brooklyn

Brooklyn, NY

Brooklyn, New York

It’s a helluva thing to leave beautiful Pentwater, Michigan – a quiet village along a sandy Great Lakes beach – and land in Brooklyn, New York, all in one day.

But here I was, landing at JFK airport on a Sunday evening.

I travelled to Brooklyn on business after a frazzled trip involving too much time in the car and too long a walk after parking. 

The remedy was to drop my bags in the hotel room, clean up, and hit the nighttime borough streets with my Canon EOS M2.

This was my first time in Brooklyn. I visited Manhattan years ago for a quick visit on my big New England trip in 2008. Now I had two days across the river to walk and explore.

After landing, I got up early the next morning and hit the East River for sunrise in New York. It was a beautiful morning, with sunshine and lots of joggers out.

For work, I stopped by Peter Pan Donuts for a work video shoot and grabbed some photos of this classic (and famous) bakery.

The team, and the donuts, were amazing. The kitchen was a bit crowded, but we managed to make it work for the video project.

From there, and fueled by a jelly-filled donut, I took the morning and walked around Brooklyn, walking the Brooklyn Bridge halfway to Manhattan and over the East River.

I brought along the Canon EOS M2, the successor to my beloved M. It keeps the form factor and toughness of the original M, and speeds up the autofocus and shutter blackout. The M2 and a few lenses were all I needed for walking around Brooklyn. 

The city was hot and busy – a little too busy for my taste, especially having just left peaceful northern Michigan. By mid-afternoon, I was ready to hit the road to New Jersey for my next work assignment. 

All in all, it was truly a shotgun trip.

One day later, I was back in Michigan and returning to Pentwater to test out the Retropia lens on my Canon EOS M2.

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Brooklyn, Michigan

I moved around a lot as a kid, but I call Brooklyn, Michigan, my hometown. It’s the place I lived the longest, went to school the longest, and really grew up.

Brooklyn is a small village in southern Jackson County – the home of Michigan International Speedway, the Irish Hills, and Hometown Pizza, my first jobby-job through high school and even into college when I came home for breaks.

My family still lives in Brooklyn, but not in town, so I don’t get to see the village square every day like I used to. That’s why I took a hot August night, grabbed some pizza at Hometown, and hit Main Street for a photo walk using my trusty Canon 5D and 40mm f/2.8 lens.

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Abandoned Irish Hills

Abandoned Irish Hills: Go Karts

Used to be that the Irish Hills, a section of US-12 between Detroit and Chicago, was quite the tourist attraction.

As a kid, my family often went to Stagecoach Stop and Prehistoric Forest, and played putt-putt and drove go karts at the little amusement parks. Even back then there was a level of hokeyness – but it didn’t matter. Those places were tons of fun.

Abandoned Irish Hills: Arcade

But now, it’s all shutting down. There are a few attractions that are still humming along. The majority, though, lie in disrepair (or worse).

In high school, my dad and step mom were married at Stagecoach Stop’s little chapel, and their reception was held in the old timey tavern.

Abandoned Irish Hills: Lonestar

Stagecoach was a bustling place back in the day. You could watch a gun fight in the town square, grab some ice cream, pet a goat in the petting zoo, and even stay overnight in the motel. There was a working lumber mill, and horse rides, and a drive-through haunted Halloween tour.

Now those places are overgrown and fading away.

Driving down US-12 now, and passing through the Irish Hills, it feels like a ghost town. It’s almost like a run-down part of town, with all the windows broken out and no one left to protect it. Eventually, I’m sure, these roadside attractions will be mowed down completely.

Abandoned Irish Hills: Bridge Over Track

Maybe the dinosaurs at Prehistoric Forest will survive. But more and more each year that place gets eaten by vegetation.

So last fall I took a drive out there, seemingly back in time, to capture some of those attractions I remembered from childhood. Before they disappeared.

Abandoned Irish Hills: Stagecoach Courtyard

At Stagecoach, I ran into a couple that was hosting a garage sale of sorts on the property. Most of the area was closed off, but I asked if I could walk around to grab some photos, and they said “yes.”

Abandoned Irish Hills: Fun Center

The Irish Hills Fun Center, a general amusement park with putt-putt and go karts, was completely abandoned. The kart track was still in decent shape, but the rest of the property was fading fast.

Prehistoric Forest, the true goal of my trip last fall, has been known as a target for vandalism. With motion sensors and cameras guarding the place, it was risky to try to grab photos of the place. When I drove past, there was a utility truck and a man taking measurements, so I played it safe and drove on.

Word is that the place has been sold. Who knows what will happen to it.

Abandoned Irish Hills: Twin Towers

It was weird to see a place that was so bustling turn into such a dead spot. I may take another drive out there this fall to see what’s changed – if anything.

(See the rest of the set on Flickr)

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