Saturday, January 30, 2010

Industrial Strength Photography

The bad side of town. The oth-er side of the tracks. The place you don't want to go during the day, much less at night. The place where the tow lot always seems to be, you know, the one where they've towed your car to, and it's late and you take a cab to and you have this feeling "this is where organized crime goes to eliminate their opposition!" Every city has its industrial area.

Where else would you go to sell your scrap metal? Not far away, you can buy used car parts: doors, fenders, hoods (automotive recycling)

My personal favorite is "radiator man" -- no one has a better selection of used units!


The '50s through the early '70s saw highways cut through urban neighborhoods, often through the industrial zone. While this 50-year old elevated highway is showing some rust and exposed reinforcing bars, the properties in its shaddows often show more distress. Built to rush commuters home to the suburbs, these highways cut up urban neighborhoods and condemmed them to decades of economic and social distress.


This view, within 10 blocks of my home, could be somewhere in the 3rd world, perhaps the suburbs of Lima, Peru or Tiajuana, Mexico. How to tell it's not the 3rd world? There would be perhaps dozens of people in the photo.

2 comments:

  1. It looks scary enough...Who would buy old radiators?
    Nice photos.

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  2. there are always those who renovate old houses that may need an old radiator....this is where they come!

    ReplyDelete