Leningrad

St.Petersburg has dozens of Soviet Union staff, from statuesques to manhole caps, which sometimes can make you feel as if the difference between Leningrad and St.Petersburg is only the name.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Pioneer street

While walking down the Pioneer street (ulica Pionerov) in St.Petersburg you can observe a few pioneer stars on the houses.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Glass-cutters

It is hard to guess if this glass-cutter workshop still exists. The ad found in Teika, Riga suggests that the workshop resides in another district in Purvciems, Riga. 6-digit number makes it at least 15 years old (nowadays Latvia has 8 digit numbers).
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Old Ventspils

Ventspils is a coast town in West Latvia, considered wealthy, tidy and boring place. These are a few photos of the city centre that slightly compromise this image - old signs of fishermen's club and hospital, street water pump, weird old house and closed glass bottle recycling point.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Kronstadt

Kronstadt island was founded in 1704 as a fortress to guard sea access to St.Petersburg and is located in the bay some 30 km from it. The Kronstadt Sea Fortress used to be considered the most fortified port in the world. In Soviet times it was a closed city (with restricted access to visitors) due to its military port and ship-building industry. Today the city seems quiet apart from many cadets in the streets.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Late emergency

This old plate found in Liepāja, West Latvia says "in case of emergency after 6pm call...". It seems that in Latvian version someone has changed the time to "after 7pm".
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

RRR today

Rīgas Radio Rūpnīca aka Radiotehnika RRR or just RRR for short, which means Riga Radio factory, was producing radios, turntables and cassette players in Soviet Latvia but went bust in 1990s. Located in Imanta district of Riga the waste territory is now occupied by various small companies, strorages and empty buildings. One of the companies is RRR VEF, a merge of names of RRR and another famous company VEF, however besides the grand name there is a small firm that produces sound speakers.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Lenin in St.Petersburg

In St.Petersburg that used to carry Lenin's name (Leningrad) one can find dozens of monuments for the Soviet leader. These are just a few of them. The last photo with a wooden box has a special story. The ass of one of the main Lenin's monuments on Lenin's square was blown up by some explosives on the 1 April earlier this year. Lenin's ass is now under repair.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Narva/Ivangorod

There is not much difference between Narva and Ivangorod, except for the fact that Narva is the third biggest city in Estonia, which is part of European Union, while Ivangorod is just a rural area in Leningradskaya oblast in Russia. In Soviet times they operated as a single town (even thought Ivangorod was oficially also a seperate town then) but today Ivangorod sinks into recession and survives only thanks to transit and contrabanda of alcohol and cigarettes. The first photos are from Narva, while the last six photos are from Ivangorod.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus