Here is my photo tour of Aberdeen, Washington. It is located in Grays Harbor County and is that county's largest city. It is best known as the birthplace of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, both of whom later moved to Seattle. As far as I know, the city has been in a permanent state of decline since its founding in 1890. It's nickname before Kurt Cobain (BC) was 'the hellhole of the pacific'.
Despite its negative reputation, the city was the center of Washington's timber industry in the early 20th century and seems to have experienced a relatively prosperous period between 1900 and 1929. The great depression led to three quarters of the mills being shuttered and that decline continues to this day. It's a city with a lot of potential, but opportunities are scarce and because of this, the city's best and brightest move to Seattle.
The city's population is around 17,000 and anchors Grays Harbor County's population of nearly 70,000.
Beginning with downtown's commercial buildings:
The Odd Fellows Building
Woolworth's
Key Bank
The Daily World Building
The Electric Building (Quite fond of this building)
JC Penney Building
An old hotel that is in the process of demolition... (Also fond of this building)
The D&R Theatre
The old Bon Marché Department Store
Bank of America Building
Aberdeen's Masonic Temple
An old theatre (now a church)
The old Post Office
Aberdeen Public Library
Aberdeen City Hall
Aberdeen High School (the old one, which was quite impressive burnt down a few years back)
Amazing Grace Lutheran Church
Awesome old apartment buildings
An Elementary School (I didn't remember the name)
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish & School
The Driftwood Playhouse
The old Washington National Guard Armory
...I hope you enjoyed Aberdeen's grunginess and grit. Hopefully I will be able to share the rest of my pictures from my adventure to Grays Harbor County when I upgrade my Flickr Account at some point after this Friday. I got some good ones of Hoquiam, Montesano, Pacific Beach, and Elma, so keep your eyes peeled!