Yearly Archives: 2013

Goodbye, Iola

[continued from previous post] And just like that, I met a real explorer. Three real explorers, actually. I might be able to make a comeback after all. I'd hoped this would happen somewhere I hadn't already been so many times, and I might get to see a new, interesting location somewhere, but at least I have my foot in the door again! We continued from the house into Building 7, the corner one at South and Westfall. The tunnels, and even the basements, have flooded since last time I was here, making these cages an even more miserable place. This…

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They Paved Paradise And Put Up A Costco

I never thought I would see this day, when the end is near, if not here, for what has become my favorite abandoned place. Not the most spectacular (but close), not the biggest (also close), but certainly the most meaningful to me, for all the times I'd been. I've probably spent as much time here, between all the tunnel parties, all the actual exploring, the week I spent squatting Building 1 with Anna for the hell of it, and the nights that I'd just get a few friends and some beer and Jim Beam and forget about how fucked up…

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An House Of Sin

I've been exploring at least every week this summer, and hardly have any pictures to show for it; finally I got out during the day for a change, back to the Flint Street warehouse, which is more rotten than ever before, and features an ungodly stench in the July heat. It'll probably be the last time I bother with this place... but I wanted to at least try the new wide angle I got for my birthday. ugh... Someone tore down the attempt at boarding up the gaping hole in the back of the building. It's had a turbulent history…

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Spaghetti Factory

This was a place I saw while I was canvassing last fall and never made it back to. As far as I can tell, it's a former part of the LiDestri plant, a spaghetti sauce conglomerate that dominates the north side of Fairport. It's also the farthest away of our regular season destinations, so we decided to make it a priority in a week that we have a guest explorer with a car in our group. The entrance was a bit less than intuitive, for me anyway - the door that I thought would open, and probably was open in…

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Backup Plan Hospital

Yes, I went back to this place yet again. It was the start of a new season in the Concrete Collective, and we were aiming high, trying to get into the Terrence Building. Of course, we missed the brief window of it being open without climbing like a parkour monkey, just like every time, so we went to the one place we knew was still open, the Genesee Hospital. Things had changed quite a bit in the last few weeks though, the side door was wide open now, and the inside was full of plastic sheeting and asbestos warnings. So…

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Common Knowledge

When looking for a place to explore, never discount the obvious. Anyone who has seen this building enough times would notice the lights are never on, and the windows are broken, on the first two floors. This one is only an elevator ride away from me - the building where I live, 111 East Avenue, used to be the Sagamore Hotel, one of the most luxurious places in the city in the 1920s and 30s. Among the more interesting historical uses of the building, the penthouse once housed W2XRT, among the first television stations ever built, going on the air…

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