Pacific Airmotive Corp 10
by YoPedro
Title
Pacific Airmotive Corp 10
Artist
YoPedro
Medium
Photograph - Photographic Print
Description
This is the long since abandoned Pacific Airmotive Corp, an aircraft engine testing facility in Burbank, California. When I happened upon this place, it had been abandoned for a few years, and most of it was largely untouched by scavengers, the taggers had not yet made their way into it either. I spent a bit of time walking around the place, taking pictures as quickly as I could. Since it was largely unblemished except by the ravages of time, I was able to get some pretty interesting images. I worked quickly though, because I knew that any moment the authorities could show up and run me off.
I revisited this facility several times, until I was not able to enter any longer. Shortly after my initial visits, the fencing had been repaired, and entry was no longer possible. The times I had visited, I treated the place like it was an archaeological find, not disturbing anything, leaving everything where I found it, just as I found it. I didn't want to change anything, about it. Moving through the facility in this way, with the mindset of an observer, gave me a chance to see just what was before me, and to wonder what and who had been there before.
A year or so later, the entire facility was wiped off the map, demolished right down to the ground. My understanding was that the business was forced under by EPA regulators who believed that the facility may have been contaminating the groundwater in the area. I don't know if they ever proved those charges.
It was a lucky find for me, and it gave weight to the Grace Hopper quote, "It's easier to ask forgiveness, than it is to get permission." That doesn't always work out though. -YoPedro
Uploaded
November 10th, 2014
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