View allAll Photos Tagged relocation
Former Food Lion 22954 Sussex Hwy Seaford, DE. Relocated from 22941 Sussex Hwy on Oct 7, 2015. This is a former Safeway that became Sears that closed in 2014
Relocated to Matamoras
Port Jervis, NY. October 2016.
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Edited at snipshot.com. Yet another baby Western Rattlesnake is moved to a new location away from camp.
Relocated to the nearby former Toys R Us
Henrietta, NY. June 2021.
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climbing up the old concrete walkway up the bluffs reveals the remains of the once proud McKinley Elementary School. The school was built in 1910 and served students till the late 1970's.It is now privately owned and decaying....
The school has a unique location along the wooded bluffs in East Moline,IL.
Happy (school) fence Friday...!
The covered bridge was built in 1872 over Little Raccoon Creek. It was rehabilitated in 1936. In the 2011, the bridge was moved to the nearby grounds of the Buckeye Furnace State Memorial and placed on blocks. In 2019, when the photograph was taken, the bridge was in fairly decent shape, however, it appeared that no decision had been made concerning its future. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
An element from a Leeds City Council show garden at Chelsea flower show. Now in Roundhay Park, Leeds.
WEEK 19 – Barnes & Noble Ole Miss Relocation, Set II
(cont.) …so here’s that corridor in all its glory! Yep, not much to see here :P Across the hall is a storefront that was repurposed for a campus publication, "Living Blues." Not sure where all of the tables and chairs out here came from, but I’m disappointed that they took the place of this old directory: boy would I have liked to see that!! Oh well, I guess. I’m also disappointed that I didn’t explore this scene any further, such as walk up to that conveniently open construction wall and peer deeper into the old mall, as this entire area has now been closed off for – you guessed it – further university dismantling and renovation into classrooms. Oh goodie :/
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
WEEK 33 – Tuesday Morning Relocation
Remember how I mentioned this store's (lack of) décor previously? Here's proof of how it's changed over the years. It's not all this store's fault – Tuesday Morning as a chain has just had an odd relationship with imaging. The top left inset photo shows what this store considered décor for the longest time, which was removed shortly after the sign pictured lost its left half, seen in January 2015. The “register closed” signs, left CCTV sign, and Tuesday Morning Perks kiosk all hail from the same era, I believe. (cont.)
(c) 2016 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
WEEK 1 – Memphis Kmart Closing, I
Prior to the liquidation, books occupied the former café space, but for the closing sale they had been consolidated out here in front of the former pharmacy. Something else I'm kicking myself for: if I had seen that copy of Jimmy Fallon's “Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada,” I definitely would've bought it!
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Remodel, Week 16
(cont.) Welp, as of the following week, I got my answer: it was a temporary relocation of the pharmacy! l_dawg2000 (and/or my mom; can’t remember who got to me first XD ) actually informed me of this, as I wasn’t in town that weekend. (He’s also already posted his own picture of it, which you can see here.) But the next weekend, I made sure to get my own photo of the tiny structure, even if I had to do it very quickly while we were in the checkout line! (As a result, please pardon the person visible on the right of the photograph :P )
For being a temporary pharmacy, this setup looks very complex… as it should, I suppose, considering that those are dozens of customers’ prescriptions and records they have to keep protected within that cramped little space. If you zoom in through the windows, you can see that this mini-pharmacy box even has its own drop ceiling and lighting, which is even more impressive! (I’d bet that that also makes it even more claustrophobic in there for the poor employees, though…) The only downsides to this temporary setup (besides the aforementioned issue of space) are the facts that when it gets busy, customers waiting in line will now interfere with the flow of shoppers exiting the checkouts, and, as those yellow signs at the pickup counter read, they’re only able to do prescription checkouts right now (no other services).
And in the interim, what’s becoming of the old pharmacy, you ask? Well, I’ll show you! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this update tomorrow… :)
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Thank you 2012 for the additional gray hair, relocating my family across the country safely, and some of best friends in Photography anyone could ask for. Sorry, I don't smile.. Ever!
Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. - Hal Borland
Find me at | My Website l Facebook l 500px l GoOgle + | about me!
I wrote these descriptions with the intent to post them tomorrow, but it's just as easy (in fact, it's even easier) to upload them today... so just pretend it's Tuesday, y'all :P
For this week's teaser photos, we're continuing the theme from three weeks ago of looking at some changes within the Commons at Wolfcreek shopping center across N Germantown Parkway from Wolfchase Galleria. Except where those two photos were more recent news bits – the closures of both Macaroni Grill and Walgreens – the store seen in this photo last experienced news four years ago!
Shown here is the Value City Furniture store located at 8044 Giacosa Place. You'll note that this store looks rather snazzy – I, for one, really like seeing its new logo on the façade, as well as that black paint treatment they gave to the upper border of the building. I can't speak to the full accuracy of this statement, but it seems to me, at least, as if it is rather rare to see VCF's new logo on any of their stores; instead, seeing their old logo seems much more common. So why did this store get the new logo?
Hopefully I'm leading your train of thought to this destination: this store certainly didn't simply receive a new exterior logo in a random refresh. No, there's much more at play here. You see, Value City Furniture once was located in another space, approximately diagonally southwest from here. That space was much bigger, too: if I'm reading things correctly, 50,000 square feet compared to this store's 37,500. But Value City, I'm guessing, was faced with a conundrum: either move, or lose its lease.
This conundrum came about because Value City's old store was located in an end of the shopping center where there were ten other, smaller (I'm talking majority 1,600 square feet here) bays... nine of which were totally vacant. The rest of the center, on the other hand, was – and remains – pretty healthy; that was simply a dull area. So in order to give that corner of the plaza its shine back (so to speak), property owner Brixmor decided to demolish Value City Furniture and its neighboring, empty strip center storefronts in favor of a brand new – wait for it – 73,586 square foot Academy Sports + Outdoors, Memphis's second. (The first area Academy opened in a former Schnucks in Collierville.)
I can't find any info as to whether the only other affected tenant, Simply Fashion, relocated to elsewhere in the plaza or just outright closed. VCF, meanwhile, did indeed relocate elsewhere within the shopping center, to the building you see here – the building, in fact, that it would seem this entire Academy deal hinged upon, lest VCF would have been evicted from the center entirely. Good thing this building was vacant, then!
And just what was this building previously, you ask? Well, some of you more trained retail eyes out there might be able to recognize this architecture... this was none other than a Linens 'N Things, prior to that chain's demise in 2008. Rather incredibly for this area, the former LNT big box managed to remain vacant for six years, allowing this VCF relocation/Academy demolition-and-rebuild episode to proceed without a hitch. With all the vacancies that allowed Academy to take over its land as well as the one right here that allowed for VCF's relocation, it seems like this scenario simply must have been meant to be!
I remember the whole demolition and construction deal taking place myself, and being happy not only that Value City Furniture had been allowed to stay in the shopping center, but especially so that it was occupying an existing vacant big box in so doing. I'm sure I've said this before, but I absolutely love when stores backfill existing retail space!! Otherwise, those shells are a complete waste just sitting empty...
I've been linking to LoopNet images of the shopping center's former setup and lease plan throughout this description, and just for kicks, here's one more photo of the old VCF before its move.
(It's worth noting that the old VCF logo remains up on the roadside pylon. The more things change...)
Value City Furniture (now closed) // 8044 Giacosa Place, Memphis, TN 38133
(c) 2018 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
The "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct" passing the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the Owens Valley.
The "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct" is taking place October 15-November 12, 2013 and will traverse 240 miles from the Owens Valley to the heart of Los Angeles.
www.facebook.com/OneHundredMulesWalkingtheLosAngelesAqueduct
© 2013
October 20, 2013
Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 50
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Thanks to a tip I was able to catch this relatively uncommon move of 'Freight Under Wire'....well freight power at least! CSXT's Middleboro based daytime local L007 had to run light from BORO east to HOLDEN on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor to spot up car inside the building at Polyfiber which they had left on the lead sometime prior. This lead reaches down into the building of Polyfiber Inc. a subsidiary of Holland Manufacturing makers of industrial packaging, specialty coated and laminated products, water activated tapes and other products.
L007 is a weekday local that runs between Middleboro and Attleboro on the MassDOT owned and Mass Coastal maintained and dispatched Middleboro Subdivision serving customers and interchanging with the MC along the way. While they come out onto Amtrak at least a couple times a week to run west to East Junction to work two customers the trip east doesn't happen very often so despite it not even being a mile under the with it was still a treat.
It also affords the opportunity to shoot freight power beside this historic interlocking tower. I never pass up the opportunity because each time I wonder if it will be my last and one day it will finally come down. They are seen here in a going away view as their trio of GP40-2s 4 pass the tower that sits at about MP 197.4. Known as SS165 in New Haven days, it allegedly was built in 1898 and then relocated when the NH undertook their massive grade separation project through town between 1903 and 1906 that resulted in the beautiful four track widr stone arches and twin stations. This tower also holds the distinction of being the last in service on the corridor in the commonwealth, not closing down until 1993 when direct control finally moved to CETC at South Station. Amazingly it survives a quarter century later despite regular reports of its imminent demise.
Attleboro, Massachusetts
Tuesday February 27, 2024
The station is from Rowley near Consett built orginally in 1867. It became the first building to be relocated at the Beamish site . In 1976 the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman opened it
Mizner Park is a lifestyle center in downtown Boca Raton, Florida.
The site of Mizner Park was previously a conventional enclosed shopping center called Boca Mall, which opened in 1974. Boca Mall was originally anchored by Britt's and Jefferson Ward. The former closed in 1982 and was temporarily occupied by IBM offices until 1985, when it was converted to Levitz Furniture. In 1989, Levitz relocated and Jefferson Ward closed. The colloquial term "dive bar" may have entered widespread use as a result of a bar located in the mall in its final days. The closure of these anchors led to the mall's demolition and redevelopment.
Mizner Park opened in 1989, expanding in 1996 with a Jacobson's department store. Jacobson's closed in July 2002 after the chain declared bankruptcy, and its location became Robb & Stucky Interiors in 2003. After Robb & Stucky also declared bankruptcy, its store was closed as well. The building was converted to Lord & Taylor in 2013. The store was the chain's return to Florida after a ten-year absence.
It was home to the National Cartoon Museum from 1992 to 2002.
In 2017, Ouzo Bay opened at Mizner Park.
In 2018, Junior's Restaurant & Cheesecake closed its location in the center.
The center includes eateries Max's Grille, Racks Downtown Eatery + Tavern, Yard House, and Villagio's. The Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park is located on the north end of the development, which includes an amphitheatre, the Boca Raton Museum of Art and Carré d'artistes, part of an international network featuring over 600 emerging artists. In the fall of 2011, Lord & Taylor announced a store to open at the center. The store opened in the summer of 2013.
Cooper Carry designed Mizner as a classical Mediterranean revival town center. It is named for architect Addison Mizner, founder of Boca Raton.
The Mizner Park Amphitheater (originally known as the Count de Hoernle Amphitheater) is an outdoor amphitheater located in Boca Raton, Florida. It can be found in the northeast corner of Mizner Park, an outdoor shopping center in Pearl City. It was named after the Count and Countess de Hoernle.
The mid-sized venue cost $6.2 million to construct. It consists of a stage surrounded by a colonnade with a statue and fountain at the entrance of the lawn area. The venue seats 3,520, which can be expanded to 4,200 in a general admission setting.
The venue opened in November 2002 with an inauguration ceremony by Henrietta Rach de Hoernle, followed a concert by Florida Symphony Orchestra. The city took ownership of the amphitheater in September 2010, changing the venue's name as well.
It is the summer home to the Boca Raton Symphonia. The venue hosts 20 ticketed events per season (generally May-September) alongside many city events, theatrical performances and music festivals.
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizner_Park
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_Raton,_Florida
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Many of the Nubians you’ll find living at either Nubian village were relocated here during the latter half of the twentieth century as construction of the High Dam in Aswan neared completion. The construction of the dam essentially meant that the Nubian communities had no option but to move
Taken @Aswan, Egypt
Up at the front of the store, another change that took place was the relocation of the recycling bins from a spot along the front end itself to this new alcove right beside the restrooms. Previously, this space had been home to three community display boards that, evidently, the store decided to remove.
Personally, I like this location for the recycling bins better, both in that they're closer to the doors and in that their previous location was, in my opinion, kinda awkward (even more so now, given that the manager's office they were up against is now a family restroom). Too bad I didn't get to make much use of their new spot, seeing as how we had finally received curbside recycling service by this time! :P
(c) 2018 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Remodel, Week 5
(cont.) ...and on that note, a fair amount of the merchandise that used to be housed over near the bakery has already found itself relocated to make room for the produce walk-in cooler. As you can see here, prepackaged bread, as well as (on the other side of this shelving) prepackaged muffins, bagels, and tortillas, have all been temporarily placed between the meat department's coffin coolers and the beer aisle, which runs perpendicular to said coolers. In the background of this photo, you can get a better, more zoomed-out indication of just how large the produce cooler will be. Also, for reference, here's a shot taken from over at the bakery, looking toward the spot where I was standing for this pic.
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
NS H53 emerges from Enola Yard on their way back to Northumberland, PA with SD40E trio 6311, 6303 and 6327 for power.
WEEK 51 – Barnes & Noble Ole Miss Relocation Revisited (I)
I have this strange tendency to upload photos from Oxford anytime EXCEPT when I’m actually in town. Which, you know, is a majority of the year, so it’s pretty talented that I do this. I did the same thing this exact time last year, as a matter of fact (you might recall my Oxford Walmart album update). This time we’re doing another album update, as Albertsons Florida Blog correctly guessed on Tuesday, and as is clear from the photo you’re looking at above this spiel: the next chapter in the Ole Miss Barnes & Noble campus bookstore saga. (cont.)
Barnes & Noble at Ole Miss (inside the University of Mississippi's Jackson Avenue Center/former Oxford Mall; now closed) // 1111 Jackson Avenue W, Oxford, MS 38655
(c) 2019 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Father Michael Smythe, a missionary priest, who was stationed at Fort Smith, traveled through Eureka Springs around the year 1880. He started construction on a frame church which would not be completed until 1882. That year the Diocese of Little Rock recognized the new foundation of faith as a “station with a church.” Between 1882 and 1901 priests visited the station on their regular monthly trips through the Northwest Arkansas missions.
During 1901, the frame church was moved and relocated closer to the growing town. Upon completion of the building, the Diocese recognized the Church and its membership as the Sacred Heart Parish. Since the founding of this parish, there have been 37 priests administering the Sacraments to the Catholic people of Eureka Springs and tending to their spiritual and temporal needs. The first Baptism was recorded in 1880 – the first Marriage in 1881. Confirmation ceremonies were held in 1885 and administered by Bishop Fitzgerald to seven people, three of whom were adults. Sacred Heart Parish was given its name in 1901 and Father Carroll recorded the first Baptism and the first wedding in 1904.
Earlier in 1901, the Hotel Dieu Hospital, a large two story building opened by the Sisters of Mercy from St. Louis, had been established as a convalescent home, hospital, school, and convent. There were 34 pupils attending the opening day ceremonies at the Saint Elizabeth’s School. The Hotel Dieu Hospital closed its doors in 1913 after eleven years in operation but was placed later under the guidance of the Olivetan Benedictines.
In 1904 a three story frame rectory was constructed beside the Sacred Heart Church and was used as a rectory, school, and meeting hall for the Catholic community. This building is still in use today as the Mount Victoria Bed and Breakfast. Two blocks away, on Crescent Drive, Mr. Richard Kerens, was also constructing an edifice. The Kerens Memorial Chapel was being built in memory of his deceased mother, Elizabeth.
In 1908, after lengthy discussions with Bishop Fitzgerald, Kerens added a church proper to the existing Chapel, and the dedication ceremonies of the Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church were held on May 11, 1909. The existing chapel became the vestibule of the church, with all the exterior construction material of dolomite limestone supplied by local quarries. Kerens imported marble altars and mosaic flooring from Italy. Paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross were donated by the parishioners. Four pieces of statuary taken from the Sacred Heart Church and Hotel Dieu – statues of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and two kneeling angels – were moved to the new Church. These fine pieces of turn-of-the-century statuary still have their home in the interior of the church today.
The coming years lay heavy on the church, and disrepair set in almost immediately, not because of inferior construction, but from lack of adequate heating. For a few years the church became a mission out of Harrison because of the small congregation. Second collections were started to defray the cost of repairs, but not until Father Joseph Lauro’s pastorate in the early 1950’s did the remodeling really begin.
Father Lauro did extensive restoration to the interior of the church, and constructed a stone rectory at the rear of the church. He then enlisted the talents of an Italian artists’ society which, under the direction of sculptor Checchi Mario, executed marble statues which grace the gardens of the church, including the statues of Our Lady of Fatima, the children, and the sheep, which were erected in 1953, along with the statues of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Joseph, St. Francis, and St. Elizabeth. In his second term at Saint Elizabeth, Father Lauro originated the plan for the Stations of the Cross, in white Carrara marble, also sculpted in Italy, which are arranged on the wall beside the ramp leading from the Bell Tower to the door. The designer said the statuary consumed 40 days of work by five sculptors for any single piece. The names of various families were etched into the base of each statue, thus commemorating their donation. The stations were installed in 1958.
Saint Elizabeth’s Church has become a landmark in Eureka Springs and is listed on the National Historic Register. The Church’s unique unattached Bell Tower has welcomed thousands of visitors each year from all over the world. They come to admire the simplicity of the stone church which was constructed years ago and which still holds its charm and peacefulness in the fast paced world of today.
I don't normally handle wildlife but this fella seemed pretty vulnerable hanging out at a busy park. So a fter a few quick shots we tried to discretely relocate him to a safer spot.
WEEK 12 – BAM Southaven Relocation: Old Store, Set 1
Why do I sound so melancholy talking about the café? Well, I try to use past tense anyway when referring to buildings of the past (like this store, since it has since relocated, although I admit I often do a poor job of sticking to one tense in my photosets), but making matters sadder is that Joe Muggs did not make the move with the rest of the store, as I discussed before here. That was due to the new location being smaller than this store, by pretty much the exact size of this area :( Luckily, the café employees were retrained and kept on staff.
Here, we’re looking from Joe Muggs’s counter up toward the store’s checkouts and the front left corner.
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Set to relocate to the former Dressbarn and Cato Fashions (by combining the two vacant storefronts) in the Lycoming Crossings shopping center.
Muncy, PA. October 2020.
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For once I'm at something of a loss for this one. It started life as one thing and by the end had morphed into something quite different. It started life as a simple piece of A4 paper but by the time it was done was this concoction of cardboard, glue, stencils, spraypaint, stamped lettering and something of a dark heart vibe.
The gentleman in the piece is clearly something of a vagabond as it would appear he has cleared out all the bank accounts and made a hasty international departure to an uncertain destination. And all he left behind was a short note. The no-good piece of dirt. If I ever get my hands on him...
Cheers
id-iom
The Washington Monument, designed by artist Rudolf Siemering, was originally unveiled in 1897 in Fairmont Park, and relocated to its current home at Eakins Oval following the completion of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1928. The monument was commissioned by the Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1783, with Washington serving as the president, to commemorate those who found together during the War of Independence. The monument is constructed in three zones or levels, each representing a different concept: Washington (the hero) sits at the top; allegorical figures depicting his time are on the middle level; and on the lowest level are the flora and fauna of his country with representative human figures.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA), originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, opened in a into its permanent home on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwestern end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in 1928. The main building's Greek Revival design was the product of collaboration of the architectural firms of Horace Trumbauer and Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, but mostly credited to two architects in Trumbauer's firm--Howell Lewis Shay for the building's plan and massing, and Julian Abele, the first African American to graduate from University of Pennsylvania's Department of Architecture, for the detail work and perspective drawings. The museum houses more than 240,000 objects including major holdings of European, American and Asian origin, spread across more than 200 galleries spanning 2,000 years.
In 2007, the Philadelphia Museum of Art was ranked #24 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.
Originally a Weston's dept store that was later turned into Kmart. After Kmart's closure, the space became a short-lived Hobby Lobby before what you see now opened. Both stores relocated from the shops at Ithaca Mall.
Ithaca, NY. November 2021.
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Looking towards Cooper House Bridge on the Rochdale Canal, in Luddenden Foot, outside Hebden Bridge, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles (51 km) across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire. As built, the canal had 92 locks. Whilst the traditional lock numbering has been retained on all restored locks, and on the relocated locks, the canal now has 91. Locks 3 and 4 have been replaced with a single deep lock, Tuel Lane Lock, which is numbered 3/4.
The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester. Brindley proposed a route similar to the one built, and another more expensive route via Bury. Further progress was not made until 1791, when John Rennie was asked to make a new survey in June, and two months later to make surveys for branches to Rochdale, Oldham and to a limeworks near Todmorden. Rennie at the time had no experience of building canals.
The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first attempt to obtain an act was made in 1792, but was opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. Rennie proposed using steam pumping engines, three in Yorkshire, eight in Lancashire, and one on the Burnley Branch, but the mill owners argued that 59 mills would be affected by the scheme, resulting in unemployment, and the bill was defeated. In September 1792, William Crosley and John Longbotham surveyed the area in an attempt to find locations for reservoirs which would not affect water supplies to the mills. A second bill was presented to Parliament, for a canal which would have a 3,000-yard (2,700 m) tunnel and 11 reservoirs. Again the bill was defeated, this time by one vote. The promoters, in an attempt to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and on 4 April 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and authorised construction.
Rennie's estimated cost in the second bill was £291,000, and the company was empowered to raise the money by issuing shares, with powers to raise a further £100,000 if required. The estimate was for a narrow canal, whereas the act authorised a broad canal, and so the capital was never going to be adequate. The summit tunnel was abandoned in favour of 14 additional locks saving £20,000. Jessop proposed constructing each lock with a drop of 10 feet (3.0 m), resulting in efficient use of water and the need to manufacture only one size of lock gate.
The canal opened in stages as sections were completed, with the Rochdale Branch the first in 1798 and further sections in 1799. The bottom nine locks opened in 1800 and boats using the Ashton Canal could reach Manchester. Officially, the canal opened in 1804, but construction work continued for more three years. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) branch from Heywood to Castleton opened in 1834.
Apart from a short profitable section in Manchester linking the Bridgewater and Ashton Canals, most of the length was closed in 1952 when an act of parliament was obtained to ban public navigation. The last complete journey had taken place in 1937, and by the mid 1960s the remainder was almost unusable. Construction of the M62 motorway in the late 1960s took no account of the canal, cutting it in two.
When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974. The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park
The Rochdale Canal Society worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust Ltd, who leased the canal from the owning company. The MSC-funded restoration was approaching Sowerby Bridge, where planners were proposing a tunnel and deep lock to negotiate a difficult road junction at Tuel Lane, so that a connection could be made with the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The entire eastern section from Sowerby Bridge to the summit at Longlees was open by 1990, although it remained isolated from the canal network.
In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal from the Rochdale Canal Company. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and in order to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal. As restoration proceeded, boats could travel further and further west, and the restoration of the sections through Failsworth and Ancoats were a significant part of the re-development of the north Manchester districts. The restored sections joined up with the section in Manchester below the Ashton Canal junction, which had never been closed, and on 1 July 2002 the canal was open for navigation along its entire length.
When I decided to divide my singular Monster High Flickr album, I knew it would be an opportunity to write up more of these "My Story" posts. I relocated all the major characters into their own albums for ease of identification. Colleen and I decided to divvy up the "My Story" write ups. That way, the essays would be less redundant since they'd be written from two different perspectives (even if we were telling essentially the same stories). Some of the characters spoke to us individually. Clawdeen was one that I immediately knew I would be responsible for writing about. I have so much to say about her, so it only seemed fair that I write this. To summarize how I've always felt about Clawdeen: she's one of the most striking Monster High characters. I've always felt she was breathtaking, despite her monster features. Granted, the earlier characters were more toned down than some of the later ones. But even compared to the other original six, Clawdeen and Cleo were relatively simple and attractive. I can't deny that I've almost always pegged Clawdeen as the best looking from a Monster High line. Her only rival tends to be Cleo...much to Clawdeen's benefit, Cleo isn't included in as many sets. It's for this reason that Clawdeen quickly became one of my favorite Monster High dolls to collect...she was always impossible to say "no" to!
Strangely, my very first Clawdeen is much more boyish and under styled than she typically is. I was dead set on getting Dead Tired Clawdeen (pun intended). The 2012 dated wave was brand new in stores, when I began collecting in March of 2013. I was shocked to find the entire Dead Tired trio stocked at the Family Dollar. I didn't even realize that this store carried name brand toys. As a kid, the Family Dollar was notorious for having a piddly toy section with only a few clone dolls. Even better, the dolls were buy one get one 50% off. Of course, I bought ALL three of the gals...so only one was discounted. Clawdeen was the apple of my eye. Although I didn't own a single other Clawdeen at that present time, I knew she was special. I had spent some time admiring dolls online. This Clawdeen stood out, what with her natural face, blunt bangs, and sporty pajamas. She's the kind of doll that would have appealed to my child self. Her ensemble could work on childhood favorites, like Generation Girl Tori, if it was not paw print themed and a larger scale. In those early days, I intended to keep my Monster High collection modest in size. Of course, my humble collection didn't stay small for long. The problem was, I didn't anticipate how addictive these little beasties could be!
Early on, I had my sights set on purchasing more Clawdeen Wolf dolls. I cannot recall anymore who was my second. I ended up on a Monster High binge until late summer that year...which meant I was buying dolls in quite rapid succession. I do recall with clarity that Werewolf Sister Pack Clawdeen was one of the earliest members of my family. Even though the pack wasn't newly released, I realized that Target still had the gals in stock. This seemed miraculous to me at the time, given that there was so much Monster High scalping going on. By this I mean that people were buying desirable sets and dolls in bulk, and then selling them on sites like eBay for absurd markups. I took note that many collectors were ONLY interested in Werewolf Sister Pack Howleen, since this was her first appearance. Don't get me wrong, Howleen is indeed a magnificent creature. She sports orange curly hair....a similar color to what I use on myself (so of course we are kindred spirits as Anne of Green Gables would say). But there was something modestly classy and appealing about Clawdeen. Strangely, I think part of me was MORE excited about getting her in the set than Howleen. Colleen made a phone call to Target and had the employees set aside a pack for us. I was afraid some internet reseller would snag all the ones in stock before we could venture out to the store. This was the first of several occasions Colleen had to make Monster High related phone calls. Once at home, with the freshly procured pack, I fell even more in love with Clawdeen. To this day, she's one of my top five favorites.
A few other names that come to mind when discussing my early Monster High days are 13 Wishes, Skull Shores, Little Dead Riding Wolf, Skulltimate Roller Maze, and Power Ghouls. I was sorely tempted to purchase 13 Wishes Clawdeen when my local Walmart first put the dolls out. I probably would have cracked and bought at least Clawdeen that day, if the dolls hadn't been put out too early. Their bar codes wouldn't even register in the system! I ended up finding her on sale later on, at Kmart. I still think she's the best looking from the set...a beauty that is difficult to rival. As for Little Dead Riding Wolf, she was yet another dolly I acquired on sale. I admit she was overshadowed that night at Target by Sea Stunnerz Cloe and Snow Bite Draculaura. Standing on her own though, Little Dead is magnificent. Her quality and details truly blew me away. I recall how much Colleen and I fawned over this Clawdeen when we first got her home (to this day, she still receives her fair share of compliments). Power Ghouls Clawdeen caught my eye at a Target too...but I purchased her in a frenzy one night after we got paid for some scrap metal that was in the yard. I was hoping to score Skulltimate Roller Maze Clawdeen that evening, but she proved to be hard to find. Luckily, I finally got my hands on her at the local flea market in 2016! Power Ghouls spoke to me in that moment....maybe it was her Wonder Woman inspired ensemble, that green streaked hair, and her heavy makeup. I can never quite put my finger on why I'm so keen for her, but she's still a classic in my collection. I admit I mostly wanted the Skull Shores Gift Set FOR Clawdeen. Unlike some of the other ghouls, she was an exclusive to the set...meaning she was not available separately. Since I'd already bought Draculaura and Ghoulia on their own, I didn't think I'd ever be able to acquire the gift set. But I found it for a bargain at Target one afternoon by chance. It was so inexpensive that I could justify the purchase...even with the duplicated dolls. To be honest, Clawdeen is such a stunning specimen that on her own she warranted the retail price of the entire set (not that I would have spent it on her alone). She was also lucky that I always found Skull Shores Cleo to be a little odd looking...that hairdo didn't do her any favors.
It wasn't just Skull Shores Gift Set Clawdeen that prompted me to splurge on an entire pack just for her. I was supposed to be curbing my Monster High appetite at the end of the summer of 2013. Colleen and I were grocery shopping at Walmart one afternoon when we popped into the toy section. It was on the lowest shelf of the toy aisle that I spotted a brand new pack--the Ghouls' Night Out one! All four dolls were dazzling, and exclusive to the set (with the exception of Rochelle, who was my favorite separately sold gal). Okay, so the entire quad of dolls was tempting, not just Clawdeen. But even if she'd been lumped in with three other, less appealing ladies, I'd still have made an excuse to buy the four pack just for her. Likewise, I most anticipated the re-release of "1st Edition" Draculaura in 2013. However, Clawdeen found her way into the virtual shopping cart on Walmart's website (as did Frankie). Clawdeen impressed me so much in person...I had never paid much mind to her previously. That same fall in 2013, I stumbled upon my first secondhand Clawdeen. The Gloom Beach lady was part of the infamous "Lagoona Bin" we discovered at the local flea market for $10. Most of the dolls were moldy and bug infested (we saved them though, no worries). However, the three Monster High dolls fared a bit better. Clawdeen was shockingly mostly complete. If it weren't for her loose hips and gluey hair, she could have passed off for being brand new! I desired Music Festival Clawdeen since she debuted. It was almost impossible to return the two I accidentally got in the mail when I placed an order from Kmart. I recall that Skulltimate Roller Maze Clawdeen was supposed to be in that order. However, Kmart had NONE of the dolls in stock, and instead sent me a box of random Monster High dolls. In the end, I made the right choice returning them all, because I found Music Festival Clawdeen at Barnes and Noble for 50% that following summer. Her makeup is still some of the most distinctive and jazzy in my entire collection. Even if it was a Clawdeen doll I had not been interested in prior, I still couldn't resist getting her on some sort of sale. That's how I ended up with Scaris, Sweet 1600, and Shriek-Wrecked. Although I can't deny that I had started falling in love with Scaris when I was working on making myself a Monster High guide. I quite literally can talk myself into ANY doll in just ten minutes.
My Clawdeen collection didn't just grow via in store purchases. I feel very grateful to have had many opportunities to acquire her secondhand over the years. Frights, Camera, Action was one of my earliest in the wild finds. I purchased her at the flea market from the same elderly couple that many of my monsters originated from over the years. I was stunned by her impeccable condition. I was left wondering why I had not wanted this lady when she was in stores. The local Salvation Army proved to be fruitful when it came to Clawdeen. I rescued Ghouls Rule Clawdeen at the start of 2017 from there. She was in horrible condition--with oozing glue and a missing arm. Fortunately, I had just purchased some extra Monster High parts, so I could afford to take her on. She is still incomplete to this day, but I can't imagine my family without her. Ironically, she's one of the few Clawdeen dolls Colleen couldn't work into this photo, but we do love her! "Emoji" and Freaky Field Trip Clawdeen were also rescued from the same Salvation Army (which sadly closed in 2020). Granted, "Emoji" Claween hardly looked played with compared to the nude Freaky Field Trip gal. I did not recognize Freaky Field Trip when we first met. But I refused to leave her behind at the store, completely stark naked, when she was so inexpensive. She's a gorgeous gal...she cleaned up wonderfully and models my Clawdeen fashion pack flawlessly. There was a funny mix up with Coffin Bean and Skull Shores Clawdeen around the same time. Skull Shores was sporting Coffin Bean Clawdeen's dress. Since the Salvation Army was chaotic that day, I stupidly purchased the Skull Shores duplicate. At home, I realized who this doll was (it was so obvious I don't know how I made that mistake). Ironically, two weeks later Coffin Bean Clawdeen the doll popped up at the same store! I'm guessing she was hidden somewhere in the toy section when I initially purchased the dupe, or she was not put out yet. Either way, it was a miraculous reunion...especially appreciated since I coveted Coffin Bean Clawdeen for years. Last but not least, there is my 2015 "Basic" doll. She's the most recent Clawdeen addition to my collection. She was also one of the best dolls from the "L.O.L. Flea Market Surprise Lot" of 2021. She hails from the crossover era of Monster High--when Mattel was just beginning to put out basic dolls with cheapened details and less articulation. I love how she's a weird combination of the two eras--her face is so classic Clawdeen but everything else about her design screams revamped!
Writing this post and admiring the photo my sister set up above it makes me crave MORE Clawdeen dolls. I'm reminded of just how gorgeous she is...whether we are talking about an old school Clawdeen or one of the revamped gals. It really doesn't matter to me. I don't think there is such a thing as an ugly Clawdeen...at least, I have yet to see one. She can rock more exaggerated makeup and hairstyles, but also pull off being plain Jane. It's no wonder my Clawdeen collection expanded so quickly...and why I could always justify forking over the dough for her. Of course, there are still plenty of iconic Clawdeen dolls who I'd love to own someday. But I'm grateful that some of my formerly most wanted gals are part of my collection. Believe it or not, Skulltimate Roller Maze was one of my top five most coveted Monster High dolls for several years (surprising given that she was a budget doll from a not so popular line). I'm also equally as obsessed with Clawdeen's family...Clawd, Howleen, and Clawdia are so charming. Although they can't match Clawdeen's beauty. The first decade of my Clawdeen story has been written, but I'm excited to see who the next ten years will bring!
An early morning Friday message from "Marra Man" alerted me to the fact that the pioneer UK Class 66 No.66001 was heading up the morning's 6C17 Carlisle Yard - Workington and return 6C48 china clay tanks.
Not the first time it's fronted this train but the first since its repaint into DBS house colours.
With a 6C22 Carlisle - Sellafield flask train also pencilled in for early doors I decided to get out and about and see what was what as my shift didn't start until 10.20am.
My intention was to shoot both trains from atop the dyke which gives Siddick its name.
Unfortunately, having framed up a very nice shot with a backdrop of the Galloway hills, a herd of cows took umbrage at my appearance on the public footpath and I had to hastily leg it through the gate onto the foot-crossing to avoid a trampling.
This is not the shot I wanted.
Adrian pilots the loaded tanks to Workington yard for a run around before the short trip to the docks.
Castle Clinton is a circular sandstone fortification which now lies in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City, NewYork. The fort was built just before the United States and Britain fought the War of 1812. Prior to the war there were may skirmishes between the 2 nations. Acknowledging increasing tensions with the British, American harbor cities began building forts for protection. New York City was no exception. Four forts were built to defend the harbor; Castle Williams on Governor's Island, Fort Wood on Bedloe's Island (known today as Liberty Island), Fort Gibson on Ellis Island and Southwest Battery (Now called Castle Clinton) on Manhattan Island.
Southwest Battery was constructed on the rocks off the tip of Manhattan between 1808 and 1811. The fort was fully armed with 28 cannons. Each cannon could shoot a 32 pound cannonball a distance of 1.5 miles. On March 27, 1812, General Joseph Bloomfield was appointed to the command of all the fortifications in New York City and harbor. He established his headquarters at Southwest Battery.
The four forts in the harbor kept the British Navy at bay and Southwest Battery never had occasion to fire upon the enemy.In 1817, the fort was renamed Castle Clinton in honor of Dewitt Clinton, Mayor and later Governor of New York.
In 1823 the fort was deeded to New York City. The following summer a new restaurant and entertainment center opened at the site, renamed Castle Garden. A roof was added in the 1840s, and Castle Garden served as an opera house and theater until 1854. Many new inventions were demonstrated there, including the telegraph, Colt revolving rifles, steam-powered fire engines, and underwater electronic explosives.
Opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," made her American debut here in 1850. She was brought to America by none other than P.T. Barnum, famous for his American Museum full of "freaks," and later the famous circus.
On August 3, 1855, Castle Garden opened as an immigrant landing depot. The creation of Castle Garden, the official immigrant processing center in the nation, represented a country at a crossroads, signaling a change in American immigration policy, and in the ways through which immigrants became Americans.
During the next 34 years, over 8 million people entered the United States through Castle Garden. Two out of every three immigrants to the United States in this period passed through the Castle Garden. It was closed on April 18, 1890.
With the Federal government taking control of immigration and the opening of Ellis Island, Castle Garden's time as an immigration center ends. The building was remodeled once again and reopened as the New York City Aquarium on December 10, 1896. The exotic fish and Beluga whale made the aquarium one of the city's most popular attractions. With over 30,000 visitors on opening day the aquarium averaged over 5,000 people per day. The New York City Aquarium was relocated to Coney Island in 1941.
Saved from demolition in 1946, the Castle was restored to its original design by the National Park Service. The site reopened in 1975 as Castle Clinton National Monument. Today the site houses the ticket office for the Statue of Liberty. Castle Clinton receives an annual visitation over 3 million making it one of the most visited National Park Service sites in the country.
The fort originally built to keep people out now welcomes visitors from all over the world
Caption mostly taken from NPS, Castle Clinton National Monument, Cluture and History Page
www.nps.gov/cacl/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Acessed May1, 2017
Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်, MLCTS rankun mrui, pronounced: [jàɴɡòʊɴ mjo̰]; formerly known as Rangoon, literally: "End of Strife") is the capital of the Yangon Region of Myanmar, also known as Burma. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government relocated the capital to the purpose-built city of Naypyidaw in central Myanmar. With over 7 million people, Yangon is Myanmar's largest city and is its most important commercial centre.
Yangon boasts the largest number of colonial-era buildings in the region, and has a unique colonial-era urban core that is remarkably intact. The colonial-era commercial core is centred around the Sule Pagoda, which reputed to be over 2,000 years old. The city is also home to the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda — Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist pagoda. The mausoleum of the last Mughal Emperor is located in Yangon, where he had been exiled following the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
Yangon suffers from deeply inadequate infrastructure, especially compared to other major cities in Southeast Asia. Though many historic residential and commercial buildings have been renovated throughout central Yangon, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be profoundly impoverished and lack basic infrastructure.
ETYMOLOGY
Yangon (ရန်ကုန်) is a combination of the two words yan (ရန်) and koun (ကုန်), which mean "enemies" and "run out of", respectively. It is also translated as "End of Strife". "Rangoon" most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of "Yangon" in the Arakanese language, which is [rɔ̀ɴɡʊ́ɴ].
HISTORY
EARLY HISTORY
Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century (c. 1028–1043) by the Mon, who dominated Lower Burma at that time. Dagon was a small fishing village centred about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it "Yangon", and added settlements around Dagon. The British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), but returned it to Burmese administration after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841.
COLONIAL RANGOON
The British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, to live after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Yangon became the capital of all British-ruled Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake (Kandawgyi) and Inya Lake. The British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University.
Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.
Before World War II, about 55% of Yangon's population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, and only about a third was Bamar (Burman). Karens, the Chinese, the Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest.
After World War I, Yangon became the epicentre of Burmese independence movement, with leftist Rangoon University students leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against the British Empire in 1920, 1936 and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945.
Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire.
CONTEMPORARY YANGON
Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications, news bureaus including, most notably, the BBC and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and United States.)
Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya,
Shwepyitha and South Dagon in the 1980s. Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 600 square kilometres.
During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the current military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city residents were forcibly relocated to new satellite towns. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the Yangon City Heritage List in 1996. Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country. Still, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.
Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government. Nevertheless, sizable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.
Yangon was the centre of major anti-government protests in 1974, 1988 and 2007. The 1988 People Power Uprising resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Burmese civilians, many in Yangoon where hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the streets of the then capital city. The Saffron Revolution saw mass shootings and the use of crematoria in Yangoon by the Burmese government to erase evidence of their crimes against monks, unarmed protesters, journalists and students.
The city's streets saw bloodshed each time as protesters were gunned down by the government.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Yangon. While the city had few human casualties, three quarters of Yangon's industrial infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, with losses estimated at US$800 million.
In November 2005, the military government designated Naypyidaw, 320 kilometres north of Yangon, as the new administrative capital, and subsequently moved much of the government to the newly developed city. At any rate, Yangon remains the largest city, and the most important commercial centre of Myanmar.
GEOGRAPHY
Yangon is located in Lower Burma (Myanmar) at the convergence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers about 30 km away from the Gulf of Martaban at 16°48' North, 96°09' East (16.8, 96.15). Its standard time zone is UTC/GMT +6:30 hours.
CLIMATE
Yangon has a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification system. The city features a lengthy wet season from May through October where a substantial amount of rainfall is received; and a dry season from November through April, where little rainfall is seen. It is primarily due to the heavy rainfall received during the rainy season that Yangon falls under the tropical monsoon climate category. During the course of the year 1961 to 1990s, average temperatures show little variance, with average highs ranging from 29 to 36 °C and average lows ranging from 18 to 25 °C.
CITYSCAPE
Until the mid-1990s, Yangon remained largely constrained to its traditional peninsula setting between the Bago, Yangon and Hlaing rivers. People moved in, but little of the city moved out. Maps from 1944 show little development north of Inya Lake and areas that are now layered in cement and stacked with houses were then virtual backwaters. Since the late 1980s, however, the city began a rapid spread north to where Yangon International airport now stands. But the result is a stretching tail on the city, with the downtown area well removed from its geographic centre. The city's area has steadily increased from 72.52 square kilometres in 1901 to 86.2 square kilometres in 1940 to 208.51 square kilometres in 1974, to 346.13 square kilometres in 1985, and to 598.75 square kilometres in 2008.
ARCHITECTURE
Downtown Yangon is known for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture. The former British colonial capital has the highest number of colonial period buildings in south-east Asia. Downtown Yangon is still mainly made up of decaying colonial buildings. The former High Court, the former Secretariat buildings, the former St. Paul's English High School and the Strand Hotel are excellent examples of the bygone era. Most downtown buildings from this era are four-story mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings with 4.3 m ceilings, allowing for the construction of mezzanines. Despite their less-than-perfect conditions, the buildings remain highly sought after and most expensive in the city's property market.
In 1996, the Yangon City Development Committee created a Yangon City Heritage List of old buildings and structures in the city that cannot be modified or torn down without approval. In 2012, the city of Yangon imposed a 50-year moratorium on demolition of buildings older than 50 years. The Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO started by Thant Myint-U, aims to create heritage areas in Downtown, and attract investors to renovate buildings for commercial use.
A latter day hallmark of Yangon is the eight-story apartment building. (In Yangon parlance, a building with no elevators (lifts) is called an apartment building and one with elevators is called a condominium. Condos which have to invest in a local power generator to ensure 24-hour electricity for the elevators are beyond the reach of most Yangonites.) Found throughout the city in various forms, eight-story apartment buildings provide relatively inexpensive housing for many Yangonites. The apartments are usually eight stories high (including the ground floor) mainly because city regulations, until February 2008, required that all buildings higher than 23 m or eight stories to install lifts. The current code calls for elevators in buildings higher than 19 m or six stories, likely ushering in the era of the six-story apartment building. Although most apartment buildings were built only within the last 20 years, they look much older and rundown due to shoddy construction and lack of proper maintenance.
Unlike other major Asian cities, Yangon does not have any skyscrapers. Aside from a few high-rise hotels and office towers, most high-rise buildings (usually 10 stories and up) are "condos" scattered across prosperous neighbourhoods north of downtown such as Bahan, Dagon, Kamayut and Mayangon. The tallest building in Yangon, Pyay Gardens, is a 25-story condo in the city's north.
Older satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa are lined mostly with one to two story detached houses with access to the city's electricity grid. Newer satellite towns such as North Dagon and South Dagon are still essentially slums in a grid layout. The satellite towns - old or new - receive little or no municipal services.
ROAD LAYOUT
Downtown Yangon's road layout follows a grid pattern, based on four types of roads:
Broad 49-m wide roads running west to east
Broad 30-m wide roads running south to north
Two narrow 9.1-m wide streets running south to north
Mid-size 15-m wide streets running south to north
The east-west grid of central was laid out by British military engineers Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad 30 m wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another 30 m wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named.
For example, the 30 m Lanmadaw Road is followed by 9.1 m-wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium 15 m Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another 30 m wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on.
The roads running parallel west to east were the Strand Road, Merchant Road, Maha Bandula (née Dalhousie) Road, Anawrahta (Fraser) Road, and Bogyoke Aung San (Montgomerie) Road.
PARKS AND GARDENS
The largest and best maintained parks in Yangon are located around Shwedagon Pagoda. To the south-east of the gilded stupa is the most popular recreational area in the city – Kandawgyi Lake. The 61-ha lake is surrounded by the 45-ha Kandawgyi Nature Park, and the 28-ha Yangon Zoological Gardens, which consists of a zoo, an aquarium and an amusement park. West of the pagoda towards the former Hluttaw (Parliament) complex is the 53-ha People's Square and Park, (the former parading ground on important national days when Yangon was the capital.) A few miles north of the pagoda lies the 15-ha Inya Lake Park – a favorite hangout place of Yangon University students, and a well-known place of romance in Burmese popular culture.
Hlawga National Park and Allied War Memorial at the outskirts of the city are popular day-trip destinations with the well-to-do and tourists.
Yangon Book Plaza, the first and biggest book shop in Myanmar was opened on February 26, 2017 on the fifth floor of Than Zay Market in Lanmadaw Township, Yangon.
ADMINISTRATION
Yangon is administered by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). YCDC also coordinates urban planning. The city is divided into four districts. The districts combined have a total of 33 townships. The current mayor of Yangon is Maung Maung Soe. Each township is administered by a committee of township leaders, who make decisions regarding city beautification and infrastructure. Myo-thit (lit. "New Towns", or satellite towns) are not within such jurisdictions.
TRANSPORT
Yangon is Burma's main domestic and international hub for air, rail, and ground transportation.
AIR
Yangon International Airport, located 19 km from the centre, is the country's main gateway for domestic and international air travel. The airport has three terminals, known as T1, T2 and T3 which is also known as Domestic. It has direct flights to regional cities in Asia – mainly, Doha, Dubai, Dhaka, Kolkata, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming and Singapore. Although domestic airlines offer service to about twenty domestic locations, most flights are to tourist destinations such as Bagan, Mandalay, Heho and Ngapali, and to the capital Naypyidaw.
RAILWAYS
Yangon Central Railway Station is the main terminus of Myanmar Railways' 5,403-kilometre rail network whose reach covers Upper Myanmar (Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Shwebo), upcountry (Myitkyina), Shan hills (Taunggyi, Lashio) and the Taninthayi coast (Mawlamyaing, Dawei).
Yangon Circular Railway operates a 45.9-kilometre 39-station commuter rail network that connects Yangon's satellite towns. The system is heavily utilized by the local populace, selling about 150,000 tickets daily. The popularity of the commuter line has jumped since the government reduced petrol subsidies in August 2007.
BUSES AND CARS
Yangon has a 4,456-kilometre road network of all types (tar, concrete and dirt) in March 2011. Many of the roads are in poor condition and not wide enough to accommodate an increasing number of cars. The vast majority of Yangon residents cannot afford a car and rely on an extensive network of buses to get around. Over 300 public and private bus lines operate about 6,300 crowded buses around the city, carrying over 4.4 million passengers a day. All buses and 80% of the taxis in Yangon run on compressed natural gas (CNG), following the 2005 government decree to save money on imported petroleum. Highway buses to other cities depart from Dagon Ayeyar Highway Bus Terminal for Irrawaddy delta region and Aung Mingala Highway Bus Terminal for other parts of the country.
Motor transportation in Yangon is highly expensive for most of its citizens. As the government allows only a few thousand cars to be imported each year in a country with over 50 million people, car prices in Yangon (and in Burma) are among the highest in the world. In July 2008, the two most popular cars in Yangon, 1986/87 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon and 1988 Toyota Corolla SE Limited, cost the equivalent of about US$20,000 and US$29,000 respectively. A sports utility vehicle, imported for the equivalent of around US$50,000, goes for US$250,000. Illegally imported unregistered cars are cheaper – typically about half the price of registered cars. Nonetheless, car usage in Yangon is on the rise, a sign of rising incomes for some, and already causes much traffic congestion in highway-less Yangon's streets. In 2011, Yangon had about 300,000 registered motor vehicles in addition to an unknown number of unregistered ones.
Since 1970, cars have been driven on the right side of the road in Burma, as part of a military decree. However, as the government has not required left hand drive (LHD) cars to accompany the right side road rules, many cars on the road are still right hand drive (RHD) made for driving on the left side. Japanese used cars, which make up most of the country's imports, still arrive with RHD and are never converted to LHD. As a result, Burmese drivers have to rely on their passengers when passing other cars.
Within Yangon city limits, it is illegal to drive trishaws, bicycles, and motorcycles. Since February 2010, pickup truck bus lines have been forbidden to run in 6 townships of central Yangon, namely Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Botahtaung and Pazundaung Townships. In May 2003, a ban on using car horns was implemented in six townships of Downtown Yangon to reduce noise pollution. In April 2004, the car horn ban was expanded to cover the entire city.
RIVER
Yangon's four main passenger jetties, all located on or near downtown waterfront, mainly serve local ferries across the river to Dala and Thanlyin, and regional ferries to the Irrawaddy delta. The 35-km Twante Canal was the quickest route from Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta until the 1990s when roads between Yangon and the Irrawaddy Division became usable year-round. While passenger ferries to the delta are still used, those to Upper Burma via the Irrawaddy river are now limited mostly to tourist river cruises.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Yangon is the most populous city by far in Burma although estimates of the size of its population vary widely. All population figures are estimates since no official census has been conducted in Burma since 1983. A UN estimate puts the population as 4.35 million in 2010 but a 2009 U.S. State Department estimate puts it at 5.5 million. The U.S. State Department's estimate is probably closer to the real number since the UN number is a straight-line projection, and does not appear to take the expansion of city limits in the past two decades into account. The city's population grew sharply after 1948 as many people (mainly, the indigenous Burmese) from other parts of the country moved into the newly built satellite towns of North Okkalapa, South Okkalapa, and Thaketa in the 1950s and East Dagon, North Dagon and South Dagon in the 1990s. Immigrants have founded their regional associations (such as Mandalay Association, Mawlamyaing Association, etc.) in Yangon for networking purposes. The government's decision to move the nation's administrative capital to Naypyidaw has drained an unknown number of civil servants away from Yangon.
Yangon is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. While Indians formed the slight majority prior to World War II, today, the majority of the population is of indigenous Bamar (Burman) descent. Large communities of Indians/South Asian Burmese and the Chinese Burmese exist especially in the traditional downtown neighborhoods. A large number of Rakhine and Karen also live in the city.
Burmese is the principal language of the city. English is by far the preferred second language of the educated class. In recent years, however, the prospect of overseas job opportunities has enticed
some to study other languages: Mandarin Chinese is most popular, followed by Japanese, and French.
RELIGIONS
The primary religions practiced in Yangon are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Shwedagon Pagoda is a famous religious landmark in the city.
MEDIA
Yangon is the country's hub for the movie, music, advertising, newspaper and book publishing industries. All media is heavily regulated by the military government. Television broadcasting is off limits to the private sector. All media content must first be approved by the government's media censor board, Press Scrutiny and Registration Division.
Most television channels in the country are broadcast from Yangon. TV Myanmar and Myawaddy TV are the two main channels, providing Burmese-language programming in news and entertainment. Other special interest channels are MWD-1 and MWD-2, MRTV-3, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences via satellite and via Internet, MRTV-4 and Channel 7 are with a focus on non-formal education programs and movies, and Movie 5, a pay-TV channel specializing in broadcasting foreign movies.
Yangon has three radio stations. Myanmar Radio National Service is the national radio service and broadcasts mostly in Burmese (and in English during specific times.) Pop culture oriented Yangon City FM and Mandalay City FM radio stations specialize in Burmese and English pop music, entertainment programs, live celebrity interviews, etc. New radio channels such as Shwe FM and Pyinsawaddy FM can also be tuned with the city area.
Nearly all print media and industries are based out of Yangon. All three national newspapers – two Burmese language dailies Myanma Alin (မြန်မာ့အလင်း) and Kyemon (ကြေးမုံ), and the English language The New Light of Myanmar — are published by the government. Semi-governmental The Myanmar Times weekly, published in Burmese and in English, is mainly geared for Yangon's expatriate community. Over twenty special interest journals and magazines covering sports, fashion, finance, crime, literature (but never politics) vie for the readership of the general populace.
Access to foreign media is extremely difficult. Satellite television in Yangon, and in Burma, is very expensive as the government imposes an annual registration fee of one million kyats. Certain foreign newspapers and periodicals such as the International Herald Tribune and the Straits Times can be found only in a few (mostly downtown) bookstores. Internet access in Yangon, which has the best telecommunication infrastructure in the country, is slow and erratic at best, and the Burmese government implements one of the world's most restrictive regimes of Internet control. International text messaging and voice messaging was permitted only in August 2008.
COMMUNICATION
Common facilities taken for granted elsewhere are luxury prized items in Yangon and Burma. The price of a GSM mobile phone was about K1.1 million in August 2008. In 2007, the country of 55 million had only 775,000 phone lines (including 275,000 mobile phones), and 400,000 computers. Even in Yangon, which has the best infrastructure, the estimated telephone penetration rate was only 6% at the end of 2004, and the official waiting time for a telephone line was 3.6 years. Most people cannot afford a computer and have to use the city's numerous Internet cafes to access a heavily restricted Internet, and a heavily censored local intranet. According to official statistics, in July 2010, the country had over 400,000 Internet users, with the vast majority hailing from just two cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Although Internet access was available in 42 cities across the country, the number of users outside the two main cities was just over 10,000.
LIFESTYLE
Yangon's property market is the most expensive in the country and beyond the reach of most Yangonites. Most rent outside the centre and few can afford to rent such apartments. (In 2008, rents for a typical 60 to 70 m2 apartments in the centre and vicinity range between K70,000 and K150,000 and those for high end condos between K200,000 and K500,000.)
Most men of all ages (and some women) spend their time at ubiquitous tea-shops, found in any corner or street of the city. Watching European football (mostly English Premier League with occasional La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga) matches while sipping tea is a popular pastime among many Yangonites. The average person stays close to his or her residential neighbourhood. The well-to-do tend to visit shopping malls and parks on weekends. Some leave the city on weekends for Chaungtha and Ngwesaung beach resorts in Ayeyarwady Division.
Yangon is also home to many pagoda festivals (paya pwe), held during dry-season months (November – March). The most famous of all, the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival in March, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the country.
Yangon's museums are the domain of tourists and rarely visited by the locals.
Most of Yangon's larger hotels offer some kind of nightlife entertainment, geared towards tourists and the well-to-do Burmese. Some hotels offer traditional Burmese performing arts shows complete with a traditional Burmese orchestra. The pub scene in larger hotels is more or less the same as elsewhere in Asia. Other options include karaoke bars and pub restaurants in Yangon Chinatown.
Due to the problems of high inflation, the lack of high denomination notes, and the fact that many of the population do not have access to checks, or credit or debit cards, it is common to see citizens carrying a considerable amount of cash. (The highest denomination of Burmese currency kyat is 10 000 (~US$10.)) Credit cards are only rarely used in the city, chiefly in the more lavish hotels. Credit cards are also accepted in the major supermarket and convenience store chains.
SPORTS
As the city has the best sporting facilities in the country, most national-level annual sporting tournaments such as track and field, football, volleyball, tennis and swimming are held in Yangon. The 40,000-seat Aung San Stadium and the 32,000-seat Thuwunna Stadium are the main venues for the highly popular annual State and Division football tournament. Until April 2009, the now defunct Myanmar Premier League, consisted of 16 Yangon-based clubs, played all its matches in Yangon stadiums, and attracted little interest from the general public or commercial success despite the enormous popularity of football in Burma. Most Yangonites prefer watching European football on satellite TV. Teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City are among the favorite European teams among the Yangonites. It remains to be seen whether the Myanmar National League, the country's first professional football league, and its Yangon-based club Yangon United FC will attract a sufficient following in the country's most important media market.
Yangon is also home to annual the Myanmar Open golf tournament, and the Myanmar Open tennis tournament. The city hosted the 1961 and 1969 South East Asian Games. During colonial times, cricket was played mostly by British officials in the city. First-class cricket was played in the city in January 1927 when the touring Marylebone Cricket Club played Burma and the Rangoon Gymkhana. Two grounds were used to host these matches, the BAA Ground and the Gymkhana Ground. These matches mark the only time Burma and Rangoon Gymkhana have appeared in first-class cricket, and the only time first-class cricket has been played in Burma. After independence cricket all but died out in the country.
Yangon has a growing population of skateboarders, as documented in the films Altered Focus: Burma and Youth of Yangon. German non-profit organization Make Life Skate Life has received permission from the Yangon City Development Committee to construct a concrete skatepark at Thakin Mya park in downtown, and plans to complete the park in November 2015.
ECONOMY
Yangon is the country's main centre for trade, industry, real estate, media, entertainment and tourism. The city represents about one fifth of the national economy. According to official statistics for FY 2010–2011, the size of the economy of Yangon Region was 8.93 trillion kyats, or 23% of the national GDP.
The city is Lower Burma's main trading hub for all kinds of merchandise – from basic food stuffs to used cars although commerce continues to be hampered by the city's severely underdeveloped banking industry and communication infrastructure. Bayinnaung Market is the largest wholesale centre in the country for rice, beans and pulses, and other agricultural commodities. Much of the country's legal imports and exports go through Thilawa Port, the largest and busiest port in Burma. There is also a great deal of informal trade, especially in street markets that exist alongside street platforms of Downtown Yangon's townships. However, on 17 June 2011, the YCDC announced that street vendors, who had previously been allowed to legally open shop at 3 pm, would be prohibited from selling on the streets, and permitted to sell only in their townships of residence, presumably to clean up the city's image. Since 1 December 2009, high-density polyethylene plastic bags have been banned by city authorities.
Manufacturing accounts for a sizable share of employment. At least 14 light industrial zones ring Yangon, directly employing over 150,000 workers in 4,300 factories in early 2010. The city is the centre of country's garment industry which exported US$292 million in 2008/9 fiscal year. More than 80 percent of factory workers in Yangon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better life. The manufacturing sector suffers from both structural problems (e.g. chronic power shortages) and political.
problems (e.g. economic sanctions). In 2008, Yangon's 2500 factories alone needed about 120 MW of power; yet, the entire city received only about 250 MW of the 530 MW needed. Chronic power shortages limit the factories' operating hours between 8 am and 6 pm.
Construction is a major source of employment. The construction industry has been negatively affected by the move of state apparatus and civil servants to Naypyidaw, new regulations introduced in August 2009 requiring builders to provide at least 12 parking spaces in every new high-rise building, and the general poor business climate. As of January 2010, the number of new high-rise building starts approved in 2009–2010 was only 334, compared to 582 in 2008–2009.
Tourism represents a major source of foreign currency for the city although by south-east Asian standards the number of foreign visitors to Yangon has always been quite low - about 250,000 before the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. The number of visitors dipped even further following the Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis. The recent improvement in the country's political climate has attracted an increasing number of businessmen and tourists. Between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors that went through Yangon International in 2011. However, after years of underinvestment, Yangon's modest hotel infrastructure - only 3000 of the total 8000 hotel rooms in Yangon are "suitable for tourists" - is already bursting at seams, and will need to be expanded to handle additional visitors. As part of an urban development strategy, a hotel zone has been planned in Yangon's outskirts, encompassing government- and military-owned land in Mingaladon, Hlegu and Htaukkyant Townships.
EDUCATION
Yangon educational facilities has a very high number of qualified teachers but the state spending on education is among the lowest of the world. Around 2007 estimate by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies puts the spending for education at 0.5% of the national budget. The disparity in educational opportunities and achievement between rich and poor schools is quite stark even within the city. With little or no state support forthcoming, schools have to rely on forced "donations" and various fees from parents for nearly everything – school maintenance to teachers' salaries, forcing many poor students to drop out.
While many students in poor districts fail to reach high school, a handful of Yangon high schools in wealthier districts such as Dagon 1, Sanchaung 2, Kamayut 2, Bahan 2, Latha 2, and TTC provide the majority of students admitted to the most selective universities in the country, highlighting the extreme shallowness of talent pool in the country. The wealthy bypass the state education system altogether, sending their children to private English language instruction schools such as YIEC or more widely known as ISM, or abroad (typically Singapore or Australia) for university education. In 2014, international schools in Yangon cost at least US$8,000 a year.
There are over 20 universities and colleges in the city. While Yangon University remains the best known (its main campus is a part of popular Burmese culture e.g. literature, music, film, etc.), the nation's oldest university is now mostly a graduate school, deprived of undergraduate studies. Following the 1988 nationwide uprising, the military government has repeatedly closed universities, and has dispersed most of undergraduate student population to new universities in the suburbs such as Dagon University, the University of East Yangon and the University of West Yangon. Nonetheless many of the country's most selective universities are still in Yangon. Students from around the country still have to come to study in Yangon as some subjects are offered only at its universities. The University of Medicine 1, University of Medicine 2, Yangon Technological University, University of Computer Studies and Myanmar Maritime University are the most selective in the country.
HEALTH CARE
The general state of health care in Yangon is poor. According to a 2007 estimate, the military government spends 0.4% of the national budget on health care, and 40% to 60% on defense. By the government's own figures, it spends 849 kyats (US$0.85) per person. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals including the flagship Yangon General Hospital lack many of the basic facilities and equipment.
Wealthier Yangonites still have access to country's best medical facilities and internationally qualified doctors. Only Yangon and Mandalay have any sizable number of doctors left as many Burmese doctors have emigrated. The well-to-do go to private clinics or hospitals like Pun Hlaing International Hospital and Bahosi Medical Clinic. Medical malpractice is widespread, even in private clinics and hospitals that serve the well-to-do. In 2009 and 2010, a spate of high-profile deaths brought out the severity of the problem, even for the relatively well off Yangonites. The wealthy do not rely on domestic hospitals and travel abroad, usually Bangkok or Singapore, for treatment.
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