Jolly olde England has no monopoly on failed, multiply-used edifices (edifii?) that once served as self-storage facilities. According to Flickr member Eric Allix Rogers (reallyboring), this is an “abandoned drive-in theater at Third & Raines in Whitehaven (Memphis, TN), which went through phases as a self-storage facility and then an illegal flea market. It was raided by authorities who busted it for sales of counterfeit and stolen goods, and then it was struck by a tornado.” Ta da!
The biggest Storage Wars score to date was a $300,000 cache of paintings by artist Frank Gutierrez left in an abandoned unit bought by Darrell “The Gambler” Sheets for just $3,600. The stack of erotic paintings moldering away in this Memphis storage facility, on the other hand, isn’t worth the gamble.
West Plains Pains
If you’ve ever wanted to go full urbex and explore an abandoned self-storage facility, well, here’s your chance… virtually, at least. Exploring with Daniel & Elena have posted an up-close-and-personal encounter of the self-storage kind on YouTube, allowing armchair explorers to visit West Plains Lock N Stor without any annoying dangers, unpleasant odors and aggravated vermin detracting from the experience.
Katrina’s Waves
These jaw-dropping photos of Security Self Storage in New Orleans East, Louisiana, were taken by renowned photographer Skip Bolen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a dozen years ago. All the signs (no pun intended) of a major natural disaster are evident in Bolen’s razor-sharp images, which exude an atmosphere of heartbreak transcending the loss of mere material possessions.
