Wolverines Thursday Evening in DTroit

[wolverine]

My friend got a garage in Ann Arbor so he can finally bring his car to college. Some of my friends and I decided to celebrate by leaving A2 and heading to downtown Detroit.

But first, before we leave A2, I saw this beautiful apartment building. It reminded me of a few in Detroit.

On this 40 minute trip, I got to drive! Although, my friend lives in Oakland county, he hasn't driven much downtown, and since I know my away around the D, I was perfect for the occasion. Since the rest of my friends are bad at photography, I had to take the pictures while driving. So they may be a bit crooked.

The approach into the city. Allan can fill in the street names for me. Since I can't seem to think of them at the moment.

Fort-Shelby Hotel. Why are you not renovated yet?

There's our pretend subway station.

...and our pretend signs that don't say anything yet.

New lofts on Woodward Ave.

Looking down along the Merchants Row side. The building to the left is Compuware.

Looking good!

You too!

Detroit Athletic Club.

Old and new. The Rencen can be seen in the back.

Cadillac Square, a name for an area that is mainly parking lots today.

Coming into Greektown. The neon lights of the Greektown Casino are visible.

Pizza Papalis. This is where we ate our dinner. It is one of my favorite places to eat in Detroit. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the D.

Waiting at the station.

More old and new.

The Penobscot all lit up. That VITA sign on the Comerica Bank is another part of the movie set for "The Island"

A bus stop I think.

Hey you across the street!! That isn't real!!!

Fort Street Station

Greektown at night.

THE END

Hope you enjoyed!

[Allan]

Nice pics. It's too bad that the weather did not cooperate more for you though...we have had a lack of sun in the D lately. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't take pics of the Freud Building demolition.

The funny thing is that I took photos of the same areas you took photos of on Wednesday night. At least I think it was Wednesday...it might have been Thursday...I don't remember. All I remember is that I got caught in the massive I-75 traffic jam, where the road goes from 4 lanes to 2, between McNichols and 8 Mile.

The street you couldn't think of the name of is Fort Street. I can't really answer your question about the Pick-Fort Shelby. I'm surprised that the city isn't pushing to have this one taken down too. From what I understand, the building is structurally sound, but is an absolute disaster on the interior. There isn't a single wall in the place that doesn't have a hole in it!

[monsoon]

[Brother Ray]

Cool pics!

[Allan]

monsoon - That is the Greektown station for the Detroit People Mover, an elevated rail system that loops around downtown. It is called Coleman's train to nowhere, since it loops around in circles. The DPM as it exists was supposed to be the hub of a regional mass transit system that obviously was never constructed.

Detroit People Mover Official Site

[wolverine]

Well cross your fingers, we may see its expansion sometime.

[Allan]

Well cross your fingers, we may see its expansion sometime.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The only problem is that an expansion using DPM technology would run $25-30 Million per mile. Detroit has no money at all for this. Imagine the costs of just running a line from the Grand Circus Park Station, between the stadiums, and then up Woodward to New Center! I don't see Detroit doing this for a LONG time. Unless the voters approve a bond issue to make it happen. I doubt that such a bond proposal would be any too successful, however.

[wolverine]

Guess we'll end up widening our freeway instead.

It's really sad that the people mover can't be bigger. When I brought all my out-of-state friends to the D, they were thrilled with the people mover. They thought it was the greatest part of Detroit and were suprised their wasn't more ridership. But I think the people mover has a good future ahead of it. Despite the recent declines of ridership because of circuit and station closures and all, there will no doubt be a steady increase as more business move back into the downtown.

I still wish Ann Arbor, or at least the university would build a similar system. Of course, 25 million per mile seems a lot for a city that only has 115,000 people. It seems like a radical idea for a small city, but it is suprising to a lot of out of state students who come to U of M that such a system does not exist. I mean it would be nice to have some sort of direct route linking Central and North Campus. The route could run parallel to Glen Street where there would be no interference to nearby buildings. I'm sick of overcrowded buses. I had three buses skip the stop where I was at Friday because they were too full. Therefore I was late for class. Bus transit is way over capacity. It's time for Ann Arbor or at least the university (most likely the university) to find a better system of moving students from one campus to another. Can anyone see something like an LRT system in A2 possible? I'm not sure how many students move back and forth between campuses, but it is definitely in thousands per day.