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urban exploration

MsAKK

By MsAKK
in Grand Rapids Coffee House

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MsAKK Unincorporated Area

MsAKK

Posted
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just wondering if anyone here is interested in urban exploration?

photography is my hobby and i love abandoned buildings, rotting architecture, factories, etc.

i've been reading about the closed hospitals in the state and other interesting places.

i'd like to find a buddy to go exploring with on my photoshoots.

any thoughts??

any active groups out there?

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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Urban Spelunking is the proper term. Check out Infiltration http://www.infiltration.org/

I don't hear that much about it around here. Some the Detroit guys are active in it. I'd be careful about doing it, old buildings are dangerous not to mention it's against the law. Although I'd probably try it once. Anyone up for a Michigan Central Station trip in Detroit???? :whistling:

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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I've notised for a long time now the fire escape door on the very top floor of Olds Manor has been cracked open. Do they realise how tempting that is?

I actually know somebody who went exploring in the buildings that were torn down for the new GRAM about a week before demo. He said police found out rather quickly and he had to leave.

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

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I don't know if its still there or not. But many years ago, my brother, his BMX buddies, and I rode our bikes in the above ground city pool at Highland Park after labor day since the pool was emptied and bone dry. One day we broke into the locker rooms below when I shook the steelcage door half to death until the lock gave way. This was the only Urban exploration I remember doing.

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dtown Town

dtown

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If you guys ever go to Michigan Central Station, nitro, be sure to talk to Allan. He knows a little about the place and has been there before, so he could go with you.

Or, you could go to the old mental hospitol in Traverse city.

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zenstyle Hamlet

zenstyle

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Back in the late 1980s, a friend and I opened a mysterious door which led off the main rehearsal hall on the second floor of Civic Theatre. We walked up many flights of rickety stairs (complete with some missing steps) up to the 4th, 5th and 6th floors...we saw "listening booths" from the time there was a record store up there. So cool! Also, pigeon skeletons galore.

About ten years ago, a different friend and I were poking around the basement of an old storefront on Weston, which used to be home to a performance art group. Quite spooky.

The former photography studio of Pete DeRitter on South Division was also the site of many an interesting nook and cranny. I love that kind of messin' around!

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PRCH Whistle-Stop

PRCH

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1979: spent some time exploring the Dime Store Block (old Monroe east of Pearl) just before they were 'sacrificed' to 'progress'. Once you found your way into one, you could access the others (Kresge's, Green's, Woolworth's) from the rooftops. I still have a lighted Coca-Cola "Luncheonette" sign from Woolworth's. (It followed me home).

That said, I don't recommend Urban Spelunking, especially for older guys like Nitro. Danger lurks.

Taking things that don't belong to you is also not recommended: ethical 'spelunkers' take only photo's (certain exceptions can be made if demolition is imminent. Let your conscience be your guide).

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GR8scott Burg

GR8scott

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I've always wanted to do some exploring, just havent found any friends that would take it seriously. Besides Olds Manor, I cant think of any other large and significant abanded buildings in GR. There was an old row rail depot type thing on the south side of Ann that sadly, was recently torn down, I always loved driving through there and would have loved to explore it. Maybe that warehouse wedged between 131, the river and GVSU would be interesting.

A couple buildings in Kalamazoo that people explore:

The old, secluded mental hospital

000_0133.jpg

an abanded mill

fc667d22.jpg

Ab old phizer building that was torn down this summer, would have been really cool

033eaee0.jpg

Ive explored some abanded school buildings on campus, haha

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Raildudes dad Hamlet

Raildudes dad

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There was an old row rail depot type thing on the south side of Ann that sadly, was recently torn down, I always loved driving through there and would have loved to explore it. Maybe that warehouse wedged between 131, the river and GVSU would be interesting.

The building on Ann Street was a former plating company - no rail related activities at least no for 100 years. Don't mourn it's passing, it was going to fall down shortly. It rained inside for hours after it stopped raining :)

The other warehouse you mention was the A&P warehouse. State of the art food warehouse when it was built. Dry goods, produce and refrigerated storage. It's one of the reasons for the S-curve, it would have cost the DOT & GR a fortune to replace it. It was cheaper to curve and go over the downtown freight yards west & south of Union Station.

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allbusiness Whistle-Stop

allbusiness

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When I was a kid in Holland (60's) there was an old school book storage facility -- a Quonset hut -- around 18th and Cleveland that we would "break into" on a regular basis (The place never was really locked up tightly).

It was full of old "Dick and Jane" books and other "readers" from the 1930s and 40s that probably are worth millions by now... :rolleyes:

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Thrillhouse Whistle-Stop

Thrillhouse

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well it IS one of my hobbies....especially when i take a camera and load of film along.

i was just at the Sparta foundry that was on WXMI last week and took about 3 rolls.

i also did a photoshoot of the foundry in Holland that was torn down to make room for Hope's fieldhouse. that made a fullpage spread in the Holland newspaper. :yahoo: industry/abandoned areas are one of my favorite subjects to photograph....there's beauty in destruction....

i did get caught in that foundry, but it was some of the demolition workers and they looked at me as if i were a ghost, and i just kept walking. that foundry and the one in Sparta were WIDE open....no need to touch anything there.

i also explored that rail deopt you mentioned....last spring i believe. got some pictures there and yes, now it's torn down. :(

i wouldn't mind having an exploring buddy.....i didn't feel too safe in the Sparta foundry, mainly because i was afraid of running into someone.....scary.

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Thrillhouse Whistle-Stop

Thrillhouse

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well i think it closed in the sense that it's no longer in business. unless it somehow merged into the business it shares a building with.

here is the link to the story i heard on WXMI

http://fox17.trb.com/news/011707-wxmi-spartsa,0,135358.story

the building itself was wide open, however. there were many doors already "unlocked" and just missing altogether.

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