  Ypsirocks Member Username: Ypsirocks Post Number: 23 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 68.122.116.107 |
found this on youtube this morning, thought the forum would enjoy. http://youtube.com/watch?v=QQx rhiraoUg http://youtube.com/watch?v=hRj 4_qkqgXo http://youtube.com/watch?v=xVh TdKnDUW0 | ||
Eric Member Username: Eric Post Number: 409 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 35.11.210.161 |
Amazing footage | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 5755 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.242.213.167 |
That was great! Thanks so much for posting it. | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 98 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 198.172.203.228 |
Great post. Particularly touching was the shots of the Gaeity Theater in part II. There was a live band and comics as well as the girls on stage into the late 50's; in fact, I seem to remember them up to 1962 or 3. Probably the show would rate a PG-13 today. Thanks for the great memory assist. the river rat | ||
Easydoesit Member Username: Easydoesit Post Number: 23 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 69.246.122.172 |
OMG! As a young person still in high school, I never had a chance to experience people actually WALKING downtown on a regular day (and there wasnt a big event). It makes me feel soo good seeing that video. It looks like New York! There were stores everywhere! Im going crazy over here!... I wish Detroit could get those street cars back, pronto! It seems that's what they need in order to get Detroit thriving again... and they need a purpose for people to come downtown(SHOPPING!!!). It REALLY pisses me off having to go to some fucking mall when i could just drive/take a streetcar/light rail down woodward and be at the desired stores I want to go to! UGH! I love you Detroit, but you really need to get on the ball!<---- sorry for the rant. Thanks Ypsirocks for the footage | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 275 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.41.145.5 |
Excellent post. That was fun to watch. | ||
Paulmcall Member Username: Paulmcall Post Number: 640 Registered: 05-2004 Posted From: 68.40.119.216 |
That is some cool video. Those cars seem so huge and clunky. | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 551 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.42.176.123 |
Great video. I'd love to see more of that kind of stuff. | ||
Johnnny5 Member Username: Johnnny5 Post Number: 201 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 71.227.95.4 |
It's nice to see those wooden carvings (from the brass rail) where they originally were. Although they do look nice at their new home in Rochester as well. (Message edited by Johnnny5 on April 08, 2006) | ||
Mountainman Member Username: Mountainman Post Number: 11 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 69.144.194.110 |
I remember my father always talking about what Detroit was like in the 1950s. It was just awesome to see the vibrant city in full colour motion. Awesome post. | ||
Mountainman Member Username: Mountainman Post Number: 12 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 69.144.194.110 |
Should compare the films with this modern one. Little artsy, but you get the drift: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vE2 1mRGXpdY&search=detroit | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 46 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 205.188.116.137 |
Thanks.. VERY strange to see a street car whizzing by in the second one. My grandmother use to talk about taking the one down Michigan Ave from Dearborn to go shopping at Hudsons, etc. That SAMS discount (or whatever it was) in the second video.. I've seen that in several of the 1920s and 1930s photos. When did it close down or what is it Now? | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1103 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.42.251.225 |
Wow!! Seems like "just yesterday"--Briggs Stadium, 1948 Plymouth coupe, '49 Studebaker, Mich Avenue, Brass Rail, Green Checker cabs (not yellow). Sams took over the old Detroit Opera House. I think we still have a trinket or two stored away from Sam's. I'm in tears. Nostalgia drips!! I know its not fair to compare Detroit then with Detroit now, but those of us who remember it "then" can't help but be a little disappointed with it "now". | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 409 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.35.85.184 |
What a treat to see the Kern's clock again, not to mention a 1949 Mercury (my dad's first new car). | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 276 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.41.145.5 |
"It's nice to see those wooden carvings (from the brass rail) where they originally were. Although they do look nice at their new home in Rochester as well." It makes sense to me now. When I saw the carvings they seemed oddly familiar to me. Anyone know the history of the Brass Rail/wooden carvings? | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 67 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
Looking back at those old 8mm videos of Detroit makes for very nostalgic viewing. I tried to watch the new video but it was so depressing I could only watch a little of it. I know how bad it is without watching some art movie about the city I love, in ruins. When you were born and raised in a city it is more than just home to live in, it is a home on so many levels that it is hard to describe. “Home, truly is where the heart is.” Back in the Civil War people would join-up together from cities, towns and villages into the same unit or outfit. People always ask, “How is it those boys could stand there in whole groups firing their guns or charging and no one would flinch or say, No, I’m not going.” It was because they were there with people from “home” and you had to stand with them no matter what. “Home” is the place we go to within ourselves when we need to comfort ourselves and feel good. We associate all kinds of things with “home”. Things like the people we associated with, the food we ate, the smells we smelled, the paths we took to school, church, synagogue, stores, shows, recreation, and the one-thousand-and-one things we did growing-up as children. We carry that place with us everywhere we go and it definitely is a place that exists only in our minds and heart. But, continuity is important from the perspective of a little bit of mortality. We all want to live on, even after we are gone. One of those ways that the average man can enjoy a little bit of mortality is if “home” is an ongoing place. Even if it only really existed in a unique way for us if that physical place still exists with new people in it you can at least reminisce about the old neighborhood, church, school, stores, synagogue, etc. I was able to do that with my parents, even though they were 1st generation Americans because I grew-up in the same neighborhood they grew-up in. I went to the same schools – elementary, junior high and high school; same church, local theatres, shopping districts and everything else. It is a wonderfully rich experience to have walked the same streets as my parents. Unfortunately, I was not able to do that with my children because things had changed so drastically in the City of Detroit. To see the city as it is now as compared to when I was a child growing-up actually hurts my heart. I grieve for the loss of MY city! That’s all I can say about it now because it is so sad and overwhelming. This is my beer bottle opener to open my Detroit brewed beer "Goebel Beer" given to me by the store I worked at as a kid in Hamtramck "Pure Foods". That's how deep my roots run!  Livedog2 | ||
Missnmich Member Username: Missnmich Post Number: 500 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.186.39.150 |
Thank you ypsirocks and mountainman, my heart is in my throat ... | ||
Futurecity Member Username: Futurecity Post Number: 266 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.212.35.34 |
Awesome! Made my day! Thanks. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 692 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.250.202.175 |
Speramus Meliora! Resurget Cineribus! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 186 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 24.208.234.52 |
Hey, I think I saw Scurvey Miller going into the Gayety for his 2:00 show! | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 5454 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 70.48.209.190 |
Wabashrr1 - It was gone by the late 60's early 70's? The Compuware building is on the site now. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1025 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 216.203.223.79 |
This is what happened to Sam's: the Kern Block demo.  WSU | ||
Missnmich Member Username: Missnmich Post Number: 501 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.186.39.150 |
Bump! You've got to watch these clips! | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 398 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 35.9.3.93 |
Damn-- I just tried to view the videos and all the links take you to a notice that the site is down and under construction. | ||
Missnmich Member Username: Missnmich Post Number: 502 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.186.39.150 |
Check back (as I will). Well worth it ... | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 416 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.35.85.184 |
Thanks Hornwrecker, I saw that in person - working just down the street. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 521 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.189.188.28 |
That was some fasinating stuff. Thank you, Ypsirocks for posting the link. Brings back a lot of memories..... | ||
Huggybear Member Username: Huggybear Post Number: 192 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 69.218.153.169 |
Facinating, sooty, unglamorous. Am I the only person who is *not* thinking, "gee whiz, wasn't that the day? This movie makes it pretty clear that Detroit was not just like Chicago 50 years ago. I think that other than the foot traffic, it looks a hell of a lot better now. | ||
Cklwbig8 Member Username: Cklwbig8 Post Number: 57 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 65.92.100.214 |
Huggybear i think you need to open your fricken eyes !! | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 37 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 12.45.2.184 |
Holy Crap! It looks like those people on Michigan Ave just kept on driving!  | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 371 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 67.149.185.244 |
what movie were your watching Huggybear ???? (Message edited by ddaydave on April 09, 2006) | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 875 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 69.221.67.48 |
It's eerie without sound of any kind...and yeah they really seem to be driving and driving. Great stuff. | ||
Dodgemain Member Username: Dodgemain Post Number: 92 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 68.41.191.58 |
There is a lot more Detroit stuff on that site. Check it out. | ||
Huggybear Member Username: Huggybear Post Number: 193 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 68.249.244.31 |
The same ones all of you were. I think people are seeing what they want to see in these films, which appears to be "people+streetcars=wonderland, " a proposition that I think is pretty revisionist. If downtown itself was a destination back then (other than people streetcar-ing into Hudsons and leaving), it was apparently not compelling enough to survive as one. There was too much competing with that environment: when I was growing up here, the retail (and some entertainment) was so well distributed into the far-flung neighborhoods that people didn't go downtown that much. It wasn't just suburbanites. If your movie theater, your grocery store and your Crowley's was within a mile of your house, you'd have to have something big to make you shop downtown. Maybe it's the Kodachrome 8mm film, but the view of downtown in these films was surprisingly depressing. Looking beyond people and streetcars, these movies show gritty, dark streets; a desolate Michigan Avenue corridor (including a windowless ground-floor section of Briggs Stadium); and images of the same marginal retail that has always dominated downtown back to the early 1900s. Especially in the Michigan Avenue scenes, you can see broad swaths of flatland. And you could, of course, surmise that white people loved to take pictures out of the windows of moving cars back then, too, I was frankly surprised at how much downtown of 1954 resembled downtown of today, particularly given the "days of glory" stories you hear on this site and at every barber shop. Downtown's heyday was, as far as I can tell from photographs and now film clips, much closer to the 1920s than the 1950s. My takeaway from this film is that (a) they had better foot traffic, (b) they had a different form of bus-like transportation, and (c) we need to shoot a lot higher than the 1954 vision. | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 962 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 64.142.86.133 |
Wow. Just wow. How I would love to just spend a few hours in the Detroit of yesterday. | ||
Eric Member Username: Eric Post Number: 413 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 35.11.210.161 |
You've obviosuly never seen pictures of 1940-1950's Chicago all major cities were sooty and gritty. What were you expecting to see? http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P0 2221.jpg http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P0 2386.jpg http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P0 4151.jpg http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P0 2910.jpg http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P1 0358.jpg http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/i udl/archives/cushman/screen/P0 2914.jpg | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 3939 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.174.229 |
Well at least those folks out in Downtown Chicago really know to untilize and develop those buildings. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 113 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
Yeah, is it just the film, or is it really smoggy? Was it like that? | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 114 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
Incidentally, what was that music in the "current" video? Anyone? | ||
Dang Member Username: Dang Post Number: 34 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.214.190.236 |
Great post, Leighton. Now go recreate those same shots so we can do a before/after. The only difference will be film grain! jk, jk. | ||
Cklwbig8 Member Username: Cklwbig8 Post Number: 58 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.156.94.217 |
That is the kodachrome 8mm film.. sometimes a bit too colorful. can look yellowish at times. depends how the transfer was done. if we were to watch the original film thru a projector the movies would look absolutely beautiful. more lighting and clearer. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 2320 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 71.234.183.131 |
Although I don't completely agree with Huggybear, I certainly agree with his point about the Mi ave portion driving OUT of the CBD. Based on the the movie it appeared fairly desolate and trash strewn even back in the peak population years of the 50's. Looks to me like many of those buildings were already well into their first or second cycle of adaptive reuse. Re the CBD alot of those businesses in the CBD in from MI in that movie WERE marginal (let's see ... small bars, pawn shop, "coney islands" ...) which makes sense since that portion of MI ave was about to get eviscerated by the freeway construction and urban renewal projects of the late 50s/60s so there would be no reason to have nicer stuff on a doomed stretch of street. On this forum recently someone described a incident with a relative witnessing a murder and gangbangers spotting him on the BI bridge and trying to kill him and the relative jumped in the water to avoid certain death and then skipped town. Typical Detroit bullshit, right? Ya know the usual shit that ruined the city, right? Another recent story on this forum was about two teenaged thugz keepin it real and allowing face-saving posturing to escalate into weapons and BOTH dying while their classmates watched morbidly. A violent savage Detroit? answer to first story questions: yes and no since this story was about the Detroit of the 1930's auto boom. answer to second story: yes, but this story was Detroit of the 1950's. Detroit's pathology predates all of the usual suspects .... | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 229 Registered: 09-2004 Posted From: 24.247.221.241 |
I love the DSR PCC streetcars in the first and second movies, and (to a lesser extent) the GMC bus that scoots by in the second. So clean, and that creme and red paint scheme looked a hell of a lot better than dirty DDOT white with peeling yellow and green stripes. That is fantastic footage, and inspires me to perhaps do something similar for 2006 this summer. Foot traffic is unbelieveable. Fantastic, thanks for posting! | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 52 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 64.12.116.204 |
"Yeah, is it just the film, or is it really smoggy? Was it like that?" Some of that footage (if not all) was taken through the windshield of a moving car. There's no telling if a polarizing filter was used on the camera (betting the photographer doesn't even remember) to help cancel out reflections on or from the glass. Film to video transfer is done basically by projecting the film onto a rear (or front) projection screen and then simply recording the images on video tape. With some home type film to video transfer devices, a mirror is also involved. A lot of factors will affect the transfer quality, including the rear projection device used, the lens on the projector, how clean everything is, etc. Just like any other analog recording medium and technique, the copy is never as good as the original. The software used to edit the video footage will also have an affect on the quality. If you really want to see what it looks like on film, including the saturated reds, get in touch with the owner and ask for a private screening of the original 8mm film. Regardless of the then vs now debate, I still thought it was interesting. Interesting to see things that don't (and won't) exist anymore. I brought up my grandmother's shopping trips on the streetcar because that's one of the few things she ever talked about that interested me. The rest was people she once worked with 30 years ago, that I never knew, and probably couldn't care less about if I had. One has to wonder, if 20 or 30 years from now, people will look back at Detroit of the 1970s or 1980s with the same nostalgia as people who remember the 1950s Detroit do. How about 50 years from now, the Detroit of 2006? | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 9 Registered: 01-2006 Posted From: 69.221.79.82 |
Ypsirocks: Good stuff. Thank you. Loved the close shot of Brass Rail. Man oh man, nobody makes that kind of "signage" anymore. Could I have just one of any of those cars? | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 5456 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 64.228.196.197 |
Don't forget back then Michigan Avenue was "Skid Row". | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 116 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
To answer my own question, and for anyone else that was wondering, the music in the second clip is by Massive Attack, called "Teardrop" I think. | ||
Xd_brklyn Member Username: Xd_brklyn Post Number: 132 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.88.89.94 |
Amazing footage. Thanks for the links, appreciate it. Very interesting. There's an obscure literary importance in those clips as well. In "On the Road" Kerouac, while visiting Detroit, takes a cab down Michigan Avenue to the bus station, mentioning Tiger Stadium as he passes it. Fascinating to see a film clip documenting that trip down Michigan at about the same time. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 117 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
Not QUITE the same time as On the Road, but kind of close, I guess. | ||
Xd_brklyn Member Username: Xd_brklyn Post Number: 133 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.88.89.94 |
Well, "On the Road" was published in '57 and given that the book was culled from his travels the seven years previous, this puts Kerouac in the same timeframe as the clips within a couple years. Close enough to be of interest to any reader of Kerouac I imagine. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 876 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 12.34.51.20 |
Re: 1950s soot. Think of all the factories not abandoned, but in full throttle, belching out smoke, not far from downtown ...add to that streets clogged with cars spewing leaded fumes...the past was a sooty, smoggy place. The river's probably cleaner too. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 118 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 24.192.25.47 |
My bad, I got the time period between On The Road and The Grapes of Wrath confused :lol: | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 3973 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.174.223 |
NOW That is Detroit "BACK IN TIME" people walking though the streets, the trolleys are rolling, mom and pop retail open. just a typical work and shop day in Downtown Detroit. Today it's just a memory. A "mythological fairly tale." | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 130 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
I can just imagine a young just becoming homophobic Danny walking the streets of Detroit. | ||
Alexei289 Member Username: Alexei289 Post Number: 1097 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.61.183.223 |
wow... those vids look so foreign to me... a place that i have never seen before.. |
