Failed Gate Fortress

Beyond an abundance of cigarette butts and other such careless litter, random objects somehow find their way into our parking lot. The 8-foot tall wrought iron fence is certainly just for show. Two gates roll horizontally, but typically remain open. There are no locks. I've tried to pry open closed entrances after some unknown force magically moved them the night before. Either I'm too weak, or I lack coordination, or both, but I can never get them open. It's clear they've lost their luster and need not be used as they were originally designed.

At the time I snapped the second shot shown in this post, I didn't realize the ominously red-colored stain in the foreground. I cannot definitively state there is no human DNA in that stain.



At the end of the week, the lot is set up for the surrounding nightclubs and bars to generate revenue for park and neighborhood redevelopment, or so we were told. After daytime business hours on those days, sidewalk signs reading "$5 Parking". Presumably much of the subject matter photographed for this site are objects left behind by some haphazard drunk or disco diva. Wild party nights could potentially lead to vomiting in the lot, or say, a nearly intact abandoned car window.

Then again, the gifters of these objects could be just about anyone. It's hard to peg just what type of person is traipsing through the parking lot when just about every type does. Everyone from the club kid to the clinic patient and the business person to the hooker has come through here. What's more is that a revolving door of drug-addicted patrons temporarily live in the rehab facility. They're perpetually coming outside for smoke breaks (a story onto itself). In my seven years working at this building, I've seen all walks of life. And I imagine it's been that way since long before me.

But variety is the spice of life. It certainly makes our days more interesting when we could randomly just happen upon something that really doesn't belong in a parking lot. Except for this lot. It's perfectly clear that EVERYTHING belongs here. Some days, when we come across something particularly interesting, it's like hitting the lottery.