  Detourdetroit Member Username: Detourdetroit Post Number: 153 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.213.205.102 |
As a sidebar to Motown's legacy (concurrently placed thread), but equally intriguing (and just as melancholic) if it's true, the loss of the former Motown HQ (Donovan Building) represents the loss of the most significant (only) African American-owned / operated commercial structure downtown. We were talking about this last night at our head-in-the-clouds preservation offices. Is it possible that the Motown Building is the only large commercial building downtown that is black owned? Could that possibly be true? Are there others that we completely overlooked? To me this is a very sad prospect indeed. To generalize that the absenteeism of landlords (suburban and out of state) is such a problem in the CBD is to understate. While this has improved somewhat - and GREAT THANKS TO OUR FACADE MATCHING FRIENDS AT THE DEGC!!!! (ALL HAIL) - the problem persists. The Motown Building suffered similarly - it was not very well cared for, but certainly not as bad as some others. To have the ownership of the Motown Building not value the significance of this connection to such an important cultural moment is quite a shame IMHO. Parking and pigskin rule the day. How very sad sad sad. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 886 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.246.13.131 |
Dr. William V. Banks and the Free and Accepted Masons purchased the David Broadrick Tower in about 1973. I believe they defaulted on it, (but are not 100% certain.) In 1975, they built and operated WGPR TV 62 in Detroit. That was sold to CBS corp. in 1995 for an estimated $25 million. It was the first black owned TV station in the country. (This is all from memory, so take it for that) | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 6478 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 4.229.99.68 |
Detroi tleft Motown, Motown didn't leave Detroit, right? | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 674 Registered: 01-2004 Posted From: 4.229.69.4 |
Berry Gordys personal views on black ownership are probably key in this question. He NEVER considered Motwon a "black" label. He called it a label with "black stars". He was disengaged from the Civil Rights movement, and not interested in using his position to champion any causes other than his businesses success. So my guess is that to this day, Mr Gordy is completely not interested in representing any type of cause in Detroit or elsewhere. Its simply an abandoned builidng that used to be something. Nothing more. Again, there is a real good book that lays the Motown history right against all the Detroit politics of the time and draws comparisons. i used to listen to WGPR ! | ||
Xd_brklyn Member Username: Xd_brklyn Post Number: 98 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.88.89.94 |
There are a number of books on Motown. Mauser, do you remember the title of the book you are describing? ---Forget it, just picked it up on the other Donovan thread. (Message edited by xD_brklyn on January 24, 2006) |
