Yeomni-dong, Daeheung-dong, and Ahyeon-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul (Part 2)

February 3, 2017

The highlight of the day was getting into this bathhouse. The owner/operators lived upstairs and left behind a piano. Some unnamed urban explorers showed off their chops.

As well as some vintage powdered coffee.

February 12, 2017

This seemed to be the oldest hanok in the neighborhood.

Over the years, I have developed an appreciation for hanok tile.

February 18, 2017

March 1, 2017

I spent the national holiday taking advantage of no workers on site. At this point, the demolition of the Yeomni-dong area was picking up.

March 4, 2017

A few months prior, we had flown a drone off the building in this spot.

March 18, 2017

As the end of days approached the neighborhoods, I made last-ditch efforts to get into buildings I hadn’t been able to get into. The Tori Hotel, situated on the main street of Daeheung-ro, provided a challenge as it was in high foot traffic area. This day marked the first time I explored Ahyeon-dong, another working-class neighborhood on the other side of the hill from Yeomni-dong. It was the only time visiting these neighborhoods that I got accosted by a security guard.

This room was one of the few untouched. I felt safe sitting on the bed.

This part of Ahyeon-dong was still in the early stages of redevelopment.

Most of the buildings in this area of Ahyeon-dong were locked tight.

It was here where the security guard confronted me and asked me to delete the pictures of the place.

April 1, 2017

This would be one of my last visits for quite a while. Other things took my attention from this place. It was the day I discovered the Yellow Building had been destroyed. That took the winds out of my sails. The finality sank in. In late summer, I would eventually move to Japan, live there for a few months then return back to Oregon.

October 20, 2018

At this point, I had moved back to Korea. I was living down in Gwangju. My trips to Seoul were less frequent, but when I did come up, I noticed both Yeomni and Daeheung neighborhoods were utterly animated. The demolition of Ahyeon-dong was in full swing. These are the only film images I was able to capture here.