  Punkrocknerd Member Username: Punkrocknerd Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2007 |
I see that the are known as Cass Corridor is now often referred to as Mid-Town. What's the difference? | ||
Thoswolfe Member Username: Thoswolfe Post Number: 17 Registered: 11-2007 |
Gentrification. | ||
Rugbyman Member Username: Rugbyman Post Number: 232 Registered: 06-2005 |
Marketing. It's still the corridor to me. | ||
Punkrocknerd Member Username: Punkrocknerd Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2007 |
Who are they marketing to? | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4523 Registered: 10-2003 |
Cass Corridor Puh-lease. Midtown is so bland and lacking in history and meaning, like something designed in a board room in some distant city by really bored people. I saw a great t-shirt, I think Leoqueen was wearing it, that says MIDTOWN in bland gray block letters then has Cass Corridor hand graffiti-ed across it in red. Says it all. Cass Corridor refers to the area between downtown and New Center, which was the extent of the Cass ribbon farm, minus the downtown part, say south of what is now the Fisher Fwy. As for the meaning of Midtown it is less clear, although it seems to refer to the area surrounding WSU and the cultural institutions. Sort of like saying we want all of the 'good' gentrified parts of the corridor and none of the troubled parts - take the good scorn the bad. All of it is a bit of a tempest in a teapot. I wonder what controversy there was when the term Cass Corridor was adopted vs. the name of the original French Ribbon Farm. Who know which name that was? | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2751 Registered: 10-2003 |
I'm pretty sure that Cass once owned the land in the area of today's Cass Ave. Sure enough! Prior to that it appears that the land was owned by the Macomb family. Here's a snippet from the History of Detroit, 1701-2001 website: "Cass Avenue - Named for Lewis Cass." Mary Bailey of the Detroit News, writes, "Like a number of other streets located west of Woodward, Cass was once a farm boundary line. The Lewis Cass farm, purchased from the Macomb family, was one of the largest Detroit farms, the width of Cass to Third Street and north from the Detroit River to Grand Boulevard in length. The 500 acres bought for $12,000 and the subsequent growth of Detroit made Cass a very wealthy man." | ||
Blondy Member Username: Blondy Post Number: 1195 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you owned a business in the area and were constantly trying to overcome the corridor's reputation, while encouraging suburbanites to spend their dollars in the City, you would call it Midtown. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 5006 Registered: 10-2003 |
What about Cultural District? WSU, CCS, DIA, African American Museum, Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Public Library, Detroit Science Center... Great, now there's 3 names! Come visit the Midtown Cass Corridor Cultural District! | ||
Rugbyman Member Username: Rugbyman Post Number: 233 Registered: 06-2005 |
I think the "marketing" question was answered pretty well by Blondy. I find such sloganeering insulting. As if slapping a new title on a district will somehow magically erase the sketchy history of the past 30 years. It's the Corridor. Embrace the history and move past it. | ||
Sknutson Member Username: Sknutson Post Number: 1057 Registered: 03-2004 |
quote: I know I certainly would. And "Midtown" has such a sophisticated NY sound to it. Besides having such a bad image, "Cass Corridor" focuses simply on Cass while Midtown is a much broader segment of the city. | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 120 Registered: 12-2007 |
As proof that renaming/rebranding works look at East Detroit => Eastpointe  | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1545 Registered: 09-2007 |
As I stated before, the Cass Corridor sounds like a gritty name for a this portion of the city (particularly a portion that experienced the worst urban decay and crime around) and considering the city of Detroit already has a gritty reputation. Midtown sounds much more welcoming. I don't think it's too sophisticated at all if Atlanta can use it. (Message edited by detroitrise on February 09, 2008) | ||
Iddude313 Member Username: Iddude313 Post Number: 149 Registered: 07-2005 |
Omaha, I've always thought that was funny. It was East Detroit because it was east of Detroit. Now that its a 'Pointe', I think it should have been called West Pointe because its west of the other Pointes. Anytime I meet someone from Eastpointe I give them s**t for fun. And I don't really like the term Midtown but in peoples minds, I suppose it sounds safer and up and coming. When I think of Midtown I always think of NYC. | ||
The_recycling_people Member Username: The_recycling_people Post Number: 70 Registered: 11-2006 |
When my mother tells her friends where I live, she says midtown. and all of her friends say things like: "That's near the Cass Corridor, is it safe?" I call it the corridor, the kids call it the corridor, but the generation that experienced the riots and white flight embrace the midtown monniker. My guess is that it is easier to go to a 'new' area (midtown) than accept the fact that they are now looking at living in the dreaded, and dangerous, cass corridor. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2483 Registered: 01-2004 |
"As proof that renaming/rebranding works look at East Detroit => Eastpointe" I hope that was a joke | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1479 Registered: 11-2003 |
Keeping it real in Halfway. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 1163 Registered: 11-2003 |
Look at it this way: Within Detroit's Central Business District there exist three main sub-districts: Downtown, Midtown, and New Center. Within these sub-districts you find specific neighborhoods. Downtown Detroit is located in the area bordered by the Detroit River to the South and the following freeways: Fisher (I-75) to the North, Lodge (M-10) on the West, and I-375 on the East. Within Downtown there are neighborhoods like Greektown, Harmonie Park, Grand Circus Park, Library Park, Capital Park, Times Square, Theater District, Financial District, Riverfront, etc. Midtown is a term coined within the last fifteen years, but the area is distinct from both Downtown and New Center and contains many vital neighborhoods worthy of distinct recognition. 'Midtown' is a catch-all, but it unquestionably works. Midtown is North of the Fisher/Chrysler Freeway and South of the Ford Freeway (I-94) and extends from Lodge to Fisher/Chrysler on the West and East, respectively. Within Midtown exist the University Cultural Center, the Detroit Medical Center, Brush Park, Cass Park (what's left of the true Cass Corridor), Milwaukee Junction, the newly defined 'Tech Town' area, Wayne State University, etc. New Center exists North of Ford Freeway as the third and final sub-district within Detroit's Business District. The East and West freeway borders remain consistent with Downtown and Midtown, but the Northern border is slightly more vague, ending somewhere near Virginia Park. New Center features it's landmark office buildings, the retail blocks along Woodward, and residential areas like New Center Commons. Though the name was officially developed and marketed by the University Cultural Center Association (UCCA), Midtown is a descriptive identifier that came naturally, almost out of covenient necessity. The Cass Corridor still exists, but to place Warren and Cass, for example, on the same level as Cass and Temple? It's not at all the same place! Stand outside any of our fine Midtown museums and tell me it's the same as being at Clifford and I-75! You can't! Midtown, as a collective, descriptive identifer is perfectly appropriate and accurate. (Message edited by Eric C. on February 10, 2008) | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2753 Registered: 10-2003 |
Nicely done, Eric_C!! | ||
Atwater Member Username: Atwater Post Number: 156 Registered: 09-2007 |
Wow, so much misinformation. And including from you, Lowell, which surprises me. quote: That's just not true. The Cass Corridor is ONLY the area between north of downtown, south of Wayne State, west of Woodward, and east of the Lodge. Midtown *includes* the Cass Corridor, but also Wayne State University, the Cultural Center, the Medical Center, and Brush Park. So the boundaries of Midtown are I-75 (Chrysler and Fisher) to the south and east, I-94 (Ford) to the north, and M-10 (the Lodge) to the west. Has anyone ever heard of the Cass Corridor including the Medical Center and Brush Park?? Of course not. But Midtown does. So why don't you stop saying the two designations are synonomous? They're not. They're quite, quite different. And Lowell, this is also ridiculous: quote: The meaning of Midtown is *quite* clear. It's boundaries couldn't be more precise. It's the Cass Corridor whose boundaries could be a bit vague. And no one is scorning any bad parts with these definitions; Midtown includes the ENTIRE area.. I honestly don't understand how some of you don't understand this. | ||
Stinger4me Member Username: Stinger4me Post Number: 173 Registered: 08-2007 |
I think the Cass Corridor as being from Alexandrine south to wherever. | ||
Brushparkbub Member Username: Brushparkbub Post Number: 18 Registered: 03-2007 |
i lived in brush park, but i would never say that i lived in cass corridor. i would say that i lived in midtown if pressed for a more general designation. cass corridor is still alive and well. midtown is much larger and less descriptive. there is no competition between the two and if you live in brush park you represent for brush park, not midtown. i'm surprised that there is even this much discussion about the difference. | ||
Deteamster Member Username: Deteamster Post Number: 65 Registered: 07-2007 |
I use both terms, usually Midtown, however. Again, it depends on the location in this apparently mysterious area north of the central business district that is bounded by the freeways. To me, clinging fanatically to the term Cass Corridor smacks of romanticism. I propose we revert to calling Detroit Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit. We're doing our French heritage, the illustrious Count Ponchartrain, and our children a great injustice by bastardizing and anglicizing our city's name! | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 122 Registered: 12-2007 |
Don't worry, the Eastpointe thing was a joke. A joke from a former Cobbs Corner regular. | ||
Erikd Member Username: Erikd Post Number: 987 Registered: 10-2003 |
Eric_c and Atwater are spot on... Midtown is the section of Detroit between Downtown and New Center. Midtown comprises a number of districts, such as Brush Park, WSU, the Medical Center, and the Cass Corridor. | ||
Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 564 Registered: 11-2006 |
Excellent discussion: 1). Midtown isn't Cass Corridor with a proverbial new coat of paint. 2). Midtown, despite whatever reason for its invention as a term, does permit folks to refer to a much larger, and very signficant part of Detroit. Nice that one can refer to the Crosswinds community, WSU, cultural institutions, the hospitals, etc as part of something VERY signficant in terms of geography and importance to Detroit and Southeast MI. 3). For better or worse, it does give folks (as I did in #2) a chance to describe all the positive things in this area and nicely forget or exclude Cass Corridor. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 701 Registered: 08-2007 |
If Urbanrest can become Ferndale, and if Big Beaver can become Troy, I guess the Mid-town name can come to describe the area in err, ahh, ... the middle of town. Is it a tad bland, maybe so; but to be truthful about it, Detroit could stand to loose some of its excitement. Wouldn't it be nice, if life was so boring that a your mom or daughter could walk down Cass and Temple on a warm summer night and not have a thing to worry about except getting a run in her stocking? Let's pray for a little boring. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2498 Registered: 01-2004 |
Museum District | ||
Fleamarket Member Username: Fleamarket Post Number: 13 Registered: 05-2006 |
Correct me, as I am sure I will be, yet isn't Illich looking to move Joe Louis to a "nicer" area, say next to Foxtown? Which of course is no where near that dirty hood o'Cass Corridor? | ||
Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 565 Registered: 11-2006 |
Maybe the person(s) who came up with 'Midtown' foresaw, if it happens, Ilitch moving across the freeway to the 'Cass Corridor'. Sure. ;-) "Welcome to Mid-town and Little Caesars Arena for tonights game vs. ..." | ||
Ladyinabag Member Username: Ladyinabag Post Number: 367 Registered: 03-2007 |
You mean "The Eerie Canal". A lot of strange things go on in the Corridor....a lot of drugs, and since Wayne State campus is there, a lot of intellects on drugs. I have seen some very wierd happenings....beheadings related to a social club, the murder of a bar owner who was beyond beautiful, drug and alcohol suicides of musicians and artists, serial murders, rapes, burglaries, home invasions, and incest. Nice place to visit.... (Message edited by Ladyinabag on February 10, 2008) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6279 Registered: 08-2004 |
Midtown is composed of 6 "official" areas... WSU, Museum District, Medical Center, Brush Park, Orchestra Place and Cass Park. Yes, even the "Cultural Center" name is being slowly retired. The Cass Corridor only consists of 1 1/2 of those 6 areas (Cass Park and part of WSU). WSU finds the name "Cass Corridor" bad for business in attracting students (concerned parents come to mind). And Cass Park, the area around Masonic Temple is the worst area of Midtown. Why on earth would they want to continue to market that area (which is slowly gentrifying) with a name that denotes despair, drugs and prostitution? When one looks at the BILLIONS of dollars being spent in Midtown, how can anyone be against the name change? | ||
Jonnyfive Member Username: Jonnyfive Post Number: 107 Registered: 03-2007 |
Midtown's border is set by the expressways: http://www.detroitmidtown.com/ 05/doc_lib/Midtown01_11x17_081 5.pdf | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 544 Registered: 10-2006 |
quote: I don't know. Maybe ask the people who live in the Corridor? Hell's Kitchen has done pretty well for itself without a yuppified name. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6283 Registered: 08-2004 |
... so has Mercury Fish & Chips! | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 651 Registered: 06-2005 |
quote: Do you mean Clinton? http://maps.google.com/maps?q= Clinton,+New+York,+NY,+USA&sa= X&oi=map&ct=title | ||
Punkrocknerd Member Username: Punkrocknerd Post Number: 4 Registered: 05-2007 |
Is there anyone on the list who has moved to Cass Corridor or Mid-Town lately from one of Detroit's suburbs? If so, How do you like it. | ||
Baliad Member Username: Baliad Post Number: 78 Registered: 08-2005 |
i moved to Midtown 2 years ago from Farmington Hills... i LOVE it down here... in regards to the Cass Corridor/Midtown name debate... it seems pretty simple to me... Cass Corridor is a part of Midtown... the name Midtown does not negate anything about the Cass Corridor... but to say that Cass Corridor is a proper name for the rest of this area, i think is shortsighted and slightly hypocritical... people who get all bent out of shape about this need to get over it... we want the city to get better, and if it's getting better (which it is) then who cares what they call it??? | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 97 Registered: 02-2005 |
I hadn't realized that the Corridor is part of Midtown. For whatever reason, I had the impression that Midtown was a way of renaming the Corridor. Midtown (the name) is kinda boring, but I think Gnome's right... Detroit could use a little bit of boring now and then. But still, the contrarian in me really likes the t-shirt that Lowell describes. Anyone know where I could get such a shirt? | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 552 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'm with Blondy. If I were in Midtown in the Corridor, the absolute last thing I would say is that I'm in Cass Corridor. It's marketing suicide, plain and simple. For those 30-35 and up, it's got such serious negative connotations that you do not want to tie your business to, period. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Cass Corridor name fade completely - in fact, I'd love to see it if it'll help create jobs and keep businesses going. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1860 Registered: 07-2004 |
I thought the Cass Corridor refers to the land that was once the Cass Farm. (That's all the way from Michigan Avenue up to the railroad.) But let's be straight about what MIDTOWN is. In recent years, yuppie chickenshits have tried to rename the area so that more yuppie chickenshits will move in. They've met with some pretty decent success. Now I'd say the Cass Corridor is south of Selden, north of Henry. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 545 Registered: 10-2006 |
quote: My point. Clinton has been a name that developers have been trying to get Hell's Kitchen to take on since the early 60's. Hell's Kitchen has stuck and now it is a "brand" that people embrace. However, I prefer to call it Hell's Pantry since the gentrification. | ||
Deteamster Member Username: Deteamster Post Number: 67 Registered: 07-2007 |
punkrocknerd, I haven't moved at all recently but I do live in Midtown/the Corridor/wherever it is I live. I would highly recommend the area around Wayne State if you're new to Detroit. It is relatively safe, walkable, and extremely diverse. I certainly wouldn't live too far south in the Corridor if I were new to the city...stick to north of Alexandrine. I really like my neighborhood. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4527 Registered: 10-2003 |
Atwater, let me put it this way. The name Cass Corridor does directly descend from the boundaries of the Cass Farm, as Kathleen points out, which was the area between Cass and third, the Straits and the Boulevard. By the sixties, when I came on the scene, it was more narrowly thought of much as you define it, except it included Wayne State and meant the area from somewhere between the Boulevard and the I-94 [Ford] and the I-375 [Fisher] Woodward and the M-10 [Lodge]. Wayne State was just a clutter of a few new buildings with many older houses and apartments among it. Second avenue still ran through it although it was closed off. There was no mall, student center and much more. This is all hairsplitting, because I don't think there was ever an 'official' demarcation artificially created for marketing purposes in some board room, just something of popular culture definition. If you lived in the corridor as I did then, at the far south end on Henry, you know what it meant. I also completely understand that the borders of "Midtown" have been artificially and clearly defined in the same boardroom that derived its boring name and that most of the traditional Cass Corridor is a subset of the "Midtown". Yeah, yeah, I also understand the whole marketing aspect; I just don't like the name and the abandonment of history it carries. The improvements within that district are not achieved by name changes, but by the efforts actually carried out. While Cass Corridor carries many negative connotations, especially to older-timers, it also has a lot of positives, particularly in the indigenous Detroit art scene where it is very favorably recognized. "A rose by any other name is still a rose." | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6288 Registered: 08-2004 |
Who knows Lowell, just as the Campus Martius name had been discontinued for nearly 1/2 century (since they built that bunker known as Kennedy Square) and has since been resurrected... maybe one day when the corridor gets cleaned up, they can reuse the name... but more in a Bohemian sense rather than a crime ridden sense. I don't mind the Midtown name so much... it's quite appropriate. In NYC Midtown is the true heart of the city, while their Downtown is dead after 5PM. In NYC people hardly ever say "let's go downtown tonight". | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 546 Registered: 10-2006 |
quote: They rarely say it in Detroit, either, unless there's some sort of event specifically drawing people. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1559 Registered: 09-2007 |
However, most Detroit citizens consider any place from Downtown to the New Center Downtown since it's all centralized and has the similar high rise density. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1862 Registered: 07-2004 |
In NYC, lots of people in Kings, Queens, Richmond and Bronx counties say, "Let's go into the city tonight!" | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6290 Registered: 08-2004 |
quote: Well they do if they decide to visit one of 3 casinos or a lot of new restaurants and nightclubs... It's not just a few restored theatres and sports arenas down there anymore... | ||
Umbound Member Username: Umbound Post Number: 13 Registered: 02-2008 |
I dont know my friends and I have always called it Midtown? but then we refer to the Cass Corridor as its own district that is a part of Midtown, its sound refers to just one specific area, Midtown gives it the whole area a name. | ||
Transitrider Member Username: Transitrider Post Number: 40 Registered: 01-2007 |
Eric_c, Atwater, right on. It's not the false dichotomy of one or the other. 'Midtown' is purely geographic, meaning 'between downtown and New Center.' Few of the various names are mutually exclusive, it just depends on your frame of reference. Museums, theaters, campus = Cultural Center/Museum District. Just campus = Wayne State (or CCS). Cass Ave can be all of these, depending on the context. Cass Corridor, with all its history, character and baggage is still the west side of Woodward corridor. There are just more descriptive terms depending on what one is trying to indicate. Does it matter that this name has caught on more recently? Not really. Was it silly for GM to move to Grand Boulevard and declare it 'The New Center?' Yes, but a century later everyone knows where it is, even if its Newness and Centrality are debatable. (Voltaire, Linda Richmond: the New Center is neither, talk amongst yourselves...) Past threads have noted bemusedly how people not familiar with Detroit proper refer to the entire city as 'downtown,' which most would agree is just the CBD. Midtown is clearly north of Downtown. BTW, expect to start hearing 'Uptown' more as redevelopment spreads up Woodward past Highland Park. | ||
Jgavrile Member Username: Jgavrile Post Number: 27 Registered: 09-2005 |
Hey Mauser765 how did you come by that alias??Do you collect guns? seems to ne there is a guy who uses that alias on a gun collecting website. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 548 Registered: 10-2006 |
quote: Detroit, the Atlantic City of the Midwest. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6294 Registered: 08-2004 |
... I prefer the Las Vegas of the Great Lakes! | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 78 Registered: 10-2007 |
The SUB-CULTURAL CENTER | ||
Woodward Member Username: Woodward Post Number: 39 Registered: 02-2006 |
Going back to the first post, is using the term Midtown for parts north of downtown really such a new thing? A quick search shows the New York Times (not the be-all source for Detroit geography, but it's what was handy) used the designation in the past to refer to New Center: http://news.google.com/archive search?q=midtown+detroit&hl=en &um=1&sa=N&sugg=d&as_ldate=197 0&as_hdate=1970&lnav=d4&hdrang e=1971,2007 (Message edited by Woodward on February 11, 2008) | ||
Punkrocknerd Member Username: Punkrocknerd Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2007 |
Has anyone posting on this thread recently moved into this area of Detroit from a suburb and if so, would you be willing to sit down at Avalon Bakery (my treat) for a half hour interview about your experiences? | ||
Baliad Member Username: Baliad Post Number: 79 Registered: 08-2005 |
i'd be interested prnerd... i live just upstairs from Avalon... email me g_baliad@hotmail.com | ||
Tonyt Member Username: Tonyt Post Number: 9 Registered: 02-2008 |
Define recently nerd? I'm game too. lonememe@gmail.com |
