Endless Buffet of Leftovers

And now, a bunch of sites I've been meaning to post from two recent excursions, but they were trumped by the showing and telling of the time I saw coffins and the time I could have ended up in a coffin.

First, yet another car repair joint, this one on Florida and more colorful than most. Note the sinkhole in the repair floor, below. 

 

Inside, the rooms are filled with rubble, dozens of empty cat food cans, and the obligatory shopping cart. Dangling from the ceiling is a plastic crate mobile with plastic bag streamers (below, center), silently twisting back and forth in the breeze.

After that we hit the strip mall of the Broadmoor Theatre, previously covered here. For whatever reason the first time there I had overlooked numerous other abandoned storefronts in the farther reaches of the strip mall.

One, if I'm remembering right, had been a bookstore or a five-and-dime.

In one large empty store, someone had set up a little hang zone.

They've got their chairs, their cooler, their cowboy hats, their...roll of packing tape?

Then there's this huge, somewhat futuristic space.

I want to guess it was a clothing store, but why the inspirational motto over the section in the back, "Building pride through work"?

Next (on a different day from the photos above), an abandoned house found in an otherwise-occupied residential development. Check out the stylish chimney.

There were at least five dead balls in the front yard (two can be seen above), which tells me this is the kind of place where local kids are scared to even step on the property.

 

View in the front door:

 

Terlet. HGTV would hate that floor tiling, but I likes it.

 

Admirable closet space. 

Around back is another bumtown. Co-explorer Kara noticed that the hanging garment bag is a military garment bag. Maybe one of the sadder details on a blog not lacking in sad details. 

Later that same day, abandoned bungalows with some advice via graffiti: "Go hard or go home."

 

Still later, a neglected midcentury pool- turned- cement-lined pond at an occupied home.

 

Next, the former Duplantis Body Shop. Emphasis on "plantis."

Inside the former office, where it's always 3:50.

 

View in the front doors of the main garage room.

 

Inside that main space: everything.

Around back was the ubiquitous shopping cart, and this.

 

Later that day, we changed the mode of transport from bike to car, and I finally took a few quick, furtive glimpses into the Hotel Lincoln.

Inside the front door:

Around back, view from parking lot:

View in a broken window:

 

 

That's all for now, kids.

Comments

[Brad]

The first building mentioned in the Broadmoor shopping center was a bookstore, The Book Warehouse. It closed a few years back. The futuristic looking shop was actually a Goodwill store until fairly recently.

[Apollo]

I'm so intrigued by the door in the ground. You should totally go back!

[P]

I know exactly where that abandoned white house is. It's less than a block away from my mom's place. I've been wondering about it for a while since Steele isn't the kind of street where a property goes unused for long. I'm sure there are many people in this city who would snatch that house up for a ton of money if someone would kindly throw a "For Sale" sign in the front yard.

Apologies in advance for the nasty link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=steele+blvd,+baton+rouge,+la&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=62.443704,107.226563&ie=UTF8&ll=30.439128,-91.150464&spn=0.004227,0.006545&t=h&z=18&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=30.439213,-91.150467&panoid=_L7ebnsflG-CCMuQ5VflRg&cbp=12,266.4433698936243,,0,0.4262295081967205

[Jules]

OMG you walked IN to the abandoned house? You are amazing yet insane.

Also, please blow up and frame that door picture. It's really great.

[Becky]

When you said "buffet" and "broadmore shopping center" I thought for sure you would have pictures of the abandoned Panchos! I haven't passed by there in a while, maybe something else is in it...

[cokane]

Brad, I was thinking that motto sounded Goodwillish!

Apollo, that might be the end of me if I went back to the door in the ground. Maybe I should send Addie through & see what happens.

Jules, I just took those photos through the windows.

Becky, follow the link int this post to the previous Broadmoore post, I believe there's at least one photos of Panchos.

[Vanessa]

Hey, the building you thought was a clothing store is an old Goodwill. I know what most of the buildings were used for.

[Vanessa]

The old Panchos is still abandoned. Their supposed to come back in 2010

[TF]

My poor hometown! I remember when all these buildings were occupied with thriving businesses. I'm glad I live on the other side of the world now, I couldn't stand seeing this decay in Baton Rouge.