3F
Lined on the third floor of an old building on a busy street corner are broken windows with people looking down on pedestrians. Looking up, I see gaunt faces and empty stares.
Today, I came up to see what it is like to look down at the street below. Something tells me I shouldn’t be here. That something also tells me I shouldn’t tell my mom, or my wife, but curiosity got the best of me.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I had a very pleasant conversation with an old timer named Eddie Boy. He talked about old times when he was in his prime, going places and such. Times have changed.
The lease contract is about to expire. Soon this place will be stripped down to make way for a new lessee.
Eddie Boy doesn’t play pool anymore. The checkers table sits where a third pool table was before it found a new owner. The bets are on the table.
He comes here to pass the time. I might have seen him looking out the window at one time, looking down at me. Maybe, just maybe.
Eddie Boy asked me to drop by again some other time. I just might do that.
A walk with my camera 
Wonderful pictures of a realm of life we wouldn’t otherwise have seen. Thanks for leaving your comfort zone and taking the chance to go up. pilspics.
http://www.mindfulphotos.com and http://www.lunchbreakpictures.com
you’re welcome, and thanks likewise for dropping by.
Captured the third floor in a great way… I am following!
Very impressive pictures! We very much enjoy your work! The BW pictures and the people captured in such a naturalistic way…. That is incredible!
We are three young passionate photographers from Germany and would be pleased if you would come over and have a look at our page, too!
Thank you in anticipation,
32bephoto
I love this series. I launched into street photography and your photos invite me to continue to reach such a level. Keeping track of a place that will disappear, give more value to this series!
Great photos. Amazing how you caught the essence of each photo. Great job!!! Take care and have a wonderful day!!!
thank you, and you have a great day likewise.
Superb images. Keep on keepin’ on! Best regards, macingosh photography
thanks!
Ohmigosh! I wish i was half the photographer you are! Your truely inspiring to me. It’s good to know that there are people, like you, taking photos of the world inspiring people like me to take photos and express creativity.
thank you for the kind words.
You have taken a tiny fragment of the universe and blown it up to the full size it deserves to be – a great, surprising, enjoyable series!
thank you, Alessandro. I am just as happy to have visited this place before it will be closed for good, the same as what happened to one of the shops I featured in January 2012 – the shop by the corner. The shop has been around for decades but has now given way to a new shop owner.
great photos and a great story behind some of those faces, caught by your camera … respect, and thank you.
thank you.
I could almost smell the place…brings back old memories.
the blue chalk, powder on the hands and shirt, scratched cue balls, the crack of the break…. I’ve had my share of pool hall days too. Yep, they bring back good memories. 🙂
Excellent photos and story as usual. I wonder where these men will hang out after the lease is up?
I’m sure there will be other places they can go to, but not as nice as this. thanks!
and why does this make me teary-eyed…
for me this will be another link to the past that is soon to disappear.
Sometimes, “curiousity kills a cat”, thank God this one didn’t. Thank you for a great story and wonderful images, of life on the third floor!
I’ve always assumed that this was a seedy place but I am glad I was wrong. It is just a place that time forgot.
Wow. Amazing photos, so moving and showing such great humanity. These are exceptional, Orlando, well done.
thank you very much. I wasn’t expecting anything but the conversation made such a huge difference in the way I viewed the scene.
These images are especially good. They really tell a story. Great job.
thank you.
like the way the shades have been highlighted…