Cisco, Utah (Reprise)

I have visited this unusual spot several times over the years. (See previous posts, HERE and HERE, for example.)

Unfortunately, dickheads with no moral compass (not unlike our fine President) have taken to vandalizing the place, spraying ever more graffiti around and hauling off pieces of the town for scrap (like the gas pumps at the old gas station, for example–gone).

If you visit, as it implores in one of the images below: “Take nothing but pictures. Be respectful for fuck’s sake.”

Some key points:

Yes, the final scene of the cult film Vanishing Point was filmed here, as well as at least one scene in the classic film Thelma and Louise. I have been told Don’t Come Knocking also used Cisco as a set. So, bow down low here and pay homage to Kowalski et al.
Yes, there ARE people living here.
They are armed.
They have dogs (and cats).

Just be friendly and respectful and you’ll be fine. Be a dick and you might get shot.

And be especially nice to the friendly tail-less cat and Cairo (KAY-row), the dog.

Perhaps, someday, parts of this town will be preserved and even restored for posterity. (Progress in this direction has started already as it looks like the old mail room HAS been fixed up and painted! Eileen’s doing?)

In the following photo essay I was working with mid-day winter light. This is usually not ideal, but the clouds were acceptable and, when intending to convert to black and white, this kind of light can still work. I also felt like the contrails added to the mood of the place–overflights miles away, high above, and ignorant of and oblivious to the trials and defibrillations of this obscure virtual ghost town.

[Added NOTE: I just found an excellent five-minute YouTube video (thanks, “speeta”!) that alternates back and forth between actual 1971 movie footage and those exact same locations in Cisco as they appeared in June of 2015. To view it, go to this link: Vanishing Point Location Cisco, Utah.]

Here is the main altar to Kowalski, the tragic protagonist of the film, Vanishing Point. Is that him nailed to the wall by the door? Someone has added “The Directive” over the past year. Just what does that mean? This is what remains of Ethel’s Cafe and Shell Station. At about 3:30 in speeta’s video mentioned above, you can see what the cafe and Shell station looked like in the 1971 film. In one scene, two bulldozer’s are brought in to stop Kowalski in his Dodge Challenger and were parked on the road within a hundred yards of here (not the same place as the final, fiery, scene):

Cisco, #2. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

Another gas station with its once hopeful mural, now a bit more run down and missing the old gas pumps which used to be on the left as well as out in front to the right:

Cisco, #5. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

Please, follow the very explicit instructions:

Cisco, #7. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

For 15 or so more images of Cisco…

An abandoned recliner finds shelter from the elements:

Cisco, #8. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

In this next photograph, what’s with the “FTL 16” graffiti? Feel The Love? Faster Than Light? For The Loss?

Could it have something to do with this excerpt from Wikipedia and the “faster than light” idea: “The current distance to this cosmological event horizon [point/time at which light from receding galaxies will never reach us] is about 16 billion light-years, meaning that a signal from an event happening at present would eventually be able to reach us in the future if the event was less than 16 billion light-years away, but the signal would never reach us if the event was more than 16 billion light-years away.”

Can’t get Ms. Google to help me much on this. Ideas anyone?…Anyone?…Bueller?…Bueller…?

Cisco, #9. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

Note the sod house with the classic notched timbers. This is typical 19th century prairie construction and the cabin might have been built in the 1880s-1890s, but it probably dates from the early 20th century, based on its condition. Just a WAG. This is definitely a structure that should be preserved, though.

Cisco, #10. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

A friendly tail-less cat adopts me on my photo rounds, bumping my tripod repeatedly just as the shutter fires. Just doing what cats are wont to do, I guess. And, yes, another FTL 16 notation:

Cisco, #11. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

The Great RV Boneyard harbors an old boot:

Cisco, #13. Somewhere in Utah, 2016

The Cisco Landing Store. Apparently this was used in the film, Don’t Come Knocking. It is now the domain of the tail-less cat, and bureaucratically owned by some distant human bean, judging by the Private Property sign.

Cisco, #14. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

A view to the northeast that reprises the footwear theme of an earlier image. A freight train was parked on a siding, perhaps waiting for another to pass:

Cisco, #15. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

The official U.S. Post Office now looks significantly spiffier than I remember from my first visits. Note the modern mailboxes on the left. Yes, folks live in the area.

Cisco, #16. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

The cat left me behind at her store-home, but Cairo (KAY-row) the Curious took up the friendly follow as I made my rounds.

Cisco, #17. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

“You will be punished by God and Man”, sayeth the sign. An occupied residence. Stay clear. Avoid punishment.

Cisco, #19. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

Perhaps this was where the local auto mechanic tinkered with his or her machines? It also appeared to serve as the community basketball court at one time:

Cisco, #20. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

A closer view of one of the older structures with notched beam construction:

Cisco, #21. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

In the 1880s, Cisco started as a watering stop for the railroad which cut across Utah. Today, Cisco’s siding is a useful place for trains to wait while another of higher priority passes by.

Cisco, #22. Somewhere in Utah, 2017

In the 1920s, Cisco turned into an oil boom town. Evidence of the frantic search for “…bubblin’ crude…black gold…Texas tea…” abounds. This pump looks like it still would do its work if you fired up that little gas motor (oh, the irony in that!), and the tank next to it (see the following picture) also looks capable of holding oil without undue leakage.