Detroit as Pompei
I spent the first 23 years of my life in and around Detroit. The place has always held a heartbreaking grip on how I view several issues from race to mass transit, to urban sprawl, to architecture, to failed dreams and probably just about everything in between.
With this in mind, I have come across what very well may be the coolest all-original one topic blog ever. Detroitblog.org is the mind blowing site of a photographer who "explores" Detroit's abandoned buildings.
He found these in the scattered debris of Motown Records' old headquarters before it was torn down.
I'm not sure why I just spent three hours reading every inch of his blog from top to bottom. I've never actually done that on any blog before.
Maybe it's because he's posted photos of the old Kresge Building where my grandfather worked.
Maybe it because he wrote about the odd little riverfront trailer park where I helped my friend Mike MacMichael deliver newspapers.
Maybe it's because he posts pictures from the Grande Ballroom where I saw punk rock acts in the '80s and my dad saw jazz greats in the '40s and '50s.
Or maybe it's just because he sees the same madness that characterizes the once proud city - the madness that now makes the place painfully intriguing, but almost assuredly will prevent me from ever calling Detroit home again.
Wonderful post. Which surrounding suburb did you live in? I am a Detroiter as well, grew up in the city, and graduated from Cass...what about you?
The way Detroit is so devastated is heart breaking...it has recently been called the poorest city in the Nation, a once might globally reknown city, now lays in ruins....just unbelievable.
No other industrialized city has been changed to the degree that Detroit has...look at Chicago, it is still thriving although NAFTA has destroyed the textile industry in the Carolina's.
I will check out the site....just for the memories of the once great city...hopefully they will have one of the Museum of Arts and the Library...I thought those two buildings were soooo beautiful.
March 22, 2006 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I grew up right on the border of Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit. (GPP side) I had friends at Cass and I think a good friend still teaches there. And based upon your profile I'm pretty sure we went to the same Univeristy.
Growing up (circa late '70s to mid '80s) I always viewed Detroit as my base, rather than the 'burbs. I had my summer jobs on Belle Isle and Greek Town. Unlike most of my peers in Grosse Pointe, I connected pretty well with the city. Hell, most of my high school girlfriends went to Dominican HS on the East Side. (They needed guys to do theater. I liked the gender ratio)
When I left the area after graduating from college, I thought I would want to go back, but after living in a few cities that actually ran somewhat normally (Minneapolis, Seattle, and now small town New England) I changed my mind. When my Dad retired from his consulting gig with GM, my parents retired to the 'burbs of Chicago to be closer to my sister and her kids.
It's odd, we're going to have a huge family reunion this summer. When the 40, or so, notices went out, we realized that only two families still remain in Southeast MI. Everybody else is long gone.
March 22, 2006 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink