Posted October 12, 20168 yr Every time I visit Detroit, I'm struck by three observations: It's incredible how far Detroit has fallen, it's incredible how far Detroit has come, and it's incredible how far Detroit still has to go. Anyone interested in watching how cities can reinvent themselves should be paying extremely close attention to what happens in Motown. I took my annual trip up to see the changes, and the whole central core is a flurry of cranes right now. While there are a lot of challenges for this city outside of the impressive re-building of downtown and midtown, there is really only one way for this city to go and that's up. 1. Got up at the crack of dawn to get some blue hour shots. Ended up walking 12 miles in one day - I'm still limping as a result of my... overzealousness. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. The security guard in the Z Lot wasn't happy about my use of a DSLR, but she said cell phone cameras were acceptable :wtf: 10. 11. 12. I really need to find an excuse to get inside this damn theater. 13. At least it has windows now! 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Love this house. 20. 21. Woodward is still a mess from the light rail construction. 22. 23. I walked 12 miles and I still hardly saw any of the Motor City. I need to travel up 2nd Avenue all the way to New Center some time. And go to Boston Edison. And Palmer Woods. And spend more time in Indian Village. And visit Belle Isle. And... 24. Great terminal vista. 25. 26. Your reminder that Detroit, like a lot of American cities, has a lot of people out there who could use help and deserve better. 27. 28. 29. So freaking spectacular. 30. The Aloft hotel in the Whitney Building is incredible. Glad I went inside. 31. 32. Red lights? The people mover doesn't stop for your stinking red lights! 33. I almost bribed a guy parking here to let me ride shotgun with him just so I could get some shots of the partially-intact movie palace architecture in this garage. 34. Lots of work happening around Capitol Park. Going to be a cool area when it's all fixed up. 35. The way the streets collide downtown makes for some really interesting angles, but it also breaks up the streetscape in strange and uncomfortable ways some times. Can't really explain it. 36. For the uninitiated, Lafayette Park is the largest collection of Mies van der Rohe architecture in the world that's all located in one spot. 37. The high-rise portion of Lafayette Park. 38. Lots and lots of new infill. These are right on the riverfront and the Dequindre Cut bike trail, I'm sure they're going to be super expensive regardless of how "eh" the architecture is. 39. The view from the only non-flat piece of land in southeast Michigan. 40. Lucked out and got a tour of the top floor of the RenCen, unfortunately the restaurant wouldn't let us onto the lower level so I couldn't get close to the windows to take nice wide panoramas, as you'll see in a second. 41. Vertical photos just don't work as well for skyline shots from above, but I tried to make it work regardless. I love the Book Tower even with all its garishness. The David Stott building is great too. Crazy these were/are entirely abandoned! 42. New Center and midtown. 43. Cass Park and the top of the Cadillac building. 44. Forgive the window panes... This would have been great if they would have just let me get close to the windows! 45. Cobo Hall and the Ambassador Bridge. The new bridge should be under construction soon. 46. Some rowhouses in Bricktown, which look like they need a little love. Bricktown is totally overshadowed in scale by the rest of downtown, especially considering that these little guys front the massive Jefferson Avenue. 47. My only photo from Indian Village. I didn't really have time to walk around, but I will say that the street trees in this neighborhood are seriously impressive. 48. I thought this intersection on Mt Elliot Street (or some other east side street) was pretty cool. Short tour, fairly geographically constrained, but hopefully it still helped give a good look at some of the exciting things happening up in Detroit! “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
October 13, 20168 yr ^ Great pics. I'm visiting Detroit right now. It's amazing how fast the construction has been going on the Little Caesars arena and I suspect that Brush Park will look very different next time I come back here. Lots of good things happening, but there's still a long long way to go.
October 13, 20168 yr Yeah, Detroit is doing fantastic things in such a short period of time. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 13, 20168 yr its about time we had a detroit thread on here - excellent work. it appears all that $ dan gilbert makes off cleveland citizens is being put to good use back home in downtown detroit.
October 13, 20168 yr Great stuff. I actually like the effect of the four window panes in shot No. 44.
November 26, 20168 yr ^Yes, it's located in Brush Park, about four-ish blocks from the stadiums. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
Create an account or sign in to comment