Thread Number: 72035
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
The Secret Rooms at School (& maybe other places) I want to discuss! |
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Post# 952699   8/13/2017 at 00:44 (2,448 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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In Particular, the elementary school that I'd attended Pre-K Nursry School-to-Second Grade, to returning there for Forth Grade after attending another school for Third (of which something startling occurred that you'll soon, here, read about) before going to another school for Fifth, then followed by Middle School/ Jr. High, Senior High, of which this sort of thing somehow diminished:
The boiler room that there were large panes of glass that provided endless viewing inside at recess... It also housed an incinerator that I loved watching the janitor throwing the garbage burning up into... There was a pipe with a shower head hanging on the outside wall probably with that incinerator behind it that vibrated & sounded like a jackhammer continuously there, too... In the hallway, on one side of the back of the gymnasium, a door marked Fan Room, that I'd seen opened once or twice, and caught a to this day memorable glimpse of the big machinery and a catwalk that a short set of stairs led up to the left of all that along side of, while at the front I think was a rotating belt or something of sort that I don't remember exact description of entirely (there would have to be a guard of some sort around it, too) that greets you as you enter on that elevated surface there... There was also a nondescript pink door that had a louvered vent on the wall right outside of it view-able from an outside window next to that door, located in the hallway behind the library that I'd seen opened then quickly closed only once (yes, all these doors have door-closers and did I tell you that they all were LOCKED?!) and remember the series of florescent lights, similar to the ones in the classrooms however many rows are required in that space, that I saw quickly turned off & the after-glow of those tubes, giving out a faint green, all in that dark... There were also Storage Rooms, Storage Rooms, and MORE Storage Rooms (all labeled Storage Room--well, maybe Store Room) housing everything from Paper & Misc. Classroom supplies to crates of Towne Club pop--my former Kindergarten teacher with a bottle of Pineapple that she & the janitor drew out of there for her, holding his two-fistfuls of BEST (Unlawful to Duplicate) keys, he'd let themselves briefly in for... Also janitor closets here and there to clean/service the classrooms, and in a few classrooms, a trap door, opened at least once & ever so cautious not to fall into--hopefully with a ladder down there to get someone quickly out--that usually had a heavy hunk o' furniture like a desk, cabinet or shelving unit directly over, letting a view of various opening-portions of exposed, but not without moving that stuff on it, easily opened... The janitor's office itself--and the teacher's lounge (I went into to use the pop machine for a teach) also sources of curiosity... Lastly the unused wing of the school I saw a couple maintenance gents one with the key to the padlock on the boards ready to unlock & open the door fashioned for "only THEIR" access (they may have been the freelance administration, when as needed, routinely going to each building in our school district, but headquartered, who knows where? when not making their rounds) to a preschool teacher actually having a key to that area and letting a couple of her four-to-five-year-olds accompany her to "enjoying that SACRED privilege"--that my disturbing view of (Oh, that JEALOUSY!) caused me a very bad day in class that my teacher in "psychiatrist's couch" fashion of led me RIGHT OVER TO THAT BOARDED UP AREA IN THAT WING to have a talk with me over what was eating me! At least my daughter's school put pictures of (actual photographs) one photo each that gives a very detailed shot of everything in the rooms at HER school; can't derail anybody's educational process there as it somewhat seemed to, mine, now, can we?! Side note: The Kelvinator cooler used for milk, of which the nameplate I sneaked into the middle school cafeteria when it was empty & smuggled in my screwdriver & needle-nose pliers to pry that all metal 'Product of American Motors' label off of, & put all in my pocket to transfer to my school bag, then make my first of three fake air conditioners out of (another came from a compact refrigerator and still another from a real air conditioner that I think were from walks through an alley behind the neighborhood stores)... Oh, and the elementary schools had Norcolds that the top & front of flipped open for that purpose as well... -- Dave |
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Post# 952702 , Reply# 1   8/13/2017 at 04:37 (2,448 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN)   |   | |
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My elementary school (K-8) was built in the '20s (my grandmother remembered it being there) with tall 12 foot ceilings and hardwood floors. I had to go down the basement to summon the janitor once for a kid who had upchucked on the classroom floor. He was kicked back in an old recliner reading a book smoking his pipe all cozy right beside the boiler. I remember seeing the fire through the air intakes. This was around first grade. At some point I know they replaced that old boiler because I could see where the concrete blocks had been removed and replaced in order to get that behemoth out and a new one in. At the end of my seventh or eighth grade year we had to go to that same basement to move some boxes of old books out...they were stored in what was once the coal bin because there was still some small pieces of coal left on the floor.
The old gym in that same school had two staircases going down on either side of the stage to bathrooms that were used as dressing rooms at some point. During ballgames those bathrooms were used. But there was this other door in there that was blocked off. In 1985 a brand new school was built closer to the high school....and we had to go down into those old bathrooms and behind those blocked off rooms....turns out they were old shower rooms! I can still smell that old musty smell.
That same old schoolhouse had an upstairs too. From the outside it had two shed dormers with about 4 windows each, maybe more. I'd have to look at my old pictures to see for sure. I always tried to find the way up there but never saw any stairs or such. The roof was so steep I'm sure there was quite a bit of room up there.
The high school had these two metal louvered doors going into the basement under the cafeteria where I'm sure the boilers were located. I always wanted to see in that room but never got the chance. |
Post# 952724 , Reply# 3   8/13/2017 at 09:47 (2,448 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Oh, I'm bad with TOOLS! It was a small BOLT CUTTER that I used on the bolts that secured the Kelvy label on the cooler...
Thought a discarded General Electric Americana Side X Side fridge at the hospital I worked at years later (it was from an outbuilding used by it, in a lounge) needed the removal of its GENERAL ELECTRIC nameplate in that brutal manner, but I think the brittle plastic over the thin metal beneath it that I'd cracked & crumbled only needed a gentle movement w/ the screwdriver... Well, I saved the Temperature control w/ the thumbwheel & knob for the fridge & freezer portions, respectively... The janitor's office at that one school had black iron bars like a jail (maybe i=for bad students it once WAS) over a dug out where some equipment was stored & I am trying to picture where there I saw the BILLY GOAT lawn sweeper... That was either there or the little I'd seen of those areas of the two elementary schools I'd gone to for 3rd and 5th; and the one I'd gone to a nursery school at before that particular one, in which the less I'd been exposed to at that tender age the better... Well, BILLY GOAT followed me to Middle School: working for the school library I took a broken TV on a raised cart w/ casters (and another broken one I think on a shelf below it on the same cart) to the janitor's office--two wooden double doors w/ windows and a doorknob that DIDN'T work when I turned it, without a humongous effort--and across the small hallway was where the janitor & assistant led me to, to dispose the non-working audio-visual equipment, behind another set of wooden (maybe metal) double doors, without windows, that the GOAT was in, as well as the familiar sight of bags of SWEEPING COMPOUND that I had seen numerous times at the many schools... --Plus loads of other mostly floor scabbing/maintenance equipment... Well, there was at the school I'd attended 5th grade a small pantry behind the kitchen area--besides a Frigidaire single-door fridge in there, (and I think something right in that kitchen for refrigeration more nearby) (circa. 1959, seen in an ad of mostly Frigidaire built-in ranges & ovens) wonder what was there... There was a set of wooden doors opened ajar housing discarded a Frigidaire range, a 30" version that the kitchen had a working model of, that was a 40" at that other school I'd chronicled, w/ another single door Frigidaire... Getting back to BOILERS, the Kawalek was a very common piece of equipment seen in that school I'd attended in grade-5 & the Blues Brothers movie even had one (where Cab Calloway resided at the orphanage that that last elementary school was very much like & for that reason it was cool to go there) & surely the elementary school before that (& possibly the one I'd gone to in 3rd grade, that I have not as fond memories of or more than vague & vivid in that subject matter) might have also employed--didn't see much there... -- Dave |
Post# 952757 , Reply# 5   8/13/2017 at 14:00 (2,448 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room)   |   | |
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None of the schools I attended were old enough to have interesting secret rooms. (Oldest school was built probably 1950-something, and the other two were built in the 60s.) There were areas where students weren't allowed, of course, like the boiler room of my elementary school...but the room wasn't any big secret. And one could see a good chunk of it through the door, which was usually open.
The closest thing I know of to any sort of mysterious secret was at my junior high. There was a basement area in one building that was used for storage when I was there. Years later, though, apparently there was a rumor floating about the school that that area held a swimming pool that was closed down at some point. I'm pretty sure that was just urban legend--the high schools (one of which was probably build right about the time that jr. high building was built) didn't have pools, and high schools are generally the schools that will get a pool first. |
Post# 952758 , Reply# 6   8/13/2017 at 14:03 (2,448 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room)   |   | |
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I wonder, though, if the high school my mother attended didn't have mysterious spaces... It was old (early 20th century), and I think saw lots of changes over the years... I remember seeing that school the last time in the 1990s. I don't remember any secret rooms. But the mention of an old shower room earlier in this thread reminded me of a small dressing/shower room that I saw in that school. It was mostly unused, I gathered--at some point, a new gym (with new locker rooms) had been built. |
Post# 952779 , Reply# 8   8/13/2017 at 17:23 (2,448 days old) by philcobendixduo (San Jose)   |   | |
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My dad told me LONG ago that the school he attended in Rochester NY had a central vacuum and the chalkboard erasers were cleaned by holding them to the inlet on the wall. This would have been in the 1930's and 1940's. Anyone ever heard of (or seen) an OLD school with a central vacuum system?
When I was in elementary school (1960's), our school had an eraser cleaning machine located backstage in the auditorium. I often volunteered to clean the erasers. The machine was switched on and the erasers held up to the "nozzle" which had a rotating brush. Chalk dust was dislodged from the eraser and sucked up the nozzle into a small bag not unlike one on an upright bagged vacuum. Fascinating! |
Post# 952799 , Reply# 9   8/13/2017 at 20:36 (2,447 days old) by ptcruiser51 (Boynton Beach, FL)   |   | |
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Post# 952831 , Reply# 13   8/14/2017 at 02:57 (2,447 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Oh, the typos in my one or both initial posts... Kawalek was at the elementary school I'd attended (& at this point overstated) for the grades except for 3rd & 5th, 3rd I might not have been exposed to the clandestine areas of, or that's where the teaching I'd gotten for what I'd gone to school for actually worked! (Just for 5th, etc. to be where I'd made myself more clear)
Middle school had the gymnasium & I had myself written out of Phys. Ed. for my 8th grade on... The pool, then, was high school, that also other than swimming lessons between 1st & 2nd & maybe an evening aquatics show, I had attended, (maybe a neighbor going there awam in) had not been to/in--but surely a source of enjoyment for the operations... There was a vintage high schoool yearbook, from a former neighbor, my mom somehow got from that made its way to our basement in the house I grew up... A photo showing a washer w/ a laundress (w/ quite the "goony" look o hr face) was featured; and such a thing since there were showers & towels and a gym was probably also featured at the middle school, too... And moreover of that the city pool at the park where I'd gone to years earlier for summer camp found me peeking, gawking & endlessly staring into--asking: "What are they doing in there?" "They're doing YOU!" said one of my fellow campers, while a counselor in the probably futile manner to get me better adjusted stated "It's to CLEAN the pool!" right down to me drawing a picture of that room in arts & crafts reversing the trade name on a huge paper sack I saw a man tear open & load into a chamber labeled Sun Democates Earth--me bearing my own Earth Democates Sun (& the rays around the name--even thinking "it's that SUN stuff" used to de-mark a playing field for sports--boy was I obsessed!) Well, an overnight camp had a '70's Hotpoint dryer tucked away in the alcove behind the nature center in some closet, quite a distance away from what seemed to be a dark blue or some other dark colored washer in a room behind the mess hall, I don't know the name of--'cause IT WAS FORBIDDEN TO GO IN THAT ROOM! Last of all, the high school custodian's office--with a wooden sign over the door, stating in addition to 'the warning not to enter', THIS MEANS YOU! --w/ the exclamation mark & all... -- Dave |
Post# 953009 , Reply# 16   8/15/2017 at 12:11 (2,446 days old) by kd12 (Arkansas)   |   | |
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Rex, I remember that sound when the blower started up. As I remember, the sign on the wall over the starter button said to push and hold for 20 seconds so it would get enough current going to get up to full speed. |
Post# 953021 , Reply# 18   8/15/2017 at 14:21 (2,446 days old) by rpms (ontario canada)   |   | |
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My public grade school did not have many secret rooms.
There was a small room off the stage that held spots equipment and the doors opened under the stage and long racks were pulled out full of stacking chairs. The only room of interest was the tiny janitor's room opposite the boy's bathroom. Dennis,was the janitor and a very good one. The school was spotless. If you left your inside shoes on the floor and not put them on the seat of your desk they would go missing. Dennis,had a pet peeve about moving shoes when he swept. He would take your shoes and toss them into a wringer washer in the janitor's room. If your shoes were missing in the morning you had to go see Dennis. I remember it being kinda frightening. It was a creepy, dark room with no windows and it smelled weird. You had to line up and then reach into the washer to get your shoes. About once a month Dennis would fire up the wringer to wash mats and the mop heads. It was always exciting to be on a bathroom break, alone and hear the washer groaning and churning as you got close to the bathroom. Dennis hung his laundry out on the side of the school and we were not allowed to go on that side during recess. |
Post# 953051 , Reply# 19   8/16/2017 at 02:45 (2,445 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)   |   | |
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Dave-I would be interested in the specs of the organ. KD12-we don't have to hold switches down to start blowers-pumps herethey are started by contactors. |
Post# 953141 , Reply# 22   8/16/2017 at 18:57 (2,445 days old) by neptunebob (Pittsburgh, PA)   |   | |
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The secret room was like the one in this video- everywhere you turned around, kids!
CLICK HERE TO GO TO neptunebob's LINK |
Post# 953193 , Reply# 23   8/17/2017 at 08:24 (2,444 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)   |   | |
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at Wayne state university. A few of us may have heard all the rumors, or um, stories there. |
Post# 953492 , Reply# 25   8/19/2017 at 01:49 (2,442 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)   |   | |
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Dave--the organ specs were good for me--!!Wasn't bored at all-interesting-like seeing "specs" on various organs.Including "organ crawls"!-tours of the pipe rooms. |
Post# 953550 , Reply# 26   8/19/2017 at 11:19 (2,442 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)   |   | |
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different organ. |
Post# 953636 , Reply# 27   8/19/2017 at 19:49 (2,441 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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"Who's the man who sets his work aside 'cause he finds a place to hide? (Dave!)"
--Yes, ELEVATOR SHAFTS! --At the hospital I worked at, one wing going up to only three stories was operated by the machinery & pulleys in a small Elevator Equipment room, while the other wing had seven stories with a larger room containing even more greater machinery and the pulleys channeled in these large horizontally laid vessels that our A/C-Refrigeration maintenance man (who promised me the GE Americana fridge to be saved so that I may save the Temp. control/light cover of & pry the name-plate from, after he'd sucked out all the refrigerant from it) said that room was his shop--and surprisingly that room housing a set of stairs leading to that loft WAS UNLOCKED! --Also I drove around that elementary school (you know WHICH ONE!) to view that raised roof over the gymnasium to get the long-overdue view of the set of vents in the back of which below it are--THE FAN ROOM!!!! Hey, here's where an elevator shaft was consensually employed--Hal Blaine's drumming, on Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer", along with all a number of other gaffes & gimmicks in the makings of: -- Dave CLICK HERE TO GO TO DaveAMKrayoGuy's LINK |
Post# 953671 , Reply# 28   8/20/2017 at 10:19 (2,441 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)   |   | |
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Yes, a sort of elevation was involved. Some were shafted, some due to low productivity. |
Post# 969075 , Reply# 29   11/20/2017 at 09:32 (2,349 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Going on the mission to discard the broken/unwanted/unused/obsolete A/V equipment at the janitor's office led me to make a funny story about it to a fellow-classmate, that the janitor wanted to call the equipment "Mother-F#$*!'ers, though left the word "Mothers", whereas I told the fellow-young lad that he used the "F-Word", to the over-hearing teacher's disbelief, and luckily my own body & soul having been spared by getting away with only "Fffff-finish the rest", rather than the whole word--the door knob didn't turn right, so at least a CLEAN funny story of how the maintenance room could have a door knob you can't get into it through, and I think I could at least get easily out of...
The place I work at now, I was deadly curious about the meat room, particularly the band saw, unlike the big oval-headed one in wood shop class, it is a smaller square-shaped one, with as little of the blade exposed (I was not that brave that I could walk closer to it, even with it turned off as this was after-hours there) which is where I'd first seen such a saw, actually at a small butcher shop (meat-cutters use these/those, the shop teacher explained, thirty-five years ago, a seventh grader w/ an unfortunately SECOND grade mentality, and that being the only year--semester actually,--I'd taken that course & pulled a "C", mostly making candle holders, a pac man as was trendy to do back then, a spice rack (w/ the back unevenly put on, the teacher cut off the overlapping w/ his table saw, whereas my sister's teacher graded her on a curve for sloppy work, (her spice rack, & mostly other work was similarly sub-par) my teacher dinged me everywhere for stuff slightly slip-shod) and even my own miniature table saw (w/ a cardboard blade, and a future metal or plastic one, and maybe a motor to run it--God knows what I was thinking--maybe I needed to make a GUITAR as a classmate/friend of mine suggested--never materialized)... I think what was mostly disturbing besides the hazardous equipment, (even the wrapping system is motorized & its use requires great coordination, skill, consciousness and care!) was the smell of the meat heavily in the air--the produce & bakery areas, heavy enough to cut with a knife (yes, I will be courageous enough to survey that room another time, some more, and check out the cleavers, knives & other cutting & carving equipment) could also be just as bad... (Should I add something gory, in that sort of a scenario, to my short-story novel as well?) I had a friend who's father was a meat-cutter, too... He had a whole life-long career of working at butchers, warehouses, supermarkets, packing plants & although of Chaldean-Catholic descent he had even worked in many Kosher-Orthodox Jewish facilities as well... -- Dave |
Post# 969174 , Reply# 31   11/20/2017 at 23:44 (2,348 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Yes, the Fan Room, I could only make out a big machine with the set up steps to the side of it, while louvers are on a portion of the raised wall high above it sit over it on the roof top, so a quickly swinging door shutting on it hardly gives me a good, lasting view--and surely other schools in my district and a world of others got me reeling with curiosity...
Numerous typo-'s on my details on my wood shop class: "meat cutters use these " explains the shop teacher about the band saw, an oval-top one vs. the square-top a butcher shop I'd been in had, and seen other oval-tops at supermarket ones doing more cutting, and was shocked at the cheapness the one at Kroger that I now work at uses, and again, the raw meat-smell in the air got too intolerable to take in more of this prep-area, with a few other annexes (unseen) upstairs over the actual dept. (meat and seafood) below, via an elevator, of which one other is used by the bakery, deli and produce... Like I said, the teacher was the only one who could use the table saw, High School, I'm sure the students and teach could use everything, but as a seventh-grader with a SECOND grade mentality, just took the course for a semester, and I believe that's how long my sis two years/grades younger than me even had, having a better teacher grading her work on a curve, I just accepted my "C" and "making good effort" vs. this one gal who was his "pet" making stuff on the lathe... -- Dave |
Post# 976284 , Reply# 33   12/31/2017 at 10:02 (2,308 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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I've seen so many different meat saws at even whatever few butcher shops (when they were up front & visible) or through windows of what little supermarket meat counters I'd been to, long ago when I was a kid...
Which that long ago, at one butcher place we'd frequented, I would put my hands over my ears, whenever the saw was turned on (I was bothered by the noise, than the more volatile cutting purpose it served)... (I can recall my mom answering, when probably asked by the worker there, "He doesn't like the noise of the saw"...) So brands I vividly remember, are Toledo, (orange lettering going down vertically) Biro, Butcher Boy, and of course, Hobart... Now as for the couple meat rooms at another Kroger (the one by my dad's, which I occasionally shop at) I was "band saw stalking around", there... One room had aprons, and jackets & other wearable-gear having on hooks, I was staring dead at, through the door windows to them windows (that my store just may have in the other rooms and annexes in the actual room I had been in and out of a couple times that I didn't stay in long enough to get any sort of view of, as they were off to the side) just for a few people (the workers and my fellow-customers and shoppers) around me, STARING DEAD at ME, thinking I was "needing to be put-away somewhere" WEIRD!!!!)... So there was probably the wrapping & preparation room (a conveyor belt leads to) which my store has, and surely a good corner of the machine sticking out--like I said, we have a cheap plastic no-brand square w/ just enough blade sticking out to do whatever cutting required, and hopefully somehow claim the fewest accidents and injuries, compared to other hazardous equipment & situations typically abound... Think I'll look through the window at the Kosher place next (a supermarket w/ a meat counter) and there is also an actual butcher shop, too--though at a lot of those, the saws have been moved to the back... -- Dave |
Post# 976333 , Reply# 34   12/31/2017 at 14:30 (2,308 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver)   |   | |
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Believe it or not the "Custodian's Office" was one of the first rooms I was ever in at my first elementary school. One of our neighbors worked in the kitchen, and one day I went with mom and visited her at work, naturally since the back door to the kitchen opened into the storage area of the janitor's room, which had doors that opened to the area where the dumpster was, and where delivery trucks would back up, I ended up walking through there. Thats when I saw something so magical that I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling thinking about it... Wasn't a boiler, as this school had package units on the roof, it was the NSS M-1! And several of them! I honestly didn't see a boiler room until middle school as both elementary schools I went to had the package units on the roof.
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Post# 976381 , Reply# 35   1/1/2018 at 00:59 (2,307 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)   |   | |
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AWWW-YES-the NSS M1 vacuums-a favorite with schools-like the old style "kidney" bag on the one shown!!!Want one of this style! |
Post# 976492 , Reply# 37   1/1/2018 at 17:48 (2,307 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)   |   | |
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These are two pictures of the high school that I taught in that go with the above post. |
Post# 976552 , Reply# 38   1/2/2018 at 00:42 (2,306 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)   |   | |
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Abcomatic-nice old school-sad end!Liked those old,classic schools! |
Post# 977602 , Reply# 41   1/9/2018 at 09:24 (2,299 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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The one elementary school that I went to at one time was a high school--so the gym had a Boys Locker Room & a Girls Locker Room--and each had a shower room, with a single incandescent bulb housed in a glass upside-down dome, though one of these locker rooms was used as an equipment room while the other was unused & the gym teacher gave his class, including me, a glimpse at the unused room, with the dome from the shower room in that one missing--while I can surmise that the unused room was the Boys Locker Room, as against the wall I can visualize some porcelain wells sticking out of, that was where clearly what separated Boys from Girls, in terms of which locker room was which...
The gym had a "Sys-ync" noise coming from the ceiling, we jokingly said was a "ghost" only for the school custodian to one day happening to be in the gymnasium & the teacher quoted with "yes, he's the expert--let's ask him", then all of us being quoted down to hear the noise occur, then for the custodian to say (though this many years later, I forgot, other than it probably had to do with what is a very-antiquated heating/ventilating system, possibly in relation to the thermostat, in of all places, a room like our gymnasium, doubling also as an auditorium, hence it was dubbed as in nearly all of our school system--Multipurpose Room, and this is the school I'd attended in 5th Grade, so I graduated in that room: "When I leave, Carver School, I plan to leave my helpfulness", my shy self left as my farewell address, and there were enough "I plan to leave my ____" for the whole class--my homeroom teacher gave me that sheet of paper a week before, leaving me wondering what its purpose was, before everyone at the microphone, after receiving our diplomas, clued me in--we even had caps & gowns & I quickly learned the steps of the march--as for Carver, it was George Washington Carver & there couldn't have been a better time to go there if it was when The Blues Bothers Movie came out & I likened it to The Orphanage that Jake & Elwood were trying to save--needless to say, it needs similar salvation, although trips by it--occasional at that--saw it used for some other importune function, to where even all of the graffiti is gone--$conni, frequently seen written in a lot of places, and of all: even close to the Downriver area... Now, a trip to one of my local Sam's Clubs and around the Meat Dept. let me see their band saw--a huge "Now THIS is a SAW" also employed at the Kosher supermarket (though there its back was tuned towards me & the flat part boasting the name plate was faced away, so in the sideways glance, only saw the hub housing the upper-wheel) while the Sam's (there are Three of them locally, so I might investigate the other two) was it moved further away, and another back glance at the side of, although a blade wrapped around it giving me the only clue what it was, while in the background of the preparation area, was the couple of sinks & a sprayer not to mention an arsenal of knives against the wall everywhere in sight, and no one using the saw at either place, of which I tried to avoid the "May I help you?" that I would have been asked, as I didn't want to reveal the real nature of my well, obsession--must be the "35-years-ago" vortex that I find myself in... Going to the Harvard Row meat place (a free standing Butcher) next--though too far west of me top make an easy trip to, right now... -- Dave |
Post# 977632 , Reply# 43   1/9/2018 at 12:09 (2,299 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Well, at one school the Spanish class I took in high school and a few other electives got moved to the building that housed our former middle school--close to where I grew up vs. MS moving an exact mile away...
Even some Berkeley high kids, had to get all the way out there and little did I know the blue Omini 0-24 (1980) I saw, was of the gal I would later work at Arbor drugs with--have a crush on and a few other naughty things but get involved passed her boyfriend which saw her be the 1st to give a teenage birth in her class, she'd told me, as well, marrying this guy and her son having two sisters that I had no idea could be many years apart--well, wait: Back to topic: the lounge there in one hall I was pointedly to not go walk through had a fridge, dishwasher and stove, Admiral, Caloric, and Westinghouse, respectively... The class only had five kids in it, me and a couple others from my school and a couple Madison Heights gals... 'Nuff said... But, I guess like Roosevelt (where I attended) and Clinton that this place was, now an Adult Ed. Facility housing the school bus and district works facility, as well as being next to the administration building could be just as loaded with other secret rooms, of the like! -- Dave |
Post# 977835 , Reply# 45   1/11/2018 at 00:13 (2,297 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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I got brave enough now the day before yesterday to go back into that meat room, until it seemed like I was next to the thing (that, or the room it's in is THAT SMALL!) though still haven't seen how you turn it on & off...
The other room in there wasn't near what the other Kroger I had been to looked like, or it was a regular preparation room w/o the stuff hanging in it, which we must have a similar room somewhere in those quarters, perhaps in the cooler or freezer, there are a couple doors leading to... This other room I got a better glimpse of had a saw designed for more SERIOUS sawing--just like the big corporation I work at then to junk a good saw--the thing looked badly in disuse, hence the other one being used, once I got passed the still-thick & heavy smell of meat in the air, seemed more for cutting paper... There's the supermarket by my dad's house, (a Spartan store) so poking my head around the meat dept. there allowed me to hear the faint Swwweeeee, Sweeeee, of the saw & the guy w/ his back turned running it, as another view through a door window allowed... There's also another market that used to be around where I lived, known as Farm Fresh (built into an old Farmer Jack, which I'd been to /shopped at as well) now moved a few miles away, having two meat depths like each orig. incarnation had--so to pay it/them a visit... Then, there used to be the old Chatham Supermarket near where I lived which is now a clothing store, and it tried its hand at being another supermarket--this is decades ago--that I miss, when it went from Chatham to A&P, to some other place (where I visibly saw the meat cutting in the large window there, going on)... Oh, the Arbor had a basement, an area sealed off & musty smelling and spent time as a supermarket of some sort (also A&P most-likely) so "the dungeon" as it was called was storage for fixtures, in a couple unused restrooms (the fixtures all taken out, other than the unusable sinks) had a door leading to it you probably could be as locked in as it being the only way out--as some stairs in there led to a trap door that was really a sealed up ceiling and above it was a pattern sealing up that area of the floor, so a stair and conveyor belt in the back of the stock room was what was used for up/down for people as well as freight... Like the Dungeon, that old George Washington Carver Elementary School had a mustiness of its own, too... (One other school, John Dewey Elementary, I was briefly in, was going to be a hospice, but I don't think the plan for it to be such ever came through, so it's a mysterious, unused & most-likely haunted building... -- Dave |
Post# 977882 , Reply# 46   1/11/2018 at 10:30 (2,297 days old) by iej (.... )   |   | |
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My school literally resembled Hogwarts so there were plenty of interesting rooms full of strange antique sports gear and stuff lol |
Post# 979285 , Reply# 47   1/21/2018 at 08:19 (2,287 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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Nope, no plastic Fisher Price toy at Hollywood market--that had a big Biro (red circle in the center of the square) w/ a lot of blade showing, compared to the too much guard I would see, and I looked through the door window of the door from the deli (deli & bakery & even the produce & general grocery backrooms had also got me on my tippy toes peeking around--the stairs in the backroom at the Kroger by my dad's look nicer, painted white & not in a hall, too), and another Kroger by the one I work at had a big saw (probably a Biro, or the like) there, too, along with some other machine with gears maybe for making labels, and no Mattel it is, as the machinery inside seemed fully exposed...
Last, I went to the free-standing butcher luckily a few hours before it closed (it was a Friday) and an unused Biro was by the doorway in the back, (no blade) while right behind the counter, was one that looked like it did a lot of work--just on meat... I was surprised, when I thought of it, that I saw no meat grinder, surely grinding meat would be a frequent job and power operation would be needed there as well--but there was a lot of equipment, and people (taking orders for chicken (you can get roasted rotisserie) and Choulnt), to be seen--and me, as well, making a mention: "Biro, eh?"... Holliday market (& probably Westborn, I hadn't gone to) as well as Save-A-Lot, and the Meijers didn't seem to have their rooms as visible... And don't know about Aldi--just know when I was at Walmart we didn't seem to have anything like that in our meat room, there... Like I said, there are other grocery areas, and even our own produce, bakery & deli, I never got to see at my own store entirely, that I'm curious about... -- Dave CLICK HERE TO GO TO DaveAMKrayoGuy's LINK |
Post# 1016864 , Reply# 48   12/5/2018 at 01:39 (1,969 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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The special needs (severely impaired) students classroom in high school had a room in the back with an Amana top freezer refrigerator that I would have lamped everyone there to have opened or closed Kenmores and Coldspots and operated Sears Roebuck-such in their own homes (as far as probably most of the help goes, the students had parents/foster care/guardians, etc. do for them, or be supervised doing) than have their fingers wrapped around those handles of what must have been the most-reliable fridge to keep their meds and maybe treats in (they’ve easily shoveled the yucky school food in their mouths, as they’d eaten their lunches in our cafeteria in order to, as a friend of mine put it, had to “face society”)...
The door to that area had blue paper taped over with blue tape, normally seen in hospitals/medical facilities, and beds with cubicle-style curtains were in that room... Also, years before working in food retail, I had to press my nose between swinging doors at what was the Chatham supermarket near where I live now, becoming Farmer a Jack, A&P, some independent place, then bearing a couple names of TJ Max-type of stores (clothing/small lines of home/domestic soft goods) such as AJ Wright, then Fallas, and now currently sitting around, vacant and empty... Oh, and back then at Chatham, I went upstairs to use the bathroom, and the Men’s sign was torn, making Women’s easier to identify, just to be told by a lady worker “That’s the Girl’s room!”... The pressing my nose between the doors? I was wondering what the bad smell was... I asked my dad (who wasn’t there with us, but he’s the kind of guy who “knows everything”) and he simply said “maybe it’s spoiled tuna fish”, still fueling my curiosity than providing any answer—but I worked at Walmart, which had a grocery department, and now Kroger, so I now know all about rancid smells at places that are supposed to be fresh...! Then, there was a Farmer Jack that i used the bathroom at—okay, another meat area, but I went about my own biz—where one worker asked another “who invited him (me) here?”, it was in the back, and before that the A&P near my house I grew up at, had a produce area with an interesting hot water heater pipe go through the tiled ceiling above it, a door open let me peep through (a horn trill from a Sesame Street’s “letter O”, “Ox” skit popped into my head, then)... Think I was curious about an old man worker in his smock led into a room in the back room via another door up front opened with two well-dressed men, one in a white shirt and tie, the other in a suit and tie, accompanied by another man wearing his white butchers apron, carrying a briefcase—he was probably leader with the Union... — Dave |
Post# 1030885 , Reply# 50   4/26/2019 at 11:59 (1,827 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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The nature center which, last week, I accompanied my daughter on her field trip to...
Has a kitchen which may or may not be public, (whatever happened to those fancy chromed-metal bars that were door handles on refrigerators, those plastic "grips" are trying to do?!) and most interesting, the Animal Care room, also serving as likely a heating/cooling/ventilation/plumbing, etc. utility area for the building...
-- Dave |
Post# 1030886 , Reply# 51   4/26/2019 at 12:04 (1,827 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)   |   | |
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More pictures of the actual Center, that I couldn’t send from my phone, to the big computer, so taken from the gallery on my phone, though wish I’d photographed stuff from our actual nature hike...
— Dave |