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I honestly cannot believe that someone moved the garbage can... To learn more about the garbage can, check out the "Bldg (Int.)" section. Anyway, notice that the leak in the roof has obviously worsened. This is also readily apparent in the next few shots.
 

The entrace to the Carlton building. One thing that is interesting to point out is the bizarre numbering scheme here -- The Carlton building contains rooms 300 to 327, and then also room 363. The Marlboro building, next door, contains rooms 328 to 362. Did someone goof? I would guess so, but this is just another one of the little oddities that makes this building so fascinating.
 

These photos are from the inside of the Carlton building. Although I did not take this photo, I've probably been in this room. The first time I came to this building, all the doors were locked except a few. Most of them were empty except for one room on the second floor that not only had a bed, which almost NO other rooms have, but also had clothes, a recently used toilet, food garbage, empty packs of cigarettes and cigarette butts, and other things indicating that someone had stayed there recently. I do have photos of this and I will post them as soon as I get a chance to. It was quite eerie to think that someone had used that toilet recently, because, well, without getting into too much detail, it was probably less than a week or two old. I'd hate to think that someone lives there, but if someone does, I'm sure that they will never know that I was in their house. Although this is a reasonable theory, it looked more like someone had stayed for a very short period -- less than a day or two -- and then left. It might have been kids partying, but I have a feeling that it probably isn't because one of the pieces of evidence that was left over was a Pepsi can. Let's be serious -- kids don't party with Pepsi. I had never been in that building before that day so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. On my next trip up I'll check it out again and tell you what I find.
 

Taken in room 500, one of the hidden offices in the building, this door's condition tells the tale of 5 years of exposure to the elements -- without having lived through any direct exposure at all.
 

The dark and lonely dining room waits to be filled again some day. If you need chairs, this is the place to be.*

* Stealing is wrong do not steal stuff.
 

As the story goes, the beds were all sold to the nearby Swan Lake Hotel, which is still open today (correct me if I am wrong). I believe this picture was taken in the little spur off of the main building, the 200-series rooms that lead towards the Regency building. Initially when I made this site I pondered the function of the strange thing above and between the phone and electrical outlets, but recently I remembered that most rooms had a little light fixture above the nightstand that was placed between the beds, so this was probably the base for it.
 

I took this picture because it pretty much sums up what is left at The Pines -- old useless and obsolete shit, i.e. the laser-discs for karaoke on the far left, and dangerous shit, i.e. the cleaning solvents on the far right. In between there are old customer records. I always like to look at these records because I feel so strange knowing that something that is now so useless was once so important, but it's value and purpose disappeared with the rest of the hotel.
 

This shot is of the fitness center across the way from the main lobby (formerly known as Ascot Hall). There is a huge storage room and elevator service room behind the wall on the left. Leave your drugs at home, kids, because mirrors and strange noises abound the hotel, and you *WILL* feel like someone else is in the hotel. It's very common, I always experience that feeling, but then again, I have bumped into someone there more than once, and I have NOT been there many times proportionally to the number of people I've encountered there.
 

A typical "deluxe" Hampshire room, complete with wood paneling, a nice touch that not a lot of guest rooms had. I was always partial to the "wall-to-wall-to-ceiling" carpeting style that the rest of the hotel was decorated with.
 

A nice shot of the indoor pool before it was trashed by other visitors. Take note of the chairs that line the pool's sides -- these are all now thrown into the bottom of the pool. When things like happen, it makes me wonder just exactly what would motivate a person to spend even just a few minutes of their life throwing inanimate objects into an empty pool. None of the stuff broke, they just wanted to throw the stuff in a pool. I could see how that would be fun, but only for a few throws, not as much as they did.
 

More evidence of the roof starting to lose its structural integrity. Also, notice something strange? Like... The pool has been cleaned! What the hell is that about!?
 

A beautiful shot of the indoor pool at sunset.
 

oes it ever seem strange that really, there is no way to tell who ever did this? It bothers me in a weird way.
 

Here is a scary looking industrial dishwashing machine that undoubtedly got plenty of use. This dishwasher, I believe, is the kosher dishwasher for anyone that cares to know. The other non-kosher dishwasher was obviously used for all non-kosher plates. I wonder how strict their standards really were though... We are talking about The Pines, after all, and it's not exactly the ritziest place on the map.
 

This behind-the-scenes shot was taken in the kitchen behind the main dining room, facing to the right. This area actually is relatively well preserved since it was recently renovated after the blizzard of '96. Unfortunately, there is still an interesting structural problem with the roof that I challenge any future visitor to figure out for themselves, for I will never tell -- it is way too interesting to see the end results of the problem first hand.
 

A meat locker. The walls appear to still be stained with yummy leftover blood from all the meats they probably hung up in here. Would you care to see? Of course you would, scroll down to the next picture.
 

And if you look to your left... well... think happy thoughts for those cows and pigs. They're in a better place now. Their flesh has been charred and their tissue has been consumed. Now, the wastes produced by their conversion into caloric energy have been passed to a sewage treatment plant where they will then be turned into basic hydrocarbon gases. Yum, don't you love eating?
 

Food, of course, was one of the main attractions at The Pines. Cliff Ehrlich, the longtime owner, once commented that they served on average two main dishes per person per meal -- which is quite astonishing.
 

Yet another work area, this one also features propane grills on the opposite side of the counter to the right. Notice the sign on the door in the background on the right -- "DO NOT ENTER AT ANY TIME". Why put a door there if you never wanted anyone to go through it? The other doors that go to this room all say the same thing. There are no doors leading into that room without a do not enter sign, so why the hell put doors there?! Obviously the sign's installer was just an idiot.
 

This bar was adjacent to the main lobby, on the way to the indoor pool. In the back on the left you see a set of stairs which led to the game room (or more recently, the shops that used to be where the couches in the background are), and in the back there is a hallway which leads to the Viceroy, Wedgewood, and Persian rooms (the nightclubs). And what is this garbage can doing here?
 

The new indoor pool at The Pines.
 

Nothing. It is doing absolutely nothing. It's been collecting water from some disrepaired leak for only god knows how long. I wonder why it hasn't over flowed yet, though, or perhaps it's because after all this time it is only now nearing the top and will soon overflow. For die hard fanatics of the garbage can, I can email you if I find out status updates. In fact, it's already changed since this picture -- a fire extinguisher was discharged under the surface of the water producing an interesting effect since the hydrophobic dry chemical from the extinguisher floats above the surface of the water, completely dry, but is a powder. Definitely a must see if you visit!
 

The payphones in the lobby have a very, very interesting history associated with them. Someone stole the sign above the payphones in this picture. Proof, once again, that people do still visit The Pines.
 

The people at the front desk always used to mispronounce my family's last name, but they will never mispronounce it again.
 

Notice that there is water on the floor in the Main Dining Room now. Previously, the dining room was able to withstand the elements, most likely due to its renovation in 1996. But alas, time is the only factor in the ultimate demise of The Pines.
 

For some reason, the elevator in the corner by the key drop box didn't have an alarm when you hit the "stop" switch. I remember when I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade when I was staying at The Pines I saw a bell boy hit the switch, and then I tried it myself once, and sure enough -- the elevator didn't move unless I wanted it to. I never used to stay in too long, though. Another strange thing about this elevator was it's doors, as there were two sets of doors, but on adjacent sides of each other.
 

Ah, another fine shot of the registration desk which signifies the beginning of yet another visit to The Pines Hotel, both in the past and the present. This shot is actually over a year old, but I only developed the film over Thanksgiving weekend. These pictures were all taken circa February 2001 with my old SLR camera which unfortunately is in pretty bad shape.
 

The main lobby with its new sea green look. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I liked the old colors much better than these pallid shades. The couches are brand new, rather sadly, and are fairly comfortable and clean. They are a nice spot to take a break if you visit, although for some reason the openness of it bothers me. I feel like somebody is watching... (Muhahaha...)
 

A shot from the stairs leading up to the main building into the lobby. This shot clearly depicts the level of internal flooding that is currently occuring at The Pines. Said one correspondent, regarding his brief visit, "[You] could hear the sound of rushing water." That is obviously NOT good.
 

More of the lobby... from coming up near the registration desk.
 

Facing the elevator, in this shot of the main lobby, you can see the stores that were built during the 1996 renovations. These stores used to be near the stairs leading up to the main building, but were moved to the main lobby and the underground passageway that used to be the game room. It's too bad they got rid of all those video games, because I remember as a kid I would just want to dump quarter after quarter into those machines.
 

This is the main office, where the hotel was administered from. One rather interesting thing about the drought this year is that the floods in the hotel have mostly cleared up, but a few select areas are still quite inundated. Once again, this area's appearance changes when people visit because visitors seem to like to take souvenirs from this area especially, since so much stuff from this area is branded with the corporate logo.
 

The Persian Room, pre-closing. Notice the sheer number of chairs that filled the place. Now imagine if the tables and chairs were gone and a standing room event were to be held. It would be quite a party...
 

This is the front desk where guests used to register, check in, and receive their keys and itineraries for the first day. One quick way to gauge how many people have visited since your last visit is the state of this area of the hotel. Many of the "guests" since the closing of the hotel have selected this area as their point of ingress, and therefore leave quite a mess usually. Even I have, and my personal stories will be posted on this site eventually.
 

And as we close yet another visit to The Pines, we exit through the registration area. Which, also, take note... Has been cleaned. Remember all the garbage that used to be on the counter? If you don't, look through the interior pictures a little bit more until you see what I mean.
 

A nice shot from taken between the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Savoy building shows that although humans may never collectively flock to The Pines, bacteria and fungi still love the place. While other parts of the building rot away without delay, the concrete and steel parts of the building will be with us for centuries to come if they continue to decay at the extremely slow pace they're moving at now.
 

The Pines had a septic system, which I guess was never emptied when they left. It probably "hiccupped" after a while and this is just what happened. Hey are you reading this and thinking, "No way that's not what happened."? If so, please tell me what you think caused most of the toilets in the hotel to look like this after the place closed.
 

I was recently reminded that I had, in fact, been in the Carlton building once in a prior visit, but only for a second. Ironically, I was, again, scared off by the sheets and pillow, indicating that a squatter was inhabiting the area. I don't remember seeing this set of sheets when I found the other room that looked like it had been inhabited, which actually now leads me to believe that the same person picked up their shit and just moved to a new room, perhaps because it was too wet/cold/hot or whatever.
 

This little underground passageway between the registration area and the fitness center used to be home to video games galore, but after the 1996 renovation they removed these video games and instead installed glass store fronts, probably from stores that used to be next to the main building's staircase before the renovation.
 

This is perhaps the scariest, most interesting passageways in the entire building. Anyone who has been to the building knows exactly where it is, and knows especially to bring a flashlight if they dare to visit it!
 

This little oddity was left in the Viceroy room. I always remembered a coffee shop where this was, by the outdoor pool & Wedgewood and Persian rooms. I am kind of curious as to why the artist only painted 7 rays of light on this picture, because aside from the one lonely ray, all the rays are symmetrical. Any comments?
 
Last updated July 25 2019 10:54:11 AM
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