Eastown in the 1930s* Sitting on a lot near the corner of Van Dyke Street and Harper Avenue is the once magnificent Eastown Theater. This graceful neighborhood theater, built-in the Renaissance Revival style, opened in 1930 as a movie house attracting patrons from the surrounding walk able neighborhoods. But like many grand, architecturally rich, structures [...]
Archive for April, 2010
Detroit’s Van Dyke & Harper Neighborhood
Posted in Uncategorized on April 28, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Highland Park’s Craftsman Bungalows
Posted in Uncategorized on April 21, 2010 | 18 Comments »
Highland Park is well-known for the Ford Motor Company’s manufacturing plant, the first of its kind in the world built to incorporate the moving assembly line. This opened the door to mass production of the automobile. It’s also the home of the infamous $5.00 a day wage structure Henry Ford implemented in the early 20th [...]
Detroit’s Avenue of Heavy Industry
Posted in Uncategorized on April 14, 2010 | 8 Comments »
West Jefferson Avenue from Joe Louis Arena to the River Rouge city limits is a history lesson on Detroit’s heavy manufacturing legacy. Between the smokes stacks to the west and the Detroit skyline to the east, Jefferson is crammed with small, thriving manufacturing and service facilities that adjoin abandoned, structurally unsound, decayed buildings. Many [...]
Four Corners of Detroit plus St. Vincent
Posted in Uncategorized on April 7, 2010 | 4 Comments »
A couple of days ago I was riding my bike down a somewhat desolate section of Kercheval Street on my way to Belle Isle and came to the intersection of Parker Street, which runs south from where I was, to East Jefferson. Knowing that Parker cuts through the West Village Historic District and since I [...]
