Time for a bit of off topic here i dont know if i have mentioned it before (i think i have) but aside from cinema or cars i also have a big interest in abandoned places, cities, buildings etc, its much more spectacular when we talk about an abandoned city like Prypiat for example, well, while searching for new stuff to read this morning i came across with an Spanish article about a small town or village in Pennsylvania called Centralia, the story is interesting, it all started apparently with a fire that then went to the underground in where it kept burning until nowadays, and keeps alive actually, i was wondering if any of you (also interested in these stuff like me) knew about this village before, apparently is almost empty nowadays and just a few of its many original inhabitants keep living there.

Specially for the americans, did any of you know about this?

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

I did know about it, not by name at present, but at one time I did so. I am what is called a roadgeek, so old alignments and abandoned stretches of road, especially with remaining signage, are very cool to me. An example of an abandoned roadway would be US Highway 101 through Camp Pendelton Marine Base in California. It was left behind when the military base expanded some time ago.
http://www.roadsites.org/losthwy/us-101_cp/old_divided_hwy.jpg
http://www.roadsites.org/losthwy/us-101_cp/old_sign_1_context.jpg
http://www.roadsites.org/losthwy/us-101_cp/old_sign_3.jpg

Makes you think of Logan's Run or Planet of the Apes, doesn't it?

I did not know of Centralia, but I thought the underground fires sounded familiar. Apparently it was the inspiration for the town in http://www.imcdb.org/movie_102558-Nothing-But-Trouble.html

Nice pics Roadmaster! and Wampa, apparently, by what ive read, Centralia was the inpiration for Silent Hill, perhaps for Nothing but Trouble too, who knows.

A very recommended site -mainly for places is Germany is:
http://www.lostplaces.de/cms/


Very strange feelings I had in 2006, when we visited that village:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otzenrath

It's one of the villages East of Cologne, which were broken down for big coal-exploitations in the last decades. It was frightenend, when you walk in villages, where the houses were empty and the windows closed with bricks. But in a very few houses still people were living.
After the buildings, the streets (even the Autobahn A 44) and all other things were cracked down, the whole nature, trees, bushes, fields and even the ground were scrapped off.
Then comes the huge coal-digger and after some years nothing more is left than a big hole.

Everything we've seen in 2006, was destroyed one year later.

You were lucky to see it then

I just read, this film was made there:
http://imcdb.org/movie.php?id=443665

This is an interesting place i found out today, its an abandoned resort in Taiwan, with a very space-from style

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2008/03/san_zhi.php

There is a rather notorious abandoned place about 10 miles from where I work. Times Beach, Missouri was forced to be evacuated in the 1980s due to dioxin contamination from waste oil sprayed on the dirt roads to control dust. There is nothing left to see now; it has been converted to Route 66 State Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_beach

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/MO-TimesBeach.html

http://www.mostateparks.com/route66.htm

excellent topic Adrian! ... I'm fan too ! ...I've quite a lot pictures of some "lost places", shot randomly since I have camera...many time I take pictures of railway landscapes... the last I've found are these nice pics of the "Gare Marchande" in Bruxelles! ... probably Antp could tell more about . Here are some pics.

Excellent Jean Marc! look at these great abandoned train station in spain, Canfranc, its been abandoned for decades if im right, apparently, by what we see in this video, it is being restored for a reopening

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=HiWT_yguQRg

That is so cool! I must visit that road some time! Is it not on maps anymore? How come no one drives on it? It seems like even old roads still get a little bit of traffic. Are you even allowed to drive on it? It's so mysterious, I simply love it The third picture is the best, with the mileage sign all faded and falling apart. Nice find!

Anyways, there's an abandonded building in downtown Detroit that is quite interesting I've always thought. I took pictures of it when I visited there. It is quite sad actually, to see a historic building like that all worn out and rotting away
The name is Broderick Tower, a 35-story skyscraper built back in 1928 that has been completely abandonded





Some interior pictures, not mine of course since the public is not allowed inside.





An old dentist's office

Taxiguy that building i'd love to visit it...

Have you seen this site?

http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/

I know, it would be fun to explore, wouldn't it? But the elevators would probably not be operational anymore, so you would have to climb many flights of stairs. Too bad they do not let the public inside...
It's such a large building to have been completely abandonded though, I've alway wondered about that. I hope it does not suffer the same fate as the nearby 34-story Hudon's Departmant Store, the largest building ever to be imploded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rcctmcxGwM

another view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khD2gZkkSu0&feature=related

I hadnt, thanks ill have a look at it.



Sure it would Max , i find
funny that you wonder what i always do when i see an abandoned place "WHY?" i always wonder why was it abandoned, i also love to iamgine how it was when it was active, it would have been nice to know how it was before, do you know or does it sound to you the city of Prypiat?

This is a great topic, I like the ghost town picture above. I have a picture of my Montero in front of an abandoned factory that I explored one day. Who knows if they'll ever tear it down, mostly likely not.



I live in a very artsy town in Indiana and there are many amazing murals scattered around alleys and in vacant parking lots. This is one of my old bikes in front of the mural.



Lastly is an abandoned parking lot in Seattle, Washington. Actually directly behind me in this photograph was a bright red early 80s FJ60 Toyota Land Cruiser that I was drooling over haha.

How funny to hear that! it even sounds weird, that wouldnt happen in Europe at all, with the problem of parking spaces that we have people parks anywhere

I know what you mean, it's like a glimpse into the past. That is why I enjoy movies that depict such things, like Titanic. If you have seen it, you may remember the part when they showed the "Grand Staircase" at the bottom of the ocean, rusted, ruined and covered in seaweed. Then they go back in time to 1912 and show the same staircase teeming with life at its height of glory. It's quite neat. really.

Anyway, that place does not ring a bell I am pretty good at American geogrophy and know of quite a few cities here but not so much world cities. And that does not sound like a place in the US. Is it in Spain?

Im an absolute fan of the story of the Titanic, and i love the movie specially the part that talks about the ship itself and the part in where we see the ship sinking, people just say it is a stupid movie but because they just pay attention to the love story, but it is the ship story which is interesting, just to iamgine all that luxury in it and it all was ruined, all the people etc... well...

Well you could have known about it but perhaps you didnt have to, it ocurred on 1986 when a nuclear reactor exploded, the nuclear power station was Chernobyl and when it exploded the radiation in the nearby city was too high, so people was forced to abandone the city, since then many people died and well, other not nice stuff... so Prypiat is the city that was abandoned, and many photos of it can be seen in the net, look.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=DQeO1qNmwq4

The city can actually be visited with a tourist guide, it is jsut empty, its a shame that, as it always happens with theseplaces they are vandalized once they are empty.