Apocalypse, New Jersey: A Dispatch From America's Most Desperate Town

[Zorro]

7. I once got sidetracked in Camden one evening

on my way to a Cherry Hill hotel.

It was a surreal experience. Lots of once-attractive but now derelict town homes and row houses, 55 gallon drums afire on the street corners, abandoned/stripped cars on the streets/sidewalks -- you get the picture.

What was surprising -- but shouldn't have been -- was down by the waterfront plant where RCA once made Victorolas; my recollection is that the old plant had about a 7 story tower with a round stained glass window depicting RCA's trademark "Sparky" the dog listening into the Victorola horn, and the window was riddled with bullet holes.