighthouses on Nantuckett.

Here in Oregon a rare will developed in a private developer who has bought up dozens of these old funky sites, orphanages and poor farms with instituitional archetecture of significance. The Mcmenamins have renovated them and turned them into a very succesful entertainment empire. Their business model may have seemed bizarre at first but after 15 years it has proven to be very succesful. They renovated without changing the layouts or archetecture too much. Put in attractive landscaping and commision local artists to decorate the place often in works reflecting its history and the people who lived there.

They still have that institutional flavor. Some hotel rooms are made out of old classrooms and still have the slate blackboards and hooks for the coats.

They run the places as community resources and encourage people to come and hang out or just wander around. Each site may have 2 or 3 resteraunts, a brewpub, winery, distillery, cigar rooms, hot pool, gymnaseum for local leauge games and dances, wedding and party catering, local meeting rooms, hotel wing, and even chip and putting courses across the grounds.

Check out the Edgefield poor farm and the art work that covers every wall in the 4 story place

http://www.mcmenamins.....php?loc=3&id=55

I go to their Kennedy school all the time and soak in the hot pool. Then watch 3 dollar movies sitting on an overstuffed couch in the old auditorium while a waitress brings me micro brew beer and pizza.

These guys run their business like the Ben and Jerries of the NW and make good money at it in an industry where many go horribly banktrupt.

No one would have ever believed a private person could not only save so many of these odd derilict properties but turn them into such a valued community resource. Whatever ghosts remain of former sad and despondent residents must be completely soothed by the good vibes of the vibrant life people bring to these places now.

If you are ever in SF check out the restored Nike base in the Golden gate National Recreation area. They let you ride down on the missle elevator with a rack of formely nuclear tipped spears. They have restored the radar and 1962 targetting computer in the vans. You can sit at the old style raytheon phosporus display azimuth and eleveation radar console srrounded by racks of humming vacume tubes and manipulate the controls as it runs through a training simulation of incoming soviet bombers. Very very creepy.

The only one I know of with so much restored equipment.

I used to hang out on a nike base in PA that had been used as a similar microwave earth station in the 1970s. They were still doing research in the 1980s there.There was lots of old abandoned equipment from previous projects. We took a number of tube amplifiers and made awesome guitar and PA amps out of them. I still have 2 of them. Weapons of the cold war truned into well used tools of joyfull expresion.