It’s Labor Day weekend, and I’m running around trying to take care of things that I normally can’t do during the working week. Drop off this, pick up that, purchase these, pay for those…
And as I drove from Latham to Watervliet, I caught a glimpse of an old, abandoned car wash. Now the Blackbird could use a little trip through the wash bay, maybe a nice dollop of carnauba wax and an air freshener…
But somehow, I think that this car wash would actually make the Blackbird dirtier.
But it never hurts to get out of the car and take some pictures…
Which, of course, is what I did.
Trust me, if I’m going to stop to get my car washed at this place, the rates better be worth it. So let’s check out the pricing on the entrance sign.
Wow, I can get the entire “gold” package for only nine dollars? How in the world does this place NOT make money? </sarcasm>
Maybe it’s just the fact that these old car washes eventually fall into disrepair and overgrowth.
About three years ago, I took this “splitfilm” photo in Whitehall, N.Y. of another abandoned auto-suds place. Here’s the shot I took in 2012…
And one year later, after the lettering on the building had completely fallen away…
As I drove by that same building this year to drop off my photos for the Vermont State Fair, I noticed that what was once an old, dingy car wash had turned into an old, dingy used car lot. You know, the kind of place where you could buy a used car that might come with an optional bird’s nest inside the engine?
I supose there’s a mystique about abandoned car washes – they were placed where you kept your car squeaky-clean and showroom-fresh; and now those buildings are overrun with weeds and graffiti and collapsing letters.
That might explain why the building I photographed the other day is now an EX.
As opposed to a “current.”
Chuck The Writer 