Another dead mall....

[Steve Tinker]

Retro...
You know, I all my many years (I'm really old), I have never, ever seen abandoned towns, building and houses like those you show in your great pictures. I've lived on 3 continents (UK, Africa and Australia) and nowhere has there been desolation as you have shown it.
Even in outback Australia where small communities tend to come and go over 100 years of mining, farming, railroads or specialised industry, nowhere exists (that I know of) that even remotely resembles the heartache and sadness that these buildings the US reflect. Somebody, somewhere has lost a boatload of money, jobs and happiness when these places close - whether it's a big mall or family home.
A few months ago an Australian car magazine had an article on the demise of the US automobile industry in Detriot (Deerborn to be precise) - talk about a ghost town. One of the most distressing parts of the article was in the value of property - I thought the magazine had made a mistake when they said that houses could be bought for less the $10,000. Quite a few readers wrote in and said there must have been a mistake regarding the values - had a 0 been left off the values? But no, house & land costs really were that low, which to the average working Joe must be devastating !!
Whatever's happening, its very sad - not you photographs, but the subject.......