STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Keep your eyes open when walking or driving around Staten Island, and you're bound to see some unusual sights.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Seen in the Advance parking lot. Yeah, I know it's a joke, but still.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Recognize it?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
It's the old Taco Bell near the corner of Victory Boulevard and Bay Street. Been closed for years.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
How many times did you hit up that drive-through?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Nothing left of the old menu sign.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And this sign's seen better days.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
That light pole looks like it's about ready to fall over.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Been a while since any cars parked here.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Again, there's a single shoe amid all the debris. Where's the other one?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Clearly, people have been partying here.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
At least the fence is nice.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Kind of spruces up the site.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
What's all that stuff underneath the trestle near the Stapleton stop of the Staten Island Railway?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Oh, it's hazardous waste. Didn't know they stored hazardous waste in this manner. At least it's behind a very stout fence.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Vacant storefront, Victory Boulevard, Tompkinsville.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Looks in pretty good shape.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
The place where they shot the cover of "Who's Next"? Nope, just an old observation tower at the former military base at Miller Field in New Dorp. Still, very imposing.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This is in my neighborhood in Stapleton. Used to be full of really beautiful sunflowers. You can see what's happened.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And you can see how the owner feels about it.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Casual-style parkin' down at the Urby development in Stapleton. A perfect vibe for a hipster's paradise.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Who is making beautiful art out of these FDNY alarms? This one is on Bay Street in Rosebank. I've seen another on Stuyvesant Place in St. George.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Found this outbuilding on a vacant industrial site on Edgewater Street in Clifton.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
The lock held fine, but the door didn't. Hey, it was already busted open when I found it.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
An office of some kind.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Amazingly, the motion-detecting light on the ceiling was still working, and popped on when I walked in.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
A lot of stuff left behind.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Hmm, some valuable jewels, perhaps? Or at least some chocolates?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
No such luck.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
File folders left in an old metal desk drawer.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Piles of old receipts from NAPA Auto Parts.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
A bathroom toilet dispenser roll?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
You wonder who was the last person who was in this office before it was vacated.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
More stuff.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
BW Manufacturing is "the leader in concrete floor preparation equipment," according to the company's website.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Industrial-parts catalogue.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Empty.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
There were lots of big storage drums scattered around the site.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Including this drum that contained Chevron Ursa Super Plus, a heavy duty engine oil used with agricultural equipment, buses, construction equipment, forestry equipment and inland marine equipment.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This barrel contained acrylic resurfacer for sport surfaces.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
White liquid pavement marking was stored in this drum.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
The main building on the site was closed up tight.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
But I was able to get some shots of the interior.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Whatever was once contained in here is long gone.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
A big, wide open space. Could be a movie soundstage, no?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
The room gets some nice light.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This door on the back could make a cool cover for a punk or metal album.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
As could this mysterious marking.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
How did that placard get down here?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
It never surprises me what I come across when exploring these vacant sites.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
An old Pathmark supermarket cart.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
With a CD player and other debris inside.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And, of course, a soccer ball.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And a basketball. Along with single shoes, soccer balls and basketballs always seem to turn up in the debris fields at these vacant sites. How did they get there? Who used them? Is somebody still looking for their long-lost ball?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This truck was parked just outside the gate.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
With this heavy-duty apparatus in the truck bed.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Used to create road markings, like yellow and white traffic lines.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Wait a minute. What's that in the window on the bottom left?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Relax. It's just a lamp. But it can startle you when you're waiting for the light at Richmond Road and Longview Steuben Street.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Just found this blowing down the road in Clifton. Wonder where it came from?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This beautiful vintage car has been parked at the corner of Bay Street and Vanderbilt Avenue for a while now.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Going to need some help from you classic car folks out there to identify it. Definitely a Pontiac, possibly from the early 1950s?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Check out the radio.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And when was the last time you saw a clock set into the door of the glove compartment like that?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
That's some climate-control system.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Saw this registration sticker on the floor. You mean this car was street legal as recently as 1999?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Bit of a mess in the back area. But look at the door interiors.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
No seats, but the dashboard area is pretty cool.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
That steering wheel is mint.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Including the insignia in the center.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Look at how small the windshield wipers are.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And the rear-view mirror.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Maybe a Chieftan? Or a Strealiner?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Leave a message below if you can identify the vehicle.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Peeking through the keyhole at a vacant home under re-construction in Sunnyside.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Guard booth of an old bank building in Stapleton.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
A lot of rust and debris by the front door.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Overgrowth blocks most of the front of the building.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Faded glory in the window.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Looks like that fixture got a little melted.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Here's what it looks like from the street. The building was built in 1955.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Good to know.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
The clock's been stopped for a long time.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Any idea what this odd structure is at the corner of Edgar Terrace and Avon Place?
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Some kind of a gate, perhaps.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This definitely looks like a hinge for a gate or a door.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
If you know, let me know!
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
You never know what you're going to find when you mill the roads for re-paving. Staten Island roads were made of all kinds of surfaces back in the day. Here's some red brick in Mariners Harbor.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
This street used to be covered in yellow brick.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
And here, old-fashion cobblestone. Would be nice to see some of these areas restored to their former glory instead of paved over. But probably not terrible practical given all the traffic.
Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com
Cool old coffee-shop sign, corner of Cebra Avenue and Victory Boulevard.