at Sante Fe Speedway, that's what we heard on the radio here. My friend Ray told me at lunch that the Frosted Mug is now torn down, so I am glad to have taken those photos I posted in September. Sante Fe Springs was a town just outside of Chicago that had been host to the Sante Fe Speedway. The stock car track was demolished years ago, UPS is pretty much covering that same stretch of land, in a town called Hodgkins, still close enough that I can get there on a single bus ride. Sante Fe Springs still shows on old maps, but I'm assuming it was not much more than a trailer park. Welco Corners can be found on old maps, as well, near Joliet, because that was the town that was officially the first stop on Route 66. A few years back Ray and I went past the sign to take photos of it, I had long thought one good windstorm would take the billboard down. About six months ago, the entire building was torn down, but not by nature. It was replaced by a bright neon billboard that changes ads every few seconds. Ray was glad I took the Frosted Mug shots and I again thanked him for driving me out to Wolf Road to take the billboard shots. More ghosts.
7 comments:
A lot of history is disappearing. A lot of small towns. It is good you got these shots. I should do this around where I live, where Peter Pender and Arzula are pretty much gone from living memory now.
It was nice talking of days and places visited. I grow up only a mile and half away from Wayne but it seemed like the edge of the forest. I didn't know Wayne till college. But the sights were the same
It was nice talking of days and places visited. I grow up only a mile and half away from Wayne but it seemed like the edge of the forest. I didn't know Wayne till college. But the sights were the same .
A friend was showing me some photos of a new park here in NC. I don't recall if it was a county park or a state park. But there were photos of some cliffs, woods, the remains of an old quarry, etc.
Then he had some photos of old buildings in the woods going to rot. And concrete grandstands! I said, "What the fuck is that, dude?"
And he said, "This place was once a NASCAR sanctioned speedway."
"No fucking way!" I said.
"Yes, way," he told me.
At any rate, the place was abandoned sometime in the early 70s. And remain totally amazed at how quickly and utterly it has been consumed by Momma Nature in that short time. He even had photos of a hot dog stand! Covered in vines, of course.
I *LOVED* those photos!!
Of course, with my stupid dial-up connection, I asked to see them and went off to make a cup of coffee. When I came back, the page was still loading...
I love the bones of old places.
Irony, yet again...Last night I was trying to find out the name of a Disney flick that'd been filmed (at least partially,) in our town just over a year ago. I found out it was "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!"
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