Hatch, New Mexico: (Yeah yeah, the link doesn't match.) I recently paid a visit to southern New Mexico, and was intrigued by the many small desert towns. Hatch is one of these towns, and much of the main street area is closed and boarded up, along with many other locations around the town that have been left alone to sit in the sun.
Salton Sea: In the winter and spring of 2002, I made two trips to this smelly, unforgiving place, more than 200 feet below sea level in the Imperial Desert of Southern California. Once aspiring to grand scale resort destination status, the sea now sits host to a cluster of small towns with hardly as much as a grocery store, and in many cases, large portions of these towns have been completely deserted. While a thorough exploration of the surrounding area would undoubtedly turn up a plethera of bizarre, interesting places, my main area of focus was the town of Desert Shores, with blocks of abandoned homes, and in many cases, seemingly abandoned lives, with books, clothes, records, cars, and anything else you can imagine, simply left to bake in the searing heat.
Sherwood, Mich.: Hidden in the middle of Branch County, in south central Michigan, lies this forgotten town, which I had the fortune of visiting a couple winters ago. With a population barely over 300, it should be no surprise to find this town lacking in amenities, but it's not often that you come across a town as with this level of desertion and disregard. Sherwood the village may be breathing it's dying breaths as it makes way for an exisitence as a cluster of houses, at best.
Airway Lanes: For many years it had been my favorite place to bowl, but now it sits empty. Possibly a victim of hard times, or citywide redevelopment. Whatever the reason, it's now gone, and it will be missed. Information regarding this once popular bowling alley is hard to come by, so at the moment, all I have is a couple photos.