The closed and abandoned Arne’s Royal Hawaiian Motel was a welcome oasis for overheated travelers passing through the Gateway to Death Valley in Baker, CA.

Hold the Pineapple

Arne’s Royal Hawaiian Motel opened in 1957, at the height of the post-war South Seas boom. The motel is located in the tiny town of Baker (pop. 835), conveniently close to the intersection of I-15 and State Route 127 (Death Valley Road).

Reasonable Bates er, Rates

At roughly the halfway point between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the 43-room motel hoped to lure road-going travelers in need of an overnight sleep stop. As well, tourists visiting infamously hot & dry Death Valley just to the north no doubt appreciated a dip in the motel’s refreshingly cool, guests-only, outdoor swimming pool.

Baking In Baker

Baker wasn’t just a well-placed rest stop, however. The so-called “Gateway to Death Valley” also boasted The World’s Tallest Thermometer. Standing 134 feet tall, the electrically-powered monument commemorates the world’s record highest temperature of 134°F (56.7°C), recorded at nearby Furnace Creek on July 10th, 1913.

Uncool Cooler

On the downside, Baker is also home to a shuttered, 223-bed, for-profit prison formerly operated by Cornell Corrections. The prison’s checkered history includes occasional escapes by inmates (twice in 1995 and another two in 1997) and a major riot in December of 2003 that forced a temporary closure. The leaky slammer closed for good in late 2009, allowing nervous Bakerites (and motel room-renters) to breathe a bit easier.

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Creepy Tiki Abandoned Arnes Royal Hawaiian Motel

The truck stops here… stops serving, that is, and these closed and abandoned food trucks won’t be serving anything soon unless it’s as scrap metal.

Van Green

Visitors to the promenade and beach at Portobello in Edinburgh, Scotland will likely recall The Little Green Van and may have even enjoyed some of the delicacies sold during business hours. Sadly for Flickr members byronv2 and martin Hartland, however, their visits in November 2014 and October of 2017 (respectively) did not occur at the optimum times, leaving them… green with envy?

Woe Canada

This quintessentially (and apologetically) Canadian food truck is surely courting a parking ticket from Toronto’s notoriously industrious parking patrol. Then again, the disturbingly anthropomorphic illustrations on the side of the Steve’s catering truck – not to mention that horrifyingly hot hotdog dog – just might keep the urban revenuers away ’til the owner can cheese it. Flickr member Daniel Lobo snapped the van-glorious vehicle in July of 2017.

No Perchases

Time was, visitors to the Kingsville Ferry pier could score a meal of delicious deep-fried perch from the cringingly stereotypical O’Ryan’s Fish and Chips food truck. That was then, this is… well, let’s just say “Lake Erie gonna be eerie” and leave it at that.

While Irish fries may be smiling, there’s been no actual frying inside the long-park abandoned food truck for ages. According to photographer and Flickr member stephenweir, the converted step van “is now rusting into oblivion”… or should that be “O’Blivion”?

Pastel Imperfect

“Oh Mandy’s, well you came and you gave without taking”… which might explain why this awesome pale pink food truck is parked in back of a gritty Montreal factory instead of serving pricey gourmet salads to working stiffs and stiffettes. Also, does Barry Manilow know you raid his food truck? You mess with the bull, he honks the horn. Flickr member Coastal Elite captured the forlorn yet still blushingly beautiful food truck in late May of 2017.

Checkered Passed

The paint has faded, the lettering’s been stripped and it’s wonder this weathered old former food truck still has its hubcaps – among other things. We’re not saying Templetown is a bad neighborhood, just that life in Philly isn’t exactly a picnic.

Picnics may be coming back in style, however, as students attending nearby Temple University have been known to eat and drink like, er, university students. Seems like a great location for a food truck… just not THIS food truck. Flickr member Ezra Wolfe snapped the seen-better-days food truck in early January of 2009.

It’s Been A Slice

Flickr member Christine und Hagen Graf don’t state exactly (or even inexactly) where this old abandoned food truck is located but if the Mediterranean-looking landscape and the Euro-look of the van itself are any indication, it may be the south of France. By the way, the much-faded “Pizza au Feu de Bois” legend on the truck’s side translates to “Wood Oven Pizza” so you’ll know what you’ve been missing.

Just Desserts

It’s not too late to jump aboard the booming food truck bandwagon, you just need the right food and, of course, the right truck… like this one. Better yet, it just happens to be For Sale according to photographer and Flickr member Paul Sableman, who captured the slightly worse-for-wear step van in July of 2013. OK, yeah, that was over six years ago but what are the odds the snow white van’s still parked out there in Austin, baking away in the Texas sun? Sometimes, “hot” deals DO last this long.

Wave goodbye to Surf Cincinnati, an abandoned water park and associated banquet hall complex that once entertained overheated Ohioans but now only breeds mosquitoes.

Cincy You’ve Been Gone

Plastic glass, jumbo shrimp, Surf Cincinnati? It may sound oxymoronic but the Surf Cincinnati water park conjured up a batch of bodacious beach blanket bingo in a place roughly equidistant from either ocean coast. A generation of wave-riding wannabe’s enjoyed the park’s many liquid-infused attractions until events conspired to shut the fun down at the end of the 2002 season.

Slip Slidin’ Away

Surf Cincinnati seemed to have it all when it opened in 1984. Situated on the border of Butler and Hamilton counties in far southwestern Ohio, the park complex boasted a huge wave pool, several kid’s pools, a winding “lazy river”, and an assortment of wild water slides built into the site’s rugged geological contours.

Six Feet Under

Water sports weren’t the be-all and end-all at Surf Cincinnati, however. Those who preferred their recreation on the drier side could partake in miniature golf or go-kart racing. When it came time to unwind, two spacious banquet halls (and later, a popular watering hole called “Caddies”) served up refreshments of the edible and drinkable persuasions. Sounds like a can’t-lose concept, right? Wrong…

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Beach Please Abandoned Surf Cincinnati Waterpark

Chain store competition is creaming Milk Bars across Australia, leaving independent store owners, desperate smokers and the odd lost droog thirsting for more.

Milked Dry

Milk bars have a curiously convoluted history dating back almost a century: the first so-named establishment opened in India back in 1930. The concept of an alcohol-free pub catering to the younger set with healthy, dairy-based fresh and frozen comestibles then took off in the UK, and by 1940 had spread to the United States.

In Australia, milk bars evolved into proto-convenience stores selling cigarettes, newspapers and sundries alongside trademark tasty treats. Our lead images of the abandoned Oak Milk Bar in Kangaroo Point, NSW were taken in 2003 by Flickr member Geoff Eastwood though by that time, the quintessentially Sixties structure had already been long-abandoned.

Nixed Business

The sign says “Mixed… Business” but to the average Aussie, that meant a milk bar with the aforementioned odds & ends sold within. One would hope the floor within this abandoned milk bar in Fitzroy (a suburb of Melbourne) was more level than the street outside but if not, any spilt milk would run off instead of forming a puddle. Call it a feature, not a bug. Flickr member Susan Fitzgerald snapped the tipsy ex-establishment in July of 2006.

Petered Out

They do things a little differently in the Antipodes… care for some “Tea of Flavor”, fer instance? You’ll find it – at least you COULD, before the shop went (down) under, sold along with Peter’s ice cream at this unnamed former milk bar in Annandale, Sydney. Aussies also take their milk barrista-ing seriously: none other than Mrs. R.V. Craig, “Reg. Milk Vendor”, served up the cow juice with fresh or frozen att-teat-tude! Flickr member Navin (no, not Navin R Johnson) posted the above pic early in 2010.

Heavy Medal

The weight of time is apparent when gazing at the now-demolished Olympia Milk Bar in Stanmore, Sydney. Flickr member Newtown grafitti recalls a movie house just next door, the closing of which likely decimated business at the Olympia. Too bad – a scoop or two of Street’s Ice Cream would have made a notoriously hot Sydney summer evening a tad less hellish.

Never On Sundae

From the serene blue-tiled facade to the homely (in a good way) rose-patterned window curtains, this nameless former milk bar in Murrayville, Victoria just oozes cooling replenishment of the dairy persuasion. One wonders, did anybody ever actually “insist” on being served a “delightfully refreshing” Holten’s aerated drink? We sure wish we could do so but alas, Flickr member Matt‘s photo above plainly and painfully points out the milk bar’s CLOSED status as of January 2010.

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Dairy Err 10 Closed Abandoned Australian Milk Bars

The Mishicot Family Market served residents of a small Wisconsin town for over 120 years until the now-demolished Main Street mainstay was itself shelved.

Feeling Wisconsin

1889 was a good year for Mishicot, a town of approximately 1,440 (as of 2010) located in eastern Wisconsin’s Manitowoc County, south of Green Bay and north of Sheboygan. Back then, the town (such as it was) had only a couple of hundred residents but it’s likely most of them were on hand for the opening of Holst’s Department Store. Holst’s changed ownership in 1963, becoming first Krause’s Shopping Center, then Main Street Market, and finally Mishicot Family Market. The current building dates from 1970.

Small Market Market

It’s hard to underestimate the importance of grocery stores to America’s rural communities, especially smaller markets that are literally “the only game in town”. High school kids got their first jobs stocking shelves, bagging groceries and running the cash register. Homeowners, meanwhile, depended on the market in much the same way their pioneering forefathers (and foremothers) relied upon the friendly neighborhood General Store.

Shopping Photo

Flickr member Michael Steeber has dedicated himself “to the collection, preservation, and cataloging of the buildings and areas in and around Manitowoc County, WI.” His 43-photo online album, titled “Mishicot Family Market”, features photos taken inside and outside the store dating from June of 2006 through May of 2017. The decade-long spread of images neatly brackets the store’s formal declaration of bankruptcy, filed on February 27th of 2012.

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Mishicot Markdown A Small Town Supermarket Checks Out