Almost Completely Gone

                             

I was in the city at the end of September and did these photographs of the old Pennsylvania Hotel at that time.  I hadn't gotten around to editing them until now.   Well, this historic hotel is just about completely gone now.  The only thing left above the street level are these black beams which once held up the facade of the hotel.  I'm sorry I never took a photograph of the hotel before it was shrouded in black fabric to protect people during the demolition.

I got these photographs by finding a crack between the gates that allowed trucks in to carry off the demolition material.  If I found a 3 inch gap, then the lens would fit in the space and I could take a photograph.  For the first photograph, they had one of those curved pipe exit gates like in the subway system and I put my arms and camera through the pipes and reached in as far as I could to eliminate any foreround.  For this shot I found a 3 inch gap to show the back of the beams in the top photo.

And this is the view of the street.  The only thing sticking up above street level, in addition to the black painted beams, is the protective scaffolding and walls that surrounded the hotel during demolition.  Funny how easy it is to forget what was once here, after such a short time.  So here are two photographs I think I have posted before, but which are great reminders of what once was.