Turcot February 2010

As promised, I'm continuing the thread from that monster trek or two I took in mid February. My first post from last September spoke of the death of Turcot and how the MTQ had not only effectively buffed most of the yards but had fenced off the area and had security patrolling the perimeter and policing the grounds. My most recent visit to the yards didn't convince me that this was letting up anytime soon, however, I was able to get in and around the area to catch some new graff along the train tunnel  and even some older stuff along one of the hidden walls alongside the Hwy 20. Here are my pics including some pans of older stuff from that hidden wall and some other stuff from the walk in along the tracks from St. Henri.

After cutting in through an old fence gate overgrown with vines and frozen vegetation I made my way through the desolate remains of the heart of Turcot`s open and snowy interior. Not much in there at all except for snowy dunes carved by an unforgiving wind.

I walked along a make shift road and then crossed through to the service road that runs along the long stretch of the yards. It was a 3 km hike to the Raphael Motel which was my next destination and there wasn`t much to see. I did, however, come across this gem by Quidam in the middle of this frozen wasteland:

You got to hand it to him, in the middle of nowhere, he gets up. I also came across this old power station hollowed out and left to rot:

(The inscription reads: "Dedicated to Truth & Love R.I.P.")

Nothing else of interest was found until I got to the Raphael Motel a little ways off. You can check pics of that fine and abandoned spot here. I`ll have some more quick flics from the yards soon as Sake and a few others have been busy causing more trouble than they already have been. I`ll have more on CBR and my more recent trek along the tracks through Pt. St. Charles.

Raphael Motel (Knights Inn) Feb 2010

Ever since the Motel Raphael was built over 50 years ago it was known as being a sketchy locale where riff raff and jailbirds frequented. With 75 rooms and a large road side deck and pool, the motel was a popular spot being located in between downtown and the airport next to the highway 20. Over the years the motel was the site of a number of shady and criminal occurrences, drugs and prostitution were common as well. A man was found in his rooms bath tub stabbed multiple times in 1993, another man was sentenced to 7 years in prison for raping and beating his former girlfriend over the course of 5 days, and in 2006 a man died in a room fire (And that's just what the Gazette reported). The Motel was also a popular site for film makers looking for an atmospheric scene for shoots.  Before its closure it was acquired by new owners and changed into a Knights Inn (although signs for Raphael Motel were still present) with rooms running at hourly rates. After it closed the remaining room furniture was either auctioned off or donated to charity.

In late 2009 the city condemned a section of the property and demolition began. What was left was boarded up and fenced off. Since then local writers have been hitting it up. There were plans to build a large hotel and strip mall but apparently the MTQ has other plans and the new property owners will be having talks to figure all that out in the near future. I stopped by recently to check it out and get me some flics. Although fenced off it was not hard to get in. All the boarded windows have been hit up with various graffiti and a number of doors have been kicked in displaying the remains of the rooms interiors. All the beds and furniture remain in the rooms with various beer bottles and other refuse strung about. I didn't venture into any of the rooms but instead peeked in and snapped some shots.