The View From -- And Of -- 1401 Elm Street

Over the weekend, I took the boy down to the former First National Bank tower to see what was going bye-bye January 29, when the building's owner lock the doors at 1401 Elm Street till someone else is willing to take over the 52-story monolith that was, upon its completion...

By Robert Wilonsky

January 19, 2010

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Over the weekend, I took the boy down to the former First National Bank tower to see what was going bye-bye January 29, when the building's owner lock the doors at 1401 Elm Street till someone else is willing to take over the 52-story monolith that was, upon its completion in 1965, the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Security would allow us no further than the lobby; we could ride the elevators, but the floors were closed off, and the guards warned us, "You might get stuck." So we stayed put and wandered the lobby -- nevertheless, quite the time travel.

As you can see, our pal Justin Terveen got quite a bit further yesterday. He didn't pick any locks or kick open any doors. He just walked in with his camera and shot what he saw in George Dahl's darling, from top to bottom. He was kind enough to provide Unfair Park with this slide show, for the Friends who once worked in there and for those who never had the chance to visit. We are, of course, much obliged.

Justin will, of course, post them to his Flickr photostream shortly; till our pending redesign, sadly our slide show doesn't do his photos justice. And so, after the jump, a few larger photos -- it's almost like You Are There.

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