After becoming extremely impressed with the epicness of just a FEW of the lifts & buildings I was able to personally experience when I went to New Haven & Hartford, alongside YouTube videos, I have chosen to introduce these two "U.K. feel" cities to the Charlotte Kingdom!
After the epic ride on the outstandingly awesome Schindler lift, I started having angelical feelings toward the city of Hartford & his lifts.
These were such awesome lifts! The way they started felt like roller coasters & stopping on the second floor felt like I was free falling, even though the lifts only went 152 meters per minute.
However, I did almost get stuck in one of the four lifts that I filmed at this hotel. When I was setting up my camera, the lift, on up peak, decided to close its doors unexpectedly & when I tried to tap the door open button to reopen the doors, the lift just stayed there for 10 seconds before shooting off to the fifth floor, where the door open button still was not working. I had to pause setting up my camera to see what was the problem. I thought I was stuck, so I went ahead & tapped the button for the 21st floor & I was able to get my camera rolling by the time I passed floor 10. This was unexpected & very scary, so I decided to ride & film a different lift when I came back down the tower.
It was at that point when the lifts started playing games with me. I wanted to get the lift that was closest to the window to take that one for another spin but when I tapped the call button the lift right next to the manager's office opened its doors. I got in the lift, tapped buttons for random floors & as I was doing so, the doors decided to CLOSE ON ME! Luckily, I got the whole entire ordeal. I put my foot in the doorway for the doors to open up & I got out safely. Needless to say I was NOT HAPPY & gave that lift a scolding, but the dumb lift closed its doors while I was giving it a scolding it very much deserved.
I went to the call button a third time & this time it gave me the lift that I wanted. I rode it up & down once more, before I decided I got enough decent footage & it was time to go.
What is Charlotte Kingdom?
Charlotte Kingdom is a kingdom of greater areas [usually areas surrounding a city of at LEAST 10 miles] of epic cities to film lifts. The greater areas may consist of multiple counties surrounding a county's seat city. There are currently 12 areas. These are the 12 greater areas of the Charlotte Kingdom, whose total greater areas combined equate to thousands among THOUSANDS of square miles of generally film-worthy lifts.
At least 85 percent of one area's lifts are worth filming! Only about 2 percent of lifts throughout the ENTIRE KINGDOM have Monitor TR
Areas of Charlotte Kingdom
- Charlotte (THE BEST U.S. CITY TO FILM LIFTS)
- Pineville
- Concord
- ANY other city in Cabarrus County & Mecklenburg County
- Los Angeles (THE 2ND BEST U.S. CITY TO FILM LIFTS)
- Burbank
- Pasadena
- Monrovia
- Glendale
- Woodland Hills
- Santa Monica
- Hollywood
- Beverly Hills
- Valencia
- Anaheim
- ANY other city in the following counties:
- Los Angeles County
- Orange County
- Houston (THE 3RD BEST U.S. CITY TO FILM LIFTS)
- Sugar Land
- Pasadena
- ANY other city in the following counties:
- Harris County
- Fort Bend County
- Fort Lauderdale
- Weston
- Deerfield Beach
- Plantation
- Hollywood
- Margate
- ANY other city in Broward County
- Miami
- Homestead
- Palmetto Bay
- ALL Florida Keys INCLUDING Key Largo & Key West
- ANY other city OR ISLAND in Miami Dade & Monroe Counties
- Atlanta
- Marietta
- Alpharetta
- Sandy Springs
- Union City
- Hapeville
- ANY other city in Cobb & Fulton Counties
- Pittsburgh
- Mount Lebanon
- Monroeville
- Oakland
- Shady Side
- ANY other city in these counties:
- Allegheny
- Butler
- Washington
- Milwaukee
- Franklin
- ANY other city in Milwaukee County
- Chicago
- Schaumburg
- Hartford
- Cromwell
- Middletown
- ANY other city in Hartford County
- New Haven
- Yale
- ANY other city in New Haven County
- Secaucus
- Lyndhurst
- ANY other city in the Meadowlands general area & Hudson County with the EXCEPTION of some portions of Jersey City
After doing some careful research on what cities in which counties are more likely to have better lifts to film, I have elegantly organized this list so lift enthusiasts looking for a splash of modern character could ALWAYS easily brainstorm their next getaways.
MY ADVICE FOR LIFT ENTHUSIASTS
If you like good lifts, ones worth filming, head to any city of the Charlotte Kingdom for your next getaway!
My experience this past weekend
To describe my experience as somewhat thrilling may seem a bit far fetched. However, it was EXTREMELY enjoyable & I have encountered all different sorts of lifts which each had their own character. Unfortunately, I WAS NOT able to film ANY lifts in Middletown & after seeing YouTube videos of Middletown's lifts just now, I am pretty disappointed I missed out on a lot of fun. All of the filmed Middletown lifts by other photographers are hydraulic, which means more opportunities for musical motors next time I go to Middletown.
Cromwell (Suburb city south of Hartford)
The building topography of Cromwell is pretty straightforward. Most of the buildings that I have passed by while we were going back & forth from other places didn't go over 3 floors & not to mention the roofs looked flat. I am going by the assumption that Cromwell has mostly or only hydraulic lifts. Being that hydraulic lifts are my favorite kind, Cromwell easily put both Hartford & Middletown in the Charlotte Kingdom this past weekend.
While I was at the Courtyard by Marriott Hartford Cromwell (hotel I was staying at), I got to experience two (sadly modernized former Series 1) OTIS Series 2 lifts with two of the most epic motors I have heard this year so far. Because of how loud & musical the motors were & judging by the building topography of Cromwell, Cromwell just became my favorite low-rise city of Connecticut to film lifts!
This hotel had two of the BEST hydraulic lifts I have ridden (despite their problems) this past weekend as well. One of the lifts was jolty & bouncy (which I love), while the other one had a motor that sounded like music to one's ears, along with a smooth, traction-like start when going upward. Despite the fact that the second lift got modernized since my October stay, I still enjoyed recording its musical motor.
Because of how loud & musical the motors were & judging by the building topography of Cromwell, Cromwell just became my favorite low-rise city of Connecticut to film lifts!
However, when I rode the first lift this time (the one that was already modernized during my October stay), I got stuck in it for a few minutes while I was trying to call my FRIRND. Needless to say, the door open button refused to work, so I had to tap the second floor button to get back down to the second floor. Luckily, that worked otherwise I would have been stuck in that lift for a few HOURS.
I have taken multiple pictures of both of the lifts, especially the newly modernized lift.
Fortunately, back in October, I was able to get adequate amounts of quality footage of the 1980s OTIS Series 1 lift back when it was original before it got recently modernized. While the mod wasn't terrible, I would have preferred the originals.
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| OTIS Lift newly modernized |
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| OTIS lift newly modernized side view |
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| Otis lift newly modernized lobby floor indicator |
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| OTIS lift newly modernized lobby call button |
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| OTIS lift front newly modernized |
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| OTIS lift newly modernized down directional indicator |
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| Other OTIS lift call button lit up |
Being that hydraulic lifts are my favorite kind, Cromwell easily put both Hartford & Middletown in the Charlotte Kingdom this past weekend.
Hartford
On Sunday morning, I was able to go to downtown Hartford. BOY, was I impressed with the unique modern UK style architecture of some of the buildings. I was able to take just one PICTURE of the first lift I ever rode in the city of Hartford itself. The lift was a standard, two-story Schindler 330A hydraulic. I was ALREADY impressed with the amount of character the lift had. To start it all off, when the doors closed, the lift just jolted & bounced to full speed, which I liked a lot. Then, because of how fast it was going, it kind of bounced a little bit when it was leveling towards the first floor & then it PLOP LEVELED, bounced & opened its doors. I only got to ride this lift once & it might just be a plain old 2-story hydraulic lift, but it was one worth riding & worth taking a picture of! It certainly had a LOT of character, that you couldn't just see on video. Sadly, I did not take a video of this lift because there was a security camera in it & I was afraid of getting busted.
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| OUTSTANDINGLY EPIC Schindler hydraulic lift that I wasn't able to film |
So, I finally reached Marriott's downtown Hartford hotel (which looked more like a UK castle from the outside). The lobby looked a lot like the lobby of a grand hotel from India. Not even joking, the architecture wowed me off of my tracks! I was so impressed by the architecture of the hotel, that I started silently comparing the architecture of the typical Hartford lobby to the typical New York City lobby. It looked like a creation by angels!
It was as if being impressed by the lobby simply wasn't enough! I had the best of both worlds that morning. I got permission from the HOTEL MANAGER to film the lifts. I was not expecting that & also, when I rode the first lift to the 22nd floor, this time not filming it, despite there being a room key reader, I WAS ABLE TO GO TO THE 22ND FLOOR WITHOUT A ROOM KEY! Now, I was able to experience yet more absolutely awesome high rise 2000's OTIS Elevonic 411 lifts!
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| First lift I rode was already waiting for me on the first floor |
However, I did almost get stuck in one of the four lifts that I filmed at this hotel. When I was setting up my camera, the lift, on up peak, decided to close its doors unexpectedly & when I tried to tap the door open button to reopen the doors, the lift just stayed there for 10 seconds before shooting off to the fifth floor, where the door open button still was not working. I had to pause setting up my camera to see what was the problem. I thought I was stuck, so I went ahead & tapped the button for the 21st floor & I was able to get my camera rolling by the time I passed floor 10. This was unexpected & very scary, so I decided to ride & film a different lift when I came back down the tower.
It was at that point when the lifts started playing games with me. I wanted to get the lift that was closest to the window to take that one for another spin but when I tapped the call button the lift right next to the manager's office opened its doors. I got in the lift, tapped buttons for random floors & as I was doing so, the doors decided to CLOSE ON ME! Luckily, I got the whole entire ordeal. I put my foot in the doorway for the doors to open up & I got out safely. Needless to say I was NOT HAPPY & gave that lift a scolding, but the dumb lift closed its doors while I was giving it a scolding it very much deserved.
After the epic ride on the outstandingly awesome Schindler lift, I started having angelical feelings toward the city of Hartford & his lifts.As if that was not enough, when I went to the same call button, it gave me the SAME LIFT THAT HELD ME HOSTAGE! I quickly tapped buttons for four random floors & then sent it away (luckily my camera got this on film). It decided to CANCEL THE CALLS & CLOSE ITS DOORS ON ME! I quickly put my hand back in the lift, tapping the button for the 22nd floor, before leaving the lift & sending it on its merry way up the tower.
I went to the call button a third time & this time it gave me the lift that I wanted. I rode it up & down once more, before I decided I got enough decent footage & it was time to go.
New Haven
When I went to New Haven, CT, the first lift I filmed was a gigantic Schindler generic style hydraulic lift with big center opening doors & a truly musical motor which was loud on the way DOWN! Already, I started having angelical feelings toward this U.K. style city. I was so impressed by how epic the lift was, despite being very slow. However, due to time constraints, I was only able to film the lift once for a single trip.
Then, we went to the Omni hotel, a pretty ugly-facade 1990s high rise U.K themed hotel. This hotel had 20+ story OTIS lifts traveling at a speed of 180 meters per minute, despite the tower only being just short of 70 meters tall. They were the 90s version of the Elevonic 411 with 90s style OTIS Series 1 buttons.
Riding these & the Marriott's Elevonic 411 lifts, I noticed a big difference between the two. The 1990s version has you feeling like you're at 0 gravity when you're going down while the 2000s version is not so much of a stomach drop. The 2010s & 2020s version (Skyrise & Elevonic R) are a bit toned down & relaxed when going down at such high speeds. I personally had a lot of fun riding these lifts & I think these were my favorites from this past weekend because they had the most character & class, given the fact that my stomach literally dropped while descending the tower.
Already, I started having angelical feelings toward this U.K. style city.
The conclusion
The Charlotte Kingdom, a union of greater areas of the best U.S. cities to film lifts, has been born! Two cities, a 20-minute drive from each other, have been added to the Charlotte Kingdom! I am now glad to announce that I was able to visit two Charlotte-like cities over my Christmas week off from school & I DEFINITELY felt like I was already in Charlotte when I filmed the lifts, ESPECIALLY the OTIS hydraulic lifts at my hotel in Cromwell.
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