Decapitated palm trees jut from concrete in front of a boarded up building.

The Charred Remains of the Palm Springs’ Playground where Marilyn Monroe was Discovered

March 13, 2019, 4 Comments

Tucked away behind a tarp covered chainlink fence sits the remains of what was once one of the most glamorous spots in all of Palm Springs, The Racquet Club. The motion picture industry changed Palm Springs from a sleepy health resort town to a getaway for Hollywood’s elite by the 1920s. In 1934 actors Charles…

Art Installation - a faux billboard reading "The Last Stop For The Bombay Beach Resort" but with most of the letters fallen off, so it reads more like "The Last Resort"

Abandoned Resort Town of Bombay Beach Now Weird Artist Paradise

June 5, 2018, 1 Comment

Over the last couple days I have been entertaining one of our friends visiting from Portland. It was a whirlwind few days hitting up various tourist and not-so-tourist spots. We spent Sunday in the desert including a visit to the Salton Sea. I’ve been several times now, but it’s always worth revisiting as it is…

Downey’s Abandoned Space Age Cadillac Dealership

March 23, 2018, 14 Comments

Last month, when my dad and brother were visiting, we went to one of my dad’s old haunts, Bob’s Big Boy in Downey, formerly Harvey’s Broiler. My dad grew up in Bell and Downey at the height of car culture, and as we were headed back to Anaheim we drove by a stunning abandoned relic…

I Brake for Vintage Neon

April 20, 2017, Leave a Comment on I Brake for Vintage Neon

Throughout our entire trip there was lots of yelling “I’m pulling over!” or “Pull over!” depending on who was driving. Sometimes it was quite frantic. I have been called “dramatic” at times. But I just can’t help myself when I see a good vintage neon sign! And boy were there a lot of good ones!…

Abandoned along the Highway

April 19, 2017, 4 Comments

As mentioned in my post about Rock-a-Hoola, I love photographing abandoned locations, and we stumbled upon quite a few during our road trip, dotted in between tiny towns, and miles of fields. So here is quite the picture heavy post of what happens when buildings get left behind… The next 11 photos are from what remains…

Rock-a-Hoola Waterpark – The Abandoned Waterpark Rotting in the Mojave

April 7, 2017, 3 Comments

When it comes to my passion for photographing abandoned Americana, my love really is with places from the mid-20th century or older. However any place that is abandoned I’ll check out, even if it was abandoned just thirteen years ago, which is the case with Lake Dolores’ Rock-a-Hoola Waterpark off Interstate 15 in Newberry Springs. Originally,…

Ghost Towns along Highway 49

September 16, 2016, 8 Comments

I am sorry to report I don’t have any images from our time spent in Portland. I was incredibly busy constantly visiting with friends and family, and shopping of course! What I do have to show for our trip though are some shots I took of some ghost towns. we visited during our journey back…

The Deserted Town of Desert Shores

March 25, 2015, 8 Comments

Over the weekend Patrick and I took a day trip to the Salton Sea to see what we could see (yeah, I just went there). Last March I visited the ghostly Salton Sea for the first time with my dad, but we only explored the east side of the sea. During this visit, Patrick and…

A Return to the Orchid Tree Inn

March 11, 2015, 8 Comments

In 2013 during a visit to Palm Springs I shared images of a vacant (and at the time, for sale) hotel and adjacent church. It was The Orchid Tree Inn and the Community Church of Palm Springs, and you can view the first visit here. When we returned to Palm Springs in 2014, the hotel we…

The Old LA Zoo

February 3, 2015, 4 Comments

As already established, I adore abandoned buildings. I love the spookiness that is created when nature begins to reclaim man-made structures, and it is this that sparked my interest in visiting the old Los Angeles Zoo at Griffith Park, which we went to after our turn about the Merry-Go-Round. The zoo opened in 1912, but…