Tag Archives: gas station

Abandoned, Rio Dell

Abandoned, Rio Dell
An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

Abandoned, Rio Dell. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

On this last full day of our recent visit to the far Northern California coast we took a long drive through varied terrain out along a section of the so-called Lost Coast. While the mileage would have made for a one-hour urban drive on almost any California freeway (at least if it weren’t rush hour), the nature and condition of the roadway, along with the need to stop to look and make photographs, turned this into a full-day affair.

This is a very different California than what we see in the Bay Area, Southern California, or even the Central Valley for that matter. Most of the area is quite rural, and the effects of over a year of pandemic isolation are clear in small communities with many closed businesses. (Though a new business, one based on certain formerly-illegal agricultural products, seems to be thriving in some of the backwoods areas.) We came back to US 101, the main through-route, near here and decided to stop of coffee in the small town of Rio Dell. As we left town this building caught my eye. I’m guessing that it was originally a gas station before being turned into something else and then more or less abandoned. But what a paint job!


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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