DEFUNCTSITE

Washburne Trade School cafeteria, 2005–click on the images in this post to make them big.

One of the more prominent features of Washburne Trade School was this mural in the cafeteria, presumably a project for the student sign painters who trained here. My first trip inside the building (back in…2004?) was a blur–so much, almost too much, to see–but this painting really stuck in my head. Since then, I had to get a photo of that wall every time I went to Washburne. Now that summer is upon us and much of the building is gone, I thought I would present the last photos I took of this mural while the building around it was being demolished.

March 7, 2009:  Aside from there being less graffiti on the wall, less furniture in the room and more ceiling tile on the floor (mmmm, asbestos…), this is pretty much what the cafeteria looked like when I began photographing it years ago.

April 12:  All of the (presumably) asbestos ceiling tile on the floor has been cleaned up by work crews–a sure sign that the bulldozers are coming.  There is still a bit of tile stuck to the ceiling, but I guess as long as they got MOST of it…

May 3:  A friend wanted to shoot some photos at Washburne, and we agreed to meet in the cafeteria.  When I arrived, he was wandering around the room with a puzzled expression–”This IS the cafeteria, right?”  “Um, yea, I think so…”  With the entire floor stripped bare, the space had a completely different feel to it. More factory-like. Which is appropriate, since the building used to be a factory.

May 30:  I guess you could argue that the light was better for photography after half of the building was ripped open.

June 5:  I sort of cheated here–as much as I would have liked to shoot another photo from the same spot, doing so would have involved being suspended in mid-air somewhere between the water tower and the enclosed stairwell in the middle of the photo.  The “Summer in the City” wall would have been a bit to the right of the tower, on the second floor. Use your imagination.

And…yea. So it goes.

Have safe summer. Got plans? Me, I’ll be re-reading a long book, among other things.