Dkatari brought up a word I didn't know: "urbexing."
I found this definition in
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Urbexing
"Urbexing is the act of exploring urban areas that are generally off-limits to regular civilians."
I've always been intrigued by spaces that are off-limits to many. I'm not talking about private residential space, but private spaces within public settings.
I like meeting people who share access to those spaces. Like, an old friend who was the head of pathology at a hospital in NYC. He gave me a tour through lab areas that were off limits to visitors, so I could take notes for a poem.
I would love to find a guide who could share access with me to:
- abandoned subway stations
- animal clinics at the Bronx zoo
- places in the redwood forests in Humboldt Park, Northern California, where the largest trees on earth are growing (their sites are off limits to the general public, for the trees' protection)
- the construction site of the new Freedom Tower, looking out from the cage of steel beams at 100 stories
Before 9/11, when security all over the City was more slack, I would sneak behind the scenes at Madison Square Garden at the Westminster Dog Show, so I could wander up and down the aisles where the show dogs were being temporarily housed and groomed.
Their owners sat in lawn chairs, and the dogs were on leashes next to them. The owners were happy to talk about their dogs, and the dogs were friendly and well behaved. I got to pet an Irish Wolf Hound; I'd never seen one before in person.
And it was so cool to watch the dogs being blow dried and groomers trimming their whiskers and eye brows and so on. It's a real art, grooming some of the dogs, like standard poodles, where such precision goes into their hair cuts.
So I guess I have the heart of an urbexer. Who knew.