I peeped this building when trawling Google maps for NYC graffiti yards. It had the tell-tale signs of an abandonment from the graffiti visible in Satellite view. I eventually made my way out there a few weeks ago whilst graff hunting, … Continue reading →

The New York Farmers Colony has an interesting, sordid history. It began as a poor house, before social security systems were in place. People unable to care for themselves were sent there to do farm labor. The produce of the farm … Continue reading →

My last post was a power plant and I’m pretty sure this place is too, though I couldn’t find any history on it. This was a really cool, completely unplanned and unexpected explore. Last week I met someone named Bobby Hicks … Continue reading →

My 101st Urban Ex post.. w00t! Time flies, I wonder what lies in my next hundred spots? 😀 This abandoned Power Plant was nick named the Gates of Hell by explorers before me. I don’t know why, it seemed lovely … Continue reading →

The days after a major NYC snow storm I found myself once again Urban Exploring a giant sprawling complex of abandoned buildings. This time, I went to the sub-section called “The Quad.” The area has 4 pairs of large wings, … Continue reading →

Sometimes when you’ve done something for awhile, you start to think you’ve seen everything. I’ve been exploring abandoned things and drain tunnels for a few years now. But nothing could have prepared me for my most recent adventure: a giant … Continue reading →

The other day I went out with another awesome explorer I met online. We drove an hour away from the city to this magical land of abandoned buildings. This sprawling complex was huge and full of old medical / psychiatric buildings. We … Continue reading →

Early on in my adventures I did some silos back in the Bay Area. When I moved to NYC I quickly learned of silos over on the east coast that were similar in age and style to the Bay Area’s … Continue reading →

This was a gigantic warehouse – basically two in one. In was comprised of two separate buildings, joined with a large gate connecting them. In the middle was a creepy cage – see the thumbnail and pics below. While exploring … Continue reading →

Not to far away from Smells house, I was able to find this mostly empty warehouse, but it was coated with wall to wall graffiti.

This warehouse was built in 1886 – that’s, like, 100 years before I was born. Interestingly, the construction was made primarily out of wood. In place of steel i-beams there were wooden support beams. It’s pretty creepy to think that this … Continue reading →

Last weekend I finally got into my first ‘real’ spot in NYC: an Abandoned subway station! It felt good to finally do some real exploring. The spot was tricky to get to – I had to climb a fence, and … Continue reading →

Every now and then fans of gmiller.net reach out to me. (Feel free to do so!) One fan hooked me up with this spot, and I’m thankful. I had never seen or heard of this spot prior – it’s completely … Continue reading →

We had a lead on this spot previously and it turned out to be a different abandoned school in a semi-nearby area. Discouraged, we went home empty handed. It was good news when we found the actual location and hit … Continue reading →

Several years ago my exploring buddy and I got ourselves into one of the most memorable adventures: a giant Asterisk shaped building with over 400 rooms. Well, there was actually two of them, and at the time the second one was … Continue reading →

I actually did a very similar spot to these years ago, so I kinda knew what to expect. An Instagrammer I followed alluded to the benefits of checking if maintenance doors are open. We figured out where the spot probably … Continue reading →

This school, I believe, is over 100 years old. It left a beautiful building behind filled with graffiti. With four floors and a basement level, it took over three hours to explore completely. Keep an eye out for the giant ballroom … Continue reading →

Much much earlier in my adventures I had visited and climbed some cranes. That was one of my most cherished exploring memories so I was ecstatic to find some more easily accessible, easily climbable cranes! Well, truth be-told I only … Continue reading →

I’m not sure if this warehouse is actually abandoned. It’s really neat and clean inside. I decided to poke my head in through a hole and saw a sweet CCTV door and a urinal with a CCTV face draw on. … Continue reading →

The architecture and the environment this spot is located at reminded me of the Tag Cathedral. There was a small shed next to it with some machines and a basic CCTV handstyle on the roof. Outside there were some rather … Continue reading →

Not sure what the original purpose of this building was, but it does have a large walk-in safe on the first floor. It does look like it was fancy inside for it’s time, and being three stories would have lots … Continue reading →

This large gym has been abandoned for some time. In addition to large, open, sporting area, there’s also three stories to explore. Interestingly, the stories go downward instead of upward. Although you enter the building on the first floor (maybe … Continue reading →

When we found out about this place we were expecting a warehouse. But what we got was totally better: a slick ex-office building from a Silicon Valley company. The inside wasn’t just a big empty square, it was a maze … Continue reading →

The locals call it the Slaughter House, but I call it the S-laughter House. Either way it is neither a slaughter house or a place to find comedy. It most likely was some kind of grain processing facility based on … Continue reading →

We actually found this spot when we stopped by to flick the GATs / Attica mural outside. When I realized where we were, we had to peep the inside. Unfortunately we were late to the party on this one. Prior … Continue reading →

We were driving along the freeway when I spotted a large GATS on a building facing the road. We got off at the next exit and hunted it down. This appears to be an abandoned motel consisting of two different … Continue reading →

I happened upon this building during a near-by adventure and noticed it was abandoned. Later, when driving by I noticed hand-styles in the windows. IT HAD TO BE DONE. Unfortunately it was locked super-tight when we arrived to check it … Continue reading →

This is a pretty common hiking trail that is getting rather popular these days. Along the way there’s multiple bunkers to check out, and the treat on top is a large complex of amazing graffiti from the likes of GATS, … Continue reading →

The Temple of doom has been a target in my sights for along time. It started with a picture I found on the internet of a very distinct Girafa roller – I had to find it. I eventually found a … Continue reading →

This spot has been on the top of the to-do list for quite some time. It took us embarrassingly long to actually find it, however. In fact, we found many other creek spots during our exhaustive hunt. Besides the obvious … Continue reading →

Word has it that this used to be a famous lock company. Now the building is home to art and the occasional squatter. The building is absolutely beautiful inside, I wish I could buy it.

This tubular tunnel exists straight out to a beach. Oracle was there to lead the way.

Believe it or not, these buildings involved hiking to the top of a mountain. I’m surprised at the quality selection up here. Great art and great views!

Though only one car was enterable, this was a neat little train. It seems to have been parked here for along time… and the track it’s on just disintegrates into nothing.

This was a set of four total, voluminous, long tunnels set in two parallel pairs. The first two were surprisingly empty, but then again they were annoying to get to – the mud was like super glue. The latter two … Continue reading →

I really enjoyed this spot. It’s a nice setting change from your typical urban ex, tucked away in the forest. Of course, it’s down sides were pretty gross. We heard rats(?) running in the ceiling above us, and some places … Continue reading →

Not to be confused with the writer named Lush, this warehouse is literally Lush with overgrowth and art. It’s uncommon to see a warehouse with a dirt floor, so this makes an interesting subject.

With four floors, 6 halls, 14 rooms per hall, this building had over 336 rooms. It’s shaped like a giant Asterisk, and is one hell of an urban exploration. The icing on the cake is the huge amount of classic, … Continue reading →

Apparently this land was once owned by a gravel company. The company excavated several giant craters in the middle of nowhere, before shutting down their operation. The locals have named this one “The Pits.” It’s now become an oasis of … Continue reading →

This was a recently closed Family Fun Center, that featured MiniGolf, Go Karts, an Arcade among other attractions. I actually grew up in the area and was a patron many times, so this was a rather odd urban exploration.

Named after the Bay Area writer, Jurne, this warehouse was a spectacular showcase of his work. Apparently he discovered the place and kept it on the DL, continuously updating it with some of his best work. Though I had been … Continue reading →

This warehouse was mostly bare, unlike the Liquidators Jungle. However, it had a small office complex with a large Uter featured out front. I find it hard to believe this place isn’t completely coated.

What happens when a large furniture retailer goes belly up? You end up with a gigantic warehouse still completely stocked. This place was a jungle inside, with a maze of furniture, broken glass, and of course, black mold. Good thing … Continue reading →

Discovered this place by accident when crawling Google Satellite looking for The Cranes. The story goes, the owner purchased the property and began building a mansion using lava rock imported from Hawaii. Supposedly the stones were cursed and caused the … Continue reading →

This was an exciting day, hitting up nearly every WW2 era bunker in a cluster up in the San Francisco Bay’s hills. Some of them have been buffed, and some of them remained home to some of our favorite graffiti … Continue reading →

The Silos was one of my all time favorite adventures, perhaps because of it’s grand scale. The building is a set of two towers, approximately 10-12 stories tall. The first floor of the main tower is a dark maze of … Continue reading →

This abandoned Bay Area warehouse has been dubbed the “Tag Cathedral,” by locals. It features wall-to-wall graffiti that spans several years, making this quite a reputable yard. We had been wanting to find this place for a awhile so it … Continue reading →

This spot is tucked away deep in the California coastal mountains. It features an abandoned train bridge, train tunnel and even a swimming pool dated August 1915.

We found the point-of-entry for this dark damp tunnel on a previous adventure and decided we needed to do it one day. After psyching ourselves up for what doom may lay in this underground tunnel, we proceeded in. This was … Continue reading →

This drain water creek spans about 3 to 4 miles. Since it requires rain boots, it’s a tedious walk round trip, but worth it for some of the amazing graffiti down there including Charles crew and Maska.

These rusting, graffiti coated tanks are now sitting empty on a hill side. Well, not completely empty – they do have a lot of dusty, rusty air inside. Though we snapped some shots of the inside from the exterior piping, … Continue reading →

The first time we found this location, it was boarded up too tightly. We were able to snap some pics of the inside from a hole in the exterior, but that’s not good enough! This trip was from a revisit, … Continue reading →

This was a house, probably once associated with the near by train tracks. Perhaps an old station. We didn’t have our masks with us today, and the inside smelled musty. Better safe that sorry, we didn’t enter this one, but … Continue reading →

This dilapidated structure was once a busy round house for Bay Area trains. It now has become an art gallery of sorts.

During WW2, this luxury resort hotel was purchased by the government and turned into a secret spying operation. The building was wired and used to interrogate Japanese Americans. Now it sits rotting in the sun, along with a couple vehicles.

The door to this creepy building was propped open, so we were expecting that someone might be inside. At first things were chill, but as we proceeded into a darker area, we heard some crashing banging noises. We ran out, … Continue reading →

This was a wonderful urban ex adventure – an abandoned, mostly intact hospital! Hospitals are creepy enough when they are still in operation, so combing the still air, urban decay and casual graffiti makes exploring an abandoned hospital exhilarating.

Another unusual location for urban ex was this freeway overpass / on ramp. It was build with a hollow enclosure underneath it, with a door leading in. Perhaps the city planned on using this for storage at some point? The … Continue reading →

The San Francisco Bay Area is such an amazingly fertile location for Urban Exploration. This decaying train station is a unique type of exploration, departing from abandoned buildings, warehouses and tunnels. It was once grand station, and still maintains much … Continue reading →

The Navy once occupied this classical Californian building, using it as their Officers Club. Judging by the amount of hypodermic needles we found, it’s now the heroin club. As we tip-toed through disease traps, we found a rather epic piece … Continue reading →

Twinkie the Kid was our main clue that this building once stood as a Cafeteria, or a large dining commons. Today the building bares little resemblance to a cafeteria and looks more like an abandoned recycling center. We found boxes … Continue reading →

Here we have a series of 6-8 rather large, college style school buildings. These buildings all share basically the same architectural floor plan, though half of them were mirrored. Despite being about 6 separate buildings we entered, all the interiors … Continue reading →

This place is known as the Kitchen Temple, named after it’s eccentric builder, one of the Kitchen brothers. You can find out more of it’s history with this thorough article. We weren’t able to get inside, because it was boarded … Continue reading →

This was a gigantic drainage pipe, more than big enough to comfortably walk in – if you don’t forget your boots. We thought it would be try, so we had to awkwardly walk along the steep banked edges of the … Continue reading →

This tunnel is located south of the Bay Area so it has a different set of artists than I’m familiar with.

Near the Cranes, there was a bunch of miscellaneous industrial buildings. Obviously we had to check it out. We actually found a surprising piece by one of our favorite artists – GATS – hidden out there on a rusty old … Continue reading →

This was one of my favorite adventures – getting to play on some gigantic abandoned cranes! It’s not often you get to climb up into these beasts, so I seized the opportunity when we drove past them on the freeway. … Continue reading →

This random house we found whilst hiking back from The Ruins. It was pretty small inside, so not a lot to shoot, but it was a fun little side stop. I just wish one of us had taken a picture … Continue reading →

The Ruins are the remains of a century old factory in the bay area. Due to it’s classic construction style, the ruins feel unlike any other urban ex in the Bay Area. You could almost convince yourself that you’ve left … Continue reading →

We saw these decorated trains off in the distance, whilst on another adventure. We decided to check it out, and it was worth it.

The Swamp is yet another storm drain canal, that get’s it’s name from the swampy like conditions you walk through. It has become a great graffiti yard for all the locals, but has to be the place I’ve seen the … Continue reading →

This was a quick stop on the way home from some other adventure. It was a bridge tucked away in an east bay nature trail. It had some of my favorite graffiti artists, such as Plantrees and Snort.

I heard about a warehouse with a well known graffiti artist on the outside, named GATS. We were in the area, so we swung by. We weren’t able to get inside this trip, (although we did in a latter trip), … Continue reading →

For my second canal trip, I went to this amazing drain system that had some of the best graffiti I’ve seen in the entire Bay Area. Much respect to these artists, both for their work, and for respecting each others … Continue reading →

This is a weird little storm drain oddity. A local storm drain was split into three separate channels, that the Bay Area’s best graffiti artists decided to turn into a rather epic street-art gallery.

Combat City is an abandoned training center located in the middle of a forest, in an abandoned army post! What makes combat city so creepy, is that it’s an entire town built in the middle of the woods, that was … Continue reading →

On our way to another adventure we discovered this disproportionately tall tank in the hills. It seems to be out of use, as you can actually climb inside it. It was covered in graffiti so it made for some interesting … Continue reading →

The brick yards are the remains of a demolished brick factory … that was made of bricks! Not much is left, but this used to house a piece by my favorite graffiti artist – Girafa. Luckily, there is still a … Continue reading →

The Secret Sidewalk is no secret to the locals, but I’ll be keeping it’s location secret. It is a defunct water aqueduct, that had a closed top. Due to it’s unique closed-top style, you could walk on this aqueduct as if … Continue reading →

We revisited the church we found earlier, and set out to find a second church nearby. The second church is built in the same style, though interestingly it’s floor plan was mirrored.

The first time we visited this location, there was a band filming a music video there, so we didn’t want to spent too much time disturbing them. Worse, the camera I had been using decided that instead of telling me … Continue reading →

(Not Alcatraz!) The title says it all – this was one of the most wonderful, frightening, out-of-this-world explorations we had done to-date. To make things more intense, there was slight rain going on this day – and dripping water echoing … Continue reading →

Due to a technical malfunction, and limited light during our first visit to the Workshops, we planed a second visit so we could document them better. This time we got a much better selection of pictures, and we also went … Continue reading →

For some reason, when we saw this building at a distance we dubbed it “The Factory,” though it really is more of a warehouse. At any rate, the building has a wonderful industrial design / feeling, and a handful of … Continue reading →

SUPER CREEPY, is the only way to describe this mini-adventure. Inside the no-name brand gas station was very dark. The air felt still, luckily we couldn’t smell it through our respirators. We were hoping the convenience store part would be … Continue reading →

This warehouse was vast, but mostly empty inside. We had to toss our back pack in and crawl under a narrow gap to get inside, but it wasn’t too difficult. Inside there wasn’t much graffiti, but the peices that were … Continue reading →

This epic building had a giant satellite dish on the roof, hence the nickname. Inside was an amazing gallery of the Bay Area’s best graffiti artists, including Girafa, Plantrees, Musk, Swampy, 7SEAS, RODI and many more! Entering this one was … Continue reading →

This once was a place people used to plan our their vacation destinations. Now it has become a vacation destination for urban-exers. Inside we found a Molotov cocktail, as well as some amusing graffiti written on several of the buildings … Continue reading →

This was a little cluster of abandoned workshops. Some of them still had project cars left sitting to rot, while others had all kinds of power tools, slowly rusting away. There was also some break rooms, and one room we … Continue reading →

The dining commons were our first stop, but shortly after we entered this huge complex of creepy communal dorm-style apartments. They were full of interesting artifacts left over from the 90s, and still mostly furnished. We found a colorful room … Continue reading →

Near a large apartment complex we found the communities dining commons. We hadn’t entered the apartments (yet), but this was an interesting location. It was very dark inside, and the main room was covered in inches of pidgeon crap – … Continue reading →

Whilst exploring we saw some local musicians pull up and duck behind some plywood boards covering a large building. We asked if they would mind us following them in. Once we were given the go-ahead we found an epic Olympic … Continue reading →

This is a rather uncommon urban exploration local – a church! This church has definitely seen better days … better say your prayers for it. Another church very similar to this one was near by in the area, but we … Continue reading →

This is a huge sprawling complex of abandoned barracks. We painstakingly entered dozens of them. It seems as if a local group of air-soft teams has been using this complex for their war simulation. There were tons of plastic BBs … Continue reading →

Though this apartment complex was officially abandoned, a few of the rooms had intact windows and locked doors. We even saw someone sneak up the steps and disappear into one of the rooms. Not so abandoned after all. There was … Continue reading →

This giant, college sized school building was a fascinating exploration, full of all kinds of interesting art. Although we found an entry point at the ground level, we circled the building and ended up finding a staircase to the roof. … Continue reading →

This was a complex of fire-damaged barracks. The buildings were super unstable, so we had to be careful while placing every footstep. In one of the first areas we entered, the top story was completely sinking into the first story … Continue reading →

This is a super creepy abandoned department store. It has several street facing shops, a cafeteria, a giant warehouse (backroom), and a large open-space department store. We didn’t realized until after we reviewed the photos later on, that the doors … Continue reading →

I had known there was at least two standing Ghost Towns in the bay area, and the Mecury Mining Town was the other after Drawbridge, CA. We decided to make this our next trip. This town once served as the … Continue reading →

These abandoned, decaying barracks have been rotting away in the East bay for years. We decided to check them out on the way home from The Bulb. I happened upon these several years ago, when I was alone on a solo … Continue reading →

While researching Drawbridge I caught word of an epic homeless community that lived on a peninsula called “The Bulb.” The wheels were in motion and soon I found myself on this sociological oddity of a land mass. Continue reading →

This was my third trip to Drawbridge, CA. Between my first outing and this one, I visited it once more.I didn’t document it very well that trip, so I omitted that adventure on this blog. Although we didn’t get a … Continue reading →

I planned this trip shortly after I discovered the location through social media. There were doubts whether or not it would be worth the effort, but over all it payed off and was a very fun early adventure. A handful … Continue reading →

Back in June 2010, I made my first trip out to the famous Drawbridge, CA; a ghost town sinking into the marshlands of the South Bay. Continue reading →

I peeped this building when trawling Google maps for NYC graffiti yards. It had the tell-tale signs of an abandonment from the graffiti visible in Satellite view. I eventually made my way out there a few weeks ago whilst graff hunting, … Continue reading →

After exploring under the freeway, I decided to check out a building that had some graffiti on it. It lead me to a path that went off into the woods. Eventually it turned into a tunnel which lead to a … Continue reading →

I had never been to New Jersey before nor had my roommate so we decided to get lunch in Jersey City. We took the PATH train from the World Trade Center station. It was fun to see the Jersey subway … Continue reading →

This was a gigantic warehouse – basically two in one. In was comprised of two separate buildings, joined with a large gate connecting them. In the middle was a creepy cage – see the thumbnail and pics below. While exploring … Continue reading →

Not to far away from Smells house, I was able to find this mostly empty warehouse, but it was coated with wall to wall graffiti.

This warehouse was built in 1886 – that’s, like, 100 years before I was born. Interestingly, the construction was made primarily out of wood. In place of steel i-beams there were wooden support beams. It’s pretty creepy to think that this … Continue reading →

While heading to another urban ex spot, I noticed this bus lot on the way. The walls seemed like legal walls, and the gate was wide open and inviting, so I spent a few moments flicking and grabbing panos of … Continue reading →

Last weekend I finally got into my first ‘real’ spot in NYC: an Abandoned subway station! It felt good to finally do some real exploring. The spot was tricky to get to – I had to climb a fence, and … Continue reading →

After settling in for a couple weeks I was feeling the itch to go out and flick some graffiti. Living in Brooklyn, there’s a whole new world of spots and yards to explore and I was eager to get started. … Continue reading →

For lack of a better than, I’m calling this spot ‘The Far Side,’ due to the fact that it’s technically the far side of a spot we had done earlier. We had never gone far enough to find this place … Continue reading →

Before moving to NYC, we decided to check off some San Jose spots. These were all separate spots, only related by walking proximity. The train bridge had a Girafa one-flow on it. I wonder what large giraffes lived down there … Continue reading →

Like the HYSU Tunnel, this area seems to be named after the Chiefs. We did find some sweet Musks in here too!

Though I’ve seen crawdads swimming around while lurking creeks, this is the first time I’ve actually seen them walking around outside of the water. I pet one and he adorably put his claws up. I’m not sure it’s wise to … Continue reading →

We had a lead on this spot previously and it turned out to be a different abandoned school in a semi-nearby area. Discouraged, we went home empty handed. It was good news when we found the actual location and hit … Continue reading →

This spot snuck an extra tunnel up upon us. The side we entered from appeared to have two parallel tunnels. When we got to the otherside, we were surprised to find a third tunnel entrance. After knocking out the two … Continue reading →

The name of this place is a play on the Manhattan Highline which is an abandoned strech of raised train tracks that the city turned into a park. This was never made into a park, but the local writers have … Continue reading →

I took a vacation to New York for one week. After knocking down all the major tourist attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and etc. I set aside a day for exploring the local graffiti scene. … Continue reading →

Over the past few weeks we hit up a couple DIY skate parks (and one professional). I grouped the shots from all three in this album.

Several years ago my exploring buddy and I got ourselves into one of the most memorable adventures: a giant Asterisk shaped building with over 400 rooms. Well, there was actually two of them, and at the time the second one was … Continue reading →

I actually did a very similar spot to these years ago, so I kinda knew what to expect. An Instagrammer I followed alluded to the benefits of checking if maintenance doors are open. We figured out where the spot probably … Continue reading →

The architecture and the environment this spot is located at reminded me of the Tag Cathedral. There was a small shed next to it with some machines and a basic CCTV handstyle on the roof. Outside there were some rather … Continue reading →

This large gym has been abandoned for some time. In addition to large, open, sporting area, there’s also three stories to explore. Interestingly, the stories go downward instead of upward. Although you enter the building on the first floor (maybe … Continue reading →

This bit of undeveloped land under a freeway is closed off with a layer of graffiti-covered shipping containers. Of all the spots I’ve visited, this place probably had the highest density of used hypodermic needles yet. Disgusting. It was also … Continue reading →

Not much at this spot, but I liked the atmosphere under this creek bridge.

Went looking for this spot specifically for the Pac-Man inspired “Rack-Man” piece by Baer. To our delight, there was two more baer piece here, including an epic collab with Gyer.

While on the hunt for a specific spot we had a giant list of unchecked east bay creeks to work through. Here are some highlights of mixed creeks.  

Named this spot after the self-titled Musk piece here. Unfortunately I was late to the game on this one and the bottom half of musk was lost…

I’ve known about this spots location and have been wanting to check it out for awhile. The outside is easy to check out, and probably familiar to people who walk their dogs on the beach. But what’s inside is whats … Continue reading →

As I’ve written about before: persistence pays off. We originally just wanted to scope out what was under the road, but after seeing what looked promising we headed back to the car to pick up boots so we could walk … Continue reading →

This tunnel at one time was an epic underground art gallery, but I was late to the game on this one and missed it. The city came through and buffed the whole thing – apparently this creek is extremely dangerous … Continue reading →

The word on the street is the HYSU crew (Have You Seen Us?) claimed a creek tunnel to themselves as their personal showcase for HYSU graff. They’ll even paint over anyone else who dares bomb the tunnel – Girafa learned … Continue reading →

While in the area, decided to check some south bay creeks off the bottomless list. Turns out, one of the stops we checked @bayareawanderer had already been to – and was home to a girafa I had yet to capture … Continue reading →

This was a short stretch of graffiti along a freeway. It had an older Phaze from 2011 so it had to be done. It was also nice to see some EAO including Payntr and Depht.

These aren’t really “houses,” but for lack of a better term these two houses were sitting on top of a small hill. After a short ascent we flicked some Oracles and others.

This spot consisted of a giant circle of trapezoid walls, some of which had doors. The circle was maybe 1 or 2 miles in diameter. We walked the circle flicking the graff as it came, including a few Oracles, Doner, … Continue reading →

On the way to our next location we made a quick pit stop at this hobo-camp bridge. Parking was scarce to the driver didn’t even get out of the car as we ran down to snap some quick pics. Unfortunately, … Continue reading →

We decided to do a tank-hunting day, and we checked out a handful of tanks in tucked away in the north bay hills. For this album, I combined the best shots of the day from our cameras.

Not the bat cave, but close enough. My friend told me he saw bats here last time and we made it over half way through and I was getting skeptical. Finally I noticed a dark, awkwardly flying, creature soaring low … Continue reading →

I have ridden the train by this yard many times in the past. It’s always looked pretty decent, and after shooting it at less than 50MPH, I can say that it was decent. While exploring this area my buddy and … Continue reading →

This is a special kind of graffiti yard – one that only feature’s a single artist. I guess in that case, it’s not much of a graffiti yard in the traditional sense. But I feel like it can hold it’s … Continue reading →

A while back I posted about some mystery covered bunkers, that had been covered with a heavy thick netting by the city for some reason. Well, word on the street had it that the netting was removed. We had to … Continue reading →

A few months ago, Girafa tempted his followers with an Instagram post, asking WHERE’S GALDO?   Girafa hid a “Galdo,” character in some creek, using his new style of combining classic toons with his iconic Giraffe. In this case, Where’s … Continue reading →

This alley is reminiscent of some of the San Francisco Mission alleys. The most notable feature besides the graffiti, though, is the number of prostitutes we saw strolling around, ducking behind cars when cops came through. Besides the ladies, this … Continue reading →

This was a graffiti coated underpass with unusual sidewalks. Though the sidewalks were built neatly, complete with arched tunnels, neither end of the sidewalks go anywhere. It’s actually somewhat difficult to access them. They can’t even be used by chance, … Continue reading →

By the time we reached this creek, it had already been a long day and our feet were killing us. But one more to go, and a few hours of day light left. Time to kill it. Luckily it payed … Continue reading →

We almost walked the length of this creek twice – from surface streets – before we actually entered. This urban-canal is far from being a nature stroll, it’s concrete for it’s entire length, and well fenced off. Eventually we gave … Continue reading →

We found a group of interconnected creeks, with the main line running north-south, while a few creeks split off to the east. This is the first creek, with many stops along the way, of the creek system.

This beach spot is popular with locals, but there’s not too much graff to see. Still worth a peep.

This was a revisit to Mountaintop Fun, because we had heard that Musk visited since our last trip. We had to come back and capture the new mummies.

This train bridge passes over a very busy bay area freeway. I had driven under it a million times, occasionally wondering what was up there. Surprised it took me so long..

I had no idea of this tunnels existence with the exception of one sexy piece by Beavis – the letters are made of people in an orgy. After having visited, this tunnel is one of my favorites, just for it’s … Continue reading →

I finally met up with one of the other epic photographers from Flickr and Instagram. The first spot we hit up that day was the Lions Den. I had seen pictures, but finally I had a location too.

This is a pretty common hiking trail that is getting rather popular these days. Along the way there’s multiple bunkers to check out, and the treat on top is a large complex of amazing graffiti from the likes of GATS, … Continue reading →

The Temple of doom has been a target in my sights for along time. It started with a picture I found on the internet of a very distinct Girafa roller – I had to find it. I eventually found a … Continue reading →

There’s a short stretch of train tracks that run past my house. When I drive over them, they never looked particularly interesting, but they had to be done. I was shocked at what I found lurking near by – I … Continue reading →

We started this spot by following a long freeway wall, which eventually merged into a creek with a handful of underpasses. Though each underpass could be considered a spot in it’s own right, I combined them into one creek for … Continue reading →

Sometimes it’s really difficult to track down a certain graffiti piece. I had only seen one or two shots of this CCTV on the Internet. But it’s not surprising why. When I arrived at the location, I was shocked about … Continue reading →

This creek has a Spanish name that may throw you off the first time you try to read it, so I call it tongue twister creek. We decided to pick a creek this day and walk as much of it … Continue reading →

The easiest way to get to this creek bridge is by ducking through an office buildings parking lot, climbing a fence, and dropping down into the creek. Of course, keep an eye for the cop or the security that likes … Continue reading →

This spot has been on the top of the to-do list for quite some time. It took us embarrassingly long to actually find it, however. In fact, we found many other creek spots during our exhaustive hunt. Besides the obvious … Continue reading →

We had some time to kill, so we went for a lovely stroll on the beach.

Word has it that this used to be a famous lock company. Now the building is home to art and the occasional squatter. The building is absolutely beautiful inside, I wish I could buy it.

This tubular tunnel exists straight out to a beach. Oracle was there to lead the way.

Believe it or not, these buildings involved hiking to the top of a mountain. I’m surprised at the quality selection up here. Great art and great views!

None of these creeks were really special enough to warrant a post of their own, but they are very close geographically.

This yard was hard to get to – no easy parking, and the only ways to get to it are pretty treacherous. I’m surprised at how well painted this place is, since it’s somewhat remote and difficult to get to. … Continue reading →

This was a set of four total, voluminous, long tunnels set in two parallel pairs. The first two were surprisingly empty, but then again they were annoying to get to – the mud was like super glue. The latter two … Continue reading →

We got a tip to check out the “Time Tunnel,” but when we got there we actually found two tunnels. Not too much to see inside these ones, but thought I’d post it for the sake of the legend of … Continue reading →

Persistence prevails yet again. After finishing up a spot, we decided to walk the creek to it’s end, just to see what’s there. After a long walk we came across this bonus yard we didn’t know existed. It’s pretty small, … Continue reading →

One thing I preach is persistence. Though we had already found what we were looking for in the area, I suggested we walk the extra 500 feet to see if there was anything around the corner. Sure enough we stumbled … Continue reading →

Like many graffiti yards, this spot has found a home under a major freeway. Strangely, though, all the artwork is covered with a thick layer of dust. To make things more confusing, the nearby spots don’t seem to be affected. … Continue reading →

This was another lake runoff, but for a lake that still exists! The artist IMP seemed to cover this spot well, so I called it the IMPY Dam.

This was once a damn and a run off spillway for a lake which no longer exists. Since the lake has been filled in, this defunct infrastructure has now become home to some graffiti. When I found out about this … Continue reading →

This tunnel was actually attached to a creek we covered earlier but we didn’t go far enough to find it. It’s got a great line up, so luckily we found it later.

I’m not sure if this yard has proper name, but considering it’s essentially a giant wall, I entitled it as such. There’s a handful of burners out here.

Not to be confused with the writer named Lush, this warehouse is literally Lush with overgrowth and art. It’s uncommon to see a warehouse with a dirt floor, so this makes an interesting subject.

With four floors, 6 halls, 14 rooms per hall, this building had over 336 rooms. It’s shaped like a giant Asterisk, and is one hell of an urban exploration. The icing on the cake is the huge amount of classic, … Continue reading →

For lack of a better name, I clearly titled this one after the piece that sticks out to me most. A rare, classic, Girafa. But that’s not all that’s there, you’ll also find a couple Musks, a couple Oracles, a … Continue reading →

While we were in the area, we stopped by for a quick revisit of the Interrogation Hotel. Not too much had changed, but there was a nice crispy new Oracle there, as well as a Galaxe among others.

Out in the middle of nowhere, a train crosses three tunnels. Of course this makes for fertile painting ground…

Apparently this land was once owned by a gravel company. The company excavated several giant craters in the middle of nowhere, before shutting down their operation. The locals have named this one “The Pits.” It’s now become an oasis of … Continue reading →

Apparently this graffiti yard is where Burning man stores it’s sculptures the rest of the year. You can’t go in this warehouse, but that’s alright because the best work is all outside. While we were there, we also visited a … Continue reading →

Named after the Bay Area writer, Jurne, this warehouse was a spectacular showcase of his work. Apparently he discovered the place and kept it on the DL, continuously updating it with some of his best work. Though I had been … Continue reading →

Got up bright and early, and hit this creek up literally at the break of dawn. Though it was mostly whack, there were some nice gems to be found.

This warehouse was mostly bare, unlike the Liquidators Jungle. However, it had a small office complex with a large Uter featured out front. I find it hard to believe this place isn’t completely coated.

What happens when a large furniture retailer goes belly up? You end up with a gigantic warehouse still completely stocked. This place was a jungle inside, with a maze of furniture, broken glass, and of course, black mold. Good thing … Continue reading →

This mini yard has become somewhat infamous due to it’s West Oakland sign painted by the popular artist GATS. Thought there’s not much to see, I had to make the pilgrimage and capture this mini yard.

To distinguish this arched tunnel, I call it the “Chandelier Tunnel.” About half way through this looonng tunnel, is a Chandelier someone has mounted on the ceiling. There was a lot of well done graffiti here, but without a proper … Continue reading →

This is a set of various tunnels and bridges along an east bay creek. It features a set of two parallel tunnels that were rather long. Unfortunately it was too dark to properly photograph and many of our shots came … Continue reading →

My exploring buddy and I refer to this beautifully arched tunnel as the “Roar Arch,” for obvious reasons. Though it’s not super long, this tunnel is a nice adventure.

We pinpointed a tunnel that goes under a major freeway and decided to check it out. Little did we know, upon arrival we would discover a huge freeway sound wall completely painted.

We discovered this stretch of tracks as we were following a lead to a classic Girafa Neck-bone piece.

This was a similar bunker to those from the hills we visited earlier, but this one was miles away and strangely covered in some kind of woven spread. Perhaps the city wanted to hide these, so they covered them with … Continue reading →

This place was on my to-visit list for waaay too long. I had seen pictures of these tanks online, but no matter how many hours I pour into scouring google satellite, I just couldn’t find them. Luckily my friend came … Continue reading →

This was an exciting day, hitting up nearly every WW2 era bunker in a cluster up in the San Francisco Bay’s hills. Some of them have been buffed, and some of them remained home to some of our favorite graffiti … Continue reading →

This was a quick little yard I found. It features a handful of Musks, a large CCTV piece, among others.

Earlier in the year, I had visited the Oakland Halls of Fame, which was a tribute to the late Bay Area graffiti writer, Dream. This is another of such tribute on Alemany in San Francisco. I first discovered this spot … Continue reading →

This abandoned Bay Area warehouse has been dubbed the “Tag Cathedral,” by locals. It features wall-to-wall graffiti that spans several years, making this quite a reputable yard. We had been wanting to find this place for a awhile so it … Continue reading →

Rest in Peace, Kickit. Kickit is one of the artists featured at this set of geographically close tunnels and underpasses.

We weren’t planing on finding this place, but it was a nice bonus surprise to stumble on.

Last time we visited this homemade skatepark, it was winter and the park was flooded. We revisited this summer after learning that Girafa had put up some new work there.

One tunnel seems to be a naturally formed cave, which is followed by a gap of open skies and a second, man made concrete tunnel. The latter tunnel is coated with decent graffiti, though the piece that we were looking … Continue reading →

Not to be confused with the Spongebob Yard, this is an entirely different location also tucked away in the coastal hills. It’s prominent piece features a new-style Girafa that merges into a Spongebob.

Trains come and go, and train yards aren’t exactly secrete spots, so I used the real name for this place. Chances are if you show up, all the art will be somewhere else on earth.

We found the point-of-entry for this dark damp tunnel on a previous adventure and decided we needed to do it one day. After psyching ourselves up for what doom may lay in this underground tunnel, we proceeded in. This was … Continue reading →

We had to pass through this area to get to another spot, so we snapped the things that had changed since last time, including a few interesting pieces we missed. We had been looking exhaustively for this brick Girafa, and … Continue reading →

They say if you visit this graffiti yard at the right time of day, it smells like oven fresh cookies from one of the nearby buildings. It didn’t smell that good when we visited, but it did have a delicious … Continue reading →

This drain water creek spans about 3 to 4 miles. Since it requires rain boots, it’s a tedious walk round trip, but worth it for some of the amazing graffiti down there including Charles crew and Maska.

These rusting, graffiti coated tanks are now sitting empty on a hill side. Well, not completely empty – they do have a lot of dusty, rusty air inside. Though we snapped some shots of the inside from the exterior piping, … Continue reading →

The first time we found this location, it was boarded up too tightly. We were able to snap some pics of the inside from a hole in the exterior, but that’s not good enough! This trip was from a revisit, … Continue reading →

This is one of my favorite graffiti creeks of all time. There are some really nice pieces and the atmosphere was pleasant. But the Adventure Time piece sticks out to me, as I am a fan of the show.

The Waterway is a huge concrete water channel tucked away in the hills. Though it was completely dry, I’d love to see it in action, perhaps a revisit during the winter is in order. I can’t imagine why this big … Continue reading →

For lack of a better name, I called this graffiti yard the Maska Train Tunnel after one of my favorite artists featured there.

We spotted this graffiti coated concrete creek from satellite view, and decided to check it out.

Whether intentional or not, this train had some sort of stair case which gave the place a very cozy, picturesque feeling. If I lived in the area, I’d spend more time down there. While we were there, a couple fish … Continue reading →

I actually liked this SJ bridge. The bridge had just a mild creek under it, with stepping stones set up by homeless across it. It was very zen like, the air was cool, and the homeless had a fire going … Continue reading →

Tired of San Jose bridges yet? Here’s another.

We weren’t planning on this spot, but happened to walk by it. This is a graffiti covered skatepark located somewhere in SJ.

I wonder why the engineers of this bridge chose such an unusual design. The bridge didn’t seem too much bigger than anything I’ve seen before, but the poles were just too many! Not too much graffiti to see here…

We walked along a stretch of southern bay area commuter tracks.

Once again we find ourselves under a major freeway, though this San Jose bridge was much less impressive.

These were two bridges right in a row, so close they could almost be the same bridge. Mostly whack stuff, but it is what it is.

This train yard seemed to specialize in car carrying cargo trains. We explored the yard itself and the nearby surrounding tracks. We found a couple of Girafas, including one we didn’t even know existed!

Random shots from around San Jose that don’t fit anywhere else.

This was a large bridge accommodating a rather busy multilane freeway in the bay area. There was a large homeless camp set up here as well.

This SJ Bridge surprised us with a Musk!

Nothing too notable about this random bridge in SJ.

This bridge in the SJ set of bridges was very open and spacious underneath.

We were taking a shortcut through an open field with tall grass, when we discovered this train bridge we had no idea existed. It doesn’t really go over an active creek, but maybe it once did. This was a delightful … Continue reading →

Just a bridge near a Lowes.

A cartoon house painted under this SJ bridge really stood out to me.

Not much to see under this bridge under the lightrail.

Another SJ bridge, this one was divided into compartments underneath that individuals seemed to have set up as their homes. There was some kinda chill-out party going on down there when we arrived, but they didn’t mind us photographing the … Continue reading →

This is the first in a series of San Jose tunnels and bridges. This dark tunnel was actually one of a pair of parallel tunnels. Unfortunately, the other side was full of water and we were unable to explore it. … Continue reading →

Though you would typically find backyard fences painted along side train tracks, these fences were in a proper community suburb. Some outstanding work here, a must see album!

Due to the diminishing light during our first trip to this epic alleyway, we had planned on visiting again to take more thorough photos. This was the second trip since we were in the area.

This alley in the mission had a nice Plantrees set.

Yet another astonishing alley coated in graffiti in the Mission.

Freespace is/was an experimental community project in San Francisco. The idea was to rent a previously industrial / commercial building in SF and turn it into “free space” for the community to come and relax, create, study, cook, or generally … Continue reading →

We spooked a couple of graffiti writers as we approached this destination. Sorry guys. They must have been keeping an eye on us from a distance, because after we left we saw them return to their craft.

This forgotten industrial area shores up against a beautiful waterfront view. Even the graffiti want’s to swimming!

This was an interesting yard. It as a multistory section of retaining walls holding up a cliff next to a major Bay Area freeway. Each story was made of several concave divisions that became shelters to homeless as well as … Continue reading →

This was a cozy little yard under a major Bay Area road, featuring CCTV, Jist, among others.

After months of searching, we finally nailed down this location on the map. We had seen pics of the awesome Girafa, Musk, CCTV, and Phase rollers down here. This spot seems to remain elusive for many writers, as the quality … Continue reading →

We decided to walk a several mile stretch of Caltrain tracks, in the hunt for Girafa. Many bay area folks became Girafa fans from riding Caltain, even if they previously weren’t into graffiti. This set has our journey down this … Continue reading →

Someone told me the name of this place is called the Walls of Fame. I’d hardly call them walls, but whatever works. We discovered this place by accident when we were checking out the near by area. It was a … Continue reading →

We found this alley towards the end of our day. Light was low, so many photos came out grainy and we couldn’t fully finish shooting. We will cover this area fully, later on.

The back of this public storage center has unofficial become a place to paint. One of the best Girafa’s out there is hidden, fading, in this yard.

Girafa peaks over the roof tops, in this mini yard in the dog patch.

This yard is visible from the Caltrain tracks, lurking in the shade from the streets passing above.

This underpass tunnel built in 1928 has become a decent yard.

This dilapidated structure was once a busy round house for Bay Area trains. It now has become an art gallery of sorts.

Random graffiti in an open space in the Bayshore area.

Being next to a waste processing facility meant this tunnel had bad breath. Never the less, we held our noses and snapped the work out here.

For lack of a better name, I named this yard based of the fact that it runs a long a cliff. It made getting good shots of the work difficult, because there wasn’t a lot of room to move backwards. … Continue reading →

This public storage company commissioned the Bay Area’s finest to grace their walls with the “Oakland Hall of Fame.” The overall theme was a tribute to the legendary Bay Area writer, Dream, who passed away. RIP. Some stunning work here.

Another stretch of train tracks tucked away in the East Bay.

For lack of a better name, I called this amazing yard after an epic Spongebog Squarepants parody mural located there. Truly an in-person must-see.

This gallery isn’t from any particular day or yard, but rather a collection of random photos that don’t really fit elsewhere.

On our way home, we spotted this nice wall off Market st. It was dark, but we had to snap a few pics.

This storefront had some colorful artwork on it!

All parking lots should look like this one we found in the Mission. The artwork is from some of the most prominent writers in the area, and executed with style and grace.

This was the first of several alleys in the Mission we visited. This alley was mostly commissioned work.

Epic is the only word to describe the magnitude of this graffiti alley. This set also includes some smaller walls in the nearby area.

Running parallel to Valencia St in San Francisco is an alley of well done graffiti. This set also includes a couple near by perpendicular walls.

For lack of a better name, I called this yard and near-by alley the Burger Yard, after the multi-story burger painted here. Lots of delicious graff here.

This local business embraced the graffiti community, by commissioning some interesting artwork for their storefront and side wall. They’re called Pizza Zone, but do they sell Pizzones?

This collection covers many spots along Haight st, from the Fillmore to Ashbury there were some nice pieces all along the way.

This is a mural with various artists in SF.

Though commissioned, these pieces in the heart of the Tenderloin are breathtaking.

For lack of a better name, I named this graffiti alley after one of it’s featured artists: Plantrees.

If the furniture is trying to escape this building… I’d hate to see what’s going on inside. The furniture was part of an art installation in 1997, via 1am: This multi-disciplinary sculptural mural involves seemingly animated furniture; tables, chairs, lamps, … Continue reading →

The late comic artist, Vaughn Bode has had a tremendous impact on the graffiti scene for several years. Many graffiti artists mimic his characters in their street art. I’m sure this wall will be a familiar site for many San … Continue reading →

Bay Area Sports was the theme for this commissioned wall. Unfortunately we weren’t able to document it too well, as the business owners shoo’d us away quickly. I wonder if that Plantrees was part of the commission, or if Plantrees … Continue reading →

For lack of a better name, I call this San Francisco alley,  Apex Alley after one of the featured artists there.

I shouldn’t even bother to upload this one… but I did. This mini yard is under a busy street in the East Bay. It’s pretty much all whack down there though.

This stretch of East Bay train tracks started out pretty whack. Luckily towards the end, the graffiti ramped up and included several epic pieces, including 3 separate pieces from one of my favorite writers: Maska.

I spotted a Girafa from a freeway exit near my work. Later, we planned a trip down to this drainage ditch that has become a mini graffiti yard. Not too much to see, but go sharks!

This classic style train bridge was homed to a Swampy, a Gats, a Musk, a few Girafa Sigs as well as many other interesting writers.

Another unusual location for urban ex was this freeway overpass / on ramp. It was build with a hollow enclosure underneath it, with a door leading in. Perhaps the city planned on using this for storage at some point? The … Continue reading →

This was a gigantic drainage pipe, more than big enough to comfortably walk in – if you don’t forget your boots. We thought it would be try, so we had to awkwardly walk along the steep banked edges of the … Continue reading →

This tunnel is located south of the Bay Area so it has a different set of artists than I’m familiar with.

This skatepark was built and painted by locals. It features a piece by my favorite Graffiti artist – Girafa, as well as some pieces from other well known locals such as Kick-It (R.I.P.). We visited this park at the wrong … Continue reading →

We saw these decorated trains off in the distance, whilst on another adventure. We decided to check it out, and it was worth it.

The Swamp is yet another storm drain canal, that get’s it’s name from the swampy like conditions you walk through. It has become a great graffiti yard for all the locals, but has to be the place I’ve seen the … Continue reading →

This was a quick stop on the way home from some other adventure. It was a bridge tucked away in an east bay nature trail. It had some of my favorite graffiti artists, such as Plantrees and Snort.

For my second canal trip, I went to this amazing drain system that had some of the best graffiti I’ve seen in the entire Bay Area. Much respect to these artists, both for their work, and for respecting each others … Continue reading →

This is a weird little storm drain oddity. A local storm drain was split into three separate channels, that the Bay Area’s best graffiti artists decided to turn into a rather epic street-art gallery.

The first time we visited this location, there was a band filming a music video there, so we didn’t want to spent too much time disturbing them. Worse, the camera I had been using decided that instead of telling me … Continue reading →

Whilst exploring we saw some local musicians pull up and duck behind some plywood boards covering a large building. We asked if they would mind us following them in. Once we were given the go-ahead we found an epic Olympic … Continue reading →

A little while back a publisher found gmiller.net and reached out to me regarding my large collection of urban exploration photos. The publisher, Fonthill Media / Arcadia, have a series of books showcasing abandoned buildings around the United States. Due to … Continue reading →

Over the years I’ve been introduced to and have met up with several bay area graffiti writers. When given then chance I always try to get a canvas. I’ve never really documented my collection anywhere before until now. Below are … Continue reading →

On Jan 01 2015 I started a campaign on Instagram to post the 150 girafa peices @bayareawanderer and I had found over the course of our adventures. For the next six months I updated Instagram daily under the #150girafas tag. … Continue reading →

My exploring buddy goes by the handle @bayareawanderer on Instagram. Over the past year he’s been compiling footage of the urban exploration and graffiti yards we’ve visited. He finally made a video, and it came out wonderful. Check it out!

While I was working on the Oracle figurine I got inspired to make one for CCTV – another local graffiti artist. CCTV is an interesting artist, because his work has a very unique style for the graffiti world. He paints … Continue reading →

Recently I got a 3D printer, and one of my first test prints was an Oracle Head:   If you’re unfamiliar with Oracle, he is a prolific graffiti writer from the Bay Area. He draws variations of his iconic character: … Continue reading →

I recently when though my entire archive of graffiti photos, and separated out one of each Girafa I have visited. I’m three away from having visited 150 still-running Girafa peices! While this blog post might be a bit early, I … Continue reading →

I’m posting this a little late after the fact, but a few weeks ago Girafa held a show at the Seeing Things Gallery in San Jose. As far as I’m aware, this was the first time he did a public … Continue reading →

A little while back my exploring buddy was interviewed for an article about urban exploration and graffiti hunting. The reporter chose a picture of me for the front page of the East Bay Express! I’m also mentioned a few times … Continue reading →

This TotT article will focus on rain boots. While flashlights are indispensable for tunnels, respirators are indispensable for abandoned buildings, creeks are insufferable without rain boots. It’s funny, because I’ve heard from more than one person that we’re “lucky” to … Continue reading →

After a full day of exploring, our final stop was a GATS show in SF. Though the goodies for sale were waaay too expensive, the art was great. My favorite by far, though, were the 3D GATS masks. It’s always … Continue reading →

Girafa recently painted a mural at a local San Jose vape shop, Stay Vaped. Besides the mural, there were also some stickers available for purchase. I think it’s amusing that the stickers say Stay Vaped. People who are unfamiliar with … Continue reading →

When I met up with Musk to purchase a piece from him, he had this comic book to show me. I didn’t get to keep a copy, but he let me snap some photos. Now I present to the world: … Continue reading →

My next TotT article will focus on flashlights. Small-to-Medium LED Flashlights During our first few outings, we inevitably found ourselves needing flashlights. We headed to the local hardware store and picked up a couple cheap LED based flashlights, and they … Continue reading →

For my first TotT Urban Ex article, I’m going to discuss the importance of P100 respirator masks. Going in abandoned buildings, drainage tunnels, and other places where air quality is questionable, poses several hazards. First, there’s the lead paint. Many abandoned … Continue reading →