smack factory

[Harlem]

At first it appeared there would be no way for us to enter here- the chain link fencing was high and we didn't see any openings. We walked almost to the end of the complex, fence on the left- busy expressway to our right, before we came across a perfectly human-sized opening in the fence. 'The main entrance.' Access was easy.

There were large, professional signs all along the fences indicating that the buildings were slated for destruction and a few little hand-made signs that announced the facility was monitored by security (right). Scanning the traffic quickly for anyone that might not approve of our entering this location, we ducked under the opening in the fence. The hole led into a courtyard, overgrown with weeds and littered with random garbage, including an expensive Jordan shoe (thanks to V.R. for his excellent sneaker-recognition skills). Between two large buildings was a covered catwalk that looked quite intriguing.

We entered a building to the right, which was crammed full of discarded clothes, mattresses, baby strollers- all kinds of weird artifacts of modern day life. The unmistakable stench of urine was everywhere. People were definitely using this place. Listening quietly, we didn't hear anyone, and proceeded further into a huge open space. The steel beam skeleton of this industrial building was silhouetted against the blue sky- the roof having long since fallen or rotted off. One corner of this large area was full of more junk, strewn on the floor like a thick carpet of garbage. Directly in the middle of this was a school child's desk, with some sort of toy computer sitting on it.

Away towards the opposite side, twisted metal ladders crawled to the ceiling and up to another level. Hanging from a sturdy beam was a crane proclaiming a ten ton limit. I took photographs of these various details before heading into a darker area, with a little less trash, but still a good quantity of it. A plastic child's play drill lay next to pez dispensers and insulin syringe packages. There were piles and piles of syringes and packages here.

An even darker area was just ahead. It turned out to have a bathroom at one end with several stalls which were rusted out and a few chunks of grimy porcelain that once were bowls. Moving on towards the center of this room, we saw the light from outside and noticed a stairway leading to the second floor with windows along the way. To get to the stairs, one had to step over a pile of fresh, steaming shit. The odor was positively noxious and we quickly burst outside. Time to check out the other building.

After gasping for air, we crossed the courtyard into another large building. Here we were directly in front of stairs up and down. They were sturdy metal stairs, with a lovely floral decoration on the balustrade. Up the stairs, a homeless person's encampment could be seen. I shined my flashing on the down portion of the steps and saw the same thing. All the while were were holding our noses, because this area didn't smell pleasant either. Then a dead pigeon was noticed laying atop a discarded air conditioner. Hmm, that could be part of the problem.

While the "smack factory" was an impressive structure, with catwalks and it's own watertowers, this was one place where the contents and the odors overwhelmed me so much I almost couldn't appreciate it.