Panoramic photo of a ghosts street in Detroit

Picture 11

Above is a small piece of an amazing panoramic photo of a street of abandoned houses in Detroit.

Last week I read in the morning paper about a street here where 60 out of 66 homes were vacant or abandoned on a single block. The reporter called it a "ghost street." Yesterday I found myself in the area. Other than an errant sofa, the street was completely empty, almost peaceful. I took a photo of every house on the north side of one block and then stitched them together. If you were to compare the current international housing crisis to a black hole sucking the equity out of our homes, this one-way street near the northern border of Detroit might just be the singularity: the point where the density of the problem defies anyone's ability to comprehend it. These homes started emptying in 2006.
(Via The Agitator)

Mark Frauenfelder

My latest book, Made by Hand, now in paperback. Follow me on Twitter.

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