Silicon Valley is an industry town. It has fattened the bank accounts of many a Bay Area millennial, much to the chagrin of residents who were there long before Twitter, Uber, Facebook, or Google ("disruption," as the locals call it.) But like it or not, technology firms are now the region's bread and butter.
Maybe that thought is comforting, maybe it's creepy. But whatever your position, you can't deny that if the industry fails, so does the surrounding area. It might seem as if nothing could stop the shimmering valley, but Detroit probably said the same thing 70 years ago.
There are places where technology and technology-powered companies have shut their doors and left. And if there's no one around after the door is locked and the windows boarded up, then the detritus that's left behind sits there and waits for nature to take its course. It’s called ruin porn, and it's Ozymandias's worst nightmare.
The landscape of these places is desolate and the atmosphere is reminiscent of a David Lynch film. Appropriately, Lynch is fascinated by factories past their glory days and has photographed them. But for those who can't travel to these monuments to change, the images Lynch and others capture are our only opportunity to see them. Check them out below.
1. Rocket Girl
Nothing powered NASA so much as Soviet rockets that got off the ground before American ones did. But now that both countries share space on the International Space Station the verve with which space flight is pursued has slowed. One victim is this rocket motor factory outside of Moscow. Lana Sator ventured inside the spooky abandoned factory and captured incredible images. It ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, in fact it's cold as hell.
2. Moon Landing Over Miami
Like so many, Aerojet dreamed of going to the moon. Specifically it wanted to supply the Apollo moon mission with rockets. Without the contract, the factory shut down seven years later and lays abandoned in the Everglades.
3. It's a Cin
Crosley used to make electronics and cars in Cincinnati but its factory shut down in 1960. Photographer Zach Klein is one of the many people who have documented its bleak current state while developers decide whether or not to tear it down or turn it into condos.
4. Faniculi Funicular
There wasn't a lot of whimsy in East Germany but those cheerful-looking cable cars that go by the funny name of funiculars used to be made at the Adolf Bleichert factory in Leipzig. When the Berlin Wall came down this factory also met its demise.
5. Sykes Out
The PC wars of the 70s and 80s were fought mainly in California, but this factory is what's left of one battle in Rochester, New York. Sykes Datatronics operated there for the better part of two decades, but it closed up shop in 1992.
6. Irish Wake
Outside of Dublin on a beautiful piece of land lies the wreckage of FAAC Electronics Ltd., a company that once made printed-circuit boards. Not the kind of thing that Joyce encoded in his famous literary works, but it's poetic in its own way.
7. Back to the Future
Before Doc could get his hands on it for some modification, the DeLorean was made in what is now a grown-over factory in Dunmurry, Ireland. The test track is still there if you want to do a lap around it on foot or hoverboard.
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