Urban explorers in New York City often traverse, photograph, and film New York’s forgotten and abandoned locations. However, many of New York’s abandoned buildings also attract vandals and thieves since these buildings often house valuable and rare items left untouched for years. The Instagram and YouTube account called Forgotten Dayze recently created a video uncovering the surprising and historical finds inside an abandoned Brooklyn storage facility where many rooms have remained as they were when the building was abandoned.
“When I stumbled upon this gem, I knew I had to do my best to document as much as I can,” the creator of Forgotten Dayze, who asked to remain anonymous, told Untapped New York. “Rarely do you come across a place like this that has been abandoned and completely untouched by vandals and thieves. There are thousands of items of value in this building. As a lifelong New Yorker, I felt extremely lucky to be able to film this unique part of New York history.”
Abandoned storage room containing bicycles / Courtesy of Forgotten Dayze
The abandoned storage facility contained rare finds like family photos, jewelry, record and movie collections, gadgets, and cameras, which are all documented in the video. The first shots of the video show abandoned hallways that have mostly been vacated, yet the camera soon reveals shots of black-and-white wedding photos, Ray Charles albums, old stoves, ancient computers, and newspapers revealing headlines of significant dates like 9/11 and the capture of Osama bin Laden. Instruments like a piano and bongos reveal one client’s love for music, while an abandoned boombox suggests the building has been abandoned for quite a while. Other notable finds include an extensive pile of shoes and boots, sewing machines and typewriters, custom clocks, and old alcohol bottles.
Courtesy of Forgotten Dayze
“I was also amazed at how much stuff people can collect over a lifetime,” the creator said. “In New York self-storage facilities are used so frequently because we move from apartment to apartment often, and top of that, the places are so small and lack ample storage space. It’s a very large facility and it appears to have been used for commercial and self-storage spaces.”
Forgotten films / Courtesy of Forgotten Dayze
Another particularly interesting facet of the finds according to the creator is the “melting pot of different cultures and races that used this facility.” Scenes of the video reveal books and pictures with Hebrew writing and a small Menorah, while others reveal a connection to European countries, like a pendant from Switzerland or foreign films. The creator also recounts seeing Latinx and African-American memorabilia within the storage facility.
“It was like an intimate window into the lives of New Yorker’s and their belongings,” he said. “This really exemplifies the diversity and melting pot of New York City, and even more so, of Brooklyn.”
Mostly vacated room of the facility / Courtesy of Forgotten Dayze
The creator remarks that the experience of stumbling upon an abandoned “gem” of a building was somber, creepy, and astonishing at the same time. While some parts of the facility were previously vacated a number of years ago, others are like a time capsule frozen in place, preserving significant advances in technology and city culture. Yet, the finished film ultimately reveals a rather grim atmosphere, as many of these rare finds have been neglected and forgotten by time, discarded and rotting away possibly forever.
