steveb leatherworks: the blather

So, I like investigating and recording the state of all sorts of sites, from industrial wastelands to residential oddities. Finding these locations is tricky and getting images of them is often even trickier. I was told about Pleasure Island, a nearby site from another photog who has a great deal of experience in working with these sites and given a heads up to see it soon, if i was planning to see it at all. In advance, I did a little research using Google satelite images, Windows LIve Picture maps and some blog sniffing. Read some of the articles this talented young lady has collected on the place…

http://designedbreakdown.com/photo/p_beach/index.htm

So,my friends now you’ve got some background. This is one hell of a story that never really got much play  – i thought it strange. I felt like I had to take a look-see. First kind of decent day weather-wise- I made my way to this location and wanted to share what I found and how it made me feel…my take away..per se.

First off – getting to this place is a slog, it is an adventure, it is a hike. 25min into the hike – I realize I left my water in the car…nice! As I approached the town, i felt my spirits sink into a glum funk, that stayed with me for a day or two after my visit. What did I see? A fantastic secluded beach side community that at one time had been a real, genuine chunk of heaven.

Today? – a number of structures have been burned (there are about 60 houses left intact and standing), all have been deeply vandalized and many of the structures are terminally ruined due to weather penetration – since all of the windows in every structure on the island have been broken.  Knucklehead idiots have spray painted their idiocy’s all over the island, lending it the air of a teen party gone horribly wrong. Every single structure has been ripped up, apart, broken down and out…it is a really sad and pathetic sight that has left me wondering….whose lovely kids did this? What parents imbued their little Johnny’s, Alex’s and Randy’s with such a poor sense of right and wrong that they felt compelled to break into homes whose owners had lovingly maintained them for generations and simply trash them… because they had been dealt a cruel hand and were vulnerable.

I know who these assholes are…they are the same punks (and no, they are not “poor” kids who dont know better) that torched and abused our cat Beano when she was a helpless 3oz kitten, these are the kids that throw rocks off of overpasses on busy highways to see the effect  and power they can execise, these are the kids who steal even though they are spoiled rotten at home and want for nothing. In a word- they are OUR kids. Let me tell you folks – we got big problems coming from these young Sociopaths who lack conscience…..yes we do… if this is what they can unleash as kids…lets just see what they can do when they have “grown up”. I also point my crooked, wagging finger at the local government that let these young fuck-nuts do their dirty work for them. There is no going back for these residents now…the local government got its way….and the priceless land back firmly under their control.

It is obvious that a number of homeowners had take great pains to try and protect their property – nailing and screwing boards and tons of heavy gauge plywood, putting in lock boxes and safe rooms in these homes… all to no avail. The monkeys have been given the time, privacy and tools to crack these nuts open…. and they have. I wonder what they would say to the homeowners if confronted with the detials of the gutless rampages…“sorry”?

I am not going to drown you in these sorrows in harrowing detail – it’s stuck in my brain..but…a full record of this adventure is on my flickr site, if you are interested.

Karma…is a bitch and I can only hope she has the names and numbers of these shitheads.