Detroit Photo of the Day

[speck76]

I currently have a Sony Cybershot but im saving up my money and hopefully by this summer I will have a new Canon Rebel.

I purchased a Nikon D50 in November.....I love it...I just wish I had more time to use it

http://images3.fotopic.net/?iid=ydneak&out...ize=1&nostamp=1

[wolverine]

My friends and I made a quick run to Detroit tonight for dinner. I attempted to take photos, but they didn't turn out too well.

[Michi]

I purchased a Nikon D50 in November.....I love it...I just wish I had more time to use it

http://images3.fotopic.net/?iid=ydneak&out...ize=1&nostamp=1

I see your timer works just fine for some quality self portraits!

[speck76]

I see your timer works just fine for some quality self portraits!

I actually use a remote control.....

[Zissou]

[wolverine]

Nice framing. It appears whoever is renovating the Fort Shelby will have a cleaning work to do LOL.

[Zissou]

LOL very true. I would recommend that they focus on the interior though and not the roof.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Zissou

[hudkina]

It's amazing what a decade or two of neglect can do to a structure...

[Allan]

Yeah. It's funny how some parts of the building are pristine, while in other areas the walls are nothing more than piles on the floor.

[Zissou]

That one area in particular was really bad.

[wolverine]

I still recall when a time when a bunch of college friends and I were walking through the Broderick tower. One of my friends was trying to squeeze through a hole where a wall was leaning outward. He pushed too hard and the whole 20 foot long thing came down. Although the wall fell on us, no one got hurt. It was actually quite funny. Cheap crappy walls built in the 70's can't even stand up to 20 years of neglect, whereas walls built over 80 years ago stand strong!

[RustTown]

I thought some of you may be interested in this even know it's not a Detroit photo:

Demolition on Lansing Car Assembly Plant #6 (Verlinden Avenue) started yesterday, which is on the far westside of the city. Lansing Car Assembly Plant #1 at Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard just south of downtown and next door to the newer Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant is coming down, soon, as well. This complex contains the oldest, continually operated car assembly plant in the United States.

The Detroit connections comes in when you read who is doing the demo: MCM Management. Their dubious signage "Demolition Means Progress" has popped up before...at the Motown Center demolition. While this demolition is something I agree with (at least at the Verlindian site), I just couldn't help but get annoyed finding out they are the ones doing the demolition. And, if demolition always meant progress, they wouldn't have to put it on their signs, now would they?

Main Chimney

Edited March 3, 2006 by Lmichigan

[hudkina]

LOL. If we're lucky the demolition shots of the Motown will make it into that magazine!!

[Allan]

If it ever makes it in there, the headline will be something like "Detroit Tears Down 10-story Building in one Weekend."

The Motown Building demolition did make it into an article in this month's Architectural Record. See page 27, "Super Bowl spurs demolitions in Detroit." You will see some familar photos on those pages.

[wolverine]

The only thing that bothers me about those signs is their demolition doesn't bring progress, rather removes blight. Yes, the motown building was blight that all of you and I loved dearly, which didn't necessarily mean they had to tear it down. An auto plant torn down will bring Lansing empty land, that likely won't get developed for awhile unless I'm missing something that I overlooked in the Lansing section.

I can't help but compare this plant to GM's Malleable Iron plant in Saginaw. The green sheetmetal exterior is so trademark. Of course our plant was supposed to close in 1971. It was supposed to close in 1980. It was supposed to close in 1987.... 1995....... 2000...... 2005. Still operating! Guess that's a good thing. Man, if Malleable Iron was torn down, it would really sadden me. When I was a little kid, my dad used to take me there. I used to like to break the discarded sand molds.

Edited March 4, 2006 by wolverine

[Allan]

That scenario sounds familar. The plant where my father works (which is sheetmetal blue - though I believe part of it is still sheetmetal green) was supposed to close in about 1980. It's still open, though the number of people employed there has dwindled from 17,000 in 1980 to a mere 4000 today. All of the people working in the plant are working at one end...the other end sits vacant. The writing is on the wall. The plant will be closed within 2 years, although nobody has officially come out and said it. As for my father, he has put in a request to be transfered to an engineering technical facility, which will be happening sometime in May.

[wolverine]

It's was weird driving past the Delphi Plant in Saginaw today. I was wondering how long its huge red landmark sign would keep glowing. I've haven't heard any bad news coming out of the plant, but then again everything is kept silent. Even my father cannot tell me certain things going on within General Motors. It's unbelievable to compare Flint and Saginaw. We've only lost one major plant because it was obselete, but everything else is still moving along. Some of the plants have seen additions. I think SMCO is adding on to theirs. If any of them did close, I'm not sure what the impact would be on the city. Probably not as bad as the job devestation in the 70-80's Saginaw sustained itself really well until the mid 70's.

EDIT: I'd really like to climb that smokestack in LMich's picture. Appears to have a lot of nice platforms.

Edited March 4, 2006 by wolverine

[Allan]

No news coming out of Delphi is good news, that much I know. I don't know what the latest scoop on Delphi's end is though, since I have not spoken to my father in about a month.

[RustTown]

GM has shut down 4 plants in Lansing within the last few months and years. Verlinden is huge by itself, but is actually on a superblock with the recently closed Lansing Craft Centre. Across the street from this superblock is another superblock containing the Plant #3 (Metal Fabrication) one of their best preforming plants, and then the MLK site is closing as well. What's different is that GM built Lansing Grand River Assembly right next door the MLK plant in 2001, and the new Delta Plant in Delta Township, both state of the art and some of GM's best preforming plants.

Plant #1 (LCA MLK Blvd.)

(Lansing Grand River in white, Lansing Car Assembly to right)

Plant #2 (Craft Centre)

Plant #3 (Metal Fab.)

Plant #6 (LCA Verlinden)

The difference here in Lansing is that our new mayor is actually rounding up ideas and developers before hand, and each of these sites will most certainly have construction on them soon after full demolition in clean-up. I've been told that it is rare for GM to move to raze a plant so fast unless they feel that they can have the sites developed. Both the MLK and Verlinden sites are in key development areas. Each were supposed to have been closed years ago. I'm not worried about their futures, I'm just annoyed at the sign. lol

Ok, I'm done hijacking.

Edited March 4, 2006 by Lmichigan

[Michi]

Just have to mention quickly that I can't believe the Verlinden Plant is being demolished. I use to have a friend that lived right off of Michigan Avenue in that area, so I'm pretty familiar with it. All of those nice, city neighborhoods built up around it as evidence of bygone years.

I'll miss the plant, but it's definately old school when it comes to the auto makers competing in a modern global market. Hopefully, only the best will replace the Verlinden and the area and surroundings will thrive.

[dtown]

That scenario sounds familar. The plant where my father works (which is sheetmetal blue - though I believe part of it is still sheetmetal green) was supposed to close in about 1980. It's still open, though the number of people employed there has dwindled from 17,000 in 1980 to a mere 4000 today. All of the people working in the plant are working at one end...the other end sits vacant. The writing is on the wall. The plant will be closed within 2 years, although nobody has officially come out and said it. As for my father, he has put in a request to be transfered to an engineering technical facility, which will be happening sometime in May.

which plant does your father work at Allan?

mine works at the Flint Truck Assembly

[wolverine]

Isn't that plant beige? That's the one bounded by 75 and 69 right? I like that plant.

[dtown]

yep, thats the one...on Van Slyke

thats defintly a big place

[Allan]

Dtown, my father works at Delphi East as an engineer.

[dtown]

is that the one on Davison Rd by Center??with that bridge across the road?

P.S. Sorry about being off topic

Edited March 7, 2006 by dtown