Suburban Decay

As promised, here are my pictures of the Ghost Parking Lot. I took them a couple of weeks ago in the parking lot at Hamden Plaza, which is a garden variety suburban shopping center located in Hamden, Connecticut. Well, garden variety with one small exception.

In the late 1970s, Hamden Plaza became the home of several public art installations. They are located throughout the shopping center parking lot and sidewalks, and many are run down or just plain incomprehensible to contemporary eyes. Still, some of them are interesting. One of my personal favorites is "Pacer Pelts," which features two metal bodies from child-size racecars set into the side of the Marshall's storefront.

But none of the art is as large -- or visible -- as the Ghost Parking Lot. Right up along Dixwell Avenue, at the front of the plaza parking lot, you'll see a bunch of cars from the 1960s and 1970s buried under asphalt. Why? Well, it's art. Pretty creepy art, made even creepier by all the weeds and broken asphalt and rusty car parts poking out.

I was surprised to find that there are quite a few sites on the Internet with information about the parking lot, so check them out if you have the inclination:

• Roadside America has a great review of the Ghost Parking Lot with lots of information about its history.
  
• SITE Environmental Design is the original designer of the Ghost Parking Lot -- check out their picture from when it was new.
  
• Preservation News has placed the GPL on its list of "The Most Important Threatened Historic Places for 2001." Scroll down to see what they have to say about the lot.
  
• And here are some scary pictures of the lot. Scarier than mine.

There used to be more cars in the Ghost Parking Lot, but they took a row out earlier this year to expand the parking lot at Chili's. I wonder how long it'll be before the rest of them are removed.