20 replies to this topic

[Fancy Dan]

A few weeks ago my friend texted me and told me she had seen this location was open while driving home. Naturally, I had to check it out. A week later or so I gathered my friend and we checked it out.

Status: Standing and secured.

Entry Difficulty: Well, it was easy for us to get into, but as of last night its been sealed up.
Air Quality: Damp, dusty and musty. Bad.
Security Level: The hole in the door was boarded up, but before my visit someone (likely scrappers) had ripped the board off of the door. Its since then been sealed up.
Decay/Destruction: It has been completely destroyed by water damage and scrappers.
Artifacts: Not too much left. Its been pretty much ruined by water damage and scrapped to hell.
Enjoyed: It was a fun exploration.
Danger: I got cut on broken glass and stepped on a lightbulb. Its got all sorts of live wires and lights hanging.

Posted: No.
Patrolled: No, but its just off the express way on a busy road.
Personally Visited: Yes.

The exterior:



Our entrance/exit:


The bar:




The dining room(s):



This particular section was roped off with caution tape. I have no idea why.




At last, the kitchen. We didn't explore this too much because it was so full of rubble. Shown in the first photo was a huge hole in the roof about 4 foot wide where all that insulation was hanging. Scrappers stole an AC unit, I think.




Overall this was a great exploration. There was the strange feeling of being watched, and by the time we found out that there was still electricity we were on our way out. One of the bathrooms (the ladies room, i believe) was really weird. It was secured, but it was secured from the inside. I believe there might have been someone living in there.

Edited by Avenge The Fallen, 22 September 2008 - 09:06 PM.

[Tilas]

Whoah, that's really cool! That place must have been beautiful when it was still running.... any idea why it got closed?

[Fancy Dan]

Tilas, on Aug 15 2008, 05:33 PM, said:

Whoah, that's really cool! That place must have been beautiful when it was still running.... any idea why it got closed?

All the Chi-Chi's restaurants in the US got closed because of a hepatitis outbreak in their chives.

[CaptCanuck]

I remember they had one in Winnipeg, was always busy, needed a reservation to get in. I went back a year later, and it was now another restaurant! I heard the food there was outstanding!

[Urban_Explorer]

Great Pix.

We had a Chi Chi in Greenwood, but they've done razed the place and installed a On the Border, another Mexican restaurant to take its place. Don't know if there are any more left around here, prolly dozed those as well.

[faust]

Yeah...that's about how I remember Chi-Chi's looking. Fear not, even though they're long gone you can still get generic overpriced Mexican cuisine at Azteca. Awesome photo set!

[Chaindrive]

I love Dan's pics of this place.

[faust]

Was the roof leaking that bad or did someone tear all the water pipes out of it? Seems to be a lot of waterlogged ceiling tiles on the floor. These are really cool photos. My smart ass comments about Chi-Chi's have nothing to do with your shots. I ate at the one in Des Moines IA and it was average with horrible service. I had also applied at the same one when I was 18 and looking for work. The manager wanted use to memorize the daily specials and repeat them back to him in the interview. I missed one and he lost it and started yelling at me. I've never been yelled at in a job interview before. I told him that if he was this big of a dickhead during the interview that there was no way I could work for him.

Also, I should probably not drunk post. After reading my comment above again it sounds like I didn't like your photos. Sorry about that.

[Chaindrive]

DRUNK POST! DRUNK POST!

It's okay, I do it all the time.

[fld200]

I wanna eat THERE!

[faust]

When I'm drunk it tends to come out as a steady stream of useless info. If I'm thinking it, I'm typing it. I need to learn to edit myself.

[Fancy Dan]

My pics of this place came out absolutely horrible. I was using a Kodak Easyshare camera that was absolutely useless in low-light without a tripod and flash washed everything out. I had to tweak these SO much in Photoshop to even get them slightly usable.

I'd give my left leg to go back and shoot again, but the roof is caved in in a couple places now, and its been secured... plus, its at the intersection of the express way and a very busy major road. I'm not as ballsy as I was when I was 16 to go and do this again. I'm sure at least 10 people saw us just walk in. And when we were in there, some guy was pressing his face against the glass of the windows watching us. It was weird as shit.

[Chaindrive]

Not as ballsy...

Don't you hate growing old?

[Fancy Dan]

Chaindrive, on 18 January 2011 - 12:33 AM, said:

Not as ballsy...

Don't you hate growing old?

I'm going to be 20 this year. I can't get away with shit I could when I was 16. When I was 16 it could be played off as 'kids will be kids'. Now everything I do is so damn critical :/

[Chaindrive]

Then eventually you get to be my age and everyone just looks at me and says, "Don't worry about her, she's elderly."