Who Is The Mattress Man?

From the Hartford News. Something tells us a lot of these are the ones that end up all over our sidewalks.

Golden Slumbers?

If there is one thing all Hartford residents love as much as reading about pay phones it's reading about discarded mattresses! A curious problem that Sad City has been investigating for a long time, discarded mattresses continue to litter our streets at an alarming pace.

The Scariest Mattress Colony

While we have long featured mattress colonies on Sad City, this one seems more suited to Halloween rather than the Christmas season. Since it's the final mattress of 2011 you could also consider this monstrosity the "boss" mattress colony. Found after dark on Babcock Street, this partially shredded mattress colony looks like it is eating itself. Perhaps the mattress colony is trying to fortify itself as Mayor Segarra gets ready to introduce a plan to rid the city of its mattress problem. 

Sad City Artford

Here's the idea...an art exhibit that features nothing but paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations that focus on Hartford mattresses and pay phones. The work would be created by either based in the city or with roots in the city. Our blog readers would serve as the jurors and curators of the show. Over the next few months we would run polls where you could vote on whether or not a piece was show-worthy.

Vote now.  (NOTE: We couldn't figure out how to embed the stupid survey into the post. Sorry.)

Voting closes at 9 pm on Sunday. Expect to be spammed over Twitter as we whore for votes.

Thankful for Mattress Disposal

Sad City readers are no doubt familiar with the mattress problem that plagues the sidewalks of Hartford. While the Mayor has recently taken steps to combat the mattress problem, Sad City recently spotted a truck full of discarded mattresses making their way to their final resting spot off the Jennings Road exit. While we could not confirm whether or not these were Hartford mattresses, it is encouraging to see some going to meet their maker.

Mattress Colonies: A Solution Coming?

Discarded mattresses are quite a scourge on our fine city and Sad City has been covering the mattress problem for well over a year. In fact the fifth ever Sad City post was about mattresses on the sidewalks. Well in yet another stunning coincidence of City action following Sad City observations, Mayor Segarra released a statement yesterday stating Hartford collects 18,000 mattresses a year and further discussing the mattress problem in Hartford. The Mayor's statement courtesy of the City:

Hartford Pay Phone #35 - Fan Request Edition

At Sad City Hartford our mantra is give the people what they want and the commenter is always right. Following up on our own advice we present Hartford Pay Phone #35 in the Hartford Pay Phone Search at the request of yesterdays commenter, who felt so strongly that they needed a pay phone post they took time to comment on it.

A North End Mattress Colony

One of the Hartford phenomenons that occurs in the summer and that Sad City documents is the rise of various mattress colonies on Hartford's sidewalks. While the mattresses can be found throughout the city, occasionally we find a colony that can't be passed up and needs to be posted. This is one such colony.

A Monster Mattress Colony

Regular Sad City readers are familiar with our fascination with the mattress colonies that pop up out of the concrete to add a certain flair to our city's streets.   Some readers even take it upon themselves to become amateur mattressoligists and submit their own finds.   This colony, which really can only be defined as a tower, was submitted by reader Zazzattack, and we must say we are impressed.

Keney Memorial Campground

The Keney Memorial Tower is one of Hartford's great forgotten landmarks.  Tucked away across from the Church and Ann Main, Albany and Ely intersection, an area we refer to as Hartford's Bermuda Triangle, the Keney Memorial Tower is right next to downtown, yet remains unnoticed by many.

With Spring now in bloom, the season for one of Hartford's natural phenomenons, mattress season, has arrived. Sad City reader Dave P. sent in this picture that captures not only Hartford's forgotten landmark, but a rare off sidewalk mattress sighting.

Mattress Season Has Arrived

Now that the mountains of snow are finally gone and Spring has arrived that can only mean the arrival of another warm weather staple; the sidewalk mattress colonies.  Rising through the cracks on the sidewalk like dandelions, mattress colonies are one of Hartford's great natural wonders.  This particular colony, a combo mattress-love seat colony was seen on Prospect Ave.

Area Under Surveillance (Obviously)

Recently we took a cruise over to Pope Park Highway #4, a bizarre little street with a bizarre name. We found an interesting pair of signs that warned of a $1,000 fine for dumping and one warning that the area was under surveillance. While it is unclear what sort of surveillance is going on short of some hidden cameras on New England Fire & Ice, this should certainly have a deterrence effect right?

Let's see what we found.

A Hartford Drug House, Mattress, and Pay Phone #28

A week ago Hilda Munoz of the Hartford Courant brought us a story about the arrest of a Hartford man, Henry Hernandez, for allegedly operating a drug factory out of 184 1/2 Ward Street. Found along with 800 packets of Heroin in the drug factory were some cocaine, raw heroin, a stolen handgun and a submachine gun. Sounds like some good clean fun. We've been known to like to check these types of scenes out, and what we found was quite an interesting representation of our beloved city in the span of a few hundred feet.

West End Mattress Colony

It's been a while since we've highlighted a good mattress colony taking up residence on Hartford streets, but this impressive stack was too good to resist. Located in front of one of the many Clemens Place buildings in the West End, this colony has taken up residence near the Farmington and Sisson intersection for over a week. Utility workers have been working on some sort of project in the area during the week and it is fairly amusing to watch them and a Hartford Police officer work while the mattresses just sit nearby on the sidewalk.

Hakaan and Craig The Porn Star Discuss Mattresses

Hakaan and Craig The Porn Star talked about the mattress problem in Hartford on WCCC. Hakaan even manages to work in a Raiders of The Lost Ark reference. Audio after the jump.

Hartford Mattress Surplus Solved!

Hartford residents are very familiar with the abundance of mattresses that can be found strewn about our City’s streets. We here at Sad City have a fascination with some of the larger mattress “colonies” that we have found congregated on the City’s sidewalks.

While amusing, one can’t help but wonder, where do these mattresses come from? We have certainly visited other cities and not seen this type of mattress surplus. Even sister Sad Cities like Bridgeport, Wallingford and East Hartford don’t seem to have such an abundance of mattresses. So what is going on with the mattress population in Hartford?

The Leaning Tower of Mattress

Abandoned mattresses on Hartford streets are nothing atypical as the city obviously has a great surplus of mattresses. At Sad City we are interested in only the largest of mattress piles. Here we have the leaning tower of mattress located on the end of Wethersfield Ave right near the South Green. The leaning tower has been there for a few days so your time to view this man-made wonder could be short. Be sure to check it out. On a side note, Athemy, the bodega in the background is a new shop replacing the former Paradise Deli. With a new store front and signage, the bring colors are a welcome contrast to the grey building it is located in.

Mattress Pile: Main Street

Hartford residents and visitors are surely familiar with the apparent overabundance of mattresses in the city. The glut of mattresses leads to many of these mattresses living on the side of Hartford streets for a while. Here at Sad City, we like to document some of the more impressive mattress colonies that congregate on our streets. This colony was found on Main Street this weekend. Upon close inspection one can see that this mattress colony has merged with a couch colony in a rare instance of mattress-couch cross-breeding.

The Mother Load?

Most familiar with the Hartford area are well aware of the abundance of mattresses that seems to be prevalent throughout the city. The seemingly vast surplus of mattresses leads city residents to often discard older ones on city sidewalks. So while there is nothing exceptional about a discarded mattress in the city, we feel we may have found the mother load of mattress deposits on Prospect Avenue. Most impressive, Prospect Ave!