DETROIT trip
Aug. 17-19 2017
PART 2
Jefferson Avenue near Algonquin Street.
Jefferson at Eastlawn. A lot of buildings in this area are boarded up.
More boarded-up buildings on Jefferson at Newport. Globalization and union-busting have been rough on Detroit.
I think this is Jefferson at Chalmers - like Superintendent Chalmers on The Simpsons.
Jefferson near Marlborough. More dilapidated buildings are visible here.
Southeast on Alter Road.
Alter at Fairfax.
Avondale Avenue approaching Alter.
As Avondale hits Alter, the yellow sign has an arrow from the "keek! ruin!" school. I call it that because it resembles a blade of grass splitting down the middle like the image I got when I was lectured as a child that I might "ruin" the neighbors' lawn.
A video going northwest in the 400 block of Alter. Audio is from the uproarious 1958 short film "Chain Reaction." That movie about quality control was filmed for workers at the nearby Chrysler plant, and depicts a defective hi-fi smashing a man's priceless records. Most of "Chain Reaction" was filmed on this road. The house where most of it took place is visible in my video - albeit barely, because of the rain. At :09, it's the house at far right, though it's hard to see through a waterlogged windshield.
And here it is! It's that "Chain Reaction" film I've been talking about! Compare the Alter Road scenes with my video. (This video is not from my YouTube channel.)
I used to think the expression "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" had something to do with Detroit, because it almost rhymes. That said, I have no idea what street this is, but it gets more interesting from here.
This is fairly typical for this part of Detroit, but photos don't really do it justice.
This too.
Detroit has a lot of vacant lots like what you see here. Several years earlier, I read about how much of the city is reverting to wilderness. City officials planned to concentrate most settlement into a few small areas and use the rest of the city for urban farming. But Detroit is also becoming a popular home for independent writers.
This street shows how some of the city is reverting to the wild.
I wish I knew what some of these streets are, but they lurk around the northeastern part of the city. In lots of places, you'd see nothing but vacant land, with a lone building just standing there.
These roads like this used to be completely built up.
There's more houses here, but still some vacant land at left.
There's a little more settlement here.
Northwest on Marlborough.
Marlborough at Charlevoix.
Marlborough approaching Mack.
Looking ahead on Marlborough at Mack.
Not exactly sure, but this may be after entering the rich suburb of Grosse Pointe Park.