This is not even close to a thorough photo thread of the neighborhood.  I had some time to blow off so I parked and first walked on Alexandrine Street from Woodward to Third then went up to Willis Street and walked from Third Street to Woodward.  But as you will see I thoroughly photographed these streets.

 

 

Alexandrine Street

 

 

 

 

Corner of Woodward and Alexandrine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm on Willis Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm happy (and shocked) to say that a lot of the vacant buildings photographed here are to be renovated soon.  Not sure what's up with that really big one missing all the windows though.  I thought that was a work in progress that got stalled or something.

I like! But wow, what wide-ass streets. Someone needs a diet.

Reminds me a lot of Cincinnati's Avondale neighborhood.

Amid all the grit and blight, it's encouraging to see little islands of wonderfulness -- buildings and sometimes blocks that are intact and cared for, with people living and doing business there.

I dig North Cass.

I used to live here, corner of Second and Prentis, known as the ABC building.  Tons of great stories, most not appropriate for the internet.  You should have seen me trying to report a burglary at the police station on Woodward.  I told the cop this dude came in and took everything I owned.  They would not even send anyone out to do a report.  Cop said we don't have time for burglaries.  I mentioned that my shotgun was one of the things stolen and he did manage to write that down on a post-it.  I told him I had a pretty good idea who it was, and he told me that if I would take it upon myself to bring that person in, someone might speak with them.

 

Here are some of the names of kids who hung out on the front stoop:  Black Mike, White Mike, Raw, Well-Done, Crow, Big Show, Adrian, Chuck and She-boo-boo.  Adrian enjoyed randomly screaming "niggardly niggardly niggardly" at the top of his lungs.  He also enjoyed stealing.  But it was Crow who stole all my stuff that night, and Big Show knew about it, but he didn't admit that for a couple months.  He was already on the outs with everyone else for associating with Crow, a raging crackhead nobody liked.  And no, there was no getting any of these kids off my front stoop at any point in time.  They come with the place, just like the refrigerator.

I see the Art Center Music School around 13 or 14 photos down with plywood on the front.  That's too bad.

 

Harry Houdini was embalmed upstairs there after he died at Grace Hospital.  Penn & Teller like to visit when in town.

A lot of this looks familiar :) Looks like some of the projects were started but never finished. :(

i was in this one a couple times a couple years ago. 

 

 

it was a no heat, roof caving in, sewage-in-basement disaster.

The fascinating or depressing thing about the pictures is to imagine that amount of economic activity and man hours it took to build these places and to make all the material in them and that it all slowly disappearing.

The sad thing is that the money is there, it's just not here.

The Huntington was destroyed in a tragic fire.  Here is a re-post of the picture I took last winter.  I will get a picture of it in its current state today.

 

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20100101/NEWS01/100101014/1001/news/Fire-official-Blaze-started-by-resident-lighting-cigarette

Just insane.  Another messed up individual burns down a building and kills people.  Another repeat of that suicidal freak of nature that burned Forest Arms.