Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2007 » Downtown Detroit: More then just shopping « Previous Next »
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Miketoronto
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Username: Miketoronto

Post Number: 710
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 - 11:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It seems a lot of downtown memories people bring up is shopping and the busy streets of the main downtown shopping districts.

However downtowns are more then just shopping and mass commercialism.

What are your other memories of downtown Detroit that don't involve shopping?

What are some of the things you would like to see come back that don't involve retail?

What brought your family down on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday, that had nothing to do with retail?????
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Bussey
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Username: Bussey

Post Number: 608
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:22 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroit had nothing else downtown other than retail and commercialism.

We never had a downtown hub of commerce. Our jobs were in the factories not downtown offices.
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3875
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 1:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Except for an entire high-powered finance district. The buildings which contained it are largely still with us.

Like most cities that boomed 1900-1950, industry was key, and yes, industrial jobs were not downtown. But there were still a hell of a lot of jobs downtown. For instance, the entire service industry, which flourishes when local industry flourishes.

So downtown had jobs, retail, and ...

I'd say entertainment and culture, just as it does now. You had theatre and opera, but you also had a lot of what you don't have now (sleazy stuff, etc).

There was also education downtown. There was the Detroit Institute of Technology and Detroit College of Law.

I know there are a lot of mainstay bars and restaurants downtown, but here's a question: did the downtown of old have many upscale restaurants as it does now? I'm guessing yes, but I wonder if it was conceived of the same way as it is today. Today outsiders make a night out of going downtown to a restaurant. In the old days, nice retaurants probably catered to business people or people who would stay after work to eat/drink.
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 2220
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 1:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Than.
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Gsgeorge
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Username: Gsgeorge

Post Number: 296
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 1:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

thanks Dial, i didn't want to be the one to say it first.

detroit's downtown parks are nice... grand circus, capitol, hart plaza, and CM

(Message edited by gsgeorge on October 29, 2007)
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Downtown_remix
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Username: Downtown_remix

Post Number: 530
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 10:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We need a museum downtown!!
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 900
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There were lots of quick lunch places for downtown workers. Some big sheltered places to wait for the buses after work. Shops to run in and get a gift or shop the sales or grab a sandwich to go during lunch or break or after work. Cleaners, shoe repair, hair dressers. Some nice parks where you could sit during lunch or break. Good bus service for shoppers and workers. Lots of jobs! Insurance, banks, retail, law, medical and dental, sales, it was all downtown.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 901
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh, yes, students! DCL and WCCC. There could be more colleges downtown.
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Oakmangirl
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Username: Oakmangirl

Post Number: 565
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There were lots of quick lunch places for downtown workers.

Did Detroit ever have an automat?
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Wanderinglady
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Username: Wanderinglady

Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember going to the Music Hall to "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" when I was a kid. Also ice skating in Hart Plaza, seeing the fireworks, going to the Freedom Festival and other ethnic festivals, and the Hudson's Thanksgiving parade. I would meet my older sisters downtown for lunch, and we would go to Flaming Embers, the Money Tree or Ham Heaven. My sister worked for a law firm in the same building as Emily's Place (remember Emily Gail?), but we never found anything in the store to buy -- except an ice cream cone! We walked by the upscale restaurants such as the London Chop House and the Caucus Club. When the Renaissance Center opened, everyone went to the Summit, my high school's French Club went to La Fontaine, and I went on a date at the Japanese "Benihana-style" restaurant there. As you can probably tell, most of my memories stem from the 1970's and '80's!
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 902
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, there was an automat! It was at the southeast corner of Woodward and Grand Circus Park, just east of Flaming Embers. I worked downtown in the late 60s and it was a new thing then. You could go in there and there were stacks of revolving shelves behind glass doors. You put in your money, selected your item and that door would open so you could take your goody out.
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The_ed
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Username: The_ed

Post Number: 395
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Howzabout an aquarium downtown?
I read some time after the Belle Isle Aquarium was closed, that there was an idea about putting one near the waterfront-near downtown.
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Wanderinglady
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Username: Wanderinglady

Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

To answer Miketoronto's second question (what would you like to see come back that doesn't involve retail). From my initial answer, I mistook the first post to be yet another exercise in nostalgia.

In my opinion, it's hard to separate the "other things" from retail. It would be great to have something like the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA or Las Ramblas in Barcelona, with street performers, etc. But you still need stores and restaurants to attract people there in the first place. A museum would be great. A weekend farmers' market (which hopefully wouldn't take away from Eastern Market) would be a nice idea as well. It could be that I'm not thinking "out of the box" enough, and "out of the box" thinking is what's needed here. I hope someone else comes up with an idea!
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1448
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My dentist as a young boy was down there. We would take the bus to the David Whitney Building.
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6nois
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Username: 6nois

Post Number: 553
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Downtown should do something different. Museums we have, before we build a new aquarium we should re-open the one we have, leave the market to Eastern Market. Lets do something revolutionary, or at least something new to the area.

As for schools downtown I would love for Detroit Mercy to move the school of architecture downtown. I think it would be a better enviroment and be good for the CBD.
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D2dyeah
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Username: D2dyeah

Post Number: 76
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Growing up in the 50's, everybody's dentist, doctor, lawyer, etc. were downtown, even if you lived in the suburbs. Afterwards, you went to one of the big theaters, or shopped the stores that weren't in your neighborhood, or ate someplace special to complete your trip all the way downtown.
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Oakmangirl
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Username: Oakmangirl

Post Number: 566
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, there was an automat!

Yes! Thanks for the locale; I'm going to try and find some photos. I'm a bit of automat nerd; I think all cities should still have them...clearly, I watch too much TCM!
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1449
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 3:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Funny, mine were downtown, yet I grew up in the early 70's/late 60's.

We would also come downtown to go to Plum Street or go to ethnic festivals. I can remember the festivals first as bing at Michigan and 3rd, then along the riverside of Cobo, and finally at Hart Plaza.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 904
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That bit about Eastern Market made me very nostalgicly remember the Broadway Market. That would be a good thing to bring back, an indoor market full of vendors from 'way back. Knishes and pastrami, fresh veggies, cooked food, jarred delights. Three are still markets like that in Baltimore and Philadelphia, why not here?
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Jjw
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Username: Jjw

Post Number: 493
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

As a child, my mom would take us downtown on the bus to spend the day. It was much more than shopping. It was looking and participating and people watching. It was the bus ride down and back. It always included lunch somewhere and many times included a movie or a show of some kind.It was a place to go to meet friends from other parts of the city. It was looking at the windows and buildings along the way or sitting on a bench and relaxing. Many times it included a ball game in the warmer months. A lot of times it was an all-day event.
Many cities still have these options open and people use them daily.
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D2dyeah
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Username: D2dyeah

Post Number: 77
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 6:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

DDD/ Downtown Detroit Days, in the 60's used to be a big summer event.. There was entertainment, and the banks and the Gas Co. used to have exhibitions about their histories in Detroit. And there was stuff on sale everywhere.
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Detroit313
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Username: Detroit313

Post Number: 528
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 6:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's what I think DD needs-

to attract visitors on a medium scale, Detroit needs to offer something that can't be found anywhere else-like a large arcade...

Yes I know Greatlakes Crossing has a Gameworks ect,ect...

But if Detroit gutted out and old building Downtown and added a multi-level, game-themed attraction, with a couple of restaurants, a movie theatre, race cars, batting cages, indoor basketball, the list goes on and on.

Doesn't have to be all the way downtown; could be in the old Michigan Building on the NE corner of Grand and Woodward.

Just a suggestion!

<313>
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Detroitrise
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Username: Detroitrise

Post Number: 387
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 1:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

^^^It's a nice idea, but where's the money coming from?
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 924
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 8:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Call Dave and Buster and see if they will open one downtown.

The Money Museum at NBD was nice, too.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 5623
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 3:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember that money museum at NBD (today Chase Tower). It was wonderful. Only time I had ever seen a $10,000, $5,000, $1,000 and $500 bills. NBD moved the museum to the Ren Cen after it opened in 1977.

Then later the museum was closed and the priceless contents were sold at auction...
damn that NBD Chairman Verne Istock... (no relation).

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