  Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1942 Registered: 12-2005 |
View from Crowley's, July 1966 (full size)  Kern Block rooftops, July 1966 (full size)  Demolition close-up, July 1966 (full size)  | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1575 Registered: 01-2007 |
Nice work Mikeg!  | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 2355 Registered: 05-2005 |
where was kerns located? the site of the compuware building? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1945 Registered: 12-2005 |
quote: Yes, on the Woodward side of the "Kern Block", which was bounded by Woodward, Gratiot, Farmer and Monroe. This 1920's image of the Kern Block shows the location of the buildings on that block. In that image, Woodward is on the left and Monroe is on the right. Sam's occupied the old Detroit Opera House. | ||
Zephyrmec Member Username: Zephyrmec Post Number: 92 Registered: 01-2008 |
'61 Thunderbird in the foreground! | ||
Rsa Member Username: Rsa Post Number: 1558 Registered: 10-2003 |
thanks mike! were you the one taking those pic's? more please! | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1947 Registered: 12-2005 |
quote: You're welcome, on behalf of the original photographer and a few others who saw fit to preserve these gems and gave their permission to share them with everyone. I'm just the digitizer and while I have a fair knowledge of the old downtown Detroit streetscape, my historical expertise lies elsewhere. Feel free to correct any factual errors or errors of omission that may occur as I post these images. And yes, there is more to come, on this thread and others..... | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1949 Registered: 12-2005 |
Demolition proceeds into August, 1966. (full size)  The Monroe side of the Kern Block is gone, August, 1966. Crowley's Department store building is at right. (full size)  Looking southwest along Gratiot at Farmer, August, 1966. The J.L. Hudson Department store building is at right. (full size)  | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3757 Registered: 01-2005 |
All the ladies are wearing dresses. They look so nice. And no underwear sticking out on the men. Forty years plus sure makes a difference. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 998 Registered: 08-2006 |
Not to mention the social equality of the time.... at least it looked nicer huh? | ||
Raptor56 Member Username: Raptor56 Post Number: 543 Registered: 05-2007 |
The buildings and streets look a heck of a lot cleaner in these photos. Mikeg -> Keep up the good work! | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1577 Registered: 01-2007 |
Mikeg, the full size hi-rez links are fantastic! Thanks for the extra effort. | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 4071 Registered: 02-2007 |
It never cease to amaze me how together Detroit looked in the day.. I squint to see if I can see my dad as a youth, or a distant relative and wonder, how exciting it was to grow uo in the late forties and fifties...I know the social problems, but somehow the photos capture a time where going downtown was a delightful adventure. Taking in a movie or even a play... you could take a date and walk the streets looking at the lights of the city...at Christmas the trip to Hudson's was more than a shopping spree, it ushered in the season...and brought lasting memories...I could imagine my parents dating in the early fifties....while attending Wayne State and Highland Park Nursing schools...what choices they had to pick from. .Detroit what a history...and I always love the old photo's ...trying to see the city of my dad's youth. | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 359 Registered: 02-2006 |
Social problems of the 50's mentioned in several posts. I would hazard to say the social problems of Detroit today make those days look great. A lot fewer murders,less fear and more economic prosperity. Although the city was racially divided (as if it isn't now), there was a vibrant culture in all areas. Social problems... look around you. | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 738 Registered: 02-2006 |
Mikeg- Great job! So hard to believe... <313> | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1950 Registered: 12-2005 |
The last wall standing, August 1966. (full size)  Looking across the former Kern Block toward the shops and buildings on the opposite side of Woodward, June 1968. (full size)  | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 413 Registered: 01-2007 |
Very nice pics! Thanks a bunch. That Spiegel Bldg. should have been a keeper. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 558 Registered: 12-2006 |
Oh, yeah! No way anything like B.Spiegel could be reproduced today. Even the Vatican is looking for master craftsmen...hard to find them nowadays! BTW. My mom worked at Kern's. I sent her this link, so if she has any good tidbits, I'll chime in. Thanks so much for the photos! | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 638 Registered: 08-2007 |
I had always heard about Kerns, while I don,t shop alot, except for hardware, food and beer. I am amazed by the number of stores gone from the mix. Love them pix of Kerns, sad i never went there. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1579 Registered: 01-2007 |
The shot of the last wall standing is iconic. | ||
Budb Member Username: Budb Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2008 |
Great stuff !!! Hi MikeG.....this is your cousin here. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1952 Registered: 12-2005 |
Hi cuz - welcome to the forum! | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1956 Registered: 04-2006 |
Wasn't it B Siegal's? Both the department store and the building met terrible demises. I can recall my mother dragging me in there while she looked for clothes. She never bought anything as much of the stuff seemed to be for old ladies. If I am not mistaken the Northland Store closed before this one. When this one closed the only one left was at Livernois and Seven Mile. The building itself had a facade made of steel. It burned down when some homeless people got in there and set it on fire. That last pic is the Detroit of my childhood. I can't remember Kerns, but remember all of the other stores downtown. I had regular doctor's appointments as a kid in the Whitney. We would take the bus downtown and it would usually turn into an entire day of wandering in and out of stores. | ||
Swingline Member Username: Swingline Post Number: 1200 Registered: 11-2003 |
Some questions. What was the condition of the Kern's building when the store closed? Does anybody have information about the chronology of Kern's closing and the subsequent demolition? Was the demolition of the whole block done pursuant to eminent domain or did the city just buy the properties and knock everything down? Anybody have a Sanborn map of the block? At the time of the demolition, had the city announced any kind of possible redevelopment? (1966 pre-dates all of the failed Cadillac Mall proposals.) Just curious. Thanks for any info. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1957 Registered: 04-2006 |
I would have thought that the Cadillac Mall proposal would have been the reason for its removal. It may have been the predecessor to the one that never was built that led to the demise of Hudsons. The City of Rochester was having success with a similar Mall at theat time between two of its large departments stores. Xerox was also part of that Development. It was called Mid-town mall and it was built by Victor Gruen. I can recall visiting the mall around 1990 to find a strange clock and a monorail set-up in the mall. At that time the mall was still operating but had clearly seen better days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M idtown_Plaza_(Rochester) | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1516 Registered: 11-2003 |
IIRC, there are images of plans on the Virtual Motor City site of the stillborn Kern Block 1960's development. Cadillac Mall wasn't announced till about 1978. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1958 Registered: 04-2006 |
Thanks Burnsie, I looked for stuff on the history of it, but surprise there is not much on the Internet regarding the history of 40 year old projects that were never built! | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5948 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Don't forget to include goverment sanctioned suburban sprawl, poor land use policies and regional political fear mongering... (Message edited by Detroit_stylin on October 15, 2008) | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1959 Registered: 04-2006 |
Thanks Burnsie, I looked for stuff on the history of it, but surprise there is not much on the Internet regarding the history of 40 year old projects that were never built! | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1518 Registered: 11-2003 |
Detroit_stylin wrote, "Don't forget to include goverment sanctioned suburban sprawl, poor land use policies and regional political fear mongering..." Do you mean that those things are current only today, or that they were around way back then also? They were, of course. |
