DEFUNCTSITE

“Chicago already has 10,000 vacant buildings…The inventory is growing fast because of the foreclosure epidemic.”

Some think the abandoned and soon to be demolished Brach’s factory on Chicago’s west side “is the place that can represent a world-class site for a high school.” Others disagree.

Thanks to Chuck for pointing out the articles linked above.

“…the (Block 37 CTA subway) ‘superstation’ will be left unfinished, unusuable, and unopened. No one appears to know just how much more it would cost to complete, so…it will be sealed to stop the bleeding. Kind of like Tut’s tomb…“

Related article HERE.

Although tempting, I’m too much of a coward to even consider exploring Chicago’s subway tunnels. So when I read this news story, I couldn’t help but be a bit envious…

From the Chicago Tribune, a nice longish article about the website forgottenchicago.com:

The Treasure Seekers: Web site celebrates ghost ads, outdated street signs and other traces of life in Chicago

A university professor is quoted in the article as saying that the site “…is the stuff that makes the Internet more than just a porn delivery system.”

I once considered making a website featuring porn I’ve found in abandoned factories: old dog-eared water damaged and barely decipherable copies of Hustler (or just as often, Victoria’s Secret catalogs), crude graffiti drawings of genetilia, and the occasional candid Polaroid. I’ll never do it, but somebody should. Dirty Found comes close, but it’s not exactly what I have in mind.

Anyway, hats off to Serhii, Jacob and Corinne–keep up the great work.

I finally managed to make it up to a demolition site on The North Side: Peerless Confection, another victim (along with Brach’s and Fannie May) of Chicago’s war on candy factories.

By the time I got there the factory was more than half gone, so I stayed on the legal side of the fence and admired the curious Bauhaus-inspired wall sculpture on the otherwise featureless western facade. There’s a pretty good article about the sculpture and it’s uncertain future in the latest issue (no. 154, February 7-13, 2008) of Time Out Chicago, of all places. Seriously, it’s worth reading.