Salton Sea (and other post-apocalyptic locales)

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:23 am

Heading out to SoCal for a very brief work trip. Planning on seeing some post-apocalyptic scenes in and around Salton Sea. Any recommendations? Hope to get some creepy photos!

I've been fascinated by dead and abandoned landscapes for years. Any sight that really drives home the ephemeralness of human created or modified landscapes such as Salton Sea, Aral Sea, Pripyat, Ukraine, US Southwest ghost towns and the like.

Salton Sea

Salton Riviera heyday in the 1950s.

Salton Sea today after several flooding incidents, rapid increase in salinity (2.5x saltier than the ocean) and toxic agricultural runoff have destroyed the lake.

Aral Sea

Once one of the largest lakes on Earth. Has all but vanished due to Soviet agriculture (cotton) took the bulk of its inflow. Now toxic dust storms cause many health issues in the area.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:30 am

On my twice yearly trips to Tucson I always am fascinated driving by Desert Center.

These palm trees are completely dead now, the guy who maintained them died several years ago.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:47 am

Just saw some doc on Netflix about abandoned/ghost towns and a big segment was about the Salton Sea. Weird stuff.

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:48 am

...and we can't forget the ruins of Detroit.

http://content.time.com/time/photogalle ... 73,00.html

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:50 am

Also, Picher, OK.

Formerly a major national center of lead and zinc mining at the heart of the Tri-State Mining District, over a century of unrestricted subsurface excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left giant piles of toxic metal-contaminated mine tailings (known as chat) heaped throughout the area. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination and health effects associated with the chat piles and subsurface shafts—particularly an alarming 1996 study which showed lead poisoning in 34% of the children in Picher[4]—eventually prompted a mandatory evacuation and buyout of the entire township by the State of Oklahoma and the incorporation of the town (along with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of Treece and Cardin) into the Tar Creek Superfund site.

A 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time.[5] An F4 tornado which destroyed or damaged 150 homes in May 2008 accelerated the exodus. The town ceased official operations on September 1, 2009 and the population plummeted from 1,640 at the 2000 census to just 20 at the 2010 census. As of January 2011, only six homes and one business remain, their owners having refused to leave at any price. The rest of the town's buildings, except designated historical structures, were scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year.

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 11:05 am

Abandoned amusement parks can be creepy as all hell.

Daryl Zero · Post by **Daryl Zero** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 11:26 am

Great photos of the ghosttown amusement park.

Olsondogg · Post by **Olsondogg** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 11:27 am

Let's not forget about McKale North when we aren't in town...

KCF · Post by **KCF** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 12:00 pm

scumdevils86 wrote:Just saw some doc on Netflix about abandoned/ghost towns and a big segment was about the Salton Sea. Weird stuff.

What was it called? Love stuff like this.

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 12:04 pm

http://news.distractify.com/culture/art ... the-world/

Mirny Diamond Mine - Eastern Siberia, Russia

The world's second largest man-made hole, Mirny was constructed by Stalin to satisfy the Soviet Union's demand for industrial diamond. Further digging efforts were eventually abandoned when it became too difficult to continue digging this massive hole.

Willard Asylum - Willard, New York

Canfranc Rail Station was part of an international railway route through Spain and France. An accident in 1970 destroyed a nearby bridge and ended international rail links between the two countires, leaving Canfranc deserted.

City Hall Station - New York City, New York

Hall Station was built in 1904 and closed in 1945 as only around 600 people used it only a daily basis.

Wreck of the SS America - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Pedro Lopez BatistaThis former United States ocean liner was wrecked in 1994 after 54 years of service.

Red Sands Sea Forts - Sealand, United Kingdom.
Originally built during World War II to protect the River Thames, these forts are now lifeless. Except for those that have been claimed by Sealand, a micronation off the shore of England.

Military Hospital - Beelitz, Germany

Częstochowa Train Depot - Poland

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 12:06 pm

KCF wrote:
scumdevils86 wrote:Just saw some doc on Netflix about abandoned/ghost towns and a big segment was about the Salton Sea. Weird stuff.
What was it called? Love stuff like this.

Netflix has 2 docs that are streaming that look to be from the same source, but segments are ordered differently. One is called Abandoned America and the other Forgotten Planet or something like like.

pokinmik · Post by **pokinmik** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 12:08 pm

City Hall Station looks like where the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lived back in the early 90s movies.

This is an awesome thread. Thanks to all those adding pics.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 1:12 pm

UAdevil wrote: Red Sands Sea Forts - Sealand, United Kingdom.
Originally built during World War II to protect the River Thames, these forts are now lifeless. Except for those that have been claimed by Sealand, a micronation off the shore of England.

Daryl Zero · Post by **Daryl Zero** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:00 pm

Merkin, that's what I immediately thought as well.

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:30 pm

Abandoned Malls

http://mentalfloss.com/article/56958/38 ... ping-malls

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:39 pm

A few more of Salton Sea. I'll post some of my photos over the weekend from my visit.

Some more 'glory days' images

Zero · Post by **Zero** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 7:11 pm

Passed the Salton Sea on accident two years ago. Scared the shit out of me.

Went to get a closer look and there were four kids getting off a school bus looking depressed as all hell.

Salty · Post by **Salty** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 8:18 pm

Awesome pics guys

BearDown89 · Post by **BearDown89** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:54 am

Zero wrote:Passed the Salton Sea on accident two years ago. Scared the shit out of me.

Went to get a closer look and there were four kids getting off a school bus looking depressed as all hell.

Trippy as hell. I've passed the sign for Salton Sea countless times on I-8 travelling to San Diego, but I never knew what it was. Never bothered to look it up. Wierdness.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:59 am

Flickr group on the Salton Sea:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/saltonsea/

Lake is drying up too. Besides the drought, much of the water is being diverted to San Diego now.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:19 am

There sure are some depressing photos in this thread.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:49 pm

Abandoned Bangkok shopping mall becomes an urban aquarium.

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-an ... g-thailand

Post by **UAdevil** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:42 am

Bombay Beach. Eastern shore. Flooding in the 70s and 80s wiped out their lakefront. A dike was built to protect the rest of the town. The westernmost 2 blocks are now on the other side of the dike and left to rot. The waterfront had several bars, restaurants, swimming and fishing facilities and a marina. Here's what's left:

The piano actually played and was surprisingly close to being in tune. Will post a video of me playing a tune on it later.

The Ski Inn. One of only 2 commercial establishments left in Bombay Beach. A landmark. Fun dive bar. The locals who frequent it like to talk about the glory days like they were yesterday. The bar used to serve hundreds of people a day. The fishing was so good there that people were taking 20 15-30lb corvina (sea bass) in a couple hours.

Prehistoric shoreline of Lake Cahuilla. Which has been 10-20 times the size of the current lake at least 4 times in the past several thousand years. Silt would build up in the Colorado River delta over time. Eventually this build up would cause the delta to shift westward and overflow into the Salton Sink depression. 250+ ft below sea level. Before the last ice age when sea levels were quite a bit higher the Salton Sink was actually filled up to sea level with sea water and was the northern terminus of the Sea of Cortez with the Colorado River delta being on the eastern shore of the sea. The last high water mark was likely in the early 1500s.

These rocks are over 100 ft above the valley floor. They have obviously been submerged for long periods of time. There is some rock art (petroglypgs) on some that are a bit obscured by the mineral precipitates and such from being submerged. This shows that prehistoric habitation in the area was there prior to the last high water mark.

Desert Shores. Western shore. The west side of the lake smelled 10 times worse than the east. Brutal.

Salton Sea Beach.

Salton City.

Former site of sea port and yacht club. Frequented by the Rat Pack, Desi Arnaz, Beach Boys, and many more.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:31 am

Silt would build up in the Colorado River delta over time.

Read somewhere that when the Grand Canyon was carved out over thousands of years that's where it ended up.

KaibabKat · Post by **KaibabKat** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:42 am

All lakes are ephemeral.

Water runs downhill.

Post by **UAdevil** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:10 am

KaibabKat wrote:All lakes are ephemeral.

Water runs downhill.

Some lakes are more ephemeral than others. Some, like Salton Sea have come and gone rapidly for at least 15,000 years. Others, like Lake Baikal, have been around in much their same form for many millions of years. In Baikal's case, 25 million years.

Here is the vid I promised of the old piano at abandoned Bombay Beach.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:21 am

^ good stuff!

catgrad97 · Post by **catgrad97** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:32 am

UAdevil wrote:Abandoned Malls

http://mentalfloss.com/article/56958/38 ... ping-malls

Thanks for the nightmare fuel, admin, I had just about run dry.

Now I'm just going to tell you to drive to Poston, site of the old abandoned Japanese internment camp. Sit in the ruins of the gym awhile.

MrBug708 · Post by **MrBug708** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 8:30 pm

Been out to the Salton Sea area twice to some old person refuge called Fountain Of Youth on the eastern side. Have no plans on going back.

Did you stop by Slab City or Salvation Mountain?

Post by **UAdevil** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:59 am

MrBug708 wrote:Been out to the Salton Sea area twice to some old person refuge called Fountain Of Youth on the eastern side. Have no plans on going back.

Did you stop by Slab City or Salvation Mountain?

Stopped briefly at Slab City. Being the summer and all the snowbirds were not there, primarily the usual weirdos (squatters, survivalists, etc).

Post by **UAdevil** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:28 am

This is one creepy ghost town of a former beach resort. Wow.

Varosha, Cyprus

Once an exclusive holiday playground for the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot, the Varosha quarter in Famagusta, Cyprus, is now a crumbling shell of its ‘60s and ‘70s glory. When Turkey invaded the island nation in 1974, the area was abandoned, and its high-rise resorts, restaurants, and blocks of shops were left to rot. Clothes from tourists still hang in hotel room closets, rows of then-brand new 1974 models remain lined up at a car dealership, and commercial jets sit abandoned at the decaying Nicosia International Airport.

Back in the day:

Today:

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:43 am

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... yards.html

Ghosts of the Iron Curtain.

Really want to visit that former communist headquarters in bulgaria. Seems straight out of a James Bond movie.

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:49 am

Isn't that where Rocky fought Drago?

pokinmik · Post by **pokinmik** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:59 am

Some good pics here...

http://io9.com/the-tattered-haunting-re ... =tuesdayAM

and here...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/27/travel/po ... pt=hp_bn10

catgrad97 · Post by **catgrad97** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:56 pm

I just pity anybody who ever had to live in the Arctic Circle Siberian town of Pyramiden.

Puerco · Post by **Puerco** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:45 pm

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Aug 06, 2014 2:43 pm

Question: How do you get images to fit on this BBS? Saw a post one time to add a letter or something to jpg but now I can't find it.

Japan's Western Village, abandoned since 2007:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/0 ... Weird+News

prh · Post by **prh** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:50 pm

While not even remotely the same, but I instantly thought of this thread when I walked into the Albertson's at Speedway/Silverbell this morning. They had some huge electrical issue caused by one of the storms, so the only noticeable power being used were a few small lights in various corners of the building. Almost felt like a zombie movie I guess. Completely empty except for a few employees, and almost completely dark, but fully open for business (unless you wanted something cold).

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:30 pm

http://gizmodo.com/just-six-months-afte ... 1626519139

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:32 pm

Merkin wrote:http://gizmodo.com/just-six-months-afte ... 1626519139

It's things like this that makes me think that if I was a city councilman I wouldn't vote for anything sports related. Olympics, bringing in a sports team, nothing.

Coop Cat · Post by **Coop Cat** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:04 am

Sochi........post olympics. Not good already.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sochi-ol ... ity-2014-8

Looking up old olympic venues is very interesting. Athens:

http://www.businessinsider.com/abandone ... the-sand-1

Post by **UAdevil** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:10 am

Update on Salton Sea piano...Passed through last week to take a look. Someone had destroyed the old piano...boo.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:33 pm

Good article on Amboy, CA: http://curbed.com/archives/2014/12/10/w ... t-town.php

Post by **UAdevil** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 1:13 pm

The abandoned mall I posted some images of earlier is coming down...

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/30/news/wo ... ?hpt=hp_t2

What was once the biggest mall in the world is turning into a big pile of rubble.

Say good bye to the Randall Park Mall on the edge of Cleveland. The demolition crew started working Monday on what was billed as the biggest shopping center in the world back when it was built in 1976.

It is a potent symbol of the end of a different era. Once the centers of American retail and culture, many malls have slipped into decline, and even ruin. The trend is especially true for malls that once served the working class people in areas that have slipped into economic despair.

Not all malls are dying. In fact, many luxury malls are thriving, especially in rich urban centers of New York and Los Angeles.

Related: Saving malls from the brink of death

Randall Park Mall (pictured here) has been a corpse for years after being abandoned in the midst of the Great Recession in 2009.
randall mall demolition

Dead malls like this one dot the landscape in less fortunate regions of Ohio and Michigan, according to Seph Lawless, a photographer who captured Randall Park Mall's decayed interior in his book, "Black Friday."

"I remember walking through it and feeling overwhelmed by the memories, most of which were good ones," said Lawless, who works under a pseudonym. "I mean, this wasn't just a place to shop, it was a place people went to talk and meet other people. We didn't have social media or smartphones. We had malls and it was what we did."

Related: Autopsy of America: Photos of dead malls

The Randall Park Mall is owned by Industrial Realty Group in Torrance, California.

Its president, Stuart Lichter, plans to turn what remains of the mall into an industrial park.

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