Perth : Abandoned Toy Factory, O'Connor. AKA, Detroit.

Abandoned Toy Factory, Detroit, AKA O'Connor, Perth, Western Australia. Detroit is a shrinking city. In the few decades that Perth, Western Australia has gained a million residents, Detroit, Michigan, has lost a million. Mostly whiteys. Mostly.  Look, I could totally check that, and prove it as fact. Right in front of me, I have the "Atlas of Shrinking Cities". Picked it up at the Bahaus bookshop this year. That's in Germany. Dessau, Germany. Atlas der schrumpfenden Städte. A's with dots, you can't make that shit up. 2006, Phillipp Oswalt und Tim Reieniets. Henning Schirmel, you know it. So, I just checked, Detroit 1950, 1,849,568 heads. Perth 1950, 312 thousand. Who gives a fuck. There's no point. This is O'Connor, not Detroit. But, for a few hours last month, it was Detroit. Here's an abandoned Wooden Toy Factory, and some other shots of O'Connor, one of Perth's most serene and beautiful locales. If Bali was our 911, O'Connor is, our Detroit.

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Bangkok, Thailand : Abandoned Skyscraper - Sathorn Unique Aint Worth Shit Yo

Abandoned skyscraper, Bangkok, Thailand. Fifty levels, of abandonded skyscraper. Wood flooring installed, bathroom suites connected, wiring, plumbing, fire safety systems, all done. Prime realestate on the river-bank downtown, with spectacular views. The "Sathorn Unique" was to be one of Bangkok's most exclusive residential developments. Like many other sites, constuction was abandoned during the asian financial crisis of the late 90's. As with food, Asian's do financial crisis's way better than us whiteys. How many skyscrapers were abandoned during the recent GFC? None. Think about it. Standing on a fifity level, almost completed skyscaper, some Thai guy says "fuck it man, lets just go eat some fried chicken. Yo! Kasit, Suthep, Sui Min...drop your helmets bitches! We're gettin' the fuck out of here! This building aint worth shit yo".

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Bangkok, Thailand : Abandoned Skyscraper Complex, Lieutenant Snake Plissken, Special Forces Unit

Bangkok, Thailand. Three towers, each almost forty stories high. One huge abandoned skyscraper development. Next door, another tower, another thirty or so levels of abandoned skyscraper. Down the street, another skyscraper appears to be, well, abandoned. No security present. Not even a fence. Just walk right in. There were roaming packs of wild dogs on levels 6, 7, and 8. Nothing a big stick couldn't take care of. This is Terminator and Escape from New York rolled into one. Pig, meet shit. 

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Perth's Abandoned Buildings - Part 2

Where to begin? The Pacific Motel (and licensed restaurant) is superbly located right on the Highgate/Mount Lawley border. A convenient part of town - the Queens Hotel, restaurants, and shopping, are just a few metres away. It's a quick bike ride to the middle of the city.



Balconies are provided to all rooms.

The hallways have had a recent renovation.

Guests can opt for either a north facing standard suite, with Mount Lawley district views...

..and en suite...

..or one of the more spacious, south facing deluxe rooms...

..with Perth CBD views...

..and of course, en suite.

Look, there's no way, at this point, to keep the charade going. This place is quite simply a scary, derelict, abandoned, and crumbling motel. Having formerly lived on this street (6 years ago), I was pretty amazed to see just how bad this building had got. Answer? Pretty fucking bad! Even at its peak, when it was open, the place was scary. Room rates by the hour. Piano bar full of hookers, but...all of that pales in comparison to this utterly disturbed piece of art, currently on display in room 318 (open 24 hours).

"FUCK YOU KEATING"

The pool.

Pretty certain I will be having nightmares tonight.

So, I am pretty much without speech. A crack den in the middle of Mount Lawley. This was a really disturbing place.

On that note, more of Perth's abandoned buildings, coming soon!

Perth's Abandoned Buildings - Part 1, of many more to come...

Abandoned Fremantle Power Station. Pretty hard to do this building justice with photos. The scale of the interior space is huge, open, with soaring ceilings and impeccable interior design. Formerly, there must have been 10,000 panes of glass. Now, there's about three. Despite our best efforts to remove this oversight by the designers, we couldn't throw any bricks high enough to take out the remaining eyesores. Buildings like this are an integral part to the diversity and culture of any modern city. Thankfully, the entire structure has been heritage listed, and there are plans in place to preserve the artwork and remaining fixtures, including a vintage Datsun 120Y sedan.

On this day, visitors to this abandoned building included photographers, artists, and models. Progressive parents had bought their children down to play. One young child was particularly proud of his collection of empty spray cans (thousands litter the floor), his father, not so impressed with the haul. Males, females, young and old. There were no laws, no restrictions, no rules. Smoking inside was OK. Spontaneous conversations were struck with complete strangers. A friendly vibe filled the air. A perfect juxtaposition of respect, and anarchy.

EDIT : There is now a PART TWO of this building, with other area's of magnificent decay! CLICK HERE for Part Two)

To get a sense of the scale, in the first photo, look at the man, standing in the background just above the yellow tag. At a guess, I would say an eight level apartment block could be built entirely inside this space, with room to spare.

Another of Perth's cultural and architectural highlights for sure.