Deserted Corners, my photoblog dedicated to abandoned buildings and urban decay, will be returning on 1 September 2008 after about 18 months of idleness.

I wish the Olympics were on 24/7/365. I can’t get enough. 2 more weeks of great TV and then it’s a long 2 year wait until the winter games.

“Whoa, that was just an earthquake, and a pretty big one,” were the words that came across the phone line at 1:45 this afternoon. I was on the phone with a person from the LA area, trying to solve a tech issue. After a brief pause, probably to recover from the shock of the moment, he said that he would call back in a little bit. I immediately brought up CNN and MSNBC. About 5 minutes of refreshes later MSNBC had a news alert saying there was an earthquake; 2 minutes after that CNN anncounced it. That has to be one of the stranger phone calls I’ve been on in my life.

I went to the Jewel on the corner of Foster and Pulaski during lunch today. As I walked in I saw around 30 old women waiting outside the store. It really looked like a group of day laborers in the form of old women; old women ready to spoil your children if you hire them for a day. Someone should look into this as a business venture.

I love old photos, especially when I can relate to them in some way. I could spend hours looking at old photos of Chicago, Minneapolis, or even Arlington Heights, IL. So last night when one of my neighbors brought out an appraisal from 1980 with a bunch of photos of the building I live in, I wanted to see more. I had done some searches before but never really turned up many results for Arlington Heights. I then decided to check out http://www.digitalpast.org. I had visited the site a couple years ago after seeing something about it at the library or local cable channel. It didn’t have a lot of content on it at the time, but now there is a plethora of old photos. Below are 4 photos that I found of my apartment.

My apartment 1
The first photo was actually taken before my building was there. It would be on the far left of the photo.

My apartment 2
Here is the earliest photo I can find with my building in it. I live in the building that has the National Tea Co sign.

My apartment 3
Here is the street I live on, with my building on the left side. The diagonal street on the right no longer exists and the triangular building in the middle right is also gone. Both have now been replaced by an ugly building.

My apartment 4
The final photo is an aerial view. My building is near the top left. Again, the triangular building and the diagonal street in the middle are gone. The bottom right section of the diagonal street, Davis Street for those interested, remains. The top left section of Davis is gone as well. There is currently a strip mall type development there.

I think it’s time for a visit to the local historical society sometime soon.