Merry Christmas morning explore (and revisit)

Several years ago, Scott and I were desperately trying to figure out a way to get into the huge abandoned GM assembly plant in Doraville. We knew of a couple people who had been busted there, but we also knew of a few that had been in and out with no problem, so we knew it could be done. After a few half-assed attempts and several recon missions, we decided Christmas would be the best day to really try to get in there. Luckily for us, it was extremely foggy that Christmas morning, because we had to make a long dash across a huge, lighted parking lot. Aside from being out in the open, there was also a massive barbed-wire fence to get over. Regardless, after a few minutes, we were finally in.

There was still power on in at least parts of the dark building. You could see the huge assembly lines, lit up by small lights. One of the first things we came across was a trike, which we assumed was used to carry parts back and forth in the massive plant. We ended up seeing several more throughout the building. It was pretty dark and we were trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, but it was tough when the floor was covered in dried paint chips. Nonetheless, we venture into the office areas in the front. It was pretty eerie, walking around with all these lights on. And it was pretty clean inside, so it seemed like someone could just walk out at any moment. Thankfully, no one walked out. We were able to walk through most of the building with no issues. We got to the roof, checked out the paint shop, found a small auditorium, and were amazed with the assembly areas. The work stations around the assembly lines were still filled with old pictures in lockers, half-empty Coke cans, cigarette butts still sitting in ashtrays. It was definitely one of those places where it looked like the people that worked there thought they’d be going back the next day and were never allowed back in the building or something. After a few hours inside, we finally saw a security truck circling, so we figured we’d call it a morning. Luckily we weren’t seen leaving, because we comically had to run across the not-so-foggy-anymore broad daylight version of the huge parking lot after scaling the giant barbed-wire fence again. Not a bad present that year…

plant trike controls race medical room map assembly line stacks auditorium reflection firehose GM truck signage trike in the dark

After we found out this place was actually going to be demolished, we (Scott, Tripp, and I) decided to make a return and see it one last time. For Tripp, it would also be his first time. This visit happened after they had already started working on the demolition. It was hard to remember exactly where everything was, but at one point, we were outside and realized we were looking at an interior wall of a building that was already destroyed. A lot had changed since the time we were there before. There was obviously no security there at that point and the place was pretty well cleared out. We went ahead and shot a few pics before taking off. It ended up not being our last visit though. Tripp and I returned some time later for an auction that they held there, selling all the weird shit that was left over. It was pretty interesting to be allowed to go in and wander around parts of the building. I wish I could’ve left that day with a trike but it wasn’t meant to be.

lights dyno vehicle bay voice trikes sign giant destruction store body

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