This project began as a simple, easy way to pad out a blog entry. I found an old grocery store ad, wondered what the building looked like today, and found myself once again prowling up and down the streets of some vacant small town. I grew up in one of these places, so I know the attachments people have to the old buildings, the names on the cornices, the recollection of the days when every storefront was filled. The time before the town emptied out or Sam’s lads built a store a few miles down the road.

I don’t go looking for places that look abandoned, but I keep finding them.

You can find the most recent example every Thursday, at the Bleat.

-- Lileks

01.01.22