Very Random Saginaw

[wolverine]

This is the last time I'll be posting a major photo thread for awhile since I go out to visit my sister in LA for a week, then it's back to Ann Arbor. When I'm all settled in, I plan to do some more threads on Ann Arbor.

It appears next summer, I will not be returning home to Saginaw except for a few visits with the family. I will be getting an internship somewhere else since I couldn't find anything good within the Tri-Cities area. So I decided to post a bunch of Saginaw photos as a goodbye as I head back off to U of M. As I mentioned in the Lee Plaza thread, my computer is still in for upgrades, so I used a very old photo editing program to play around with some of these pics. For all I know, some of these could look awful on your computers, but they seem to look good on this CRT (damn, I miss my LCD). Hopefully some of the desaturated photos don't look nightmarish. One in fact did give me a nightmare last night

Anyway, I'll start with the urban grit of Saginaw.

EAST SIDE

This is Saginaw's train depot. It's located on the Northeast side, probably one of the worst parts of the city. It's a neighborhood that was destroyed by the freeway construction, industrial pollution, and unemployment. It's an area most Saginaw residents will tell you to never be. I'm not sure when the train station closed. It was torched by arson not long ago, but the city (when it had money) rebuilt portions of the inside and put a roof on. They've been holding on to it, but there is no for sale sign. I'm wondering if maybe there will be some grand plan for this area.

Here's a pano. This was actually the last pic I took of the station, because I heard a gunshot close by and decided to get the hell out!

I decided to cross back beneath I-675 and look for some interesting stuff over near the Genesee corridor. There's a lot of abandonment, but some houses like this could still be saved.

If you frequent the Mid-Michigan sub-forum, you've likely seen photo thread of the inside of this very strange warehouse.

This is the picture that gave me the nightmare. I had finished eating half a pizza and washed that down with two beers. I was playing heavily with the contrast and saturation controls and this image got really crazy and animated looking, before I toned it down back to this. So last night I ended up dreaming I was in this place (in the animated form). Although, I can imagine there are people that would not like being on this street corner in real life. These berms are what used to decorate the streetscape along Washington back before 2000. A major streetscape project was done to stimulate business in the downtown. It looks really nice, and did help businesses somewhat, although the downtown is still rather devoid of pedestrians. I don't remember what used to be on this corner. I have a wild guess Montgomery Wards used to be here, since I had heard there was one downtown a long time ago. There was also a Jacobsons which remained faithful to its downtown location before the chain went dead. It had really helped bring people downtown, and was actually quite succesful despite all of its suburban competition.

This one isn't really grit, but I like the arches on this building. Taken from a parking structure.

Can't forget the arches on the Citizens Bank Building

WEST SIDE - HAMILTON SQUARE

I crossed the river onto the West side where we find this forgotten doorway beneath the Court Street Bridge.

These style of windows exist everywhere around this part of town.

The court street bridge was rebuilt upon the piers and support structure of the old bridge.

Gotta love the brick streets.

The 303 Adams Warehouse is now owned by a company that manufactures tile and other flooring. Hopefully they'll remove the "Available Space" sign which still has the old 517 area code on it.

How about publishing a new sign?

Warehouses and night clubs along Niagara St.

Me trying to look ghetto beneath the Court St. Bridge. I think Allan took this shot when he came up to visit.

I'm suprised this building is actually occupied. All 4 sides looks like this, I'd hate to work there.

So that concludes the urban grit portion of this photo thread. Hopefully you didn't get the wrong impression of the city. There are a lot of really nice parts of Saginaw, and some amazing architecture. I've posted several Saginaw photo threads here at Urban planet before. I think they are still around on like page 20-45 on the photos forum. There's also one called "Hey, It's Saginaw" towards the bottom of this forum. Anyway, it's time to get to something more positive, RENOVATIONS! There will also be a few misc. pics thrown in.

Quite the contrast from the original. This building is the third oldest in Saginaw. A new upscale seafood restaurant will be on the first floor with lofts on the second and third levels. The building behind it is also being renovated.

The finishing touches are put on the last building to receive a facade repair and repainting on Court Street.

Some renovated Hamilton Street businesses. Lofts and apartments are on the top floor. This area gets quite busy on weekends. There's a bunch of bars, cafes, restaurants, unique shops, a theater, and night clubs nearby.

This restaurant and hotel reopened a few weeks ago after the entire building was renovated.

Gotta put that two car garage somewhere.

This block has a sad story. Throughout the last decade it experienced two major fires. One brought down the historic 7 story Saginaw Hotel. When the building collapsed, it fell onto a neighboring building engulfing it in flames. Years later, an apartment fire on the third floor of another building on that block spread through the attic into neighboring buildings next door. Only three original structures survive. The building on the far left is brand new, and has a nice design actually. A 4-5 story office building is slated to go up next door. You can still see a chunk of the facade of the building that once existed next door above the Jimmy John's section.

Ahh, the Samari, or once was the Samari. The restaurant went out of business and the building is being renovated to apartments on the second floor with retail or restaurant space on the ground floor. And I hope it gets painted differently.

This building used to be abandoned, but someone moved in. The boards were removed, new windows were installed, and all the lights are on. There's also alot of construction work going on inside.

Now I'll switch back to the East Side where we find these two renovated buildings on Janes. There will be retail on the ground floor and lofts on the second.

Now for two random images

Side of the Saginaw Waterworks. Hate to brag, but we got the best damn sewage plant around. Sometime I should go pay the waterbill in person there. I've actually never been inside.

[wolverine]

Zilwaukee Bridge

Another look at the Citizens Bank Building

So long Saginaw!

[monsoon]

Great thread! I appreciate all the explainations that went with the images.

The train station is a magnificent building but it looks to be in very bad shape. I hope they manage to save it before it collapses.

I would have never guessed that was a sewage plant. It looks like an old church.

It looks as if all the people have left Saginaw.

Pizza & Beer as a toddy before bed will result in some pretty good dreams.

What section of the country do you think you will move to for your internship?

[dnast]

Great finale! Who cares what software you used, those pics look beautiful.

I actually did a quick drive-thru in Sagnasty about a month ago on a spur-of-the-moment thing. (I was actually going to Birch Run, but couldn't make the exit through the traffic and construction and there was like an 8-mile span with no exit ramps so I decided to go to Fashion Square Mall and drive through the city for a few minutes on the way...) Too bad I couldn't remember how to get to that part of town. I'm surprised at how well the seafood place turned out. Looks great!

[wolverine]

monsoon, I plan to stay in the midwest, but I don't mind going elsewhere for a change. It would be nice to get an internship in Grand Rapids. I'm loving that city more and more. I'm also looking at Chicago, and possibly even Los Angeles since my sister lives out there. This summer, I almost got one in Saginaw and another in Bay City but they wanted me to complete one full year of undergrad work within U of M's school of architecture. I actually though that was kind of odd they wanted that since I already have two years of pre-architecture which gave me all the basic skills. Because the reaility with internships is, you really don't get to do THE REAL stuff. Basically, I'd just be a CAD monkey taking orders from the boss, no major skills needed there besides what I learned in college. Oh well, that's life At least I did have a good paying job working retail this summer.

Dnast,

LOL, yes that temporary Birch Run exit heading north is quite the hard turn! It's too bad you didn't find this part of Saginaw. It's unbelieveable how far apart the whole Hamilton Square and Oldtown district are from downtown. Then again, at one time, these two parts were different cities until they merged to form Saginaw as we know it today.

BTW, what did you think of the newly renovated Fashion Square Mall? The mall is doing better than ever.

[dnast]

The mall looks very nice. When was it renovated?

[hood]

Looks like there is a lot going on in Saginaw right now, it's nice to see. And that sewage plant looks great, when I seen the pic I was expecting it to be one of those old hospitals, or a cathedral.

[GRDadof3]

My wife always makes us drive out to see the Christmas lights at the "Waterworks Building", when we are in Saginaw visiting her folks. It's a great piece of work.

[ScheuerJD]

My uncle used to work at Saginaw Publishing. There's a lot of history in there. The printer they use to print The Saginaw Press is an early 1900 model and is the only one still in use. It uses hand-placed text plates. The sad thing is that the owner is 90 and hasn't really put any money into it in years.

[dtown]

hmm, this is a great thread Wolverine, cant believe i didnt see it before

GOOD PICS!!!

BTW, did you find out where your getting an internship at?

[wolverine]

Either Baltimore or Chicago. Chicago is looking highly likelier now. If it all doesn't work out, I'm staying in Ann Arbor. This is so crazy. I was about to go back to college when I posted this, and now I've finished.

My year in review.

Haha, my computer was in for upgrades then. Little did I know I'd get rid of that POS and start over with a brand new one a couple months later.

[dtown]

lol, i recently got a new computer after trying to fix my old one

but i stole the hard drive and the RAM out of it and put it in my new one "Self Upgrading" i guess youd call it. At least i didnt have to call the geek squad, lol

[GR8scott]

Nice pics, that is the area of the state that I visit the least. I've only been to the tricities 2 or 3 times and never to BayCity, so I like seeing pics of it

I know Saginaw has a lot of history and Midland seemed like a very nice, quiet, pleasent town out of a movie or something.

[rbdetsport]

Saginaw is looking better. Those facade repairs are great. Wish they could do that to all of the buildings. But go that is a freaky picture you took and you didn't even post the animated version. Can you post that? I would love to see it.

[wolverine]

I can't believe I still have it. What was I thinking?

Acid trip!!