True North an air BnB and an office center
In Brooklyn near the edge of Willamsburg and Bushwick an early container house goes up
Woodbridge- a large chunk of the sprawling zip code 48208 is done.
Finis.
Why ? Possibly due to the actions of the mayor even though he has FINALLY allocated 50K to more public art. No Duggan has not driven anyone out of town, but the $$$ and a firm belief in Broken windows theory has benefited merchant /art /food districts over residential neighborhoods
As for hipsters and the artistically inclined
The latest stadium has killed the scene at Temple Bar (yeah I know its not in Woodbridge(mostly residential) but most of the mingling is in Midtown/Downtown due to the proximity to jobs. After work venues as of this post might be floating between Marble Bar on Holden (Woodbridge) and The Perfect Beat in SW Detroit . That is a trek for anyone-
maybe we can all decide on creating a new district to hang in that is bikeable?/affordable See this article(link)
Living Large
You can not afford to buy and fix what is left.
Land Is empty, factories Are available ...
But unless you have deep pockets to develop them- forget it.
Exactly how many Habitable Buildings are left in the 48208 ? There is a website linking motorcitymapping and loveland that should lend itself to an estimate. I did not find an official site on Woodbridge demolitions, renovations, auctions, etc. But from driving around :All there is left to buy and renovate or paint legally is the Woodbridge neighborhood west of Grand River.not past 18th
Ok, this may look like a throwaway tagged spot
Bushwick has a group of artists called the
Bushwick Collective who have done such amazing work that the restaurant scene, the boutiques, and even the indigenous party stores (bodegas) serving coffee and burritos or arepas (Central America / South America) are making $$$.
Here is an excerpt from the NYT May 3 2013 article (pix too )
Bushwick gets a Fresh Coat__
In other parts of NYC the communities have hired OG graffiti artists Lady Pink, Traci 168, etc. to paint underpasses and construction fences. The graffiti is amazing. SO-- while some new building is rising from the ashes , the locals who probably will not be able to afford the new buildings, or the products, or the new business that will certainly follow- WHAT: it is a cycle of tighter and tighter requirements...
with students of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts NYC__
Legendary Train /Subway Car painter Tracey 168 for the construction fence at Arion Place , Bushwick/ Bed StuyyNYC__
Graffiti or Mural ?
3 rd article of 3 in the Woodbridge series
Woodbridge- a large chunk of the sprawling zip code 48208 is done.
Finis.
Why ? Possibly due to the actions of the mayor even though he has FINALLY allocated 50K to more public art. No Duggan has not driven anyone out of town, but the $$$ and a firm belief in Broken windows theory has benefited merchant /art /food districts over residential neighborhoods
As for hipsters and the artistically inclined
The latest stadium has killed the scene at Temple Bar (yeah I know its not in Woodbridge(mostly residential) but most of the mingling is in Midtown/Downtown due to the proximity to jobs. After work venues as of this post might be floating between Marble Bar on Holden (Woodbridge) and The Perfect Beat in SW Detroit . That is a trek for anyone-
maybe we can all decide on creating a new district to hang in that is bikeable?/affordable See this article(link)
Living Large
You can not afford to buy and fix what is left.
Land Is empty, factories Are available ...
But unless you have deep pockets to develop them- forget it.
Exactly how many Habitable Buildings are left in the 48208 ? There is a website linking motorcitymapping and loveland that should lend itself to an estimate. I did not find an official site on Woodbridge demolitions, renovations, auctions, etc. But from driving around :All there is left to buy and renovate or paint legally is the Woodbridge neighborhood west of Grand River.not past 18th
perception vs reality
- Metro / Detroiters do not walk more than 1 quarter mile (density) ANYWHERE
- It is not as spread out as you think .
- Walking to your car might count if you never go out to lunch...
I confess !!!
I was born here and lived exactly 1/2 of my life bounded by 8 mile
Until recently I spent exactly the other half of my life in all 5 boros of NY.
At one point I averaged 100+ miles a week on a bike (spin teacher on call) and it was my custom to walk from Carnegie Hall to Madison Square on the regular. (It sounds far- but its only one mile.) I had a zillion things to look at and yes, I took a zillion pictures.
It is easier to document what is going on here - Detroiters have something to look at in 48208 in part 3 of this series.
This westernmost section has a lot of wooden houses. Is this why they call it Woodbridge? (actually named after a governor.senator who inherited the area and also lived in Grosse Pointe...)
Ok, this may look like a throwaway tagged spot
(Recycle ! Here! viaduct on Holden near JC Lodge) but this figure is actually from a genre that has cousins throughout the planet. What ? you never Google images of graffiti in France?
Character throw up- here is a cousin in green from Belgium
titles like Graffiti Planet,Street Art , etc from Abebooks.com
On Grand River, in Woodbridge ,who paid for this Permitted Art?
The Grand River Creative Corridor. At one point Mayor Duggan fined the GRCC but he has since rescinded the fines because the art was Commissioned /paid for and written about in Huff Po.
It has made the Grand River corridor a tourist attraction.
" It started as a simple set of graffiti murals commissioned by a gallery operator for the building he manages in the Woodbridge area of Detroit, but it didn’t stop there. After Derek Weaver, managing director of the 4731 Gallery and Studios, contracted...." Huff Po quote from article @ 2012
That is the magic word -contracted
Well done contracted art should last 7 to 10 years. It gets touched up. One could go through Google Maps time machine and see how the area has changed. Lets do that for this one building with the Patch Whiskey sign on the artwork/mural .
Corner of Grand River /W.Alexandrine
This is a pix by a pro- not me. I have a Go Pro Clone(scroll down) so the astute might pick up on the curve in some of my pictures. I can isolate a snap shot from video I take from either my phone or video camera and drop it into the blog. As you can see below, Google Aug 2016
shows the Patch Whiskey mural approaching from Downtown , just like how I first saw it.
Using the magic of Google =Street view in June 2011 below:
Below, my go pro clone (spherical)
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| Needed a sun filter on this too SO , there are artists in Woodbridge. Makes sense that by putting up installations and murals the reputation of the neighborhood would be improved. There is a website for the artists in Woodbridge showing the latest public art. The masthead reads Art in Woodbridge. Detroit's Public Art Destination__  (it is always good when artists get paid...) Walk around .Its safe. Get some exercise! |
..."On one side are the graffiti writers — an unrelenting, thrill-seeking cohort willing to risk catching felonies to leave a mark that says, "I'm here." On the other is the buff man, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan — on a mission to make a long-neglected city look like a safe place where people want to live.
Few would argue with the buff man's goal, but his path to attaining it has riled many. "
This antipathy could have been avoided. Pay the graffiti artists!
As a NewYork Detroiter (or is it a Detroit New Yorker?) I have seen the if we cannot beat them join them approach used effectively by the communities that were the most devastated (Bushwick, Brooklyn NY post riot)
Bushwick has a group of artists called the
Here is an excerpt from the NYT May 3 2013 article (pix too )
In other parts of NYC the communities have hired OG graffiti artists Lady Pink, Traci 168, etc. to paint underpasses and construction fences. The graffiti is amazing. SO-- while some new building is rising from the ashes , the locals who probably will not be able to afford the new buildings, or the products, or the new business that will certainly follow- WHAT: it is a cycle of tighter and tighter requirements...
Residents are at least entertained with some Old School graphics?? Maybe.
Should we be entertained or enlightened or made happier by all the art around us? Should we care if it is a Graf or a Mural ?
Should we be entertained or enlightened or made happier by all the art around us? Should we care if it is a Graf or a Mural ?
Legendary Train /Subway Car painter Tracey 168 for the construction fence at Arion Place , Bushwick/ Bed StuyyNYC__
Graffiti or Mural ?
At least the buildings are being put to good use before they get torn down.
 |
| Looks like Swoon on the Speech & Languages Bldg Wayne State facing Warren Good to see Swoon here! Below is her work in the Bronx NY "Swoon did not begin to tag her art under that name until later into her career; she at first worked anonymously. It was not until her then-boyfriend had a dream about the two of them doing graffiti and running from the police that she got the name Swoon. In his dream, she was writing Swoon on the walls of buildings Thinking that it was pretty, Curry(her real name) started tagging her art with Swoon" |
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| The Accusing Eye, Bronx NY I am a wheatpaste fan because of the effects of weathering. In good weather it is walkable, but this being Detroit , you must have wheels( 2 or 4 wheels) Back in the day I rode from Hamilton and McNichols to Wayne State no problem. But my bike is in storage in Brooklyn. It is almost a mile to Architecture Salvage Ware House on the corner of West Warren and 16th street. Another crazy street grid lends itself to graffiti due to the diagonal caused by Grand River and a cul de sac of 15th street off Warren There are also big heads at Grand River and Forest Ave(paid art) |
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| Google Images captured Street View June 2011 |
Grand River is the border of Woodbridge in terms of Mansions.
The cheaper wooden houses that lead into the next area - Core City are long gone. But there is a artsy housing experiment at 4703 16th street - 4719 16th street still in 48208
(its all rented except for The Nest , an airBnB)
<
Yes. the area was empty
But - it was not due to the Bankruptcy.
You cannot blame Gentrification
But you can blame 1967 (map at beginning of post also)
Across from Scripps Park on Trumbull was the site of a long gone mansion (you can still see the gate posts) This at the very southern edge of Woodbridge- Trumbull& Grand River . Contrast this to  |
| 3814 Vinewood 48208 The very edge.of the zipcode - Next street is West Grand Blvd and the Rail Road Tracks Woodbridge 48208 zip code sits on top of Southwest Detroit's North Eastern edge. The zipcode also crosses into Southwest Detroit. (This is important because the foodie section called Mexican Town needs artwork/picnic tables /re-definition) |
