Wasteless

5 Post-Apocalyptic Wastelands Hiding in Busy Cities

#5. LA-88

LA-88 was built in 1956 and manned by more than 100 soldiers who had the endearing motto “If it flies, it dies.” The base was just one link in the “Ring of Steel” — 16 Nike missile sites that protected L.A. from Russkie bombers in the good ol’ days of the Cold War (some say they were higher quality than the Reebok missile bases, while others say they lacked a certain flair). If you’re not familiar with Cold War death machines, the Nike Hercules missile packed a freaking nuclear warhead — which seems like overkill for just “bringing down airplanes” to us, but we digress. Fortunately for those of us who value the relative uncookedness of our skin, the Nike program was dissolved in the ’70s, and the site abandoned.