Bootleggers in Providence RI

[sewerRat21]

for those users of this forum familiar with downtown providence, this building will stick out to you like a sore thumb. very easy to acess, and a tad bit rundown, this former night club is located right on the water a short walk from India Point park in providence RI. anyone new to urbex, should give this place  whirl, as a warm up to exploring. overall a great site to visit

[Megster]

looks like a sweet building

[Kurt]

It's definitely an alright place to start off. Parked my car right in front of it, and went it. Police drove by and didn't seem to give a shit. Went in at the end of February, here's my shots... (mostly long exposures)

SO many people hate on this place, but if you get the right lighting, this place is pretty sick


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9) This was from the rooftop (showing I-195, there's a location right across the street pretty much on the Washington Bridge)



*here's the one from the Washington Bridge


has a few stories of old rooms and stairs missing steps. Enter from the walkway on the highway, and goes alllllll the way down to under the bridge to the water

[CarbonCavi]

This place looks killer even if empty just for the view!

[Megster]

holy shit, I'll take it, who cares if it's empty?

[Kurt]

holy shit, I'll take it, who cares if it's empty?

The view was the best part! and the roof was pretty cool also

[CarbonCavi]

free tonight for some exploring? if so pm me so it goes off on my phone

[Kurt]

free tonight for some exploring? if so pm me so it goes off on my phone

I wish dude, work awaits me at 4am... but hopefully I'll be getting a job at a Ritz Camera in my area soon and I won't be limited to sunday exploring. But just so I don't get your hopes up about tonight PM me I do have an idea for this weekend

[CarbonCavi]

todays my monday

[donnabhain]

Me too Carbon . . happy Tuesday.

[CarbonCavi]

i dont mind it, makes the work week fly by being busy your first three days ( for me anyway ) monday goes dead at 6pm, tuesday...forget it.

My other job i work landscaping thursday day time that usually goes by quickly unless im working on stupid flower gardens or something. i hate nothing more than that....

[donnabhain]

My sched changes every three weeks from M-Thr to F-Su, 12 hour shifts. It's great when I do M-Th I get a decent check, F-Su I'm out a day so payday isn't as great. Oh well, it pays the bills! At least when I gotta do weekends I get all week to do whatever. Sometimes I pick up a couple days landscaping with a buddy, I love being outside, the days fly by.

[Megster]

My schedule is Sat. & Mon. at the post office, then on call Tues-Fri (blehhhh), and then my other job is sporadic freelance photo assignments that pay a bit more than the po does. 
Being on call for the PO sucks, can't be out late in case I get a 6AM phone call...but one of these days I'll be out of there (hopefully sooner rather than later).

[donnabhain]

That does suck. My last job OT was mandatory. They didn't give us the schedule 'til Friday sometimes and if you missed 7 days in a year you got canned so calling out wasn't an option. If they said you were working Saturday you were working . . once or twice Sunday too. But with our contract they had to give us Monday off if we worked  7 days straight. Of course, if we were that busy we were back to work on Tuesday. 12 hour shifts too! Good on payday but I'm glad I didn't  have any kids at the time.

Do you have to be a carrier until another position opens up? Sometimes I think the PO wouldn't be bad, but then I think about walking all over town in the rain and snow.

[sewerRat21]

the building itself was up for sale not to long ago for the price of 1$. plus the back taxes on the lad. it was almost purchased, but the contractor backed out at the last min.

[Megster]

I'm a rural carrier, means we drive everywhere and there's not the 10 miles of walking a city route can have.  We can't even deliver city routes because we weren't trained and it's a whole different system, etc etc etc.  I would not trade being a rural carrier for a city carrier any day, they always have the managers up their asses all throughout the day because they're paid hourly and we're paid more like a salary (we get paid so many hours per route, whether it takes us more or less time.  It's supposed to even out but lately I kind of doubt it.) 

And no positions have opened up in my office since right before I was hired (3 yrs. ago) so it could have potential if I wanted to stick with it, but as a sub I don't even get benefits. Can't complain about the pay though (almost $20/hr).  Also, promotions are based on seniority and I was the absolute last person hired in my office, so even after 3 yrs. I still don't have any. 

I'm working on getting out and becoming self-sufficient though.  My part time photo work has surpassed pay at the PO so I know I'm transitioning out. 

[Ademan]

I've got to say man, these are some of the best Bootleggers shots I think I've ever seen. Not too many people can make this place look good. I still have a pretty good time there every time I go. The local vandals always make sure there's something new to shoot.

Here's a handful of my Bootleggers shots from over the years.















And for good measures, cause I found it amusing, here's almost the same photo of the stairs you posted from inside the bridge pillar.

[sewerRat21]

still havnt managed to find those stairs.. idk why they elude me

[Ademan]

Because they're not actually at Bootleggers. Check out the old highway across the street. You'll find em.

[Kurt]

I've got to say man, these are some of the best Bootleggers shots I think I've ever seen. Not too many people can make this place look good. I still have a pretty good time there every time I go. The local vandals always make sure there's something new to shoot.

thanks man, your shots are wicked sick as well! I've only been down to there once but it was definitely a pretty good place for some long exposures at that time of day. I wanna go back but I don't know too much there besides that and Washington Bridge haha. I live two mins away from PCH up in MA so its not that far idk

[Ademan]

There's a couple gems hidden right down near Bootleggers that are great photo spots, such as...

The abandoned stretch of 95


India Point Park


Top of the George Washington Bridge


Inside The George Washington Bridge


Under the George Washington Bridge


Inside The IWAY


The Lift Bridge


Inside the control room for The Lift Bridge


East Side Rail Tunnel


Inside The Old Power Station


The roof of the old Power Station



I'm sure there's a ton more I'm forgetting, but there's a handful to start with

[k wilks]

I got tired of seeing the Bootleggers building everytime I drove by on the highway so I decided to go in last week.  It was alot of fun.  Really easy to get into, and theres alot to explore.  The photography ops do kinda suck because of lighting and trash, but the graphiti was great and the views are awesome as well.   I didnt realize about the bridge accross the way but Im going back today to find it. 

[Kurt]

I got tired of seeing the Bootleggers building everytime I drove by on the highway so I decided to go in last week.  It was alot of fun.  Really easy to get into, and theres alot to explore.  The photography ops do kinda suck because of lighting and trash, but the graphiti was great and the views are awesome as well.   I didnt realize about the bridge accross the way but Im going back today to find it. 

if you go during the right time of day, especially sunset, long exposures are amazing there

[Megster]

If photo ops suck, make them un-suck.  I'll shoot anything with a pulse. 

wait...

I've been in a lot of locations where the photo ops suck, or so I thought at the time.  Other times the way I shot it sucked, but it was my only shot at it as the place is gone now, etc.

Sometimes you don't realize until you get home a shot you missed and then you want to go back, even if the location was shitty.  I see lots of people talking smack on bootleggers, but I don't think it's shit.  I mean, if you've ever explored an abandoned 1980's ranch with no furniture and nothing left in it or some shitty empty barn that only has a couple coffee cans full of nails, then we'll talk.  Places that are more effort to get into than worth being inside suck and I'm sure we've all had our share of those, but why talk shit on something that's easy?  It will always be there if you need a fix and don't feel like planning where you're going to park or walk three miles or whatever. lol

 

[Ademan]

I pretty much hate Bootleggers, but I'll still stop by if I'm in the area with nothing better to do. I've met a lot of cool explorers there just by chance, as well as shared some awesome memories with explorers I've gone with. The view out that back window at sunset is always worth the trip.

[k wilks]

Like I said it was easy and fun.  I went on a rainy day so the light was bad and I was alone so i couldnt get any pics of myself there but I will defenetly plan on going back again.  I think the bridge accross the road has been renovated, I walked all along the roads and under the bridge and couldnt find any sign of anything that even resembled an older style tower.  And wheres that abandoned stretch of I 95?? That looks cool

[Ademan]

I'll PM you the same map I sent a few others from this site. It has a few awesome locations right there marked off.

[Megster]

aww, I want a map. haha

[Ademan]

check your PM's

[sewerRat21]

the abandoned stretch of 95 is being deconstructed but there is still a section standing very close to bootleggers infact