I've been fascinated with Modern Ruins since I was a child and my hometown's largest building
The Empire Hotel was torn down. It was a good size hotel for the size of our town...probably 5-6 stories and
painted pink with 100lb plaster eagles on each corner also painted pink. I can remember as a boy eating in
it's well worn dining room with my parents. My dad always seemed to know everybody in town and would talk
about so and so who lived at the Empire. Later I heard some folks say there were even prostitues who lived
there....which may not be surprising to you but you're probably not from my little hometown. By the time I
heard they were tearing it down they already had the chainlink fence up to keep curious kids like me out.
Probably a smart move. Later as a teenager Chris Beamish and I crawled around the University's Ferry Hall
in the late afternoons after the destruction workers had left for the day. I don't know what we were looking for
and I don't remember that we found much of anything. But I guess here's the thing...anyplace inhabited by
humans with their comings and goings and markings and leavings for a significant period of time is going
to feel kinda creepy. The now shell-shocked house at the side of the road that used to be a home...the trail
out back still rutted...the window thru which blows a scrap of hand sewn curtain ...
the papers on the wall peeled to reveal the countless layers of paint below...
the well rubbed banister with it's trail of human grease...the chair that somebody broke the arm off of
...Something always stays behind ...
your memories...their memories...us.
