:: BerDerp™ ::

seen inside the abandoned pokey along Highway 49 – Queen of the Sierra

exploring in SF leads to a room pierced by a few radiant beams of light

as seen in an undisclosed location

seen recently in an East Bay warehouse.

Fort Ord sits near Monterey, CA, on a 28,000 acre reserve that in its day was the place to go for infantry training in the US Army.  It began it’s mark in US military history in 1846 during the Mexican-American War.

The location finally became known as Ft. Ord in 1940, and in September of 1994 it was closed by the US Army.

But by the time of it’s official recognition as a permanent Army outpost, it had grown to cover more than 20,000 acres. It was a famous staging area for many famous fighting units and divisions. Such as the 32nd-Infantry Division, 6th Infantry and the 3rd Infantry Division

There’s also an 8,000 acre firing-range there, and apparently some unexploded ordnance if you know what I mean

Aside from the firing range there’s also a 6500 acre munitions area in which the Army has been attempting to get rid of for several years now.  Back in October 2003, the Army planned a control burn of 500 acres, but they wound up scorching about 1500! Yikes!

The Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1988 finally included Ft Ord as a target to reduce costs – overall, 120+ bases have closed since this act.

Ft Ord is just US military history now

See the Flickr set here.

stumbled onto this abandoned hotel that has been vacant now for a few years. It had worn the signature emblems of hotel chains such as Ramada and Holiday Inn during its prime

now it rests silently amongst a row of seafood restaurants and scattered bars

i’m really surprised there were no signs of squatters

Last weekend my friend and I took a step into some very trashed ruins of what was once the worlds largest outdoor pool — the Fleishhacker Pool. This behemoth opened in 1925, held 6 million gallons and could accommodate  10,000 swimmers. All that is left now is the 450 foot long pool house. The pool was paved over years ago by the SF Zoo.

(from TerraStories):

The year was 1921 and only a few years earlier, a grand scheme to bring water to the city of San Francisco came to fruition. Despite the protests of John Muir, the Spring Valley Water Company had succeeded in transporting fresh glacier water hundreds of miles from Yosemite to San Francisco. The Fleishhacker Pool was a final capstone in the symbolic “watering” of San Francisco, and the city of San Francisco had spared no expense.

“Spring Valley Water Company was the quintessential symbol of Pork Barrel Spending in post-Earthquake San Francisco. The company had used ruthless lobbying to derail John Muir’s efforts to save Hetch Hetchy. Spring Valley Water was so effective at reaping the rewards of politicians that they literally convinced Congress to turn what would become part of a National Park into the personal Bethsheba of San Francisco.”

“To this day, the city depends on the water of Hetch Hetchy, but it came at a cost – the valley was considered only second to Yosemite Valley itself before it was inundated by the waters of the dam.
None of this controversy takes away from the beauty of the pool’s grand construction. There was little public discussion of the kickback made to Spring Valley Water for the land “given” to the city.”

“the Fleishhacker Pool opened in April of 1925 to a crowd of 5,000. Butressing the edge of the the pool was the 450-foot-long Bath House — a Mediterranean, Italianate structure with three elaborate entrances, all surrounded by an Ionic order of pilasters. Inside were separate wings for men, women, and children.“

“These wings were naturally illuminated by 22 skylights. Upstairs was a grand restaurant that looked out to the 1000-foot-long pool on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.”

Throughout its five-decade history as a public swimming destination, Fleishhacker would be the setting of San Francisco’s most unique lores and legends; there was the story of the shark being sucked in through the 200-foot-long intake pipe coming from the ocean, a stove discovered in the deep end of the pool when it was drained for maintenance, and the disembodied hand reportedly found by a gardener, floating in the pool.

But the real amazing facts reside in the sheer size of the pool – 1000 feet long, over 150 feet wide, and 13 feet deep at its deepest point. The pool held 6,000,000 gallons of ocean water, continually cleaned once every six weeks by becoming completely drained and sweeped and pumped clean.

[back westerly side]

today we continue (click here for part 1) our journey through the eerie history of an abandoned home known as Rispin Mansion.

and finally..

In this photo above I want you to focus on the main window above the steps — in this same window, in a 1931 picture appears the ghost of the Lady in Black — Click here for that image and see if you spot her. In that picture people say the Lady in Black is clearly visible with even bible in hand. Stories abound of her ghost roaming halls, unlocking heavily bolted doors and windows. Furthermore, other stories of a man in glasses near the fireplace were also passed down through the years.

it had been a lengthy passage of time since the last UrbEx series before yesterday’s “shell” posting – so let’s keep the ball rollin’ with an intro to Rispin Mansion. This abandoned structure sits on the banks of Soquel Creek in Capitola on 6.5 acres. It was built out of 500 tons of solid cement. 

not seashells… but building shells

the picture above illustrates whats left of the congregational area of the church we looked at during part 2 and part 3 of the Alabama Back Roads Series

if you enjoy abandoned stuff.. click here.