:: BerDerp™ ::

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

just another member of the League of Empty Chairs

as seen in an undisclosed location

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

I stumbled onto Doyers Street during my most recent visit to NYC & this hidden, tucked away area of Chinatown struck me as one with years of interesting history: with its snaking, twisting alleys, to the buzz of the neon lights. I was not to be disappointed.

Doyers Street was once known as the Bloody Angle which was the site of many battles between Chinese Tong gang’s during the late 1800′s and early 20th century. There were opium dens, fan tan parlors, trapdoors, secret openings, and hidden passages. It’s last opium den closed in 1958; when it was raided, police walked away with 10 pounds of heroin. Legend had it that one of the early Doyers (who the street was named after) hid $35,000 in gold in one of the walls of his house.

Doyers Street for many years during its heyday was a great place to get shanghaied by a con, or kidnapped into sexual slavery.

This was once the Chinatown hustle. A nerve center. Now it has a slice of gentrification since mixologist-wet-hole-bring-on-the-glam moved in.

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. 

Continuing from yesterday, we took a look at our recent expedition to Drawbridge, CA. After finally locating the right area, it’s a good 3 mile walk out to Drawbridge from Alviso.

By 1940 only 50 cabins remained, and San Jose had began to start pushing raw sewage into the sloughs which drove out fish and foul that had attracted men to the Drawbridge area in the first place. By 1955 the train didn’t stop in Drawbridge anymore, but could be flagged down. By 1967 Drawbridge consisted of only 25 people and by 1976 this dwindled to the last resident, Charlie Luce, who left in 1979, after his house was bought out by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Now Drawbridge and Station Island are a part of the SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

At one point there were at least a dozen gun clubs in the area: Gordon Gun Club (the first), Imperial Gun Club, Harbour View Gun Club, Precita Gun Club and more. Drawbridge had two distinct neighborhoods, divided by “Main Street”, which were the train tracks. Neither side got along. The North side admitted to being “cliquey” and the South felt the North end was pretty “stuck up”.

Drawbridge soon garnished a reputation for being a lawless area, where gun-toting gamblers hung, and prostitution was rampant. One small factor contributed to this notion: the county line between Alameda and Santa Clara went right through this area. Thus officials neither from Santa Clara nor from Alameda/Fremont wanted to cross Coyote Creek or Mud Slough into Drawbridge feeling that virtually everyone there was armed.