Lebow Clothing Factory

Instead of drowning my sorrows in chocolate this past Valentine's Day, I decided to kick off my urban decay exploration series by traveling to the Lebow Clothing Factory in Baltimore with Kelly Heck. From what I gather, the factory was built in the 1930's and was the manufacturer of of the Lebow clothes label, best known for men's suits and jackets. It closed its doors in 1985. My initial reaction when first approaching the building was how amazingly haunting the facade of the building looked. The bleakness of it was gripping - the most notable detail were the skeletal trees with ravens in them - like something straight out of a horror movie. I couldn't wait to find out what awaited inside, but whether getting in was possible or not was the question of the hour. The odds didn't look too promising, as every window and door on the ground level had been boarded up. But there were other ways. Kelly described it best, "We climbed, we scaled, we crawled our way in."

Once inside, I was shocked to find most of the items still in tact and seemingly left just as they were when the factory closed. Walking up the first stairwell, I noticed that the stairway littered with blue, pink, and yellow time cards. It seemed as if the workers clocked out twenty-some years ago, threw their time-cards into the air, and never returned. I could tell there had been a considerable amount of looting done judging by all the empty hangers, but there were still a surprising number of men's jackets and suits strewn all over the space. I'm not going to lie, as fascinating as this place is it also spooked me on more than one occasion. The first two floors were dark. Very dark. It was also windy and thus made strange sounds within the building that made me question whether Kelly and I were actually alone.

Noteable details from inside included: the vast array of jackets, vests, and pants (some moth-eaten, but others that looked like they came right off the press), defunct Singer sewing machine stations, assorted machinery, a trolley cart entwined with thread and a gigantic icicle, and a pile of boxes filled with thousands of buttons. Overall, I feel like the shoot was very successful and not only did I walk away with some great shots, but also a handful of artifacts (buttons, time cards, pay stubs, clothing tags). Going into this space was the most adventurous thing I've done since Henryton, and I can barely wait to explore to my next location.