Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of Detroit "ruin porn" is it inherently ignores the very real people who still live in the city. Now there's a convergence — the amazing story of Allan Hill, the man who legally lives inside the city's abandoned Packard Auto Plant.
What's most surprising about this moving mini-documentary is Hill's "quality of life" doesn't look as terrible as you'd imagine, nor does his reasoning for choosing to stay in the largest abandoned factory in the world seem so unsound.
The whole creation is a huge gut-check to our biases. Yes, the Packard Plant is so giant and empty and strange they shoot Michael Bay movies there. And, occasionally, kids push a dump truck out a window !
Yet, Hill has power, Internet access, a welding setup, and a small kitchen. He even maintains a webcam. The owner apparently gave him his blessing so long as Hill works as a custodian of the property.
Living in Detroit's Packard Plant
- Michael^Heaven
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Living in Detroit's Packard Plant
"So knives out
Cook him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot "-jz
Cook him up
Squash his head
Put him in the pot "-jz
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- mnml mmbr
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Re: Living in Detroit's Packard Plant
The problem is that he doesn't actually live in the Packard Plant. He might live in a building on the grounds, but he isn't in one of the main buildings.
You'd have to be really foolish to explore, much less live in, the Packard Plant. It isn't the same set of buildings that we used to party in almost 20 years ago. Those buildings have been scrapped to the point where it is extremely dangerous to go into it them. The floors are falling apart because people have ripped out all of the heavy steel beams that were put in place to keep the building standing. I used to go to raves there in the 90's and I have explored it during the day. In 2012 it's a tired, worn out set of buildings that just need to be torn down.
If you are looking for these kinds of stories, but with more basis in reality, this is a good place to go: http://www.detroitblog.org/
You'd have to be really foolish to explore, much less live in, the Packard Plant. It isn't the same set of buildings that we used to party in almost 20 years ago. Those buildings have been scrapped to the point where it is extremely dangerous to go into it them. The floors are falling apart because people have ripped out all of the heavy steel beams that were put in place to keep the building standing. I used to go to raves there in the 90's and I have explored it during the day. In 2012 it's a tired, worn out set of buildings that just need to be torn down.
If you are looking for these kinds of stories, but with more basis in reality, this is a good place to go: http://www.detroitblog.org/
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- mnml mmbr
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Re: Living in Detroit's Packard Plant
There are other post-industrial places in the US with abandon buildings.
Pennsylvania is an example:
http://www.opacity.us/locations/region/us/pa/
Pennsylvania is an example:
http://www.opacity.us/locations/region/us/pa/
hey everybody : I'm a douche !Dal-Tech wrote: Everyone else is trying to be cool, not me.