Contemporary Ruins in Arizona

The amazing town of Jerome, Arizona, an old mining town and an old ghost town,
covers a hillside in Northwest Arizona. Old renovated buildings sit side by side by
ruins in various states of decay and or preservation. Two old hotels are stabilized
barely, but no roofs and a side or two are missing. However, two other ones, one
a former hospital are either totally renovated or on the way. There are ailianthus
trees everywhere (apparently some years ago someone threw seed onto the mountain
top from an airplane and it all washed down to the town (and these Trees that grow
in Brooklyn seem to be the only trees in Jerome). There is the usual Arizona town
letter near the top of the Mountain, a "J" of course, and whitewashed. A variety of
little businesses are, if not fourishing at least struggling. The wares are antiques of
sorts, bottles, mining equipment (this was a mining town, at one time? all owned by Phelps Dodge, the largest "industry" in Arizona.
Nearby, fifty or sixty miles is a ruin of the seventies, Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti, an eco-commune, or at least community of some sort. It is perkily perched, italian style on a nice ravine, more in the high desert area than Jerome. It is showing the signs of
age, and the materials are generally dirty, stained, etc. Weeds seem to abound, but
so do people (almost as many as you see in Jerome).