This is one of the coolest blogs I've ever seen: "detroitblog"

[El Pinko]

http://www.detroitblog.org



This is one of the cities in America I've never been to. I know that it's been depressed for most of my adult life, and that it doesn't seem poised for recovery any time soon, but this blog shows the many facets of Detroit, the violence and poverty, the warmth and humanity, and the decayed beauty through some very nice photography.


I hope I can visit there some day. I guess it's weird that I find places like this more interesting than places like Orlando and Vegas...

[Mountainman]

1. Detroit did rebuild part of the city didn't it? I use to live in Kalamazoo and went to Detroit

about once a month. It was depressed but not unlike parts of other cities in the country. I have good feelings about Detroit. Now take Toledo, PLEASE!

[BobRossi]

2. It's a great city.

Just has a crappy mayor and city council. There are so many jewels in Detroit it is hard to count them all.
My wife and I take our two young daughters to Eastern Market several times a year, as well as Comerica park when we get the chance.

Go Tigers!

[leeroysphitz]

3. Excellent find.

I always wondered what the Delray Crib was all about.

[pleah]

4. It is not weird at all. Great find!

[Theres-a]

5. I used to be from the 313

I'm going to check this out later,Thanks.

PS your sigline always makes me smile

[alfredo]

6. The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit.

http://detroityes.com/home.htm

[Theres-a]

8. I love that site!

Was quite a city back in the day. Sad how much has been reduced to ruins.

[alfredo]

9. They show a building where I lived over on Alexandria.

El Moor or something like that. We called it the Alexandrine. It was next to the Mortuary science building. Some of the Fruit and the MC 5 lived there.


I also lived in the old Boones Farm Commune house on Avery.

Used to drink at Cobb's corner, the former gathering place for the Purple Gang. Next to it was a Baba Ram Das restaurant. A couple blocks down was Open City.

[Theres-a]

10. I remember Cobb's corner

What was the little storefront where punkrock bands used to play? NA and Minor Threat played there. Near the Cass Avenue Burger King.'83 maybe.

[alfredo]

11. Is it still there? I left there in 75 so I missed the rest of urban removal

and the corporate food joints moving in.

I think it was Cass and Willis ave. I lived on Alexandria, Forrest, Avery, and Willis. Between them I spent some time in Pontiac, Ann Arbor, and Big Rapids. I remember taking over the student union at Wayne State, and listening to the MC 5 at an old practice field near campus. I remember taking acid and hopping a ride on the back of a Kawasaki 500 triple. Pulling a wheelie at high speed on 12th street while tripping is something that needs to be experienced.

Pitching a guy out of a car before he barfs up the wine he drank is another Detroit memory. That happened on Belle Isle during the kite fest. We discussed whether to let him back in the car or not. We compromised by making him kneel on the back seat, his head stuck out the window. He still managed to barf down the window well. We had to take off the interior upholstery and clean out the inside to get rid of the smell.

[Theres-a]

13. I left in '98

I went back last in '02.I have family there. Not the city I remember,and certainly not anywhere I want to go again.The people suffer terribly at the hands of this economic recession. My uncle has been out of work since last July.My mother gets her car stolen nearly annually,and the neighbors I remember are since foreclosed on.

Belle Isle was a fun place to watch the sun come up after drinking all night.Once I sobered up,Detroit didn't seem like such a great place to live.I remember two different tshirts that were popular(and true)- *Detroit,where the weak are killed and eaten"

and

*Detroit-cars,bars, and a coupla weirdos"


'75 huh? You ever go to bookies500 or was that later?

[alfredo]

14. Don't remember that. Near the end I was working as a cabbie for

American Cab. They were doing great until one of their drivers got caught with a dead hooker in his bathtub. He had cut her up and put her in trash bags. He didn't get her out of the apartment in time. The stink alerted the neighbors. Nobody wanted to ride in our cabs after that. There was another incident that made me want to leave. I was at a cab stand near Kon Tiki and I heard a Pop! Some woman had jumped from her hotel room window. The sight of the open window, the melon colored paint, the curtains blowing out brought a feeling of sadness and hopelessness over me. I thought, "am I becoming a Detroiter"? I decided to get out. I got a job with a driveaway company. I was delivering repo-ed cars to banks and such. I waited until I had a ride through my town. I piled my stuff in that car and left Detroit for good.

I visited one time to see my old friends. The town had gone downhill. My friend over on Prentiss was still there. His wonderfully furnished apartment was nearly bare. Thieves stole everything. All he had left was a couch and a few chairs. He had a radio that he had taken the case off of to make it unappealing to thieves. I wanted to see a couple old friends. Both were dead. One friend, a gal many claimed was the inspiration for "Maggie May" was the reason I went up there. She did have a young girl that looked like Rod Stewart. She was one person I could really talk to. I asked my friend about her and he said some junkie blew her head off. The other was whacked. When I left there was a hit put out on him by a jealous husband. I guess someone got him. Most everyone I knew and loved in Detroit were dead and gone. I got out and survived.

When I was there we never locked our cars. To lock your car was inviting a broken window. Anything that could be stolen like a radio was taken out. Signs stating "no radio" were quite fashionable. When we partied, it was behind locked doors. You stayed the night and ventured out in the morning.

[Theres-a]

15. Also

We kept our plate tags sliced,so they could not be easily removed. Occasionally,someone with tools would snip off the whole corner of the plate anyway.I used to work until 2am in Greektown,and thought nothing of running red lights all the way home down Jefferson at 3am.No way I was sitting at a light alone.
I live a podunk little town in far northeast Connecticut (long story!) and people don't know how bad it is back there. Hell,even I don't know,it was so sad last time I was there,but I'm sure the last 6 years have not been kind to Detroit.I hear frogs at night now instead of gunshots.And am grateful every time I talk like this with someone who knows what I'm talking about.I may be poor,but I'm safe at last,by God.

[alfredo]

16. We had problems with packs of wild dogs. I used to walk down the

middle of the street to keep a distance from the weeds. No telling what lurked in there. If neighborhoods resisted urban renewal, houses would mysteriously catch fire. The rest would get the message and sell out.

Detroit was half way OK when heroin was the king. The junkies just wanted your money, but it was when cocaine took over when it got dangerous. There was a chain of events that changed the drug market. The mafia stayed out of drugs because the risk was high and pot didn't generate enough profit for the risk. When Nixon did his "operation intercept" the price of pot spiked. It made it profitable enough for the mob. Small time privateers were killed off. One was found bound, shot, then burned. The cops said it was suicide. Another one was found at a stop light, part of his head blown off. he was a good guy, a baker at night, pot deal by day. A third I knew, a private dick got whacked. He was a pot dealer.

Soon after the mob got involved, cocaine started hitting the street. It was all down hill from there.

Still, the music was great, the girls wild, and the food fabulous.

[ellie]

7. I love Detroit

I used to live in the Detroit suburbs and we would go into the city all the time. The people are really great and the city has a lot of history. I hope it comes back from the brink.

[alfredo]

12. Don't you think the White Stripes captured the Detroit sound? They

remind me so much of the mid seventies garage bands.