BigDipper 80

My last visit prior to this was in the early spring of 2013, and even in that relatively short period between March 2013 and October 2015, I noticed how much more electric Detroit's core neighborhoods had become. Downtown was literally dead two years ago, but this year downtown was hopping with young professionals and new, big-name businesses. Obviously there is still a ton of work to be done, but I really am in awe at how successful the city has managed to market itself, and locals are genuinely proud of their city. You know you're doing something right when the Pure Michigan commercials actually mention the existence of Detroit. I can think of a number of Ohio cities that wish they had a PR department that could spin that well. I wouldn't be surprised to see the D become a huge tech hub in the near future. The region already has the highest ratio of engineers in the country, and the Great Lakes region makes a lot of sense as a tech region as things continue to get more and more expensive in California.

Wow, I've been through EC a few times and have never seen Chapman Avenue before. Reminds me a lot of the old Glencoe Place apartments in Cincinnati that were unfortunately demolished a few years ago. Very interesting thread, it really is sobering how much of our cities have just been left to abandonment.

I hadn't been up to the Motor City in a couple of years, so when I had a few days off I decided to take a road trip up to see how things had been progressing. I was genuinely amazed at how much had changed there so quickly. There's still a lot of work to be done, obviously, but if Detroit can do it, any city can do it. Detroiters should be really proud of their town. The windows are almost all installed at Michigan Central Station. Not the best, but hopefully they'll help preserve the building. This was actually my first time stopping at the station. My schedule was really tight, so I didn't really get around Corktown as much as I would have liked, but after this trip I now have fifty other reasons to get back to Motown. Ambassador Bridge and St Anne's. I was hoping to drive out to St Anne's because it's a gorgeous church, but the weather was typical Great Lakes Fall WeatherTM and the lighting was kinda crappy. Heading downtown. Proof that Cincinnati's streetcar is going to transform Cincy into Detroit. Or is the M1 light rail going turn Detroit into Cincinnati? My friend works for Quicken in One Campus Martius, and he was kind enough to take me up to his office to have a look around. This guy was painting one of those murals that looks 3D when you stand in the right place. It was really great how much Dan Gilbert puts into public art. Speaking of Dan Gilbert, all of the buildings in this model with red roofs are owned by him. So, he essentially owns downtown. The view from the 10th floor. Sorry for the awkward angle, I was trying to cut down on window glare. The ice rink is out... signs that winter is approaching quickly. The Hudson's Hole desperately needs something built on it. It's the Detroit equivalent of the Public Square lot. Back on terra firma... one of the many, many Shepard Fairey murals. The quality of the street art here is crazy. Practically everything along Woodward is in some stage of renovation. Lot of fancy stores and national big-name labels starting to appear. The momentum is incredible. Who would have thought even five/seven years ago that all of this was possible? I wish the C's had this level of investment from the private sector. We're doing a lot right in Ohio right now, but the way that Detroit has completely changed its brand is utterly mind-boggling. We took the People Mover over to the RenCen. I love and hate this building. I'm always amazed at how icy-blue the Detroit River is. Is there any sort of hydrological reason for this, or does light just hit it right? It's sacrilege to go to Detroit and not visit the Guardian. This was my first time getting into the "back half" of the lobby... the ceiling is actually made of fabric for soundproofing purposes. Cadillac Square. Yet another building owned by Dan. Very interesting lobby renovation. You can see the combination of the old ornate lobby mixed with the exposed beams and modern wavy lights. I hope the old county building gets put back into use. Does anyone else think that the Ernst and Young building looks like it should be ten stories taller than it is? The sky finally started to clear a bit... My sister lives in Ypsilanti, so I picked her up and we hung out in Washtenaw County for a while. The Ypsi water tower has some slightly inappropriate nicknames... There was fall colors everywhere. The foliage in Cincinnati just can't match the colors of the Great Lakes region. Hopping over to Ann Arbor... this was one day before U of M's loss to State, so the city was still packed and energetic. Seriously, the traffic in downtown Ann Arbor could rival Manhattan for sheer insanity. Like I said, the leaves were pretty much perfect. Heading back to the city... Let me take a moment to say that Eastern Market completely blew me away. It's the West Side Market times five, and while the market houses aren't as beautiful as WSM, the sheer scale and quantity of the neighborhood outpaces any other public market I've gotten to visit in America. $6/lb for a slab of porterhouse steaks! Unbelievable. Unfortunately, the church was locked. Would have loved to see the interior. I'm a sucker for beautiful old churches. But heck, who isn't? This picture doesn't really show it, but this stretch of Gratiot really has a "big city" feel to it with all the street vendors and just generally being packed with people. It had an almost Chicago-esque vibe to it, which was really cool. I just don't really get that same bustling "big city" feeling anywhere in Cincinnati. More buildings along Gratiot. If you're in the area, take time to visit Busy Bee Hardware. Maybe it's more interesting for me since my family's been in the hardware business for generations, but the guys had some good stories. More insane street art. Time warp to Midtown. We went and checked out the history museum, which was pretty interesting. Downtown Detroit is really fun to shoot with a telephoto lens. The downtown street "grid" (radial pattern?) makes everything line up at weird angles which makes the skyscrapers look much more massive and dense than they are in reality. Wish I had had more time for some more shots. Still need to get to DIA. One of these days! The main atrium of the library. Absolutely gorgeous, but the whole building was in serious need of renovation. Cleveland and Cincy are lucky to have public libraries that are in such good shape. The Fisher Building. Didn't actually have time to get up to New Center... that's part of the problem with traveling with folks who need to "do" things when on vacation. I'm perfectly content with just walking around neighborhoods looking at buildings! The Ransom-Gillis house is looking habitable again! Everyone knows these two beauties. Comerica Park ruined my skyline shot... Whatever type of brick was used in Brush Park, it's gorgeous. As much as I love Cincinnati's architecture, there's something about a lot of the brick used throughout the city that doesn't sit well with me. Maybe I'm crazy. Time warping back downtown one last time... My camera was having none of the sun glare... Wow, I'm exhausted and you probably are too. The progress Detroit has been making absolutely floors me, and I really hope that the pace that things are changing will continue for years to come. I really need a full week to myself to go through this town with a fine-toothed comb... So much to see and learn. Thanks again for sticking in there all the way to the end.

Was watching Portlandia and noticed that a certain Cleveland icon shows up for about half a second in an establishing shot... You'd have no idea it was the Key Tower unless you've got a keen eye :wink:

It'll be a tough fight, but I would think that there is more public/political willpower behind removing front plates after the Ray Tensing incident.

My semi-distant family member was high up in the Ferro ranks in the 1950s - he was acquaintances with Richard Neutra (probably best known for his Kaufmann House in Palm Springs), and he was able to get the architect to design a new HQ for Ferro in the late 50s.

Well, we now know for certain what the scaffolding in the tiara was for...

Are there any threads around here for continuing this discussion of Cincinnati's historical growth patterns, or is it appropriate in this thread? I'd be interested in hearing more about why/how the city and its neighborhoods grew in the ways they did.

I still don't understand the point of that jughandle. There's no reason to extend I-490 an extra 500 feet under E. 55th.

I'm a bit biased from working at Mantis back in the day, everyone hated it but I guess when you spend 13 hours a day around a ride you grow to love it. For anyone who might be curious as to what could be done to make Mean Streak more palatable, here's what was done to the very similar Texas Giant a few years back:

I really like Banshee a lot, but not many of the new B&Ms have wowed me the way Kumba and Montu did when I went to Busch Gardens years ago. I've yet to ride a Rocky Mountain coaster (hopefully next year when the one opens at Kentucky Kingdom), but honestly it only makes sense to do something with Mean Streak. Beautiful to look at, boring to ride.

It's been a year now since I've had cable and I don't miss it at all. When I had it I watched it, but now I don't even watch any antenna stations on a regular basis. It's nice to read books instead of scheduling my time around TV shows.

^Speaking of insane behavior, a few weeks ago I saw a guy on a full-sized motorcycle charging southbound in the northbound bike lane near Marshall. Who in their right mind would think that's a good idea?

Lake View Cemetery is another cool place to check out, it's right up the hill from Little Italy.

Didn't have much time to get out and shoot while I was in Columbus (it doesn't help that I'm not terribly familiar with the city's neighborhoods), but I still grabbed a few pictures from over the weekend. Not quite enough for its own thread, so I'm putting them here.

Does the Central Interchange in Cleveland count? There's a ramp from I-77 NB to I-90 EB that will be exiting onto East 22nd Street when the reconstruction is done. It currently exits onto E. 14th. (Link to the full image: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/Innerbelt/PublishingImages/innerbelt%20map2.swf)

The new ramp from Hopple to I-74 opened up this week. I really wish that they were going with a single ramp form Hopple to I-75 southbound, instead of leaving the old setup with two separate ramps for eastbound and westbound traffic. The configuration with the onramp from Hopple eastbound to I-75 is really awkward, and there are too many lanes and too many cars making left turns or shooting through six lanes of traffic trying to get into or out of that Shell station.

^ I sure miss LSER. I grew up in Olmsted Township, and I always enjoyed visiting Trolleyville when I was a kid. It was exciting to see the streetcars parked out in the strip mall along Columbia Road.

Interesting article about Hingetown: Can One Young Guy Lift Cleveland Out of Misery? (No, Not LeBron James) http://talkingpointsmemo.com/theslice/can-graham-veysey-make-cleveland-not-suck

The Conway Clutch building at the corner of Colerain and Marshall is completely leveled now.

Gorgeous towns! Indiana has such gems.

More info from the Enquirer: Full article: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/02/24/uc-innovation-center/23965055/ I'm hoping that the addition on the north side of the building is added at the corner of the building at the Lincoln/Reading intersection instead of off to the side or something.

A few old pictures from the Haymarket District: The location of my great uncle's flat. Inside the Central Market. The Eagle Avenue Rolling Road. KJP posted a great summary of this street at some point. The old Central Viaduct. My great (great-great?) uncles. Brownell Jr. High School, where my uncle got his first library job as a page. He went on to be director of the Cleveland Public Library.

Don't know how I missed these shots a month ago - they're great! Thanks for sharing.

Going to school in Cincinnati, I don't find myself back home very often. Luckily, I managed to make a few trips up north this year, which gave me an opportunity to play with my new camera. Here's a few pictures from all across town: Hello Cleveland! You'll have to apologize for the myriad of skyline shots. I love Cleveland's skyline. Still working on figuring out the settings to make far-off shots look less hazy. This photo thing is hard! I don't even know how to describe this house... Hello Waterfront Line! East Blvd. is so cool. I love the midtown neighborhoods. A quick pop over to East Cleveland. The houses over here are really impressive, even in their current state. Cool commercial building. I didn't realize the memorial closed in November, I'll have to come back in the summer. When your friends are leading the way, you're always in a rush to get good angles. These were about the only other people outside that night. Terminal Tower says goodbye for now!