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Fighter_McWarrior
Title: Gun of Brixton
Joined: Jun 05 2011
Location: Down by the River
Posts: 1087
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I'm from a town called Findlay Illinois that currently houses less than 800 people. It's only about a square mile total, and it's a pretty boring place, but I'm surprised at how many pictures of it ended up on the internet.
So here's the quick tour
An abandoned liquor store
A bunch of other abandoned stores. Most of the businesses are gone. All we have are a steakhouse, two gas stations, a bar and a winery. We don't even have a grocery store
This is a goat tower. It's a tower used to exercise and keep goats. The one outside of town is the only one in North America and the 2rd largest the world. I don't blame you for being impressed
This is one of Findlay's 9 currently operating churches. For those keeping score at home, this equals Business 5, Church 9.
Findlay's Elementary School. This is the only school that it has exclusive claim to. The Middle school at the edge of town is shared with a neighboring town 15 miles away, and that town is also where the high school is. I graduated from the consolidated High School in a class of 32 people. The last graduating class before Findlay consolidated only had ten kids in it.
This actually is kind of cool. There's a rail line that divides the town in half. Nowadays, it's only used for cargo, but once upon a time it had a train station that was torn down long ago. But the trains brought in a lot of business that also doesn't exist anymore. Before I was born, the town had an opera house, a bowling alley and a department store modeled after the Alamo, pictured below.
It looks pretty out of place dropped into a town with no other distinguishing features. When I was 3, some rich asshole bought it and started using it as an antique store. He collects oddly realistic mannequins, and he places them by all the windows. Now whenever you pass it, you can feel them looking out at you with their cold, dead eyes.
The empty building pictured is the former grocery store that closed before I was born. The rubble next to is the aformentioned bowling alley. It collapsed when I was 12 and the rubble has been there ever since
This is the steakhouse. It used to be really fucking awesome until a bunch of morons bought it a few years ago. Since, its prices have almost doubled and the food has gone way downhill. Nowadays, people don't eat there and it's only open a few nights a week.
That's all for pictures, but yeah...that's my hometown.
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Doddsino
Joined: Oct 01 2009
Posts: 5316
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I wish my town had a goat tower.
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Fighter_McWarrior
Title: Gun of Brixton
Joined: Jun 05 2011
Location: Down by the River
Posts: 1087
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I don't blame you. It's pretty much the best part of the whole town.
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Doddsino
Joined: Oct 01 2009
Posts: 5316
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Is there any correlation between that and the steakhouse. Just tryin' to piece together a possible mystery here...
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Fighter_McWarrior
Title: Gun of Brixton
Joined: Jun 05 2011
Location: Down by the River
Posts: 1087
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If there is, it would certainly explain the declining quality of the steaks. I'll look into that.
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Lottel
Title: of the Eternal BWOG
Joined: Sep 02 2008
Posts: 1123
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Oh hey! Fighter doesn't live too far from me! Closer than BeachBum even! Too bad I don't know either of those guys well enough to hang out.
BUT it looks like there's more midwesterners than I previously thought.
I'm from Decatur, IL. I can do you one better than pictures.
Watch The Informant. That's a true story about Decatur, filmed in Decatur.
I was working at the mall. The sent me home 15 minutes early. 5 minutes later Matt Damon walks into the store and shakes hands, autographs, and asks everyone to be extras. I was not told of this for quite some time.
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Fighter_McWarrior
Title: Gun of Brixton
Joined: Jun 05 2011
Location: Down by the River
Posts: 1087
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I was actually working a summer job at ADM when they filmed that.
Boy did that piss a lot of people off...
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Lottel
Title: of the Eternal BWOG
Joined: Sep 02 2008
Posts: 1123
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Hoho hooooooh yeah. But just at ADM. Everyone else was pleased as punch. Of course, Decatur stupidly believed the movie would benefit the town as much as the book did. (Well, after the book's release hurt the city for a bit.) But Decatur didn't see one dime from the movie. And a few cityheads (rumor has it) were quite upset when they found out what they thought to be a serious crime drama was instead a comedy poking fun at the city and it's officials, not to mention one of the biggest companies in the Midwest.
OH WELL. LIVE AND LEARN.
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Pandajuice
Title: The Power of Grayskull
Joined: Oct 30 2008
Location: US and UK
Posts: 2649
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Man Fighter, that looks like a pretty depressing place to live. Although the goat tower is pretty fucking cool. I'd hang out there most of the time I think.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
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Didn't I post in this thread?
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Fighter_McWarrior
Title: Gun of Brixton
Joined: Jun 05 2011
Location: Down by the River
Posts: 1087
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| Pandajuice wrote: |
| Man Fighter, that looks like a pretty depressing place to live. Although the goat tower is pretty fucking cool. I'd hang out there most of the time I think. |
It was a pretty fucking sweet place to be a kid. Once you turn 16 though...yeah. Not so much.
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Lady_Satine
Title: Head of Lexian R&D
Joined: Oct 15 2005
Location: Metro area, Georgia
Posts: 7287
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While not exactly where I live, this happened close enough to show it. This occurred yesterday, and made all the local news stations. Apparently, the fire started around 1:30 or so and the smoke plume was big enough that it could be seen from Atlanta. The factory itself belongs to a fencing company that had placed things like tar paper in an outside storage area (where you can eventually see the fires are burning).
Expect some actual images from my next walkabout to cover non-burning goings on in my part of metro Georgia.
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 "Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!" |
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Captain_Pollution
Title: Hugh
Joined: Sep 23 2007
Posts: 1591
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Wow, Fighter, that town looks awesome. I enjoyed its pictures the most D: I mean, I totally get why it would suck, and I don't think I'd like to live there myself per se, but that's the kind of town where I'd like to have family there and I'd go visit them a few times a year and enjoy the town. And yeah, the goat tower is badass.
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 <Drew_Linky> Well, I've eaten vegetables all of once in my life.
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The Flaming Schnitzel
Title: Tsar of all Russias
Joined: May 10 2011
Location: Minsk, Belarus
Posts: 810
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Well, I live in the Greater Kansas City area (about twenty min from downtown), so I'll do a bit of both to show some hometown pride (for the first time ever...). My hometown is about three thousand people or so.
So here is Grain Valley, MO:
An aerial view of part of the town
My street/neighborhood (my house is not in the pic)
Here's Main Street
Here's what covers the majority of the town. This is the area surrounding my high school.
Ok so that's boring. Let's do Kansas City instead. Here's downtown.
The Missouri River. It stinks worse than any other river I've ever been near.
Our city is the "City of Fountains". I can't remember the exact number of fountains but it's more than any other city in the world, even Rome.
Here's the really awesome new Sprint Center that was built two years ago.
Here's the Plaza. This is THE ONLY PART OF KANSAS CITY THAT IS SAFE TO BE IN. I'm not even joking. Do not go anywhere else.
One of my personal favorite areas, the Jazz District. We have a really awesome Jazz Museum.
And, to finish it off, my favorite place: the WWI Museum. That place is sooooo cool! I love just going there and looking at all the displays.
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Vaenamoenen
Joined: Mar 18 2010
Location: Tuonela
Posts: 299
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^I had to google that WW I -museum, as well as the American Jazz Museum. Looks very, very interesting. Definedly gonna visit those, if I ever get the chance to explore the Midwest. (Too bad my first trip to the US will most likely be to the East Coast.)
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Atma
Title: Dragoon
Joined: Apr 29 2010
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 2450
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Was born in Fort Myers, FL and lived in Cape Coral until I was 18 and left for Bootcamp. Fort Myers is only about 10min away from Cape Coral, and it's where I went to High School so I Consider them both my Hometown.
Aerial Ft. Myers/Cape Coral
Welcome
Cape Harbor
What most of the houses look like.
Unless your rich, then something like this.
Beach
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Beach Bum
Joined: Dec 08 2010
Location: At the pants party.
Posts: 1777
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Man I miss the Ft. Myers area. Went to the beach there all the time when we lived in Naples.
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The Flaming Schnitzel
Title: Tsar of all Russias
Joined: May 10 2011
Location: Minsk, Belarus
Posts: 810
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| Vaenamoenen wrote: |
| ^I had to google that WW I -museum, as well as the American Jazz Museum. Looks very, very interesting. Definedly gonna visit those, if I ever get the chance to explore the Midwest. (Too bad my first trip to the US will most likely be to the East Coast.) |
Dude! That would be so awesome! You should totally come and I'll take you to visit both! :O
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Lottel
Title: of the Eternal BWOG
Joined: Sep 02 2008
Posts: 1123
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| Fighter_McWarrior wrote: |
| Pandajuice wrote: |
| Man Fighter, that looks like a pretty depressing place to live. Although the goat tower is pretty fucking cool. I'd hang out there most of the time I think. |
It was a pretty fucking sweet place to be a kid. Once you turn 16 though...yeah. Not so much. |
Oh how I wish that was on purpose
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Etch
Title: Intermittent Scribbler
Joined: Mar 15 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 588
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I just went through my photos from last year and found some to necro the thread with.
View from where I live.
In the city:
Ugly cookie-cutter houses.
Car-park-that-is-never-near-capacity-but-only-employees-can-use, downtown.
I don't remember what the building is, but the light and lonely bike make it kinda' creepy looking.
Lamp post.
Alleyway.
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Knyte
2010 SLF Tag Champ*
Title: Curator Of The VGM
Joined: Nov 01 2006
Location: Here I am.
Posts: 6749
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Granted, I now live in Portland, but my "hometown" is Oregon City, so here's a tour:
On the way to Oregon City, you may see this sign:
It's very true.
And, here it is:
It's a small city of about 14,000 people. It is the first State Capitol of Oregon, and of the Oregon Territory. This was were you were trying to get to playing The Oregon Trail, and were lucky enough to see if you didn't die of dysentery first.
About the only unique natural thing we have here, is Willamette Falls:
Pretty huh?
Here's the house I grew up in, and my parents still live in:
Most houses in the outlaying areas are your standard looking Tudor and Ranch style homes. Near downtown OC, the house all look like this:
That's because the vast majority of them are "Historic Homes" and are protected. Many of them have names, with little signs. Such as the Barclay House, McLaughlin House, etc. They were all built by the original settlers and important people in Oregon City's history. You can buy them, live in them, and repair them, but you can't remodel them, and you have keep everything in it's original look on the outside. (Which means enjoy your plain looking white house.)
Here's one of our unique manmade landmarks. This is the Oregon City Municipal Elevator:
It is the only outdoor municipal elevator in the US and one of only four in the world. The upper portion contains an observation deck which accounts for its flying saucer appearance. This is the 2nd one. The original was built in 1915 and was water powered. They built the new one in 1955 and made it electric.
Here's the High School I went to:
It's now a community center, as a few years after I graduated they passed a bond and built a new one. Which is good, because this one was very old, and small for a High School. It was so small, it only housed 10th - 12th grade, and the Freshman had a separate campus on the other side of town.
Here's the other newer "landmark". This is the End Of The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center:
Yes, those are three building made to look like covered wagons. At least, that is what it looked like when it was first built in the mid 90s. Here's what it looks like today:
The canvas they used got thrashed in windstorms and rain, so when it look gross enough, they took them down and never replaced them. Inside the far left building is a gift shop, the middle and the right building are the tour. Outside the right building is a wagon and a huge map that shows the Oregon Trail. You are introduced to your "Living History Interpreter" (Yes, that's what they are called.) and he/she gets you ready for your journey to Oregon. Inside the right building is a little stage. You still in rows of seats. On the stage are tons of real goods and tools used on the trail. The Interpreter walks you through all the goods, weapons, and clothes you need. Then you move to the center building. The center building is a theater where you sit and watch a 30 minute multimedia presentation of the actual journey.
How do I know all of this? Did I waste money on the tour, to learn about shit that was taught to me in every grade of my school career? Nope. I was Interpreter during my senior year of High School.
Hope you enjoyed the trek.
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MellowMeek
Joined: Feb 16 2010
Location: Texas
Posts: 329
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Spoilered to save scrolling.
[SPOILER:1f090c2516]I was born in Rome, Georgia, and lived there until I was 13. It was an okay town growing up, but the times I've been back, it seems to get worse and worse. I think I just hate the state of Georgia.
Just an overview from a cemetery. Totally didn't rip it off Wikipedia.
Some old theatre downtown. I remember seeing The Nutcracker here forever ago on a field trip. I remember nothing of what it looks like inside.
A copy of the Capitoline Wolf sculpture in Rome, Italy. I guess we got one because we're name-buddies.
A clocktower. Purely filler.
There are two colleges in Rome; Berry and Shorter. People only care about Berry because it's old, they filmed some movies there, and people like to shoot the deers that roam on campus. It has a bunch of neat stuff that the public can view, including this water mill.
In 2003, the Rome Braves came to town. It was a pretty big deal back then, and I got to go to quite a few games because the seats are really cheap.
I fucking love Chick-fil-A and this is by far the coolest one I've been too. It has that little dwarf house door which I always went in when I was little. It also has a diner section, making it more like a restaurant than a fast food place. Right next to it is a Five Guys, so you can't really go wrong.[/SPOILER:1f090c2516]
I actually had to take some pictures of the town for a school assignment once. I haven't seen those pictures in a while, so next time I go back, I'll bring them back and show them to you guys.
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Lady_Satine
Title: Head of Lexian R&D
Joined: Oct 15 2005
Location: Metro area, Georgia
Posts: 7287
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Huh, the Dwarf Houses are cool (and will actually sell hamburgers). I live a short drive away from the first Chik-Fil-A, not that I go there anymore (not for cuisine reasons mind you; it's insidiously great chicken).
I've not been to Rome, but I have been to Athens (also in Georgia).
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 "Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!" |
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Greg the White
Joined: Apr 09 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 3112
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That looks like a nice town, Knyte. Sort of reminds me of my hometown.
Working on pictures right now. Trying to get a few more pictures of the local landmarks before another one burns down.
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 So here's to you Mrs. Robinson. People love you more- oh, nevermind. |
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