How did this area get to be an art magnet
both legal and illegal?
In the Victorian Era of Robber Barons and Fat Cats ,people built huge houses here.
Click on map image to enlarge
The bankruptcy of 2008 made it easier for the city planning
commission to
build new low income housing with streets named after Motown
singers and Groups. It used to be called the Jeffries Projects. It took real
nerve to walk into them. I did so only if I was with a resident...
Jobs & money go in cycles but By 2008 (TheBankruptcy) there were no careers (that did not require college) NO jobs at all - People moved out - so they tore down
the old projects. The brownstones stayed. The Victorian mansions were
bulldozed near Motown., but others were maintained.
Lofts showed up where they used to make Studebakers and
Model T Fords.
Then Henry Ford Hospital built up Athletic Sports
Rehab Medicine . Pistons Basketball promised an AthleticTraining center by 2020 . Wayne State is building a biomedical center to
connect the two.
The Bad News
what was left of Motown Records (the studios) stayed put. However United Sound studios ,where almost everybody else recorded
including John
Lee Hooker
That studio is under a demolition threat for a highway expansion in 2017 !!
Detroit has more freeway than Los Angeles. Freeways speed up suburban living- you can get out of Detroit quickly, and be in horse country on 5 mile, Olympic Hockey center...Out of Dodge in less than an hour Obviously there is S---P---A---C---E
Detroit has more freeway than Los Angeles. Freeways speed up suburban living- you can get out of Detroit quickly, and be in horse country on 5 mile, Olympic Hockey center...Out of Dodge in less than an hour Obviously there is S---P---A---C---E
In between are spaces to put up art-
imagine
Victorians houses here...click on map to enlarge
Now Motown is at one end of Holden
street- that crazy grid lends itself to art projects legal or not
the blog visited the area in the
video in part 1
There is so much here...and it is
political too..
So let's walk around ...
On the top of Wayne State
University is this studio where college students from WSU came to hear a
session or do homework if they were music majors
John Lee Hooker was in the Blues Brothers Movie
and he recorded here.
The era I remember is Rockwell aka Kennedy Gordy - he had
classes nearby and hung out here.
These houses, similar to the one in the
above picture, were post WW1.
The Victorians and Brownstones long gone,
which is why so much got built here in the 1920s. If you are into skyscrapers, one of the finest Albert Kahn examples is
near here.
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Art
Deco temple to commerce is Detroit's version of NYC Chrysler Bldg
(it was the General Motors Bldg) |
The city exploded and grew from West Grand Blvd the "border" in the Victorian era
This area is where the street art is now.
This area is where the street art is now.
ART The commissioned
an
overpass next to the new Henry Ford Athletic Medicine Bldg
2 blocks from that Art Deco temple to commerce
2 blocks from that Art Deco temple to commerce
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| Andrew Jameson for Wikipedia |
Music on video Fair use
Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G 30 sec
The day I was there, the city was installing streetlights.The map section in green
detroitography.com
contains 1 or 2 of the remaining Mansions that were built after WW1.
One real estate company owns them.
Henry Ford Hospital ,Cole Funeral homes and Motown own everything that the University did not buy. Map below shows the area of design---- there is more to come . Part 3 of this series looks at the other side of the big boulevard called Grand in -between the red /green on this map .
Imagine horse drawn carriages on
East & West Grand Boulevard which formed the suburban border of this city, and now is home to the most spectacular freely painted art on both sides. All because the center did not hold. Too many wooden houses and cinder block service buildings.
click on image to enlarge Original map (no colors) detroitography.com
 after part 3 of 48208 the next topic :a hint
The world's biggest abandoned factories are here, and one of them is the most ambitious postwar
housing and art rehab project outside of Germany.
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