At the beginning of the 20th Century, the city of Detroit developed rapidly thanks to the automobile industry. Until the 50's, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit was the 4th most important city in the United States.
It was the dazzling symbol of the American Dream City with its monumental skyscrapers and fancy neighborhoods. Increasing segregation and deindustrialization caused violent riots in 1967. The white middle-class exodus from the city accelerated and the suburbs grew. Firms and factories began to close or move to lower-wage states. Slowly, but inexorably downtown high-rise buildings emptied. Since the 50's, "Motor City" lost more than half of its population.
Nowadays, its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great civilization.
In the early 20th century, following the development of the entertainment industry, hundreds of auditoriums were built everywhere in North America. Major entertainment firms and movie studios commissioned specialized architects to build grandiose and extravagant theaters.
From the 60's, TV, multiplexes and urban crisis made them become obsolete. During the following decades, when they were not modernized or transformed into adult cinemas, they closed one after the other and many of them were simply demolished.
Those which remain forgotten, escaping from this fate, were converted to varied purposes. Now, many are reused as churches, retail, flea markets, bingo halls, discos, supermarkets or warehouses. Some others just sit abandoned.
Gagra is a resort city on the Black Sea coast. With its climate close to subtropical, Gagra was a popular health resort in Imperial and Soviet Russia among Russian elite. It was a paradise in an ideal climate, a royal palace and a number of buildings in an eclectic variety of styles from around Europe. The park that surrounded the resort was also very popular with tropical trees, parrots and monkeys imported to give it an exotic feel. The war between Abkhazia (political entity within Georgia which status is disputed) and Georgia in 1992-1993 deserted the place making it all ruins and a ghost town.
Welcome to this abandoned hotel in Southern California. It was built in the 1900s and opened in 1917. Sadly, this place has been boarded up since 1939, but not much has changed inside ever since because for over 70 years this property has been caught in a fierce legal battle over ownership.
This place preserves the Spanish Revival-style. Being once the destination for upper class of California and Hollywood's elite, this hotel still can boast with antique relics and other amazing things including untouched statues and other beautiful decorations.
It is gorgeous inside even though it went through a tragic fire in 1939 that killed over 45 people from powerful and rich families. These deaths resulted in lawsuits, disgrace, jailed contractors and changes in the State of California fire code laws.
GF, is there anyway you can move your pictorial likes to it's own thread. I think it would serve you better for the credit you are do. Keep it up.
BTW, is there any info on the pics in this thread that aren't themed except being abandon?
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All my posts are not indicative of what I like, but rather a smattering of what I find. Society dictates what they feel is acceptable, not me.