Solo jaunts.
How does this happen?
Unreal. No other word is more suited to this situation than unreal. I've lived in Taiwan since November 2016, and lived in North District between March 2018 and November 2019. I always knew there was one derelict cinema very close to the train station, 10 minutes cycling from home, which I eventually did in about September 2019. But then COMPLETELY under my nose, it was revealed to me by a single blog post shared with me by my fellow explorer Spectral Codex that there wasn't just one, not two or three, but approximately TEN potentially derelict cinemas within close reach of my home! TEN! Now at the same time, none of these are one of what I will call "the classic wave" of Taiwan derelict cinemas which were built between 1930-1970 but then closed in the 1980s or 1990s; instead all except for Senyu form part of larger structures which are still mostly occupied or in some cases, converted. Because of this they are known only to those who know. This means those that remember their operational days, or those that live close enough to be aware of their presence.
The first cinema you will see here is what makes me so... well, does shocked cover it? To give you an idea, this was where I used to live, and how far it was to walk from my old apartment to the cinema. Have a look. Those green pins are ALL disused cinemas within cycling or walking distance of home.
Zhonghua night market (中華路夜市) is a street I have walked up and down countless times, having gone there to eat or cycled down to go somewhere. And yet if you look the map, down a nondescript side street is a fully derelict cinema unknown to me until last week at time of writing! Haohua is the same, when I have been to Taizhong park (臺中公園) countless times, and there it sits opposite unbeknownst to me. How does this happen? Well, I'll explain below.
There is an exploring scene in Taiwan, but it is so disjointed and lacks enough people to be a proper community like we see in established scenes like the UK and America, where explorers network with other explorers. And as I have previously stated, you only know these places if you have a connection with them. This means that because so few actually dedicate their time to exploring new sites and go beyond the usual honeypots like Dashun Hospital, the derelict buildings of Jinmen, the Detention schools in Chaozhou and Dongshi and the iconic cinemas like Xiluo, sites fly under the radar in spades... for years and even decades. Of course in this case, it can also be argued that they don't actually look derelict because the structures are still partly in use.
The game plan
So this day happened because on Wednesday night there was a typhoon warning across Taiwan, which meant only essential workers needed to go to work and workplaces shut down for the entire day. Nobody gives a shit about that though and so they go out and have fun, just like it's an extra bank holiday. And that's what I did. I originally only intended to go out to do Senyu after a friend told me about it, then eyeing up other sites in walking distance, but obviously once I got my eyes on a new derelict site then the game plan changes. I checked out a cinema 5 minutes walk from my old apartment, which to my knowledge was a porn cinema (yes, really) in the basement of a tall building. Despite the fading sign (in Chinese) saying cinema in B1 I was never aware of it until both Spectral Codex and my friend told me about it. Whenever I walked past it late at night, there would always be a woman dressed in a mini-dress with a cigarette at the main entrance so I never would have dared enter back then anyway...
This time I walked in past the CCTV, and headed right for B1, only to find the entrance locked with metal shutters. Could be done with permission, so it's still on the map though. Onward to Senyu...
森玉戲院/Senyu cinema
To give you a brief history, it was built in 1960 in an area that was already full to the brim with other cinemas, given that the central district was a really vibrant place to go and socialise in the years gone by. This particular cinema made its name by screening western and English-language films, whereas others screened mostly local or other East-Asian films in their operational time. My friend told me his parents did the same thing, and that's how he knew about this place before I did. Because of changing consumer habits and the internet especially, Senyu closed in 2003 and as things are today, the downstairs foyer is used for secure car parking (I didn't go down there for fear of getting caught), with the rest of the building completely derelict.
I had no idea it was there and I was absolutely shocked! I drove there last Sunday to do a recce, but ended up going in without a camera, so this was the day I returned to get my photos of it. First impressions were that it was bigger than other cinemas I've done, built with two screens; the main screen upstairs and one smaller room in the basement. Architecturally, it was quite bland but there were still more than enough interesting spaces to shoot and keep me occupied for an hour or so.
Old posters
Projectors for the lower screen
Unfortunately the lower screen has since flooded so no access there, but it was stripped of any architectural features so it's no big loss. Here's a picture from the booth.
Upstairs to the main screen, where all the seating had been removed as well and left just an empty space. There were some fairly nice colour patterns on the wall, but nothing to write home about particularly. One major positive however is that because this has a fairly low profile on the internet it survives free of vandalism.
The projectors here had been removed, and the entire floor collapsed so it was impossible to get inside.
One external shot. Whilst the outside sign says Sengyuh theater, this romanisation is actually incorrect (and frankly retarded) so I've used the proper standard in this report.
Now, it's time for the first multiplex I've ever done in Taiwan!
How does this happen?
Unreal. No other word is more suited to this situation than unreal. I've lived in Taiwan since November 2016, and lived in North District between March 2018 and November 2019. I always knew there was one derelict cinema very close to the train station, 10 minutes cycling from home, which I eventually did in about September 2019. But then COMPLETELY under my nose, it was revealed to me by a single blog post shared with me by my fellow explorer Spectral Codex that there wasn't just one, not two or three, but approximately TEN potentially derelict cinemas within close reach of my home! TEN! Now at the same time, none of these are one of what I will call "the classic wave" of Taiwan derelict cinemas which were built between 1930-1970 but then closed in the 1980s or 1990s; instead all except for Senyu form part of larger structures which are still mostly occupied or in some cases, converted. Because of this they are known only to those who know. This means those that remember their operational days, or those that live close enough to be aware of their presence.
The first cinema you will see here is what makes me so... well, does shocked cover it? To give you an idea, this was where I used to live, and how far it was to walk from my old apartment to the cinema. Have a look. Those green pins are ALL disused cinemas within cycling or walking distance of home.
Zhonghua night market (中華路夜市) is a street I have walked up and down countless times, having gone there to eat or cycled down to go somewhere. And yet if you look the map, down a nondescript side street is a fully derelict cinema unknown to me until last week at time of writing! Haohua is the same, when I have been to Taizhong park (臺中公園) countless times, and there it sits opposite unbeknownst to me. How does this happen? Well, I'll explain below.
There is an exploring scene in Taiwan, but it is so disjointed and lacks enough people to be a proper community like we see in established scenes like the UK and America, where explorers network with other explorers. And as I have previously stated, you only know these places if you have a connection with them. This means that because so few actually dedicate their time to exploring new sites and go beyond the usual honeypots like Dashun Hospital, the derelict buildings of Jinmen, the Detention schools in Chaozhou and Dongshi and the iconic cinemas like Xiluo, sites fly under the radar in spades... for years and even decades. Of course in this case, it can also be argued that they don't actually look derelict because the structures are still partly in use.
The game plan
So this day happened because on Wednesday night there was a typhoon warning across Taiwan, which meant only essential workers needed to go to work and workplaces shut down for the entire day. Nobody gives a shit about that though and so they go out and have fun, just like it's an extra bank holiday. And that's what I did. I originally only intended to go out to do Senyu after a friend told me about it, then eyeing up other sites in walking distance, but obviously once I got my eyes on a new derelict site then the game plan changes. I checked out a cinema 5 minutes walk from my old apartment, which to my knowledge was a porn cinema (yes, really) in the basement of a tall building. Despite the fading sign (in Chinese) saying cinema in B1 I was never aware of it until both Spectral Codex and my friend told me about it. Whenever I walked past it late at night, there would always be a woman dressed in a mini-dress with a cigarette at the main entrance so I never would have dared enter back then anyway...
This time I walked in past the CCTV, and headed right for B1, only to find the entrance locked with metal shutters. Could be done with permission, so it's still on the map though. Onward to Senyu...
森玉戲院/Senyu cinema
To give you a brief history, it was built in 1960 in an area that was already full to the brim with other cinemas, given that the central district was a really vibrant place to go and socialise in the years gone by. This particular cinema made its name by screening western and English-language films, whereas others screened mostly local or other East-Asian films in their operational time. My friend told me his parents did the same thing, and that's how he knew about this place before I did. Because of changing consumer habits and the internet especially, Senyu closed in 2003 and as things are today, the downstairs foyer is used for secure car parking (I didn't go down there for fear of getting caught), with the rest of the building completely derelict.
I had no idea it was there and I was absolutely shocked! I drove there last Sunday to do a recce, but ended up going in without a camera, so this was the day I returned to get my photos of it. First impressions were that it was bigger than other cinemas I've done, built with two screens; the main screen upstairs and one smaller room in the basement. Architecturally, it was quite bland but there were still more than enough interesting spaces to shoot and keep me occupied for an hour or so.
Old posters
Projectors for the lower screen
Unfortunately the lower screen has since flooded so no access there, but it was stripped of any architectural features so it's no big loss. Here's a picture from the booth.
Upstairs to the main screen, where all the seating had been removed as well and left just an empty space. There were some fairly nice colour patterns on the wall, but nothing to write home about particularly. One major positive however is that because this has a fairly low profile on the internet it survives free of vandalism.
The projectors here had been removed, and the entire floor collapsed so it was impossible to get inside.
One external shot. Whilst the outside sign says Sengyuh theater, this romanisation is actually incorrect (and frankly retarded) so I've used the proper standard in this report.
Now, it's time for the first multiplex I've ever done in Taiwan!
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