A Creepy / Cool Kind of Adventure

This adventure started as an unsuspecting Sunday brunch with a couple of friends. Justin & Audrey invited us over to their place for oven pancakes – Jeremy and I brought the mimosa fixins'. Two bottles of champagne in, Justin invited us to come check out the building across the street where he's setting up his print shop. Justin's studio was contained to a corner of a huge abandoned warehouse that was more recently a used liquidation furniture company. His space was rich with character and good light – a true artist's dream. We're talking exposed brick, original windows and concrete posts. When Justin all non-chalantly asked us if we wanted a tour of the rest of the building we said sure.

We had no idea what we were in for, but I knew it would be an adventure when Justin grabbed the flashlight.

These photos don't quite do it justice. It was square foot after square foot, room after room, and floor after floor creepy / cool. The building itself carried decades of industrial history in its bones. And the contents of the old warehouse served as a time capsule for an eccentric old man who collected used hotel furniture and Christian propaganda designed for children. Yup. It's about as creepy as it sounds.

All the doors were super heavy, covered in cobwebs, and equipped with serious locks. There was a creepy basement area and elevator shaft that resembled the set of American Horror Story. The windows that weren't bricked up were covered with makeshift drapes. At one point we were exploring a loft area filled with veneered 1970s furniture designed for a chain-smoking and typewriting clientele when a light bulb spontaneously fell and busted on the ground in front of us.

It was a welcome relief when we found our way to the top of the roof. A roof complete with dried up hot tub on top, of course.