Photos De Jour - Grand Rapids and West Michigan Area

[GRDadof3]

[snoogit]

Thats hilarious! Do you wear a suit and use a laser pointer too?

No no suit, but I did have on a nice shirt and tie, left the blazer off, and no pointer, I sat down and showed them.

"Now mother, this downward trending red line represnts the number of a**l rapes downtown. Notice how it corresponds to the downward trending blue line representing the number of facial gunshot wounds..."

and a third line representing the downward trend in available proctologists.

Edited June 17, 2006 by snoogit

[tamias6]

Just to give an idea of the night and day differences of downtown in the '80's and downtown as it stands now pertaining to crime. When I moved to Grand Rapids from Chicago, back in the mid 80's, I saw a Latin King gang synbol and some other graffiti spray painted on the City Centre. Today, same said building is the GR police station.

[fo0hzy]

[civitas]

One of the first rehabs on the Grand River was the RC Allen Cash Register Company building at 6th Street.

I think it was completed in the mid 80's.

Imagine if it had been housing instead of offices.

Ferocious wild animals downtown.

This terrifying creature was seen in a crabapple tree near Community College.

Now your mom really has something to worry about when you're downtown.

Anyone notice how thin the motar joints are on the old buildings compared to the new?

What's up with that?

[civitas]

Has anyone noticed the visual connectedness that Michigan Avenue has to downtown? It starts as far away as Plymouth. Other streets head straight towards downtown, but few offer the long distance visual link that Michigan has.

Maybe the new investment in "pill hill" will one day influence this corridor. It could use reinvestment from one end to the other.

Sorry about the haze in this photo from this morning, but you get the point. It is taken at the Plymouth intersection.

[torgo]

^ Holy power lines, batman!

[Rizzo]

I love that shot Civitas, it so interesting to see the poles in a perspective.

Edited June 18, 2006 by Rizzo

[GRDadof3]

Great work civitas! It definitely looks more impressive with GVSU and the Heart Center there. I don't know if the height of the other buildings will break over those or not. Maybe the Children's Hospital?

[Nitro]

One of the first rehabs on the Grand River was the RC Allen Cash Register Company building at 6th Street.

I think it was completed in the mid 80's.

Imagine if it had been housing instead of offices.

Having worked on two different floors of the old RC Allen Building I can say definitively that as one of the first rehabbed buildings on the river, it's time has come to rehab again. That building screams 1980's on the inside. It would be a lot nicer on the inside if it were residential.

Edited June 18, 2006 by Nitro

[Michi]

I think the haze in that photo makes it that much better!

[GRDadof3]

Having worked on two different floors of the old RC Allen Building I can say definitively that as one of the first rehabbed buildings on the river, it's time has come to rehab again. That building screams 1980's on the inside. It would be a lot nicer on the inside if it were residential.

I can envision boat slips along there, like some of the new condos along the North branch of the Chicago River. Throw some balconies on facing the river and there ya go! Then the office tenants there can move into Mercantile's new building and push it up to 10 - 12 stories.

[fo0hzy]

civitas - nice shot!

Nitro - my older sis worked in that building back in the late 80s/early90s (can't recall which), but I had no idea what the name of the building was. The two *towers* (that's what she called 'em) are just barely visible...

She said she lost her job there because people (including her) started feeling ill... and the building was found to be virtually soaked in asbestos, which was somehow loosened (?) and being pumped into the building's ventilation system. I'll have to call her tomorrow and have her refresh my memory. I could be totally wrong about the asbestos aspect.... but something happened to make her ill...

RC Allen Building... cool. You learn something every day, in this town

[fo0hzy]

my older sis worked in that building back in the late 80s/early90s (can't recall which), but I had no idea what the name of the building was. The two *towers* (that's what she called 'em) are just barely visible...

I think I'm mistaken... the towers are part a building she worked in, but behind the building that is the focus of this shot.

I'm an idiot. Sorry

[GRDadof3]

I think I'm mistaken... the towers are part a building she worked in, but behind the building that is the focus of this shot.

I'm an idiot. Sorry

Nope, you're right fo0hzy, the two towers are part of that same building. The building looks a lot different on the other side, but they're there. Across the street from RC Allen is a parking lot, and one of the oldest houses in Grand Rapids, the Turner House, built in 1846 (the little white two story in the parking lot).

[civitas]

Did you hear something?

[Rizzo]

And then a voice suddenly sounds from the space suit, "Shh.. Keep it a sercret."

Oh and then a lady in the background says, "Welcome to Grand Rapids"

Neat photo BTW./

[dtown]

Has anyone noticed the visual connectedness that Michigan Avenue has to downtown? It starts as far away as Plymouth. Other streets head straight towards downtown, but few offer the long distance visual link that Michigan has.

Maybe the new investment in "pill hill" will one day influence this corridor. It could use reinvestment from one end to the other.

Sorry about the haze in this photo from this morning, but you get the point. It is taken at the Plymouth intersection.

thats a real nifty photo there.

[fo0hzy]

[fo0hzy]

Edited June 22, 2006 by fo0hzy

[Nitro]

<Blury Photo of people and Krispy Kremes last seen here>

Did you attend the Jayblogger school of Photography?

[Allison Slater]

Holy Crap, Life Sized Bobble Heads!!!!

[twoshort]

I don't get it.

[craig d]

I don't get it.

[jayblogger]

Blurry buildings > Blurry people