One of the two giant breast reactors at San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California was shut down yesterday after a “small leak” was detected in a “steam generator tube.”

A facility operator said there was no risk to the public or plant workers.

Fukushima.

This magnificent building was located at 16th and Curtis Streets in Denver, built in 1881 for a then unheard of $850,000 ($19 million in today’s dollars) by one Horace A.W. Tabor, who made a fortune in silver mines. Look at this interior!

Cherry wood was imported from Japan and mahogany from Honduras, with 1,500 mohair seats facing a 72-ft. stage that was 50-ft. deep, with a giant painted curtain… seen here in glorious black and white.

The inscription on the curtain prophetically states:

“So fleet the works of man, back to the earth again.
Ancient and holy things fade like a dream.”

Here’s another view of the building…

The Tabor was remodeled in 1921 for movies, and operated for nine years as the Colorado Theater, before once again becoming The Tabor. The great acts of Vaudeville played the stage. It was sold in ’49 for a million dollars. By the ’50s, it was facing the threat of demolition as the population departed for the suburbs.

It was torn down in 1964. Its giant curtain, too large to be displayed anywhere, was stored for years and disintegrated, and was later hauled to a dump. Today, the site is this:

…the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Things fade like a dream.

I’m feeling blue… checkerboard.

This stupendous building is at 64 Palmetto Street in the Bushwick neighborhood of New York, a product of developer Abe Green Buildings.

via BushwickBK.com

The spooky-looking Woodlawn Club on Woodlawn Ave. at 64th St., destroyed by fire in 1919… making way for this magnificent structure…

The outstanding Wedgewood Hotel, built on the same parcel across from the church, as it stood in its Beaux Arts grandeur in 1923. Designed by Lewis E. Russell, whose architectural claim to fame is as one of the designers of the prototype for White Castle hamburger stands. This was his largest-known building, an 11-story “flatiron” masterpiece.

It was demolished sometime in the mid-20th Century. Now it’s a …

parking lot for a dozen cars.

Bonus! Here’s Russell’s White Castle landmark at 43 E. Cermak Road, now a chicken shack.

Mmm… sliders.

A chilling nighttime shot of a building in the no man’s land of Vernon, Calif., through the lens of photographer JSM NoHo, who has been documenting the warehouse district of southeast Los Angeles.

There’s talk that the long deteriorating area may attempt to undergo a revitalization, with warehouses converted to lofts. The only problem with that, is that they’d be in Vernon.

Here’s JSM’s eerie view of the Coroner’s building in Boyle Heights. (click photos to enlarge)

Yes, that’s where Lindsay Lohan mopped up.

This snazzy joint was once “Winnemucca’s newest and finest,” on the old Route 40 in Winnemucca, Nevada, boasting luxury at economy prices. Plus, superb food and exciting entertainment in the “Crimson Lounge,” which looks like a redecorated Philadelphia basement — and if the inset photo is any indication, we know why it’s a real gone place. Today, it’s…

this. Clearly for winners. See you in Winnemucca! (What rhymes with that?)

This compelling pic of a 99 Cent Only store at night, with garbage, by Austin Shear, who has an eye for the extraordinarily ordinary.

Check out Austin’s tumblr.

The majestic Hotel Piccadilly, as it stood in Times Square… and below, as it appears today… the unfortunate Marriott Marquis.

Below is the regal main restaurant of the Piccadilly…

and here’s the lobby of the Marriott…

I’ll be stopping at the Piccadilly.

Here’s the place where it was all happening… The Hurricane, “New York’s Smart Tropical Restaurant,” on the 2nd floor of the Brill Building at 49th & Broadway in the early 1940s. Would you like a menu?

This is the place where Duke Ellington and his orchestra really turned the town upside down. Duke claimed he never made any money during his record 25-week stint at the club, but the live radio broadcasts raised his national appearance fees so high, that it made up for it. This was also the beginning of the end of segregated club audiences. Here’s a view from the orchestra.

And here’s Duke Ellington, surveying his domain.

The club, owned by theatrical attorney Dave Wolper (his nephew became the later TV producer), closed after a lot of financial disputes. The legendary Brill Building is still there.

Amazingly, here’s a recording of a live radio broadcast with Duke from The Hurricane.

Here’s some film of the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1943.

And here’s where you would have danced…

I’ll see you in my dreams… at the Tahitian Hut Bar.

some pix via Exploring Old New York

A magnificent US Post Office at the corner of Washington and 13th in Miami, an Art Deco facade with gorgeous murals inside… today it’s…

still there!

It’s not a real gone place at all! Hooray! Some things survive!