Abandoned Auto - Saxon Motors - Elk River, MN

Hey Saxon... 


No...

You weren't!


Wait, it was Sunday... 

Blue laws... My bad...

I was in Minnesota for a little over a week in November last year. One of the days I was free, my friend Trav asked what I wanted to do...

"Take me to something abandoned!"

He suggested a drive out highway 10, west to Elk River, for Saxon Motors. A large automobile dealer, located roughly at the junction of highways 10 and 169. On the way, there were several abandoned gas stations worth stopping and checking out, as we forged our path to Saxon...


Once we got on the frontage road leading to Saxon, we found that access was blocked by this impenetrable gate... We would need to find another way onto the property...


Driving around to the far corner of the parking lot, past the ironic Saxon Motors sign...

Which has some strange sort of optical illusion going on with how the bottom is angled. 

I haven't quite figured out what they were going for here...


Where Trav made a fresh trade-in, going from standard to 4-Wheel Drive in the freshest of fashions!


He then made a B-Line across the Saxon Lot, towards the southeast. The pavement had those great overgrown weed lines growing through the cracks. I love that in an abandoned property!


Our plan was the hide the vehicle in the Body Shop area of Saxon's, then walk around the building, starting from the back.


Yeah... Behind the Collision Center...

 Quick! Before anyone sees us! 

We'll come back and talk about the cool graffiti here later...


Staircase leading up to the second floor, above the garage doors of the Service Center. I don't think there was any electricity powering that camera near the roof. That may or may not have been watching us...


Apparently the city of Elk River has relocated their city dump to behind Saxon Motors. 

Seriously people... Have some class...


The lone garage door in the back of the service center. This door was behind our parking spot.


Some amateur taggers are using the back of Saxon Motors to practice their tagging. 

Watch out for Flar!

The Nature Boy Ric Flar?


More tagging practice...


Dert had a little bit of trouble figuring out the D...


Over the mattresses and through the woods, you can see the mighty Mississippi River!


Flar and Dert mixed up their style a bit on this door. Which was barricaded shut by a large cement block. I don't think the even combined powers of Flar and Dert could budge a cement block this huge....

Or did they put it there?


I mean clearly, Flar and Dert have the power to destroy refrigerators, televisions, couches and tires...

Just look at the path of destruction they've left in their wake...


Pink Dert!


Blue Flar!


Destroyed Printer!


I'd like to think the printer was thrown through this window in a fit of rage... Like it ran out of toner at a really bad time, and the anger management drop out hurled it through the glass. Which broke in a great and almost cartoonish way...


The printer and other computer parts seemed to eject a series of small children's clothing upon impact...


Trav! Give me a boost, I think I can get inside...


Is this Flar or Dert's shoe?


As we move to the left, past a non-barricaded -but still locked- door, 
We find that Flar is now experimenting with bubble letters...


Also in bubble letters... "Solid 420". 

Oh boy... 

I don't know if I find this cute or really sad and stupid... Yes tagger kid from Elk River, Minnesota, you are most certainly down with the 420... I would never dream of questioning your credentials...

And trust me, after living in the land of the legal weed, it's not the utopia you may believe it to be... So grow up, put down the Krylon and read a god damned book...


Big Blue-Green Block Flar! Need to finish that R, Flar...

Finish what you start...

Some of the laziest... Half-assed gangsters...

You are an embarrassment to your suburb...


Flar and Dert can at least unite to call upon the power of their mysterious ally, 2 Canz $! 

He's always OT!!! He'll take your bitch!!!

You can tell when 2 Canz$ has been and left, by his signature 1 can of paint left behind. 

So why isn't he called 1 Canz $? 

Well, why do you think he's so mysterious dog?


Oh 2 Canz $... You left your roller behind... So disappointing....

No self respecting Elk River gangsta uses a roller... 

Now those fuckers in Big Lake are just going to laugh at you...


We've now safely walked through the wrong side of the tracks, all the way to the southwest corner of Saxon Motors. Looking across a very spacious parking lot, towards where we entered the property.


Even more garage doors were on this side of the building. I know nothing about Saxon Motors, but they had quite the huge service department...


Coming around the corner to the front, are some more doors behind the show room in front of the building.


More doors, weeds and a broken piece of vent on the ground...


I would like to apply for early bird service, but it appears you are out of forms... 

Should I talk to Dert or Flar in regards to this matter?


I bet this door hasn't been opened in a while...


If you want your Direct TV to have improved reception, you need to aim the satellite towards the southwest. Aiming it straight down and broken off will likely result in a snowey picture...


This broken pipe is causing the ornamental plywood door covering to begin to rot. That's not going to leave a favorable impression on your customers...


Looking straight across the front showroom windows, which have been boarded up for an unknown amount of time.


Trav pointed out that the only indication that the Saxon Motors building is available is the spraypainted "For Lease" on the front of the building. But there are no phone numbers anywhere to call. If you wanted to lease the property, how would them know? Who are they?

And Beach Boyz? 

I bet that's the name of Dert, Flar and 2 Canz $'s gang!

It's all starting to come together....


Looking out across the south end of Saxon Motors. The other two buildings that can be seen in this photo are still open businesses.

Though they were closed because it was Sunday afternoon...


A corner of Saxon...


Yup that terrible threesome must be the Beach Boyz... And we were on their turf... Trav and I were just lucky they were taking Sunday off from gangstering... Likely taking all the Elk River Girls on a Mississippi River Surfin' Safari, or there could have been trouble for us...


The weed cracked pavement went up an incline in the south corner of Saxon.


Service Arrow... More weeds and garage doors... More Beach Boyz... 

Way down in Elkomo!


I do like these lamp posts...


Shipping and Receiving seems rather underwhelming when cast against the immense size of this building...


The Saxon Collision Center has something to say... I haven't yet cracked the code to figure out just what that message is...


See! I knew the Beach Boyz were a gang! There's irrefutable proof spraypainted on that door!!


You can't fool me Beach Boyz...


This was my favorite graffiti on the entire Saxon Property... 

A hard to read "I Aint Sorry" in yellow... That's a statement!


Hey Beach Boyz! You forgot to tag this door!


A Make Art Not War...

Hmmm... As I ponder that profound statement, I have to think that is the work of 2 Canz $. This speaks more to 2 Canz $'s poetic existentialist-realist style of communicating in the medium of Rust-O-Leum on Aluminum...

Classic 2 Canz $!


One last look across the south Saxon Motors lot...


And up the weedy cracked incline...


Back into Trav's car and away from Saxon Motors...


And into Anoka, for lunch at Jellybean & Julia's BBQ!


Goodbye Saxon motors... 

And for next time, when you promise to be somewhere, you need to be there!

Comments

  1. NJGFebruary 10, 2019 at 7:35 PM

    Saxon Motors was a great dealership to deal with until GM canceled their franchise in 09 during the big automaker crisis/bailout. GM tried canceling the franchise of Main Motors just down the road in Anoka, but thanks partially to the efforts of the owners' daughter Gretchen Carlson, who was then on Fox and Friends they were able to keep it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Someone else liked these...

Abandoned Movie - Kitty's South (The Webber Theater) - Denver, CO

Image
When I first started this blog, with the intent of writing stories about abandoned buildings I’d photographed, Kitty’s South was one of the stories I most wanted to write. For whatever reasons, it took me nearly seven years to get around to it. Looking back at my early stuff from 2017 and 2018, I’m glad I let this story marinate for an additional six and half years. Kitty's South - March 22, 2015. Located at 119 S Broadway, Denver, Colorado. I drove past that building hundreds of times in my near 20 years of living around Denver. Any time I drove home from downtown, I had to pass by Kitty's. So it was rather shocking in the summer of 2016, when Kitty's stopped looking like Kitty's.  The Webber Theater - April 29, 2018. After a year and a half of work, inside and out, Kitty's South was brought back to a similar look of its days as The Webber Theater. The interior of the former theater was opened up with some of the space used by the Archetype Distillery. Archetype cl
Read some more »

Our Happy Birfday Fan Zone Fun Time Whatever - St. Cloud MN

Image
At the beginning of last month, Laura and I were trying to figure out a decent, low impact, day trip, just to get away from Crapids for a few hours. This would tie into both of our birthdays, since they are both in March. Maybe see something cool. Maybe eat something different. Hopefully find something to do that doesn't offend either of our mutual interests. How about St. Cloud? It's less than an hour away, we can get Burger Time and look for Justin Morneau cards at Fan Zone? Since that was agreeable to both parties, we made our way northwest, on Saturday March 2, 2024. Fan Zone, St. Cloud MN. But we aren't there yet... Have to leave the general Crapids/Anoka area first.  Leaving this area still remains one of my favorite things to this day! They're building a something, out where the old Anoka Pizza Hut was. The grave of Anoka Perkins next door, remains relatively undisturbed.  But I was saddened to see that another abandoned Burger King has disappeared. This time i
Read some more »

What Happened to Clark's Submarine Sandwich?

Image
Well, they went out of business! Yeah, that's the short answer.  But more importantly, what happened to each individual Clark's Submarine Sandwich store? Once there were 15 of them scattered around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, but they were all gone by 1991. Clark's still has a small but loyal following around town, and a reputation built off the bread, thinly sliced onions and most important, the sandwich oil that was it's signature. While the chain is long gone, I want to know just how gone is it?  For example, my hometown had a Clark's Submarine Sandwiches, and that building is still standing. Former Clark's Submarine Sandwich Location: 401 Northdale Blvd. Coon Rapids Back in October 2006, the building had long been sitting empty, but was still in good shape. Shortly after I took the picture of the abandoned Clarks/Cousins building, it was renovated and turned into a Dunn Bros. Coffee. But still standing! Clark&
Read some more »

Dinner Break! - Burger King - St. Cloud, MN

Image
When you want to go nowhere for breakfast... Although, I did go through the drive thru at this St. Cloud for breakfast, once. But I was just a spectator. It was far too early in the day to introduce Burger King to my system, without disastrous consequences. But someone driving needed a Croissanwich... I was sitting in the passenger seat of this white molester van. I wasn't drugged, I was just very tired. That van was owned by one Crazy Carl. Who was running Griffy's Old Town Bar & Grill, in Genola, MN, at the time. We closed the bar and cleaned up the place until 3am, the night before. But we were back at Griffy's to get the bar ready to open, the next day. After pounding a bunch of coffee and cigarettes, we were off on a morning supply run to Sam's Club, in St. Cloud. Wasted Quarter issue #58 - Crime Drama! - March 2006 I'd gone up to Genola a few times during 2004-05. Griffy's Old Town Bar & Grill served as a quick vacation away from Crapids, during th
Read some more »

Abandoned Mall: Villa Italia Mall - Lakewood, CO

Image
Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood, Colorado, opened in March 1967.  It closed for good on July 15th, 2001. I'm not going to get into the biography of the large shopping mall. My experiences there number a grand total of two. Once in June of 2000 (for a baseball card show), and the other in May, 2001, when I took these pictures. Since there was no emotional attachment on my behalf toward the place, I know next to nothing about it. There are a few good sites with real information and more pictures of Villa Italia. Both in it's heyday and in it's depressed run down state. I consulted these for this story. Deadmalls has a basic biography, that is a good starting point.  A link appears at the bottom of the page that takes you to another site with a nice selection of Villa Italia photos. Or you can just click here... So let me add my piece to that total! In May 2001, my mom was in town from Minnesota. She was in Denver visiting my sister (who lived in Lakewood)
Read some more »

Abandoned Retail - Brookdale Mall, Sears & Perkins!

Image
Visiting Minnesota in September 2011, my dad told me that Brookdale Shopping Mall was being demolished, and we should check it out. Brookdale opened in 1962, as one of the "Dales." A series of suburban metro area shopping malls designed to syphon retail dollars away from the traditional downtowns of major cities. In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, Brookdale was in Brooklyn Center, Rosedale was in Roseville, Ridgedale in Minnetonka and Southdale in Edina. Back in the day, needed housewares, "important" clothes for school and other reasons, and whatever other supplies the family had to buy, usually came from the mall. Brookdale was a constant. Rosedale as well, but that mall is currently thriving today, and thus far off my radar. Northtown mall was the closest to us, but it was a second tier mall without the top drawing anchors. Northtown has seen a little hint of a resurgence after losing it's long string of anchors and a series of renovati
Read some more »

Grumpies... The Coolest Coon Rapids Has Ever Been!

Image
"Dood, this is the coolest Coon Rapids has ever been!" I'm most certainly not talking about this place...  Though I am talking about a specific event that took place inside it's walls. Today, the bar known as Willy's has been closed for over 6 months.  After numerous incidents with patron fights and gun violence, the owner called it quits on the bar and closed the doors for good. And the city is much better off for it! But we'll get to that soon enough... My absence in blogging lately is due to returning to my sleepy suburban hometown after a (give or take) 22 year absence. Where I have to deal with a lack of internet connection, and a whole lot less quiet me/writing time... (You can add Laura and I to that population now...) I was born in this town, grew up here and stayed to the age of 21. Then I packed the Vanilla Honksicle (second of three Fort Escorts I've owned) and headed west for Colorado. That was in 1996. Oth
Read some more »

Ghosts of Riverdale Past - Coon Rapids, MN

Image
Recently there’s been a lot of chatter amongst the townsfolk about the retail abomination known as Riverdale. Another round of store closures has people talking about what a massive failure this shopping cluster has always been, and why retail is the way it is, and who's to blame and all that kind of stuff. Bottom line being, more stores that people liked shopping at are gone. For whatever reason. Which made me wonder, how many former businesses in Riverdale did I manage to get pictures of over the years? As I started going through the Riverdale picture folder on my external drive, I found far more than I'd expected. This is by no means EVERY former business that didn't survive the ridiculous conditions of shopping in my hometown, but it's an interesting peek into some of what didn't work. I didn't live in Coon Rapids when Riverdale was built. When I moved back in 2003, I was horrified that the western sky now had a brilliant orange glow in the middle of the nig
Read some more »

Abandoned WalMarts over Apache Plaza

Image
Check out that sweet label scar!  WalMart closed their St. Anthony store on April 8, 2014. Hours later, the new WalMart Superstore in Roseville, less than three miles to the southeast, held their grand opening. WalMart decided they could get a much better deal from the City of Roseville. Less than a decade after opening the St. Anthony location, WalMart left a big empty building for the city to deal with. Breaking a 20 year lease in the process. For what it's worth, this is one of the nicer looking abandoned WalMarts I've seen in person. Originally signed on to anchor the south end of the new Silver Lake Village shopping complex. Which was to be built on the land previously occupied by the Apache Plaza shopping mall (1961-2004). This store opened in 2005, and did good numbers during it's life. Providing easily accessed wares to all the nearby residential neighborhoods, both old and new.  But it's location was also it's undoing... Silver Lake Village is anchored on t
Read some more »

Abandoned Retail - Target - Coon Rapids, MN

Image
Target T-42. The 42nd Target store in the world, was located in Coon Rapids, MN. Until it was replaced by Target T-1144, a mile or so to the north, 26 years later. Coon Rapids Target opened October 19, 1972, and closed October 6, 1998. Living on the north side of town in the 1970’s and 1980’s, big box retailers like Zayre and Kmart were more frequently visited, since they were closer to our house. Target was patronized less often, and usually paired with grocery shopping at Red Owl. Complete with video games while my mom shopped for food. And copies of Mad magazine slipped into the cart when no one was looking. Downtown Center, anchored by Festival Foods, opened in 1987. Sitting at the corner of Round Lake and Bunker Lake, in Andover, that shopping center was now more convenient for weekly groceries. Subsequently, Red Owl's visits started declining, just due to Festival. Riverdale WalMart opened November 14, 1990. For better or worse, that siphoned an even more significant chunk of
Read some more »