Sometimes we think about places that we have been to, only to find out that they no longer exist.
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My childhood.
World Trade Center. Seen them first in person in 1995 and the last time in the fall of 2000. Came back to NYC in 2004. Seen what was left there. A big construction site, some of the old steel beams were still there as a reminder.
That sight did hit hard, had me in tears.
Been back later again, with the One World Trade Center almost completed. Felt very different. But seeing the big construction site with the huge hole in 2004 was hurtful.
I miss that building too, the Twin Towers. It was bold and powerful, confident and unapologetic. And it represented things. Sure the style of architecture has been criticized for being too grand and needed to be scaled down at the ground plane to more of a human scale. Sure these towers were criticized as being just two extrusions without character, but to me there was enormous power in the form. Miss that very much.
My husband brought me a handmade and painted wall plaque from a market he visited in Ukraine. We have seen the photos of that market on the news, bombed out and abandoned.
My grandpah' house, in my memory it was like a magical place.. He was poor and had a lot of chickens, but also a lot of space and nature. A place full of clay where I could spend the day just making anything, or just getting dirty. There was a tiny swamp like place (we call it "brejo"), with crystal clear water, small fish and fragrant white flowers (Hemerocale, Lírio-de-São-José), this particular smell aways remember me of him. at the back of the property flowed the river "Garças". Short long story, his daughter and her greed husband build a house there, and little by little seize his space. Later, he just gave up and moved. Today the place is nothing like his former glory, the man cut down most of the trees, removed the swamp to create a fish pond and with little time it became muddy and fetid, the stream of water almost dryied out. The place I loved exist's today only in my memory and heart, like my Grandpah.
A video store. It used to be a whole ritual on a Friday going down and getting your movies. They had a burger bar and arcade games there too, it was awesome
I remember one with a pit ball and a slide, it also had a N64 at the back of the children's section :'D
West - Berlin. This island of "freedom" and capitalism in the heart of the socialist East - Germany. It drew its spirit from the Berlin Wall and the fact it was surrounded by an opposing political system.
Conversely, East Germany. Traveling by overnight train from West to East in the 1980's was terrifying, sobering, saddening, awe-inspiring. The spirit of the German people to heal that wound so many years later - we should remind ourselves in the U.S. that a people and their country can re-unify in a truly healthy way.
toys r us
i used to love that place, my parents would take me there for my birthday every year
Someone has already mentioned East Germany, so I will add Yugoslavia. I was there before the Balkans War, in the part that is now Croatia. During the war, I made a couple trips to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
My childhood trampoline park. So many memories made. So many illnesses spread.
The original Wembley Stadium.
For concerts the acoustics could be a bit ‘iffy’ in spots… but blinkin heck… when full, that Stadium could ROAR!
Hairs would stand on end and the air practically sizzled with electricity when she was at her finest!
Queen during Live Aid is a great example of the atmosphere being electric!
The GDR
German Democratic Republic aka East Germany, if somebody wants to ask
Windows on the World. The restaurant on the, I think, 107th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center. I celebrated a milestone birthday there. First and only time I had frog's legs. Interesting, but not enough to order them regularly. The view was indescribable; as high as the Empire State Building but surrounded by sheer opulence... and warmth. It was a bit pricey, but so worth it.
It was actually a couple hundred feet taller than the Empire State
Shea Stadium in Queens. Saw the Beatles there in 1966. Now it's a parking lot.
One Elizabeth Street, Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand. An old villa that was a student flat when I lived there. The place was haunted and we all had some very strange ghostly experiences. Many years later when I happened to be back in Christchurch with my partner I wanted to show him the old place but couldn't find it; couldn't even find mention of Elizabeth Street in maps. We drove around the area it should've been in for ages. Between the two massive Canterbury earthquakes of 4th September 2010 and 22nd February 2011 the place must have been wiped out.
Isn't Elizabeth st, Riccardon, Christchurch? I don't know of one in Addington. It's like north of it.
Centralia, Pennsylvania. I live 90 minutes from here and have been there several times. Centralia was a mining town that had a fire occur inside the mine itself. This occurred in 1962 and the mine is still burning underneath the ground to this day. You can see smoke coming up through cracks in the roads it’s interesting to say the least. It also caused a portion of route 61 to be permanently closed to vehicles and it’s now known as graffiti highway because it’s covered in graffiti as it became a tradition to leave your mark if you visit. Graffiti highway is illegal to visit though and you will get fined if caught(plus they covered it with dirt) but Centralia itself has nothing to stop you from exploring it. Just be careful if anyone decides to check it out!
Also department stores such as Jamesway and Hills.
I have a load of nice pix from there before they covered the road with dirt. I'm about an hour away myself.
My dad's hometown. It too no longer exists, as of the 1970s.
And KMart, of course.
Geauga Lake Amusement Park! I grew up going there. It was about 3 miles from my Grandma's house. We would get summer passes and go all the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geauga_Lake
There used to be an artesian spring coming out of a mountainside. We stopped and filled bottles every time we passed it. It's still there but, thanks to people it is now polluted. It's the first thing that came to mind.
Oh, the road to Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, and Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains used to have artesian springs and little waterfalls the entire way to top of mountain. My father's '54 Ford would get vapor locked so we frequently visited those pullouts and water sources. Los Angeles began piping water out of the high desert ...emptied entire lakes ...and ruined much of the area.
The town of Doel in Belgium.
The expanding port of Antwerp doomed it and people moved out
The original Tavern on the Green restaurant in Manhattan , NYC.
My childhood home. It occasionally pops up on Zillow for sale... Tiny 3 bedroom house for 400k (it's near Atlanta so everything is a million times more expensive)
With the current renovations it doesn't even look like my home any more 😢
Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Went there once during the stadiums final year of existence back in 2003.
Vans warped tour. 75 bands for $40 you will never see that again
I will miss it forever
I got free VIP tickets to Warped Tour one of the last years it happened. Worth getting caught in the rain for. When I finally decided to get (paid) tickets one year, I found out they discontinued it.
The Azure Window in Malta, the most famous landmark on the island of Gozo! The natural arch disappeared forever in March 2017 during a massive storm and sea erosion.
Not technically a place, but I'm gonna say Linkin Park concert. I saw them live literally days before Chester Bennington died and I'll be forever grateful for that opportunity.
I saw Run DMC's last show when they opened for Aerosmith less than a month before Jam Master Jay was murdered
Palisades Park. Well, the town is still there, but not the amusement park. We used to go there after work as a teenager.
At least we can still listen to the song.
That song was written by Chuck Barris, host of The Gong Show and CIA assassin
Old Colorado City. While it does technically exist, it’s most definitely not what it used to be and literally every other shopping city is better now, which is sad. But if you get the chance I suggest you check it out.
Mr. Fable's fast food hamburger restaurant back in Grand Rapids, MI. OMG they had thee BEST homemade burgers and the best onion rings! When I was in college, I'd drive home to my parent's house for the weekend and would always stop there before heading home. I went to the usual spot one weekend and almost had a heart attack. In place of my beloved burger heaven was a Wendy's! HOW DARE THEY! I went home and was devastated. My mother made bbq burgers that night. They were, as always, delicious beyond belief, but still...not quite the same.
an affordable country
To be philosophical about it. Everything. No two experiences are ever the same and trying to recapture it, usually leaves you disappointed.
Stitch’s Great Escape, I went on that ride once, and I didn’t like it at all because I hated the dark, and the ride was closed in 2018, and the stitch animatronic was left to decay.
just in case y'all didn't have a demon to feature in your next nightmares... aaaaaaaaaa...918366.jpg 
Mazzio's Pizza. Ever since it closed down in my home town. I haven't seen one in any of the 4 homes I've lived in
Ames Department stores. even worked at one in college
A lot of military bases in Iraq. Many were simply shut down while a few others were sacked by ISIS...
my elementary school got torn down after I got transferred to a school with an advanced program for 4th grade so right after 3rd grade (2019)
My childhood grade school. It’s now a ritzy high rise that overlooks the city. It had so much character. Lots of good memories.
Mine too! Academy of Notre Dame was a catholic school in Rittenhouse Square. It got Very ritzy and it too got sold after being there eighty years. You see Rittenhouse Square in the movie "Trading Places" with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
Kings Island in Ohio Star Trex Theme Section
Bradford College.
The closing ceremony was a couple hours after the last graduation ceremony.
I live less than 1/2 mile (0.8k) from Bradford College it's now a bible college. Kids are quieter but I miss the "Fighting Squirrels"
Some of the places I worked are gone or in a new office somewhere else.
I was a paperboy and the collection local office I used to bring the money was sold to the college.
I worked at a Burger King that has since been 2 different restaurants since.
I worked a K-Mart that became a Sears Essentials and then back to a K-Mart, but is now empty (it was actually the one the featured in Grown Ups 2!).
I worked out of a security office that has since changed hands, but I haven't followed cause it's out of my way.
And I worked a phone center for a catalog that shut down the office I was working in to downsize, but after I had left.
There used to be a Sea World in Ohio. My family visited and went to the boat show. A boat went out of control, flew out of the pool and landed in the audience, right where I had wanted to sit. That Sea World is closed now.
I have to say good riddance. Marine parks centers of animal abuse and exploitation. I'm sorry you lost a place that was special to you but I'm not sorry a marine park was shut down.
This AMAZING Ristorante with authentic Naples fare. I worked in Naples, Italy and fell in love with the wine and food in the region. Everything about the place was an experience!! 2008 and they went out of business. It was in my community and my go to for visitors or dates. Still looking for that awesome Merlot…
The house that me and my father and mother built together. I was very little and helped him with the fireplaces and the back porch. Mom helped him with everything before i was born. Until I was 8 we lived in that house as it was being built. It didn't get finished until about a year before we had to leave. We moved states and I never got to go back to it. I looked it up on Zillow and it went for sale a couple of times. They've changed so much of it in the years since I was there. The walls have been repainted, that much I could forgive. But they removed both of the fireplaces. I would sit in the rocking chair during Christmas on my dad's lap as he rocked me to sleep while the fire crackled and popped occasionally. Now all that remains of that is the memory of the house. They also removed the porch for some reason.
Great Stone Face in New Hampshire. Used to love looking for it when driving through the area.
(Also known as the Old Man of the Mountain, a series of cliff ledges in Franconia, NH that looked like the rugged profile of a male face. It was important to the Abenaki and Mohawk peoples before white folks arrived, and was the representation of New Hampshire on license plates and elsewhere. After centuries of love, it fell in 2003.)
It still lives on the back of the New Hampshire state quarter. I was sorry to read about its collapse.
Daventry outdoor swimming pool in Northamptonshire UK. The place of childhood memories. Now a council car park.
My junior high. They tore it down a few years ago. It was a historic building and a lot of people who went to school there took a brick from the rubble. Nothing has been built there yet, so I wonder what it will be someday. I still have dreams about that place. There were good memories and bad. But it was definitely where I became who I am.
I saw Sanibel Island in FL a few months before hurricane Ian and it was such a beautiful place. Now, it’s almost completely destroyed because of the hurricane.
At least not near me anymore - Jack in the Box and Arthur Treacher's
Old Bored Panda. With the new unskippable top video widget, the old Bored Panda doesn't exist. Time to visit new places
All That Is Interesting, Dark Roasted Blend, Twisted Sifter, Oddee, Hyperallergic (art lovers), Visual Capitalist (data lovers), Project Gutenberg.
Long Beach Pike. In its glory days, it had wooden roller coaster over the water called Cyclone Racer, a beautiful Rainbow Pier and lagoon, and amusement rides like the Hippodrome Carousel. Bert Grimm's tattoo called the Pike home. It was better than Disneyland.
Boblo Island. You would ride a giant paddle boat down the Detroit River to get there - music, food, and dancing on board. Then you would arrive at this cheesy little theme park with rides, rollercoasters, a building with magic shows... now it's been turned into a residential island.
For my partner and I, our childhood homes no longer stand, neither does the place we met or the store we got our rings from.
Boblo Island. You would ride a giant paddle boat down the Detroit River to get there - music, food, and dancing on board. Then you would arrive at this cheesy little theme park with rides, rollercoasters, a building with magic shows... now it's been turned into a residential island.
For my partner and I, our childhood homes no longer stand, neither does the place we met or the store we got our rings from.
