The Briggs Building

Demolition has been completed on the Briggs Building in the New Center Area. Until recently this building served as a storage facility for the Detroit Public library. The DPL purchased the building from the city in 2001 for $400,000. It had become too run-down to affordably use. The library had spent $100,000 annually just on utilities and basic repairs, and in 2006 they decided to sell the building. After two potential buyers bowed out, library officials believed they could better market the property once the building was razed.

Olympia Development Attempts to Justsify Spate of Demolitions in Parkingtown

Read about it here Here

479-481 West Columbia Falls

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of Noble Mythic Shrine 2203-2211 Cass Ave

Lost the week of March 8, 2009

Chin Tiki No More

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

Elizabeth Street Lofts Lost

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

Tricentennial Park

Work continues on the Tricentennial Park extension that will eventually link Rivard Plaza with the harbor and the Dequindre Cut.

145 W. Elizabeth Street

Overlooking Windsor

Overlooking Windsor, originally uploaded by A Dubs.

Ghetto Pass Revoked

Now Martha Reeves has her sights set on Lily Tomlin.

During her appearance last night on Fox 2's "Let It rip," Reeves outed a list of entertainers as not being from Detroit. Lily Tomlin was included on that list. Naturally, Ms. Reeves didn't do her due diligence. Ms. Tomlin grew up in the Brewster Projects, graduated from Cass Tech, and attended Wayne State. I guess that isn't "Detroit" enough for her.

Martha in a Box

Thursday Ms. Reeves was still on a rampage about Auburn Hills not being "Detroit."

She appeared on Frank Beckman's show to hammer that point home. Frank tried to explain to her that Jay Leno was speaking about Detroit as a region, but she was having none of that. He attempted to show her that If she wanted to take the "Detroit" out of the "region", that you should change the names of Metro, the Zoo, and the Pistons to Romulus City Airport, Royal Oak Zoo, etc.

Martha's response: "you ain't got to put all those other things in there, you ain't got to go there....I'm in a box."

http://wjr.com/Article.asp?id= 1212797&spid=6552

Reeves-Vs-Leno

Martha Reeves is offended that Jay Leno said he is coming to Detroit, but will actually be performing in Auburn Hills.

Download Martha Reeves - Reeves Vs Leno

Inside the Iodent

From Model D Media

Mid Med Lofts Reborn as Mid Med Plaza

From Model D Media

Revisit the the facadectomy here.

It's Up to You Detroit!

Elect a crazy council, get crazy results
Nolan Finley - Detroit News

Nowhere is Michigan's brain drain on greater display than in the Detroit City Council chambers.

My hopes for Detroit's future faded as I watched the tape of last Tuesday's council meeting, the one that considered the Cobo Center expansion deal.

It was a tragic circus, a festival of ignorance that confirmed the No. 1 obstacle to Detroit's progress is the bargain basement leaders that city voters elect. The black nationalism that is now the dominant ideology of the council was on proud display, both at the table and in the audience....

This is the perhaps the harshest criticism of the Detroit City Council that I have read so far. However, even if you only watched a few minutes of last Tuesdays Council meeting, you know how true it rings.

Read the rest of the column here.

Raw: Conyers, Cockrel Spat During Council Meeting

Another Monica Conyers Freak-Out. WDIV has the raw feed.
read more

Detroit '67

Detroit Boat Club

Melting Moments

Belle Isle

Lee Burt House

Lee Burt House

Rosa Parks Transit Center Almost Ready to Set Sail

Contractors are almost ready to raise the canopies at the Rosa Parks Transit Center.

Mercy Hall Hospital of Detroit Rediscovered

I can now put a name to this previously unidentified house on Watson. While I was researching Brush Park on Virtual Motor City. I discovered this photograph from 1931. At the time, this was the location of Mercy Hall Hospital, a small Detroit facility for indigent cancer patients, founded by Loretta Mary Gibson. It relocated to 269 Mack in the 1940's.

Marshall, Michigan

Gone Missing

This section of Hendrie at Beaubien is one of the few blocks not yet devoured by the Art Center Townhomes and Carriage Houses development in the northern section of the Cultural Center District. This building existed in the summer of 2004, but it is no longer there and nothing has risen in its place.

July, 2004
December, 2008

Detroit's Historic Drinking Establishments

When the French landed on the banks of the Detroit River in the early 17th century, they brought their love of alcohol with them. The French opened their homes to the community to share in their love of fine food and drink, but it was the British that brought the public drinking establishment to Detroit. Arcadia Publishing's latest "Images of America" release Detroit's Historic Drinking Establishments explores the rich history of alcohol on the Straits of Detroit.

The book's title does a bit of a disservice to the material within. Author Victoria Jennings Ross' work is far more encompassing. With chapters devoted to Detroit's early hotels, cigar industry, breweries, and Prohibition, The History of Drinking in Detroit would be more appropriate.

Detroit bars started off as taverns for local residents. As Detroit became a travel destination in the 19th century, the business community had to shift its focus from serving residents to serving visitors. During this time hotel bars took up the mantle of hosting civic affairs from the tavern. Several included menus from this period show us whatDetroiters were eating and drinking at the time.

At the heart of the book, however, are chapters focusing on Detroit's Saloon and Cocktail Lounge eras.

By the turn of the 20th century the saloon era had taken over the city and there were over 1,400 bars in Detroit or one for every 70 men over the age of 20. This is reflected in the numerous pages dedicated to photographs and brief passages relating to the lost gems of pre-prohibition Detroit.

When Detroit was at its apex, the Detroit bar scene evolved further. Riding on the coattails of the jazz scene cabaret style clubs sprang up bringing elaborate floor shows and big name entertainers to Detroit. These venues eventually gave birth to the cocktail lounges of later years. There was quite a lot going on in the city at the time and the proof is in the photos, advertisements and menus contained within this book.

Pubs and the like have been at the core of Detroit's social being since the city's inception. Whether it be an elegant hotel bar where the city's elite would wheel and deal, or a neighborhood saloon where one of the city's various emigrant populations would socialize, Detroit had a bar for everyone. That tradition that still holds true today and Detroit's Historic Drinking Establishments goes a long way towards reminding us of our rich drinking heritage.

Photos reprinted with permission from Detroit's Historic Drinking Establishments, by Victoria Jennings Ross. Available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling (888) 313-2665.

Downtown Historic Movie Palace Tour Part 7

The Fox Theater opened in 1928. Built in the temple style with a blend of Burmese, Chinese, Indian and Persian motifs, it was the first theater to be constructed with built-in equipment for sound films.

Downtown Historic Movie Palace Tour Part 6

Music Hall opened as the Wilson Theater in 1928. It has an Art Deco facade with a Spanish Renaissance themed interior. Having left Orchestra Hall during the depression and playing at several other venues, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra moved into the Wilson Theater in 1946 and rechristened it Music Hall. When the Orchestra moved again in 1951 the building was used for other purposes. Rehabilitation began in 1973 and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places 1977. Music Hall is the last legitimate stage theater remaining in Detroit. It is the only Detroit venue built for the primary purpose of presenting live performances.

Triton Pools

Trition Pools, originally uploaded by A Dubs.

Book Tower & Book Building Go Dark

One day after the unheated vacant office tower had its water cut off, the Book Building's last tenant has left and the building has closed. It appears that the new owners who bought the property in August don't want to pay to keep the building open.

The Thorn in Ilitch's Side?

After two plus years of demolition, construction, and reconstruction it appears as though we will finally be able to link a tenant to the building sitting square in the middle of the Macedonian Parking Cartel's vast Fox Town empire. Since the Book Tower has, for all intent and purposes, been put in mothballs, Bookies Bar is being forced to move to new digs. Reports are that the bar will be setting up shop at the location of the former CC Bar at the corner of Cass and Columbia.

CC's was demolished, except for one wall, and this new structure has risen in its place. With the money being spent, it looks like the owners of the building plan on being there for the long term. Olympia Development are planing to knock down several buildings in the area. The speculation is that this area will be the eventual home to a new hockey arena for the Red Wings. How will this new development affect these plans? One way or the other the property owners are sure to cash-in.

The original C.C. Bar in 2004

C.C. Bar in the summer of 2007.

These two walls were all that was kept from the original building.Today. The future home of Bookies.