"The only real depression is a depression of individual ingenuity" George Daynor's Palace of Depression

jessamyn — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:45:28 -0800

"As the story goes, [George] Daynor was a former gold prospector who’d lost his fortune in the Wall Street crash of 1929. Hitchhiking through Alaska, he was visited by an angel who told him to make his way to New Jersey without further delay. Divine providence had dictated that Daynor was to wait out the Great Depression there, building a castle with his bare hands. Daynor had only four dollars in his pocket when he arrived in Vineland, NJ.... For years he slept in an abandoned car on the mosquito-infested property, living off a steady diet of frogs, fish and squirrels while he built his elaborate eighteen-spired, pastel-hued Palace of Depression out of auto parts and mud. His primary objective? To encourage his downtrodden countrymen to hold onto their hope and stay resourceful, no matter what." If you're thinking "Gee that sounds familiar" you may have heard of it via a mention in Eddie and the Cruisers. Some footage here courtesy of Weird NJ. Fun facts about George Daynor. More details about Daynor. The palace closed in the mid sixties, had fallen into disrepair even before then, and was eventually razed by the city. Recently local artists Jeff Tirante and Kevin Kirchner have been enthusiastically working to restore the location to some of its former grandeur through an organization called The Palace of Depression Restoration Association. Here are some photos of the restoration. [via]

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"The only real depression is a depression of individual ingenuity" George Daynor's Palace of Depression