Abandoned America

09/04/2025

If you've been going to my photo workshops for a while, you know the Lansdowne Theater is one my longest running and earliest workshop locations. Restoration work began last year and is well underway. If you'd like to see where it's at now - and trust me, you do, it's amazing - you can sign up for a tour on April 26th to check it out! This is all done through Save the Lansdowne Theater and all proceeds benefit ongoing restoration efforts. And yes, they encourage visitors to bring their cameras :)

🎟️ TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 🎟️
Step inside a local legend. The Lansdowne Theater Punch List Tour is happening Saturday, April 26th from 10AM to 2PM — and this is your chance to see the (almost!) fully restored 1927 theater before the curtains officially rise.

✨ See the lobby and auditorium just as they looked when the theater first opened. Learn about the challenges overcome to bring this landmark back to life and why it’s already being called one of the most unique concert venues in the Philadelphia region.

🎫 TICKET OPTIONS:
🔸 $10 General Admission – Includes a tour of the beautifully restored lobby and auditorium
🔸 $20 All Access Pass – Go deeper: includes back-of-house addition, and access to the stage where you see the auditorium how the artists will see it and snap a selfie!

This event is part of DELCO Gives, a county-wide celebration of generosity hosted by The Foundation for Delaware County. Your ticket and contribution support the Spring 2025 Annual Fund and help unlock additional funding for the theater.

📍 Tickets available now at www.LansdowneTheater.org
🎟️ Tickets will also be available at the original theater ticket booth on the day of the event.

📸 Bring your friends, family, and cameras — and experience history coming back to life!

27/03/2025

Jenn Doyon has been a longtime supporter of Abandoned America and has joined us on numerous workshops. She’s also a librarian, a cat aficionado, and an all-around kind and awesome person. Most importantly for this update, Jenn is battling liver disease, and needs a living donor to help her survive. Maybe that person is you or someone you know! We all want to make a difference, and this is an opportunity to literally save someone’s life.

Livers are pretty amazing in the sense that they are able to regenerate. The operation takes a portion of a living donor’s liver, transplants it into the recipient, and then both grow back to normal size. It’s considered a very safe operation (although, as with most operations, there are risks) and medical costs are covered by the recipient’s insurance. Here’s more info, if you’re interested. Sharing their story helps get the word out there to locate potential donors, too!

If it is something you think you might be able to help with, you can contact the Center for Living Organ Donations at Yale New Haven Health Center directly at 1-866-925-3897 for more info and for answers to questions you might have, or message her directly on her page. Thanks for your time!

26/02/2025

My newest Decay Theory column about the life and death of Bethlehem Steel is up on Atlas Obscura. Bethlehem Steel was once one of the world's largest steel producers, and shaped many of the buildings and landmarks that defined us - from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz.

Bethlehem Steel was the birthplace of skyscrapers, bridges, and battleships. What happened after the plant's furnaces went cold?

01/01/2025

An abandoned opera house covered in mold

See the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/garman-theater

31/12/2024

The abandoned Massachusetts Mental Health center, originally founded as the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the first mental health hospital (as opposed to asylums) in the United States.

More at https://www.abandonedamerica.us/boston-psychopathic-hospital

30/12/2024

Fall at an abandoned state hospital

More at https://www.abandonedamerica.us/revisiting-hudson-river-state-hospital

30/12/2024

The ruins of a bank building. The town, Brownsville, was mostly destroyed by one man.

Read the story and see the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/brownsville-pa

28/12/2024

A staircase in the abandoned Frankford Arsenal, one of the oldest and most significant munition production and storage facilities in the US.

Explore the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/frankford-arsenal

27/12/2024

The auditorium of the Tome School in Port Deposit, Maryland - once "the wealthiest secondary school in America". Find out why it was abandoned at www.abandonedamerica.us/tome-school

23/12/2024

The abandoned Pittsburgh Post-Gazatte building, which closed when production of the newspaper was cut back and shifted to the suburbs. Many workers lost their jobs in the process.

See the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/the-pittsburgh-post-gazette

22/12/2024

A control room in an abandoned power plant

See the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/frank-r-phillips-power-station

12/12/2024

Have you ever wondered what it's like actually traveling into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone? Turns out it's a lot different than you might expect. Find out why in my newest Decay Theory column for Atlas Obscura

It’s been nearly 40 years since a reactor exploded at this Soviet nuclear power plant, but disaster has a long half-life.