Indianapolis' Thunder Island

- The murky waters of Thunder Island. Photograph by Ronny Salerno.

Let's pretend it's the summer of 1993. In the rear view mirror, the Indianapolis skyline centered by the recently completed Bank One Center disappears as the car trudges down US 31. Baltimora's re-released 80s single 'Tarzan Boy' is blasting from the radio as the automobile hooks a left into the parking lot of Thunder Island. Finally, he made it to the local water park - this is the life that 'Saved By the Bell' portrayed. Girls in 'Bay Watch' style bikinis, amusement park junk food and oiled up dudes braving the water slides. It's a summer he recalls fondly, this hypothetical man in a stereotypical and fictional narrative of 90s nostalgia. The memories stick with him as he peers out of the window by his office cubicle, gazing across the highway towards the woods that now hide the remains of those radical summers. Twenty years older, the office is where he spends his summers now. As he puts the memories away and returns to his desk, a car pulls into the office lot. Not new clients or potential sales, but two people in search of the same water park - two explorers from Cincinnati.

The Wasson Way

- The abandoned tracks of the "Wasson Way" rail line, a potential thoroughfare for recreation or light rail. Photograph by Cameron Knight.

If you drive into Cincinnati from the west side and look out over the sprawling network of railroad tracks, industrial cargo and airport-like control tower that watches over the massive rail yard, it's hard to imagine that any railroad in the city would go unused. Yet, there's quite a few hidden amongst the brush. The question is, what do you do with them? For the Wasson Way, there's two concepts that conflict or can coexist depending on who you talk to, but does it all hinge on political controversy in order to rise from a hidden, historical obscurity?

[Suburbia Lost] Red Lobster - Western Hills

Glenway Avenue is almost all a vertical climb as you leave Downtown and head through Queensgate, Lower Price Hill, Price Hill and finally arrive in Westwood. The hill more or less peaks at Werk Road. As it starts to descend, the road carves through a valley. On either side, chain restaurants and retail stores sit perched high above the road.

[Suburbia Lost] Southeastern Indiana

- "Crave Zone."

Some abandoned locations in suburban Southeastern Indiana about 20 miles West of Cincinnati.

Legend of the Larz Andersons

Last week I resumed shooting my 224 Views of Cincinnati series. After struggling to find Cincinnati's Larz Anderson Park; I eventually arrived, made my photograph and nearly a week later sat down to edit and post it. A simple photograph lead to the uncovering of a historical tale about two cities, two skylines, two views, two parks and two Larz Andersons.