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16 July 2008
Adventures in Maryland
If you asked me what my favorite pastime is, I'd have to answer hunting for vintage treastures but a close second is exploring abandoned buildings and homes. My boyfriend and I got a tip on a couple of places in nearby Maryland that we knew wanted to explore. Walking into these places can be like walking into a time capsule. It never ceases to amaze me what can be left behind when a business is closed for the last time. The first place we went was a clothing manufacturer that shut down in the early 80's. When the business closed everything was left behind. Walking into the space was like walking into an industrial sewing machine graveyard. There were thousand upon thousands of overcoats and blazers hanging from floor to ceiling. Scattered across the floors and shelves were vintage fabric samples, boxes of buttons and spools thread. Most all of the clothing was menswear and almost all of it was ruined by the years of neglect. I luckily found one rack of women's coats that were still covered in plastic. Let's just say there's a lovely navy cashmere coat at the cleaner's right now with my name on it. To be continued...
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46 comments:
wow those buttons and swatches!
wow thats quite a special find, just wish i could visit some place like that.
you are so lucky and what an interesting/unique/fun pastime.
thanks for sharing!
!!!!!!!!! wow...I hope you took some of those buttons! ....you always find these awesome abandoned buildings...how do you get it?! because where im from they are completely boarded shut and its almost impossible to get in without breaking windows/climbing...(not that we have many abandoned buildings anyways..)
omg... This is the kind of place I would love to find! i probably would have taken all of those buttons..
wow, that's really awesome! your pictures are lovely and should be made into a book with a title like Deserted Dreams or something. sorry, it's cheesy, I know. ;)
its strange how something so sad can be so beautiful... cant wait to see the coat!
Exighting! it's like tressure hunting in old shipwrecks!
Thanks for your comments! It was so much fun wandering around this place. Despite the fact that a few pigeons nearly scared the life out of me. I'm glad you all love it as much as I did. :)
wow, how amazing to see, thanks for sharing the photos with us. I would love to stumble upon something like that, maybe a 60's shoe manufacturer. :) Can't wait to see the coat!
Wowww!!!!I'm concerned....thats really special wath you find, here in Mexico if a building its abandonated in a minute its empty and the others are too old and dangerous to explore them...so congrats and show us the new old coat!!
P.d. I'm your style fan!! xoxoxo!!
Just fabulous! All those buttons...and the trench coats!
How strange and creepy! I wouldn't know where to look!
amazing and slightly creepy, glad you managed to save something. it's so odd to me that they would just leave it all there
are those buttons in the 3rd picture? i love buttons!
I always feel sad whenever I pass an old abandoned shop and I wodner what it looked like when it was in business. That sounds so fun, I want to be a clothes hunter like that when I grow up :)
I think I could've spent days just sorting through the buttons. Wow. Just jaw dropping.
Those wooden hangers! I would have grabbed as many as I could carry.
I love abandoned places too. I've never seen anything like this though. It looks so derelict yet so inviting.
can you enter to these buildings, just like that?
or is it illegal or something?
i wonder!
just amazing!! i definately hope you took a few keepsakes!
just curious, where in MD is this? cuz i live in the area and would love to visit it myself..
Wow! Must have felt like finding a Pharaohs tomb...but you know, less gold and more spools of thread!
wow.
this is AMAZING!
so jealous :)
I am quite jealous! Lovely photos too.
wow! amazingg! and the light!!! thank you [:
Thanks again everyone!
good lookin: Yes, they are buttons. My pockets were bulging with buttons when I left the building.
stephanie: I know! I wish I could have grabbed a ton of those hangers.
key: Ummm... it's not exactly legal. Technically we were trespassing but no one even owns that building anymore so we didn't feel too bad about it.
jenny westerhoff: It's somewhere downtown Baltimore. I'm not really familiar with the city so I couldn't tell you exactly where. It was a sort of dodgy area. The name of the the company was Lebow. Please be warned that if you decide to go exploring it can be dangerous. There were signs of homeless living in the building, it was dark and scary in some areas, and there's always the possibility of being caught trespassing.
ohhhh... that must be terrific, to explore places like that...
wow i'm amazed at how the coats and junks r still there after so long!
did your boyfie get a coat from himself?
that is the most amazing thing i have ever heard!
Oh for a minute there I was so excited because there is a place near me in London called Maryland :(
I wish I could find places like this!!
How exciting!
x
that's amazing! This place looks so great! How nice that you found some nice coats, I can't wait to see the coat.
You always find the most wonderfull places and the pictures are stunning!
aw rad.. i'm envious! I need to go explore more. Too bad AZ blows for exploring old abandoned bcuz so many places have been torn down to build new ugly ones. blah!
This is amazing! Why would they leave so many things behind?
How utterly amazing and what a priviledge that you got to see it. I love how everything is covered in dust, it seems like time has just stood still since it shut. I can't wait to see your coat.
How strange and marvelous!
Totally worth the tresspassing! Loved the coats... can't believe they would just leave all that stuff behind! They could at least have donated it... TO ME! hahaahaha
i can't believe they just left behind all that clothing, exploring those abandon buildings looks really fun and spooky.
AMAZING! I actually worked for this company. It was so sad to see. I was 18 years old when I started in the New York office, and used to visit the Baltimore factory frequently. Lebow made on of the highest quality suits you could find. SO SO SAD! It was such a blast from the past for me. Made me cry.
Anonymous: Wow, that's amazing. We tried to research the history of Lebow but haven't been able to find much information. We'd love to hear more about what it used to be like when it was in operation. If you can, please drop me a note at sallyjanevintage@yahoo.com. Thanks!
This place is owned. The Owner lives in New York. They are planning on rehabbing all the sewing machines that are still left in there, and creating a lot of jobs for a lot of people there by making marble fixtures and stuff, so its gonna be a busy, beautiful, industrial factory again. I have visited here twice. Its amazing the stuff left behind, but whats not amazing is the vandalism that has gone on here between my two visits. It has been closed down since the early 80's and remained a time capsule until late 90's early 2000's but now, graffiti is everywhere, trash from stupid kids litter all floors. Even evidence from fires can be seen in a few spots. But regardless, you took some awesome photos of one of my favorite places in Baltimore.
The rumors of rehabing this building are from an article from several years ago and nothing has since happened. I hope Mr. Zion does rehab the building
i have a question. you say there are "signs of homeless living here." what exactly does that mean? i've been to plenty of places like this that have the occasional beer, random tattered clothes (i guess the clothes are a little different at this place haha) and stuff like that. i would love to go here, and if the only "signs of homeless" are what you'd expect in an abandoned building, then i'd have no problem going. as long as you didn't see anyone or hear anyone or see a shopping cart full of food or something.
haha i'm basically asking, are there really clear signs that people are LIVING there? or could they easily be signs that people go in there at night and drink with their buddies?
To answer your question, yes, it was clear that homeless people were living here. There were matresses in rooms where people had been sleeping, empty food cans as well as beer and alcohol bottles, and corners that had been urinated and decefated in. It was more than just people hanging out and having a few beers.
ahh i'm so jealous, that type of thing makes it all the more exhilirating. more dangerous too, nonetheless, but a lot more of a rush. you are one brave woman.
these photos are breathtakingggg.
Wow!! That's really awesome. You are quite the explorer. I really want to go myself but, if its cleaned out, not sure if their is reason to. You should do a post on tips for urban exploring. I would be really interested in reading about it.
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