Forgotten Detroit: website documented to the forgotten guilded age

[CharlesB]

http://www.forgottendetroit.com/index.html

 

[Foofoogal]

Stuff like this boils my blood.
Here are a few in Houston that are barely hanging on.
http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/rotheater.html
http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/alabama.html

and this one is gone forever. I cried when I saw this one in photos after the fact the first time. Unreal.
http://www.houstondeco.org/1920s/metro.html
Look at the smaller photos. It was pure genius.

 

[Samsa]

I'm in Detroit at least once a week, and it is indeed sad to see so many buildings abandoned. Truth be told, it's an abandoned city. Hopefully the city will experience some sort of renaissance in the near future...

 

[TM]

This is another good Ruins of Detroit site:

http://detroityes.com/toc.htm

Tony

 

[LindyTap]

I go to college in Detroit and it truly is a sad city to live in. So much history treated so poorly. The city (at least the downtown area anyways) has been making a comeback in recent years. We can only hope it will spread to other parts of the city.

 

[CharlesB]

recent photos of Gary Indiana are even worse

 

[Flivver]

Detroit was a beautiful city prior to WWII.

Unfortunately, much of its beautiful architecture was destroyed over the past 40 years. Hopefully, what remains will be preserved.

 

[Twitch]

I visited this site about 2 years ago when someone had a link to the old Packard factory. There are other places out there with decaying urban areas and I think they're neat.

While I like pretty vintage cars I liketo see decaying wrecks. Same goes with derelict buildings. They just say something to me.

The site TM mentions is great http://detroityes.com/home.htm as is http://www.seedetroit.com/ and the link to http://www.seedetroit.com/pictures/urbandecay/

 

[TM]

I stumbled upon this link to a <30 minute film about the present state of Detroit. The filmmaker is trying to turn it into a feature. Has some good stuff!

http://www.vimeo.com/2371774

And has anyone heard from Twitch?

Tony

 

[adamjaskie]

I work in Detroit, right downtown. It's always sad to see another piece of history go; I can watch the progress of the dismantling of the Lafayette Building from my cubicle, and I drive past the site of the old Tiger Stadium twice a day. That's right, a couple weeks ago there were still some piles of rubble, now the stands are just raked dirt. Every time one of these buildings gets torn down, there is a big outcry. Why now? Why didn't they speak up when the last tenant moved out ten years ago?

The issue is there aren't people here. The city has half the population it did in the early 1950s, which means it has about twice the amount of real estate that can be supported by that population. There isn't much that can be done to preserve buildings that aren't going to be used.

Buildings don't fall apart overnight; this isn't a consequence of the current financial troubles in this country. Many of these buildings have been abandoned for years, for decades. They have chunks of concrete falling off of them, so the adjacent sidewalk gets fenced off. What is worse? Passers-by crushed by a falling cartouhe? A city block unusable because of a continual rain of caryatids? A hundred-million-dollar restoration, partially funded by our tax dollars, with 10% occupancy and a developer skipping town a stone's throw ahead of the debt collectors? A small park, with a garden, a bench, and a sculpture commissioned from a local artist? At some point a decision has to be made.

Sure, you can restore them... then what? While hope can bring a building back to life, dreams of days gone by can't keep it that way. Only tenants can do that.

 

[SGT Rocket]

Wow

Stuff like this boils my blood.
Here are a few in Houston that are barely hanging on.
http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/rotheater.html
http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/alabama.html

and this one is gone forever. I cried when I saw this one in photos after the fact the first time. Unreal.
http://www.houstondeco.org/1920s/metro.html
Look at the smaller photos. It was pure genius.

Great links!
I grew up in Houston and I've seen many a movie at the River Oaks Cinema. My mom used to work at a soda fountain right across from Lamar High School (in the 50's I believe). There used to be a little bar called "Marfrales" (spelling?) around the corner of the cinema. It has no window and just a black door. Same parking lot as the cinema, on the east side of the cinema. It was sort of a speakeasy because it was very word of mouth in the 1980's. Also, right next to the cinema there was a store, I think it was called Lost Cites. I bought some really cool stuff there for my girlfriend at the time. Oh, man, this brings back so many memories.

I've also bought many a book at the Alabama Bookstop.

fftopic:

We would go see a move at the River Oaks Cinema, then go check out #'s 2 on Westheimer or Riches on San Jacinto (I've always been sort of open-minded). Then we would go to House of Pies for a late night snack.

I also liked Rudyards, the Ale House, and a few haunts that my mind can't remember the names of. Oh, we would also check out Valhalla on Rice Campus on Friday nights. If I remember right, they were closed on Saturdays. That was one place that you could literally talk to a drunk rocket scientist. They had 25 cent cups of beer and it was usually Schiner Bach.

WOW, sorry for that flash-back! Way off topic. But, thank you so much for posting those links. I can't tell you how it makes me feel.

 

[SGT Rocket]

OMG, how cool

Ok, sort of off topic. fftopic:

I used to live here with an old girlfriend in the early 1990's.

http://www.houstondeco.org/1940s/apartments.html

It was a great little one bedroom with hard wood floors and glass bricks in the small breakfast area. I LOVED that place. It was right across from the museum of fine art, by the zoo, Rice U., it was an amazing place. I lived in the middle building in the top right apartment as you face the building. What a great place to live.

Ok, that is enough of taking everyone down my trip to memory lane. Sorry to go a little haywire. I hope I can be forgiven!