53 Comments Posted by sean

I worked in this building in 1980 and 81 in the food service department. It was my first job and awesome because the state paid a lot more then other area jobs for high school students. the Patient's names have escaped me except for Mr Harris, sitting outside smoking a home rolled cigarette and waiting for family that never showed. he was in his 70's or 80's frail but loved to talk. There was also another man from another building that would get a "gold pass" and be allowed in town where he would direct traffic, or tell people he was the president and was waiting on his limo. thsnk you for slowing me to see a bit of the past thru your camera lens

the hotel sterling was an irreplaceable priceless piece of history. These buildings are built in ways, with materials, and incredible detail not achieved today. These photos show the beginning of the intentional neglect of cityvest. This building had such character, and in the river street historic district it certainly had the most admiration from the people. They saw our care, the free tax money, and pounced. Leaving thisplace to rot and when that wasn't enough, and they
emptied their LLC accounts, and they walked away
unscathed, cityvest criminals, rogers, shoval, buffalino, etc suckered millions, never paid taxes, and ultimate failure was their goal. motts, your roof shot shows a
roof in good condition, how did it end up with gaping holes??? NEGLECT (10+ million worth of intentional neglect) This building stood for 115 years tgrough countless floods of which washed numerous "market St. bridges" at its foot step, all economic failures, numerous owners, squatters, bums, druggies, and years of cityvest stealing everything of any value, while stating they were "abating asbestos".... BULL SHIT,That place was gutted by the owners. This building was no danger to the streets around it, it would never have fallen. They intended to get the millions, neglect it until its as the paper mongers it an "eye sore", and it may fall on its own, get condemned and "it'll have to go."Not the Sterling... steel and bricks built only way
they knew how in the good old days. bold and powerful it survived, they said the inches of water damaged its structure Lmfao (its not funny people actually believed it...) it didn't and the basement flooded there since the beginning of time, ask anyone. (and the inspection stated they couldn't assess the steel beams, cause they were incased in solid, undamaged concrete...but still claim it was comprised.... epic lies, yet people sip up that koolaid... that building still didn't fall, so they figured they'd monger the fear! Its going to fall! debris falls from the roof and upper levels!!! Shh!!" build a barrier, Shh! "build block the roads, that'll really make people hate it, then we can tear it down!" A year of fighting for a response to the stolen embezzled millions, to try and save the Sterling. Then guess what? shittyvest dissolved. The city sucks up more tax money and decides despite attempts to neglect it to death, make people hate it, make people fear it, and spew dozens of outlandish lies, it still stood right up until the end.
Even with a wrecking ball, and various machines of
destruction. it still isn't leveled, it fought the whole
way. This would have never fallen on its own, never
been a danger, and stood forever. It took mankind to
destroy this historic landmark. These structures are
priceless and not coming back. Nothing can be created like this our modern society build things with
the cheapest materials by the lowest bidder. There is
no detail, no craftsmanship, no charisma in building
these structures. people in this ass backwards town
would rather clear travel on river street than to ask
why its blocked. That area will be a parking lot or a
God damn bank. It makes me sick. Living through the
destruction of this building is an awful memory. Im
ashamed as usual by my peers here in the county and
city. You want to see a real eyesore...gaze around the rest of this dump I see 20 buildings of 0 value in any 5 mile drive around here. All teul lNEEDING demolition which will rot, and literally fall before a barricade or
public slandering occurs to get them knocked down. You would need prime real estate under a landmark hud goldmine to get that all powerful corrupt political agenda to tear it down. It's disgusting to see how the wool pull worked here... maybe they'll put a private for-profit juvenile detention center to be close to the crook house... I mean court house. sean m. corcoran. if you like it look me up, if not get in line with the rest of the politicians and the uneducated who allow blinders to be put up.

Responding to the previous post (Chris). Percy Brown's--my grandfather used to get fresh Italian bread and clam chowder; I heard it was the best. The Westmoreland Club is still there. The only place on earth to get authentic "Old Forge" Style pizza; if you never heard of it, you don't know what your missing. Just imagine Italian & Polish immigrants making pizza. Little known fact is that Planter's Peanuts was founded in W-B. Luzerne, Economy, Shavertown, & Plains Lumber Co's. Most gone but had previously been around for eon's. The one good thing is that they managed to hold on to Pomeroy's & the Paramount Theater...I think. Well, I guess it could be worse, we could be talking about Detroit, MI or Camden, NJ

What a disgrace!!! My family is from there, visited a lot, I lived there for a number of years and moved out about 2001. This Hotel does a great job of representing what Wilkes-Barre USED to be. The Sterling is a masterpiece of art work that came on the heels of the Gilded Age before income tax and at a time when business & industry was booming; not like today...no matter what the media says. I mean when the US WAS special. The Sterling is done in the same vane as the Boston Park Plaza, The Plaza in NYC, Waldorf, and The Bellvue. To lose it, in my opinion is the LAST nail in the coffin for the Wyoming Valley. Ironically the valley, since the death of the coal industry, has become known as the place that enters a recession first & exits it last. Third largest economy in the state (distant third) and there's absolutely NO industry to speak of but then again that's not so unusual nowadays. Sorry for the negativity but it's like watching your Dad get beat up or Babe Ruth get out done by one of the steroid charged athletes of today. It's pitiful a block away from the Sterling the McDonald's couldn't even stay open.

you have some serious balls going into these places and doing what you do, especially at night and in the pitch darkness. i have been through pilgrim state and kings park a couple time making photographs and i was nervous to stay past sunset hahaa

Wow. First new comment in nearly 3 years.

I looked at this particular facility because I'm from Ohio, though I've never been to this area. All the pics on this site are beautiful.

As for the people in the previous comments freaking out about the graffiti on the wall in the pic, keep in mind it is 99% likely that it was spray painted by a 15 year old who never raped anyone and just wanted to write something to make his little friends laugh and provide shock value for those who saw it later. I mean, come on.

I love this building so much I even go to meeting on the restoration of the building. I thing for sure is it massively huge

If anyone is interested in going on a ghost hunt through the buildings of Glendale, let me know. I am getting written persmission to do so.

Hey what trail can i find these at? i just recently moved to blauvelt and am very interested in seeing all this history. Today i took a hike from rt 303 by Lieber road (bridge that goes over railroad)- i then took the green trail to the end of clausland mnt parking lot.

I love this shot. I am wondering how you were able to get IR in color? My IR shots out of my Hoya r72 are orange and can be tinted other colors but I have not gotten any like this. Nice job!

That would be a sick view everyday. Screw day care im going exploring

Yes converting your old camera isn't a bad idea. One of my friends is replacing his 350D and then converting it for IR. I was always worried about having that done on the 5D becasue of the cost of the 5D. You seem to get a lot of amazing shots in IR the way your 5D is now. I do like the way that the clouds look in the long exposures. I am looking into getting the R-72 filter but they are hard to come by in the 77mm size.

Well keep up the good work, you are definitely a very talented photographer and I respect what you do to document these beautiful locations before they are demolished!

Your welcome. This type of photography is a lot of fun but you make it look easy. I think many people don't realize how much work it really is to get such good shots like you get. If you don't mind me asking is your 5D modified for the IR or do you use long exposures?

This is one of my favorite locations you have been to. Great pics nice job!

Its so sad to see these places getting demolished. Another great shot Motts!