Monday, August 22, 2011

Forgotten Places - Valley Fruit & Vegetable Company

Some of my favorite shots happen when I find abandoned buildings. 
There is a strange beauty in the forgotten, forlorn places of the world.
The old sign has held up surprisingly well

The Valley Fruit & Vegetable Company building was built in 1947. The company was the major packer and shipper of grapefruit for many years. The building has stood abandoned for many years, and for a few days in 2009 I was able to sneak go in and take some shots of this amazing building. 

Notice from 1961 still on an office door

Sadly, vandals have gone through and broken most of the glass in the building
There are several wings in this huge building, used for storage
More crates in storage

Loading dock door
Back of the building - collapsed roof
Front of building
Loading docks. I can remember driving by there with my grandparents when I was younger and seeing it full of people loading and unloading trucks full of fruit.
This caboose used to be out back.

Caboose and the moon

Caboose by the loading docks

I was always fascinated by those big blue windows

This building stood abandoned for a long time, but the Food Bank of the RGV is now in the process of renovating it and moving in. I understand they're also trying to have the building designated an historic site. I'm glad it's going to be used and not demolished, but sad it's no longer available for trespassing stealth photographers.

7 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

the lighting in some of these is perfectly eerie. :)

Kat said...

Most of the caboose photos were taken at dusk and were not edited - the colors were so interesting I wanted to leave them as-is. I also took them by hand - another reason I love the IS setting on my lens!

Thanks for the comment ;-)

Ms. Becky said...

Hi Kat - this is a fabulous series of photos. I love the light!!! I think my favorite is the caboose and moon. the color combination is beautiful. and I love that I get to see one of the places that the delicious Texas grapefruit was once shipped from. looking at the loading docks I can imagine how bustling it once was in its day. and I'm happy that the building is being restored and saved. as I was looking at the photos that was my wish - that it would be preserved. saved but the architectural integrity maintained. thanks for sharing. happy day to you Kat.

Kat said...

Thanks, Ms. Becky, and thanks for visiting. Your kind words made my day!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the follow and comments. I love the lighting in your images. Looking forward to your work.

Kat said...

Thanks so much, Lynne :-)

Tanya Breese said...

wow what a beautiful old building and i love that sign! how cool that you were able to wander around the place and happy to see that it will be saved! btw, nice to meet you!! great blog, love your photos :)