Abandoned Beach House in Hawaii

 

Many years ago, I had a great job that allowed me to travel quite a bit: Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, and so on. While my co-workers would be off on tours and other expensive things, I took the road less traveled to find treasures. Much like when I discovered the abandoned Pullen House in Skagway, Alaska, I also found a beach house in Hawaii rotting away. 

On the island of Maui, Hawaii, I decided to pick a direction and walk. Alaska will always be my favorite place, but there is a beauty to Hawaii without a doubt. It feels special after watching shows like LOST and Tour of Duty. At least that’s how my mind works. 

After miles of walking, I came across a sign that said “Danger Keep Out” on the side of what appeared to be a partially burnt home. Naturally to me, that sign means “come on in!” It was a mess. The floors were terrible, walls destroyed, fireplace crumbling, roof collapsing, and no remnants of glass remained. 

Thankfully, this didn’t look like vandalism. It just looked like an old home that had succumb to nature after what appeared to be some fire damage. 

Civilization seemed distant. There are very few homes around it. The views behind it are rich, jungle mountains, and the view in front is sprawling ocean. I slowly crept up the second floor trying to avoid falling down to the first. I captured an amazing picture from the top room. Where once stood huge windows is now a room with no walls, windows, or a roof. But views of miles of sparkling blue Pacific ocean. Looking out from that window is Los Angeles, California: 2488 miles away.

There isn’t any info on the house. The land is owned by the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. The house is locally known as “The Doctor’s House.” The construction of the house is very old, but I don’t know enough to be able to say when. I can say that this house is falling apart quickly. I took these pictures in 2014. It’s 2019 when writing this, and I have no idea what’s left, but it is slated for destruction. Google Maps still shows it, however I don’t know when the image was taken.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of my tale. Thank you for stopping by.

The Death of Pop-Spot on YouTube

This blog is about what man has left behind, and for the longest time, that was just buildings and other tangible items. The internet is littered with abandoned material as well. YouTube channels, blogs, websites, and more.

Pop-Spot is one of those YouTube channels that has been left behind for over six years. It was a channel that I am still subscribed to to this very day. It featured fun “popped” videos about viral videos, Getting Lost on the Internet (one of my personal favorites), Slo-As-A-MoFo, and more.

Without notice, warning, or explanation, it all stopped. What happened to it? Why did the channel, their Facebook, and their Twitter account all go silent at once? Let’s find out.

There was nothing on the internet about why this channel stopped making content. While it didn’t have millions of subscribers, it seemed to have a growing fan base and a steady amount of views per video. I did some digging and discovered in a PR News Article that the channel was created by an LA based company called Eyeboogie, which was responsible for VH1’s Pop-Up Video. Pop-Up Video was a series where info bubbles would “pop up” on screen on music videos to give you interesting facts.

I figured I would get right to the source and email Eyeboogie with some questions, and wait. This was the first time I was featuring an abandoned YouTube channel on this blog, so I didn’t know what to expect.

A short time later, someone named Woody Thompson got back to me: the CEO of Eyeboogie. I was thrilled, and he was interested in an interview. The following information came straight from him, and is used with his permission. It has been edited for flow, but no information has been changed.

Creation of Pop-Spot

In 2012, YouTube started an initiative to allow “professional” content creators to populate the site with “professionally” produced content. Pop-Spot was one of the 120 original content creators who pitched concepts and were awarded one of YouTube’s first channels for this initiative. They were asked to put together a programming slate for 27 hours of content over the next year, and were to be fully funded by YouTube.

Pop Spot was not the original pitch, but after YouTube awarded the channels, Pop-Spot realized they were just one of 20 or more content creators who were in the pop culture space, and they did not have an existing website that was already producing content, like Young Hollywood or Vice. So, they decided to focus on what they had a reputation for doing with VH1’s Pop-Up Video: take already popular content, research it, and add context to it. “We wanted to become the place where viral videos went to be investigated and ‘re-mixed.’ That was what we thought would be our difference maker between all the other pop culture content channels,” Thompson wrote.

The Early Days

The channel originally started with videos that were under 10 seconds. That changed as time went on.

We experimented with every type of content to try to lure audiences and not have to pay an influencer to make content for us or pay to ‘market’ our content. We tried ‘bite-sized’ content to try to get multiple plays and build our clicks, plays and shares which were the critical criteria for getting re-funded at the end of the year.

They didn’t have a solid game plan when they started the channel. The initial thought would be that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) would drive viewers to the channel so they could re-watch viral videos with Pop-Spot’s twist.

The original team responsible for the channel was about five full-time people. Everyone did everything: camera work, write, produce, and direct. “It was mostly editing where we invested,” Woody shared. “We went to MIT to sponsor a viral video conference and then went to Vid Con to shoot Slo-Mo videos of influencers.”

Downfall and Death

It took four months for the team to figure out where they wanted the channel to go, and eight months to realize it was not working. Despite the investments and work that Eyeboogie did, they were not driving reliable traffic. Woody claims a big part was the lack of personality.

We never had a personality we could build shows around - it was all concept based and nothing on [YouTube] works on concept alone. You needed a personality or 3 to drive an audience... We just never played the game that the other savvier channel did by hiring big established [YouTube] Stars to partner or make content for them.

YouTube was set to make its renewal decision ten months in. By then, it was too late. The day YouTube cut its funding was the day the channel stopped. On December 14, 2012, the last video was uploaded: Machete to Christmas ornaments - Slow As A MoFo.

Aftermath

Pop-Spot was done, but Eyeboogie lived on continuing with other projects. Today, it works on content for the Travel Channel, HGTV, and more. Woody Thompson is also perusing other “non-content creative ventures.” When I asked him about why it stopped, he said there was no reason to continue spending money on a channel YouTube wouldn’t support. “We should have sought funding from outside sources to keep going in hind site, because we were given a gift and we just needed more time and a better gameplan,” Woody later said. 

There is more to the abandoned life beyond what we can touch. The internet is a treasure chest of information and death. I’ll bring you the information, by digging up the death. Thanks for stopping by.

Abandoned Shop in the Woods

Urban exploration is not always about finding abandoned houses, warehouses, factories, or massive amounts of cars. Sometimes it’s all about the small find: little places or items that can still tell a story. This was the case when I stumbled upon this abandoned auto-shop in New Jersey.

Years ago when I lived in New Jersey, I would often just walk through the woods. Nature up north is hard to beat. I was following a path that I normally did, but one day, I went a little farther. Through some reeds, I saw a structure in the distance. I scouted out the area from where I was, and after I determined it to be abandoned, I decided to take a look.

It was a basic wood frame building with a cinderblock foundation. It was quite modern, but it still looks like I had not been used in years. There were a few bay doors, and with the tires, gaskets, and drums lying around, it appeared to be and old shop of some sort. It was probably for trucks based off the type of tires, and I remember seeing old dump trucks at another location somewhat nearby.

Next to that building was a smaller building that looked like a small barn on the inside. There were some interesting things lying around like some old pictures and a CD. This was closer to some houses, so I did not spend much time here. I just took a few pictures and left.

While this isn’t exciting like the abandoned airport I explored, that’s what urban exploration is like: sometimes you find gold, and other times it’s an old soda can found in a river in Alaska. That’s the game, and it is what you make of it! If you want to see more of what Mother Nature takes back as hers, then keep coming back to this blog, as there is plenty more to come. Thanks for stopping by.

Abandoned Airport | Preston Airfield (Marlboro Airport)

New Jersey is filled with history. Some of it is preserved, and some of it is left to rot. This is the case with this abandoned airport. Preston Airfield, also known as Marlboro Airport, located in Morganville, New Jersey is one of the top places that I have been to. While it is a smaller airfield, it’s not something that is as common as an abandoned house.

Rhea Preston was the man responsible for building the airport. In 1932, Preston flew his first plane at age 20. After that, he started taking lessons, and was hooked. In 1939, he began using a flat portion of the Preston Farm to take off and land his Luscombe Silvaire that he bought that year. When WWII started, he left for the Navy.

When he came back home, be wanted to build is own airport on the 44 acre farm. It took a while for the township to get on board, but all the necessary paperwork was completed, and the Preston Airport opened in 1954 with a single dirt runway. Just before 1972, the airfield gained a paved runway and was later sold. Preston said it was a lot of work to keep the place running, and it wasn't exactly profitable.

By 1974, there were about 100 planes associated with the airfield. The same year, it was named the “best maintained” airport by the state’s Aviation Advisory Council. The next year, it was approved for 21 new hangers and an 840 square foot operational building. As time went on, the name was changed to Marlboro Airport (due to the township it was in – Marlboro Township), and owners changed.

Its fate became sealed when it was purchased in 2000 by Marlboro Holdings LLC, and that land was to be turned into housing. It was closed for good in 2002, and the hopes of it being turned into housing failed after federal count cases proved the mayor accepted bribes to get the area re-zoned.

Today, everything is gone expect for some rubble and the crumbling runway. When I went in 2010, the buildings were still there, and so was the runway. Part of the airfield is used as a cemetery, and I believe the rest is now owned by the Monmouth County Park System.

I sort of went on a whim while scouting another location that will be featured in an upcoming post, and I went while the sun was going down. I don’t like going to abandoned places in the dark. It’s harder to see, harder to take pictures, and looks more suspicious. However, I parked my car at the end of the cemetery, which still had some snow on the ground where it was piled up after the last storm, and walked up to the field.

With the sun setting, my pictures were not that great, so I apologize. The area was eerie. It was empty. Therefore, I loved it. The buildings and hangers had some plane parts, paperwork, and other historic artifacts of the once popular airport. It was messy inside, but it did not seem like it was too vandalized. I didn’t get to explore all the buildings due to the setting sun, but I did get to see the hangers on the north side of the property, and south-west side.

It’s a shame that history falls apart sometimes like this, but it’s people like me who hope to help preserve it, if only just text and some pictures. If you wish to learn more about the airfield, there is a book by Randall Gabrielan that has a small section on it, but it also covers some great local history. There is also a website by Paul Freeman that covers abandoned and little-know airfields and covers the airport history in great detail. If you want to see more of what Mother Nature takes back as hers, then keep coming back to this blog, as there is plenty more to come.

Dad’s Root Beer in the Klondike

It’s been a while since I have posted on here, but I wanted to bring to you another small find of mine.  If you have read the blog before, you know that I found an old Rosen’s Beverages soda bottle in a river in New Jersey.  I have a thing for old bottles and cans.  When I was a kid, I thought nothing of them, but now I realize just what a part of history these things can be.  This time we are not in New Jersey though.  As a matter of fact, we are on the complete other side of the country, in Alaska.

As mentioned in a previous post about The Pullen House in Skagway, Alaska, I had the pleasure of spending four months in the beautiful state of Alaska.  It is without a doubt, the most beautiful places I have ever been.  From the natural wonders, to the manmade history of once chased dream of finding gold.

I am back again in Skagway, and this time I was walking up a small creek.  The creek took a bit of a turn to a much higher elevated state.  Now, I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, so I only had my older phone.  I did manage to get some pictures.  There was more than just water and dirt.  The manmade past was in front of me, sitting in the typical Alaskan fashion: ruins.

As I was climbing up, something caught my eye in the water.  I looked down and saw a can.  Upon further inspection, it was a can of “Dad’s Draft Root Beer”.  I was never a fan of root beer, but I instantly started wondering how it got here.  The can looks like it was from the 1970s, so I was imagining kids playing around the possibly still standing bridge/ruins, drinking their “Dad’s Root Beer”, then throwing the can in the creek.

UPDATE: After being in touch with Dad's Root Beer, they believe this can could actually date back to the 1950s!

Alaska has some brutal winters.  Way below freezing.  How many times has this can been frozen under the creek?

The can is in nowhere near good shape, and it has no value to it.  However, the story behind it, the location, the thrill of finding it, now that is where the value is to me.  There are holes in it and you can barely make out the artwork.  From what I can almost make out on the can, it looks like it was packaged by a now renamed or defunct company named “Noel Canning” out of Washington, was enjoyed by some in Skagway, Alaska, and found by someone forty years (me) later who brought it back Florida, where it now lives.

I like old things.  It’s the stories that go with them, even if it’s all just speculation.  This was simply, and pretty much still is simply, just trash.  However, finding it on an expedition through The Last Frontier in an area surrounding you with history?  Now that’s a reason to become a fan of root beer.

Dad’s Root Beer is apparently still around and making soda.  They celebrated their 75^th anniversary back in 2012.  They don’t seem very active on social media, and their website doesn’t seem updated, but hopefully this little story can bring them a smile if they stumble upon it.  Just remember: you never know what stories trash can tell you.

Deserted Village of Feltville

In relation to what you typically find with urban exploration, an abandoned house is more or less common.  One lone, standing building in the middle of nowhere is fun, but what about what you come across an entire town?  This is just the case in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey where a village from the 1800s still can be seen today.

In the mid 1800s, businessman David Felt realized he could not keep up with the demand from his merchants with the mill he had already built in New York.  He looked for land in New Jersey and bought up some property from the Willcox family.  Peter Willcox was the first settler in area that David Felt was looking at who had built a sawmill in that area in the late 1730s.

After Felt bought the land and built his mill and a couple dams, he built a town for the workers.  This town became known as “Feltville”.  The town housed 175 people by 1850, and that usually meant about four families per large house, and two per small house.

In the late 1860s when David Felt sold the property, many other businesses came and went such as in 1882 when it was turned into a summer resort called Glenside Park.  That failed when the Jersey shore (not the show) gained more popularity.

As time went on, the Union Country Park Commission purchased the location, and it was added as a historic location.

The location is open to the public.  When I went there (many years ago), some buildings were in the process of being refurbished.  Some building had people living in them.  Some buildings were tourist buildings.  I, of course, was more interested in none of the above, and instead the ones you were not supposed to enter.

Some of those buildings were in rough shape.  I could tell they were used for storage for building “parts”.  I even went down in a creepy basement.  There were some really historic things to see.  Even the architecture of the building was something to experience such the brick chimney poking through the plaster and paint in the upper bedroom.

When I went, there was an occasional police car.  The houses had plenty of windows, but of course that goes both ways, so I would place myself against a wall to remain out of sight, and all was good.

I could continue writing, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, enjoy some of the pictures I took while I was there.  If you want to see more stuff like this, keep coming back as there is plenty more to come!  Thanks for stopping by.