Gentlemen,

Saturday, January 9th, while walking back from the beach, Lucy and i passed by Help as they were emptying the place. I said to Lucy, “I’ll stand over here by the pile of couches and look real stupid. You go over to those guys and ask them if I can go inside to take some pictures.” She did as asked and soon she was pointing over in my direction. The bossman took one look at me and waved us inside. Sometimes it pays to make yourself look stupid, but, although I can turn that look on whenever I want, sometimes I don’t know how to turn it off.

Where was I? Oh yeah, we’re inside Help with all the workers as demolition is starting. As we climb the stairs, I notice all the brass hand railings are lying on the floor. Next we go up to the main dance floor which is covered with litter, broken bottles, and stale beer. The four large stereo speakers are gone, their cabinets stand empty and quiet. Then we go up to the balcony, look at all the ripped up couches and snap a few pictures of the dance floor from above. I could post a lot more photos inside, but Lucy kept insisting that I include her in many of them, and I don’t want her on the internet. In other words, blame her not me.

Descending the stairs we passed by the Ladies Room, which I decided to enter. I imagined it as huge because so many girls were in there all night long. Wrong, it’s no bigger than the Men’s Room, but it has one extra sink and mirrors all over the place. Women like mirrors. The female attendant sat on the blue stool, and according to my youngest daughter who was there in June, the attendant would rent girls combs, brushes, and cosmetics (even lipstick) for the sum of one real.

Going ever deeper into the bowels of 3432 Av Atlantica, that’s Help’s address, we finally reached the manager’s office. Strewn all over the floor were security video tapes--bet they hold a lot of interesting footage. I was offered one of the magnetic wands that they used at the front door to screen suspicious characters. I was almost tempted to take one, but figured that the TSA would somehow mess with me for having it in my luggage, so I passed. I was, however, handed an unopened package of those little blue disks that hang on the wall. I just couldn’t pass that up. Got a few menus, some fliers, and several books of drink tickets. At that point I asked Lucy to find out what other News Agencies such as Globo had access to the building. She spoke with several guys, the said, “No one, we’re the only ones they let in. See, it often pays to look stupid!. Then the lights went out. The electricity to the building had been terminated. Days later other limited service was turned on for the demo team so that they could use their tools, but today they shut off the lights forever.

With the lights out we had to stumble our way through painfully dark corridors. i say painfully because I fell twice, but cut myself only once. Ahead we could see light as we emerged by the remains of Terraco’s kitchen and finally into Terraco itself. The place was empty except for some of the stuff sold at auction. Don’t ask about the bell, I never saw it.

Jag

It looks like the renovation is well underway. What color will the new carpeting be?

A big special "thank you" to Bwanas mother for helping Jag - Hemp

Gentlemen,

Some of you, especially Cat, have wondered why it's taken me so long to post these pictures, so i'll tell you. First of all, there's a six hour time difference between Rio and where Bwana's mama lives. Secondly, after she help me resize them, I forwarded them on to my good buddy, Bedouin, for review. Why, you might ask? Because I don't want my photo posted all over the internet. For example, when I sent him pictures of the gun battle, he immediately responded," I can see you in the reflection of the black car. Sure enough, his eagle eye spotted what passed me right by. That said and the fact that Help is covered with Reflective Surfaces (RS), I asked for his help. He was a lot quicker at reviewing them than I was at sending them.

Last but not least, my main source of trouble--Cat. As I'm posting the first set of photos my Brazilian cell phone rings. It's Cat, "Hey man, why don't you email the photos to me and I'll post them." "Sure, but why don't you just look at your screen, they're coming up now. I expect a humble apology." Click!!

Jag

Gentlemen,

Have I finally redeemed myself after those little misunderstandings we had about Kilogram closing and the Favela Bar closing its doors for a desperately needed renovation? Just remember, the misunderstand was all your fault--I knew what I was writing about, I think. Anyway, let's let bygone's be bygone, or whatever.

Hope the photos bring back some memories to all of you who were there--all except Cat!

Jag

Thanks for a job well done Jag. You may want to review and edit the ladies room pic, something about that reflection in the mirror isn't quite right.

Maxmojo,

No, that's not me. It's the same asshole who was in Cincho Leche's photo the other day. How he got in there baffles me.

Jag

More Help photos.

Oops.

Jag

Again.

Jag

LOL! Good work. Mom says you've done well and she's proud of you, but you better fire Bedouin!

Now I hope you can get a picture of the Help sign coming down.

Continued "Live Coverage" form a dead HELP.

Jag

Oops. I won't show mom these...

Bwana,

Bedouin has saved me more than once from exposing myself on the internet, and once again he worked his magic. Nope, that's not me in the photo. You can tell it's not me, he's wearing a dark color and I'm always in pink, so it can't be me.

Thank mom from the bottom of my heart. She's a wonderful lady who has a special way with the mentally ill. No, I'm not referring to you, I mean me.

Jag

We all appreciate anyone's efforts that prevent you from exposing yourself on the internet. Especially Mom.

It's good to see that Lucy is in fact shaving her legs these days. You still owe me big-time for developing the plan of action that led to her bushhogging those things.

Wow kinda bittersweet. I have to say my memories of Help/TA are almost all good. Very few bad experiences. I will miss the place.
Jag.
"Thanks for the memeories"

Dear LL,

Your "embedded source" appreciates your kind comments and I have more intel for all of you. Today lucy and I walked by and stopped to chat with some of the engineers working there. I had Lucy ask them why they were digging hole about every 5 meters and approximately 8 meters from the front of Help. One of them told her that they were putting up a 5 meter high wall so that they could start demolishing the building.

Then I told her to ask them why all the channel and "I" beams are stored inside. "Ask them if they plan on constructing a support system using the beams and then remove the roof and ceiling piece by piece. That's what I would do," I directed her to ask them. Wrong, the beams are for the wall and they plan on bringing in a crane like machine with an articulated arm and having crimping jaws to tear the place down. You know what I mean, you see them all the time on the TV show "Boneyards."

That's when I got a brilliant idea. "Hey Lucy, these guys don't look too smart so ask them if I can go inside and take some more pictures of the devastation. Tell the I'll even show them the ones I took last Saturday." A millisecond after I got done telling her what I wanted, one of the engineers said, "NO WAY!" "Oh, you speak English? I asked as all of them started to laugh. "Yes, we all speak English," was his polite reply after I insulted them. 'Why can't I get in?" "Because we have 2 1/2 months to level the place and we don't have time to take you around." "Okay, but can I have a hard hat as a souvenir? I see some of the local banditos wearing them and I'd like one, too." Sheepishly he replied, "They stole some the other day." Ah Brazil!!!

Jag

Fuck, if it takes them 2.5 months to tear down a three-story building, how long will it take them to build one? The museum won't be open until 2020.

Nice reporting, Jag.
Uhh...was Loosey wearing a blue shirt and shorts on the visit to the Help demolition scene?

Bliss,

I knew I couldn't get that past you. Do you like her new short hairstyle?

Tried to get inside Help at 6:30 this morning, telling the two sleepy guards that I was with the American Architect firm that designed the museum. If they knew just a smattering of English it would have worked, but all they understood was fucking Portuguese.

Got some photos of the very first support for the new wall. Will post later today after I talk with Bwana's mama.

Jag

Wall supports in front of Help.

Jag

Mama,

What happened?

Jag

The trash on the dance floor was nothing new.

Most of the trash on the dance floor had tits when I was in there.

Gentlemen,

Yesterday I called my good friend, Bedouin, to ask him what happened with the pictures I sent to him for his review. Clearly someone fucked up and rather than point fingers, I figured you guys could draw your own conclusions. What follows is a verbatim transcript of our phone conversation:

“Hey, Bedouin, you really let me down by not catching the reflection of that asshole in the Ladies Room mirror.”

“I never saw that picture, you mean the one you posted?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Jag, do you have a clue what you sent me?”

“Sure, I sent you photos of inside Help, Exclusive fucking photos, I might add.”

‘You sent me a file with two folders containing photos.”

“I did?”

“One was labeled “Dead Girl” showing a girl laying in Av Atlantica.”

“What was the other one?”

“I couldn’t figure that one out, it was labeled “Brains Matter,” and all it showed was some red stuff in the gutter and several clumps of something white.”

“Oh shit, I mislabeled that file. It should have read “Brain Matter.” Those were pictures after that guy took a header out of the sixth floor on Rua Miguel Lemos. Although he was alive when they took him away, I doubt that he lived since a third of is brain stayed in the gutter. I was wondering where that file went--send it back.”

“Gladly, and do me a favor, will you?’’

“Sure, anything.”

“Take me off your mailing list.”

Jag,

Assuming you're still in town, could you convince the local authorities to tear Bob's down? Talk about places that are hazardous to the public's health!!!

When the demolition crew shows up have Lucy tell them that Bob's is actually a satellite location of Bob's and is to be razed as well.

Bwana,

You don't know what a horrible mess it was for me to change my flights, just so I could continue with live coverage. Valuable information is gleaned each and every day. For example, yesterday they had a three man crew painting the sign over the front door entirely blue. Just imagine, two months ago when rumors and counter rumors swirled about if Help was closing and when, they had a crew repaint the sign, which caused even more rumors.

I stayed out of all that nonsense because I deal in facts, not rumors. But Cat was right in the thick of things telling the board that Help would never close. As a matter of fact, I seem to recall a post last week.....

Shit, I got off topic and now can't remember the point I was trying to make. "Intel," that's it. Being here gives me access to all sorts of things. For instance, I found out why they painted the sign yesterday. Anyone want to venture a guess?

Jag

They found a can of paint and didn't want to waste it?

BD,

No, not even close.

Jag

Ok let's think about it. We are talking about a Brasilian business decision forced by the fundamentalist governor of Rio de Janeiro.

Why did they paint the Help sign blue?

So they could shoot it with a blue elephant gun.

Bliss,

Once again you amaze me with your insight. But this time you're wrong.

Jag

I think I got it this time. We are talking about a aesthetics decision forced by the evangelical governor of Rio de Janeiro.

Why did they paint the Help sign blue?

The yellow reminded the governor of his wife's teeth so he had it painted blue to match the varicose veins of his favorite GDP.

Jaguar - thanks for the exclusive coverage of Help's demise. Sometimes airlines do a good thing, like when they screwed up your return, so you had to stay to to this epic documentary.

The other day I read the one-word headline of O'Globo, when I walked by one of the kiosks in Rio. I think it either said:

"DEMOLITION"

or

"DEVASTATION".

My first thought was about you, Jaguar, granting the local Rio rag access to your invaluable information, after we, the insiders, have gotten the scoop - but it was about a sad event in another country.

Anyway, you ARE assisting in the grieving process of a lot of people here, including me, so we all say THANK YOU!

Gentlemen,

Today they remove two very old lamp posts that were in front of TA and Help. You'l never guess where they are going.

Additionally, they started putting up the wall. Recognize anyone?

Jag

Yo mama, WTF went wrong?

Jag

One more time!

Jag

Before:


After

Those are some good photos. But, it is heartbreaking.

Now that there is no more Help, are there street whores that hang out at night where the parked cars like in other areas of Avenida Atlantica?

Have the surrounding restaurants (Alcazar, La Maison, Dom Camillo, etc.) noticeably picked up the Help GDP's?

Word around town is that most have gone to the Balcony for the time being.

I say good riddance. It's much quieter now, especially those that rent apartments in 8 Miguel Lemos and surrounding buildings as I have many times.

The market across the street is still going strong at night though, but who knows for how much longer. It does take away from their foot traffic.

They have gone to the Baloncy for sure....but some of the original ones from Help that went to the Balcony Bar have started to thin out as they realize the conditions in the Balcony Bar are very different then Help....plus pricing! No girl (well, let me revise that to "very few"), can pull R$300-R$400 from a customer in Balcony. Plus working the crowd in the Balcony Bar is much harder...in Help they could just walk around, but with tables and such in the Balcony Bar - plus the fact it is a bar, not nightclub - changes the dynamics for them.

Now, if we can just have an official pamphlet passed out at the airport for all mongers traveling to Brazil advising them to keep pay to the girls low in the Balcony Bar, we can actually move the clock back many years and reverse the pricing trend to something reasonable again. Unfortunately some idiots still pay high prices - one girl told me that sometimes guys still pay 300 or so EURO's for sessions with them...but fortunately it is the exception rather then the rule.

One girl I spoke to very quickly backed down from R$300 to R$150.... I tend to lean towards the R$100 range.

Jag still hasn't shared where the street lamps are going...?

I have ZERO nostalgia for Help closing, but muito saudades for TA. I loved drinking there and scoring tail that was too broke to go into HELP, or waiting until later and catching them on their way out 'alone'.

(Message edited by DonGringo on January 19, 2010)

Even so I was not a big fan of 'Help' and have not picked-up a girl there in quite awhile, I still miss it....I just liked the fact it was there and available if and when I wanted it. I really never got too much into the TA scene - when I did make it out to 'Help' I preferred to hang-out inside and listen to the music, watching the girls walking by. But the same thing with TA - I miss the fact it is no longer there, even if I rarely sat there. I am just glad that a few days before New Years and before it actually closed I decided to visit Help one last time...

It was part of the charm of Rio - part of its appeal. Some loved it, others hated it... but it was the central puta scene in Copa. It just indicates a greater change overall in the attitudes of Rio politics and how and what they tolerate. First all the Bingo halls closed... now on to the next clean-up project. This is just the start - I don't want to lose the Rio I fell in love with which was a seedy, dangerous, whore driven town (for foreigners, at least). Now with the spotlight on it, Rio will have to change - and it is changing. As we get closer to the big two events this will only get worse....at least for us mongers. One day Rio might end up being the place to bring your family - unfortunately.

LM, that's a long ways away if you ask me, but to be honest, if I would have a Florida beach city experience on the surface - clean beaches, no crime, walking around at night without my head on a swivel and armed with a knife and pepper spray, that kind of thing - I would be happy. Think Ft. Lauderdale, but with termas and all the other GdPs available and plentiful, just not as obvious as the Copa scene.

I would love that.

(Message edited by Bwana_dik on January 19, 2010)

I'm glad someone wanted to know where the street lamp were going. In a word, "nowhere." They plan on putting them back in exactly the same place when construction is finished.

Jag

This is a screen shot I took of an official video presentation of the Rio 2016 Olympics proposal which you can look up yourself on YouTube.





I was in Rio only once back in May of '08, but if I'm remembering this correctly, that image of the volleyball stadium looks pretty close to where Help and the other freelance P4P Copa action was located.

I've only read reports about Balcony and some of the other venues nearby (on Princesa Isabel I believe?), so I can't really visualize where they are but it seems to me they might be pushed out as well in the years to come.

Copa beach might actually become really valuable again for big-time Brazilian and foreign investors and firms. Don't forget it was once the most glamorous beach in the world, where the rich and famous stayed. Ipanema is of course the nicer one now but the name Copacabana is still better known, at least outside Brazil from what I gather; it seems likely big-shot players might want to ritz up Copa again and cash in on the upcoming once-in-a-lifetime events.

I'm not sure if that means the end of P4P in Rio, that would require some enormous social and economic changes that I think the Olympics alone can't do, but it might get smaller and move to Centro perhaps?

By the way, the link for the whole Rio 2016 presentation on YouTube I've place below if the mod doesn't mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcYBHIt-Vs

No Phunluv, the beach volleyball arena is right in front of what was the Meridian Hotel at the foot of Av Princess Isabel.

If you look closely, way down the beach, the very next tall building at the foot of a mountain, is the Rio Othon Palace, which is a block away from Help. BTW, Cantagalo favela is located on that rock.

Jag

Correct, I think Phunluv was confusing the Othon Palace with the ex-Le Meredian. The beach down at Posto 2 is much wider and much better than up towards Help. It's a relatively safe area too.

Cat agreeing with me? That's a first!

Jag

That is correct, they always hold the Beach Volleyball (or Beach Soccer) events in front of the Meridien Hotel. The beach is wider there and can accomodate more people. The only event I have seen in front of Othon is the one-man show who volleys different size balls on the sidewalk.

Copacabana continues to lure the elite to those multi-million dollar apartments on the beach. If nothing else, for them to just throw parties for New Years and Carnaval.

The thing is though, the super-elite don't like to associate with anyone but the rich. In Copacabana, you get real up and personal with the poverty the moment you walk out your door. You can't take anything to the beach with you for fear you are going to be mugged. You can't just simply get in your new Mercedes SL and drive down the street because there is no parking or worse the possibility of getting car-jacked. Even wearing nice clothes makes you a target.

Now if the city of Rio tore down all the surrounding favelas only 3 block away from those beach-front properties, then I would say Copacabana would become really valuable. They can get rid all of the hooker establishments along the beach and that isn't going to change the big picture. The businesses are still going to hire the poorer people for 1R/hr jobs. And with a public beach, you can't stop anyone from going there.

That is not taking into consideration of how police controls problems - if they want, and I think they will, they will use quite a bit of violence against the people in the favelas to keep them in line. You might have poor people, but with enough police enforcement (which is already obvious), they will use their sticks and guns to keep things in check - at least on the surface. Quite honestly I am more worried about the police then being robbed...especially when I am driving and get pulled over for a document or drug check (which is common). I go to football games quite a bit in Maracană stadium and have seen how crowd controls works - beat them and they will back down.

The reality is that hookers bring with them gringo's with lots of money in their pockets. This in turn attracts robbers/crime.... kind of like throwing bloody meat into the ocean in area with lots of sharks. But try fishing away from an area without lots of bait... a lot less opportunities.

Walking around 'Help' when it was open, was 100X more dangerous then walking down the beach in Ipanema at 2:00am at night. Does stuff happen in Ipanema, of course - but nothing compared to the main mongering venues.

Sorry about the mixup fellas. For some reason, I thought Help was further up Atlantica. But if the volleyball is going to be close to Princesa Isabel, aren't there a number of P4P boites open there now? That was my 2nd point.

Anyway, I was just thinking aloud. I like the point made above about the favelas, you can't just throw all the poor people out, that's dicey politics. Anyway we'll see what happens. Don't think I'll make a trip to Rio this year but I definitely want to go at least one more time before my visa runs out and before these major events. RIP Help!

Help is further up Atlantica. The volleyball area/Le Meridian is at the Leme/Copa border, Posto 2. Help is up closer to Posto 5, so about a mile and a half south of there.

Okay Bliss, since you missed with two guesses, I'll tell you why they painted over the yellow portion of the sign with blue paint. You see, the new owners wanted to obliterate the four large letters spelling out HELP on the building's facade because they wanted a break with the past.

Jag

Epilogue

Well, now that Help’s closed, I thought I’d let you in on some things I learned as they started the internal demolition. First of all, I don’t think either the State or City Government directly own the property. When I asked why the sign was being painted over, I was told, “The new owners want to remove the name HELP from the building.” That seemed reasonable to me, so I replied, “You mean the Government?” I got a knowing look and again the individual repeated, “The new owners want the name removed from the building.” Again, I repeated, “You mean the government?” For a third time, he said, “The NEW OWNERS want the name removed,” with added emphasis on “new owners.”

I can only assume that the property has been placed in some sort of Trust, or an Authority has been formed to own and operate 3432 Av Atlantica. If you think about it for a minute, it makes sense because now a whole new level of corruption can come into play.

Lastly, when I asked this individual how they planned to demolish the building, he told me that they intended on using a Material Handler with Grappling Jaws. He also said that with this type of machine they could break the building apart piece by piece without disturbing the adjacent structures. Apparently I had a confused look on my face because he brought out a notebook to show me a picture of the equipment they would use. As he opened it up to show, my knees buckled and I started to feel lightheaded. What I was looking at was a picture of a big yellow machine with three large letters on the articulating arm-- CAT. Guess that means that Catacony wins after all!

I've spoken with several locals who claim that the museum will never be built. They say someone in the government will suddenly claim that given the shortage of hotel space for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics, the land should be "sold" to a developer to build a huge hotel and restaurant complex. They claim that a sweetheart deal was made as soon as Rio got the World Cup.

It's Rio. This is not outside the realm of possibility. The "museum" was the ruse used to force the sale to the government, according to my friends.

It's very suspicious about how they very, very quickly started tearing the place down. I had assumed that was the government doing the deed as fast as possible before the previous owners got a judge in Acre or somewhere to issue an injunction transferring ownership back and re-opening the place. There's probably some of that, but it's also probably as you state - "oops, we don't have public money for the museum, let's sell it to a developer".

Can you imagine an open-air public theater sitting on the rooftop in the heart of Copacabana?
To the left -- military police helicopter firing shots into the favela....AND to the right -- a beautiful view of hooker beach.

CL,

Yeah, up there you should have a great view of the Cantagalo Favela.

Jag

And the banditos, with their weapons, will have a good view of the folks taking in a movie.

Brilliant planning.

BTW, anyone else notice that the audience appears to be pretty fair skinned? Only the kid in the movie is Black.

Its been 6 years since I've been in Rio so things may have changed a lot, but HELP was great on the trips I took down there. I'm actually coming down for my birthday this summer so I REALLY hope something has taken its place by then.

Here is a recent photo of the construction going on at the site. Some were/are skeptical that this thing will ever get built, but it is happening, slowly but surely.

What's interesting is that you can still see a ghostly image of the roof line of the former Help on the building beside it. It's the ghost of putas past.

In the time it's taken then to tear down Help and dig this pathetic hole, I've seen a larger building demolished and a really nice, large 7-story building go up in my neighborhood.

They must be using the same contractors who are digging the metro line out to Barra.

When I'm down in November, I'm looking forward to seeing all of the progress made on the Olympic venues and the transportation initiatives.

Actually, I'll lay even odds at this point that the IOC pulls the Olympics from Rio sometime after the London Games next year. If they gave a shovel and a pile of bricks to every mouthbreather on every hillside in Rio, I don't think they'll get half the stuff completed that they have planned for the Olympics.

Why is the guy in the lower right hand corner of the "new building" picture wearing an overcoat?

They appear to be on the ground zero construction schedule.

First, I don't actually see the guy you are talking about, but it's been chilly and rainy the last couple of days. When it's 65 with a slight breeze and drizzle, it's the equivalent of a February in Buffalo for them.

I think those workers are being paid off to go slow by the people that live on that back street who are going to lose their ocean view in the next few years.

A

[BJ] "Why is the guy in the lower right hand corner of the picture...."

[Itasca] I don't actually see the guy you are talking about....

RTFQ

(Message edited by copperfieldkid on September 15, 2011)

Bought any apartments lately?