Closed Due to Possible Collapse/Cerrado por Posible Derrumbe

Text & Photos: Julie Schwietert Collazo
Additional Photos: Brayan Collazo
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“Cerrado por posible derrumbe”– “Closed due to possible collapse”– was the sign hanging from a rusty chain that was blocking the entrance to the history museum in Mariel, Cuba.

Say “Cuba” and crumbling buildings are as likely to come to mind as rum and the Buena Vista Social Club. Francisco’s son, Brayan, is a photographer whose portfolio has plenty of decayed building shots:

But if you’re really paying attention to your surroundings, there are places falling down all around you.

This, then, is the first installment in another occasional series– “Cerrado por Posible Derrumbe”–which documents decay in the Americas, insisting that these places are important, even as they’re falling apart.

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This trio part of a group of photos I’ve taken of closed movie theaters in Mexico City.

Although movies remain an important part of Mexican culture, the movie houses of old–dramatic and beautiful, if not on the outside, then on the inside–now sit on prime pieces of real estate, slowly falling apart.

This first photo is of the “taquilla,” or ticket booth, at the Cine Latino, a massive building on one the city’s principal avenues, Avenida Reforma. A metal gate keeps the curious from poking around inside (the door to the theater is actually open), but through the holes in the gate, you can see an enormous mural painted on the lobby wall. (You can’t, however, get clear shots through the holes.)

This is the front exterior of the Cine Latino. All around the cinema, new retail developments have sprung up in the past two years. Given its location, it’s hard to imagine that the abandoned theater will be here much longer.

This is the old El Patio Cinema. Its sign is still intact, but as you can see, the theater is presenting… nothing. The cinema sits across the street from a police precinct in a neighborhood that’s a little down and out right now, but which is likely to be the next gentrified zone in Mexico City.