Built Decay

Quiet Time

2008-03-22T08:34:00.001-07:00

Quiet Time
Originally uploaded by Scrap Arcs

Well, it's all about built decay, and so I might as well start with the handiwork of my now departed friend's hands, dedicated to the Lord, now returning to the earth. The natural cycle of things can be somewhat disheartening.

Back to decay

2008-02-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

I'm much more interested I think in the process of taking the photos and viewing them than cataloging the history of a site, but sometimes we need people to find out about these places and find out what stories they told. I know this was a service station at one time, and when I lived maybe two blocks from this back in college, there was a guy who sometimes sat in there and did work of some kind, so I know it's not completely abandoned.

Location: Tempe, AZ, near University & Rural, very close to Arizona State University

Status: for sale (anyone got lots of money and a love for historic preservation?)

Things which can no longer exist

2007-11-23T22:33:00.001-08:00

Gas Pump Regular 1
Originally uploaded by Scrap Arcs

One of the most interesting signs of decay is seeing a decayed object which no longer can exist. I haven't seen a regular gas pump in probably twenty years, and this may well have been the last I'll ever see. I can hear in my head now, "It's the end of the world as we know it..."

Photo notes: Photo taken September 2007 in Gila Bend, Arizona.

Bowie Gas Station

2007-10-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

Bowie Gas Station
Originally uploaded by Scrap Arcs

Coming into Bowie headed east, this is the first sign of civilization that you see. It almost looks alive - but it isn't. In fact, I pulled in only to see a gigantic mean dog trying to jump a fence that it looked like it could handily clear. I stayed right in my car and left the property with all due haste.

It looks kind of modern. I wonder if it was open when I was in high school maybe.

Texaco

2007-10-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

This was once Texaco. Now it's a run down sort of holding place for old, dying cars. Going down main street, there is a closed mineral store, another 3-4 old gas stations, a cool sort of old teepee (closed), a very neat old fairly recently repainted and refurbished, but now overgrown with weeds hotel, and much more.

You can tell when a small town's been bypassed by the interstate.

Welcome to Bowie, Arizona.

From the heyday of drive-ins, another concept

2007-10-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

The drive-in church. What the heck were they thinking? Obviously it wasn't a successful concept, because all the speaker posts have been uprooted and it's just an ordinary church now.

The online church concept hasn't really taken off either. The poor Catholics are really out of luck because there is just no way to have e-communion.

Glass and Garden Drive-in Church, Scottsdale, AZ - photo taken 9/30/07

2007-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

For this post, I am going a bit farther into town and photographing decay that is technically right in the Valley of the Sun (that's the Phoenix, Arizona area for y'all lookin' from out of town). I now bring you downtown Buckeye, AZ as of about a month ago. Amazing how there are all the new exurban McHomes and not one person gives enough of a hoot to revitalize a little old downtown. Knowing this area, give 'em a few years and they'll knock it down for some new upscale lifestyle center or something.

2007-09-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

The next few days promise to be busy ones, so I shall leave you with a photo of an old theatre again in Superior, Arizona. From what I have been able to learn, it was closed already by sometime in the 1970s, but I'm going to have to find more information on it.

An introduction to the landscape

2007-09-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the urging of another retail and urban development fan (Mitch Glaser, author of the very interesting and informative Paradox Unbound), I am finally getting up some photos of recent excursions I have taken. Most of my photos of the built environment are of things around Arizona, but I have a handful from Chicagoland that I will try to pull out as time goes on.

I took my first venture to Superior, Arizona (approximately 50-75 miles east of Phoenix) in February 2007. I was completely amazed at first sight. Here was a town where the mines closed about 25 years ago, and it looked like nobody had done much with the town since that time.

I had to start with Sprouse. I lived in a town in southern Arizona in the early 1990s and Sprouse was the only department store in town. It was much more modern than this store, however.

Welcome!