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Detroit
From the steely heights of wartime manufacturing, to the
explosion of the post-war years, Detroit has seen its share of surges.
Now Motor City s cultural renaissance throttles ahead at full speed.
Downtown is being reborn, Detroit s architectural history, from art deco
to neo-gothic, is being revamped, the artsy Necklace District shines
again and roulette wheels keep turning in the nation s most populated
gaming city.
Forget the tired cliches about Detroit s demise. Remember that Motown
began here in 1958 and changed America s music charts for all time. In
the early- 80s, the intrepid beginnings of techno happened in the
warehouses of downtown Detroit and the present-day success of Eminem
continues to shine a provocative light on this city s cultural world.
Museums abound, the Hydroplane Thunderfest draws thousands every year
and Detroit s People Mover keeps the city in motion.
From the native Anishnabe tribe to early French colonials to present day
Motowners, something about the banks on the placid waters of the Detroit
River have always drawn, and kept, a loyal crowd.
Downtown Detroit Hotels
HYPERLINK
"http://www.hoteldiscounts.com/cgi-bin/hotelinfo?SID=BUD&Dest=DET&LKF=BU
D&TRK=H1-citylistMore&PROD=HOTEL&HotelId=DET%20PORT&HName=HOTEL+PONTCHAR
TRAIN&Rating=4.0&Return=Prev" "_new" Hotel Pontchartrain
2 Washington Boulevard Detroit, MI 48226
Around so long it s been dubbed the "Pontch" by Motowners, the Hotel
Pontchartrain stands on the site of Detroit s first French fort of the
same name. The 25-floor Pontchartrain recently underwent renovations to
bring its rooms into the new millennium. Rooms overlooking the Detroit
River recall the fascination the French must have felt, while back rooms
peek into Detroit s fire station. All rooms are softly classic and since
Detroit grew up around this very spot, be certain you re central.
Luxury speed cruisers dock in front of this red brick ode to European
prestige, set in Detroit s quaint and quieter River Town district.
Inside in the lobby, chandeliers, rich carpeting and crimson color
schemes prove this French hotelier s hold on one of Detroit s more
abundant addresses. In a word, the guestrooms, from deluxe doubles to
presidential suites, are lavish; the services, from meeting rooms to
tanning beds, span the gamut of extravagance.
The City That Was
When you click on points of interest in the panoramic photo of 1906
Detroit in the right frame, text and images will appear in this frame.
Each picture within the pages can also be clicked on to provide
more-detailed, higher-resolution photos.
The Detroit pictured here has been washed away in a tide of
technological and social change more rapid, perhaps, than any in human
history. Click on the photo at right, read the text below, and witness
the transformation of Campus Martius from grand civic plaza to
post-Industrial urban backwater.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/pano.map" m
Campus Martius, Detroit, Michigan, 1906
This is downtown Detroit, 1906, on the eve of the automobile explosion.
There are no automobiles in the three-picture perspective at right, even
though Henry Ford had driven his first model through the streets of
Detroit ten years earlier. People and cargo travel by horse or electric
streetcar, and pedestrians roam freely through the streets. Detroit City
Hall (1871) is in the center with its wide lawn sloping to Woodward,
Detroit s main street. The scene has an aura of civic idealism, equal
parts bustling metropolis and manicured garden; the dusty streets,
striped by vehicle tracks, lend a rural air.
Detroit s major roads radiate from this public square known as Campus
Martius. (Ironically, the city had been laid out in the shape of a
spoked-wheel nearly one hundred years before Henry Ford manufactured the
first Model T.) All distances in Detroit were once measured from this
point, including the "Mile Roads" that march into Detroit s northern
suburbs. Woodward Avenue, Fort Street, and Michigan Avenue meet here,
and Gratiot and Grand River start only a few blocks away. These are main
arteries along which Detroit is still developing in the outer suburbs.
As the automobile transformed the country, Detroit quadrupled in
population (1900-1930). Concrete was poured, skyscrapers soared, and the
retail district, seen in the right panel of the panorama, expanded to
world class status. Increasingly prosperous Detroiters bought more and
more of their own product, and downtown overflowed with cars.
By 1928, Campus Martius was the busiest intersection in the country
according to a contemporary visitor s guide.
As early as 1920, civic leaders made plans to relieve the congestion
around Campus Martius. Streets were widened, traffic signals installed,
and subway schemes studied. The Great Depression put an end to the
subway plans, and the city s growth slowed.
After the war, Detroiters, like most Americans, were far more interested
in the open spaces of their suburbs than in the grimy confines of the
central city. Despite well-intentioned (yet often clumsy) attempts at
urban renewal, the central city and Campus Martius slowly withered as
families left the city to raise baby boomers in the clean air of
suburban tract housing.
The City Hall in the center of this picture was torn down in 1961,
leaving an open public space. New buildings were set back from the
street, and the streets were widened, but by the late 60 s, the number
of people in downtown was declining. The closing of the huge Hudson s
department store in 1982 signaled the end of retail in downtown, and
only government and financial institutions hang on today, awash in a sea
of unused office space and boarded storefronts. General Motors recent
purchase of the HYPERLINK
"http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~williamb/rencen.html" "display"
Renaissance Center for a bargain basement price ($72 million for a
complex that cost $350 million to build twenty years ago) is an
indication of how far the decline has gone.
Campus Martius is still a relatively busy intersection, but no more so
than dozens of other places across town and probably less so than many
rural interstate exit ramps.
In the photographs at right, scattered pedestrians walk at random slants
across the open space. Today, they cling together at crosswalks or
huddle at bus stops, numbed by the thrum of tires and the dull grinding
of laboring motors.
Detroiters have a bittersweet nostalgia for their downtown, and some
still go back for sporting events, parades, and the like; but none of
them would give up their strip malls and cineplexes to go back to 1906.
The collective psychology that built civic plazas like Campus Martius no
longer exists, dissipated in the march of technology, time, and social
turmoil that goes by the name of Progress.
The average Detroiter walking across Campus Martius in 1906 probably had
a pretty good opinion of Progress; the frontier days were still in
living memory, and the technological and material improvements in daily
life were manifest.
The average Detroiter today wouldn t walk across Campus Martius at all,
though he may drive through it on the way to a Red Wings game. He may
even have a fair opinion of Progress, but It probably doesn t cross his
mind as he waits at just another stoplight at what was once "the busiest
intersection in the country, by actual count!"
Soldiers & Sailors Monument
At the top of this 1871 monument to Civil War veterans is "a colossal
personification of Mich igan as a semi-civilized Indian queen menacingly
brandishing a sword with her right hand and clutching a shield with the
left." (From an 1870 s Michigan History.) HYPERLINK
"http://users.aol.com/dlharvey/cwmireg.htm" Michigan was indeed a
menacing presence during the Civil War,providing 90,000 troops (8th in
the Union, despite ranking 10th in population) for the Federal cause.
The HYPERLINK "http://users.aol.com/dlharvey/24thinf.htm" 24th
Michigan Infantry (part of the famous Black Hats) fought at HYPERLINK
"http://users.aol.com/dlharvey/gburg.htm" Gettysburg where they helped
stop Lee s numerically superior forces on the first day then faced the
Pickett s famous Charge on the third day, suffering eighty-percent
casualties. Other Michigan units served with equal distinction.
The 24th was born at Campus Martius; at the request of the President,
Governor Austin Blair called for six new regiments of volunteers on July
15, 1862. The next day, Detroit civic leaders held a rally in Campus
Martius to recruit voluteers. Some in the crowd, mistaking the call for
the imposition of a draft, began to protest, and the rally turned into a
riot. Rally leaders, including the octagenerian Lewis Cass, (former
governor, Secretary of War, and Indian fighter) were escorted into the
nearby HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/rushous.html"
Russell House hotel under the protection of the Wayne County sheriff.
The riot was seen as a black mark upon the patriotism of Detroit, Wayne
County, and Michigan. To remedy this, the governor called for a special
regiment of volunteers outside the six requested by Lincoln; potential
enlistees were encouraged to "rescue the honor of Detroit." Another
rally was held at Campus Martius, this time things went smoothly, and,
after finishing their training in camp at Woodward and Eight Mile Road
in late August, the 24th Michigan Infantry paraded through the city to
the riverfront where they embarked on an Eastern-bound steamer.
Before the Civil War, Detroit was a hotbed of the populist, mercantile
politics that fueled Northern opposition to Southern aristocrats and the
plantation economy. The city s merchant class and newly prosperous
immigrants saw the future of the United States patterned after their own
recent successes which had been the product of freely-available land,
protectionist trade/open immigration, and growth in transportation.
From a contemporary Detroiter s point of view, the South, with its
slave-based economy and concentration of power in the hands of a few,
threatened the foundations of his recently-realized dream. Further, the
New England ancestry of most Detroiters made abolition a popular
political cause.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/chan2.jpg" Detroit
wholesale merchant Zachariah Chandler was elected in 1857 to the U.S.
Senate where he was regarded as the most radical of all Republicans,
opposing compromise before the war, urging full military effort during
the war, and taking vengeance on Southern leaders during Reconstruction.
Upon the death of Abraham Lincoln, while the rest of the nation mourned,
Chandler was privately pleased with the possibilities posed by Lincoln s
assassination. "Had Mr. Lincoln s policy been carried out, we should
have Jeff Davis, Toombs, etc. back in the Senate at the next session of
Congress, but now their chances to stretch hemp are better.... So mote
it be."
After the War, Detroit finally outgrew its identity as a frontier
outpost. The city center moved 1/4 mile from the waterfront to the high
ground formerly occupied by the colonial-era fortifications and military
parade grounds. (Hence the name Campus Martius, Latin for "Grounds
Military.") The new HYPERLINK
"http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/cithal.html" City Hall , begun
before the war, opened on Campus Martius in 1871 on the west side of
Woodward, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, directly across the
street, was formally dedicated a year later. These two were the anchors
upon which Campus Martius and Detroit grew during the post-War period.
The Union victory (which came at the cost of 15,000 Michigan lives) was
at least partly responsible for Detroit s growth. Detroit was a leading
supplier of war materiel.
Further, the economic expansion of the West that followed the War came
on Northern terms, which meant free settlers on small farms rather than
slaves and planters on large plantations. It meant a large influx of
immigrants to settle the vast expanses. Together, the increase in
population and the economies of small farms created a tremendous demand
for manufactured goods that Detroit was ideally suited to provide.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/ssold2.jpg" At the
bottom of the granite monument roost four bronze eagles. On the next
tier are four figures representing the miltary services: Infantry,
Artillery, Cavalry, and Marine. Bronzed medallions of Lincoln, Grant,
Sherman, and Farragut are spaced between. And, just below the figure of
Michigan are four allegorical figures representing Victory, Union,
Emancipation, and History.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/ssnew.jpg" Today,
Detroiters still glorify their heroes in civic artwork, but the themes
are commercial, not allegorical. Their heroes are not patriots but
professional athletes, and their media are not bronze and granite but
high-tech paints and computer-controlled airbrushes. The 1993 mural on
the building behind the Soldiers and Sailors Monument is of Barry
Saunders, star running back for the Detroit Lions. The Swoosh© logo in
the upper right-hand corner of the mural proclaims the patronage of
shoe-giant Nike who paid for the artwork.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/grant.jpg" On the
other side of Campus Martius, Detroit Piston Grant Hill promotes FILA
shoes in a mock-military mural done in 1996.
The Majestic Building
As fortunes were made in the booming American economy of the 1880 s,
American businessmen and entrepeneurs turned to the new architecture of
the skyscaper to express their wealth and importance. Detroit s first
skyscaper, the HYPERLINK
"http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/hamm.html" Hammond Building ,
was built in 1890 by George Hammond, a Detroit-born meat packing magnate
who made his fortune as a pioneer in refrigerated shipping.
Not to be outdone, department store owner Christopher Mabley began
planning an even taller structure to display his merchandise. Like
Hammond, Mabley died before the structure could be completed, but,
unlike Hammond, no one completed his dream. The bui lding never housed
his department store, nor did it bear his name. The letter "M" had been
carved into the capstone and at other places in the building s stonework
to signify Mabley, so the developers who continued the project
christened the orphaned skyscaper the Majestic Building.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/majestic.jpg"
Designed by noted skyscaperist Daniel Burnham of Chicago, the Majestic
was modern in more than just its soaring form. The entire structure was
proclaimed fireproof, a claim that was tested by a 1915 fire on the top
floor. The fire burned for more than two hours before firefighters could
contain it, but it never spread beyond its origin. The terra-cotta walls
and floors contained the blaze and gave proof to Detroiters that
Progress could indeed make their lives better, happier, and safer.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/roof.jpg" At
fourteen stories, it reigned as the king of Detroit skyscrapers from
1896 until 1909. The photo at left shows the expansive view from the
roof, with the HYPERLINK
"http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/cithal.html" County Building
standing in the middleground.
Though built as a store, the Majestic served its entire life as an
office building. It fell to the wrecking ball in 1962 and was replaced
by the black granite First Federal Building in 1965.
In the days before the Majestic, this corner housed Fred Sanders s ice
cream parlor where he invented the ice cream soda. Sanders s concoction
became famous across America, giving Sanders the means to start a chain
of ice cream parlors that spread across the Detroit area. Cherished by
generations of Detroiters, Sanders Ice Cream gradually succumbed to 31
Flavors, Dairy Queen, TCBY, et al. The last store closed in 1995. In the
panorama photo, the building to the right of the Majestic is the home of
the flagship Sanders store.
The Merrill Fountain
Lizzie Merrill Palmer dedicated this Italian Renaissance fountain to her
father, robber baron-lumberman Charles Merrill in 1901. His fortune,
like that of many 19th-century Detroit families, was made on Michigan s
raw materials. Detroit s access to raw materials from the Great Lakes
wilderness made it an ideal site for manufacturing even before the rise
of the automobile industry.
At the dedication, Mrs. Palmer s husband, Senator Thomas W. Palmer,
orated on the need for fountains: "As men were crowded into great cities
and denied the frequent sight or contact with water in agitation or
repose, a craving for it, as a feature of the landscape, has led to the
construction of artificial lakes, cascades and fountains to cool the
air, please the eye and soothe the ear, as well as supply the physical
wants of the people. For Palmer and his audience, the agrarian past was
a fresh memory. Speeches and editorials frequently invoked the same kind
of romantic pastoral nostalgia that Palmer elicits with the word
craving. At the same time, the answer to this craving is not a return to
Nature, but a further reduction of it into "artificial lakes, cascades
and fountains".
Glistening white on a sunny summer day, the fountain is only a few years
old in this photo. Behind it is the Detroit Opera House, the focus of
Detroit culture for half a century.
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/opint.jpg" The
Opera House would soon be converted to expand the burgeoning retail
trade. The improved efficiency in manufacturing techniques that put
automobiles within the reach of millions of Americans also made
HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/retail.html" retail
goods more plentiful and cheaper than ever before. Shopping, the
American cultural institution, was only in its infancy.
The fountain itself would be removed in the twenties to relieve traffic
congestion. It now sits in Palmer Park, six miles up Woodward, in
northern Detroit, on land donated by Senator and Mrs. Palmer.
Today, the HYPERLINK "http://www.merit.edu/~jimmoran/detphot/bag.html"
Bagley Fountain , moved from Fort and Woodward in a 1930 s widening of
Campus Martius, occupies more or less the same ground.
San Francisco Attractions
Alcatraz Island and Prison
Board the ferry to Alcatraz Island at Fisherman s Wharf and enjoy
spectacular views of the San Francisco skyline on the way to this
must-see San Francisco attraction -- once home to notorious prisoners
like Al Capone. Alcatraz Tour tickets can be purchased at the ticket
booth at Pier 41, San Francisco Fisherman s Wharf.
Baker Beach
San Francisco s most popular and locally beloved nude beach is nestled
in the western shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. Aside from being the
birth place of Burning Man, the great qualities of Baker Beach are its
size, close shore breaks, tide pools, steep bluffs, and climbable rocks,
and a totally nude north end that rubs friendly elbows with a decidedly
family-style south side, complete with barbeque grills and picnic
tables. While this stretch of the Pacific makes for rough swimming, it
bodes well for panoramic sun bathing and excellent shore fishing.
Cable Cars
The Powell-Hyde line begins at Powell and Market streets, terminating at
Victorian Park near the Maritime Museum and Aquatic Park; the
Powell-Mason line also begins at Powell and Market, but ends at Bay and
Taylor near Fisherman s Wharf; the California Street line runs from
California and Market streets to Van Ness Avenue.
Chinatown
Enter at "Dragon s Gate" at Grant Avenue and Bush Street.
San Francisco s bustling Chinatown is a tightly-packed warren of Chinese
restaurants, shops, temples and street vendors. Great for gifts, and
fireworks on Chinese New Year.
Cliff House
The third Cliff House, which was built in 1909, after its two
predecessors burned, is considerably more modest than the eight-story
French chateau built by Adolph Sutro in 1896. This newest one, built in
1909 by Sutro s daughter, is operated by the National Park Service as a
restaurant and boast commanding views of the Pacific Ocean and Ocean
Beach.
Coit Tower
The wild local heiress Lillie Hitchcock donated the money for her
posthumous tribute the San Francisco fire department, the 180-foot tall
Coit Tower which overlooks an impressive 360 degree panorama view of the
Embarcadero, Pier 39, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mt. Sutro, and the
Financial District all in one dizzying sweep. Work up an appetite for
North Beach s Italian flair by trekking your way up Telegraph Hill to
peruse the view and the Diego Rivera style frescoes housed inside the
Tower.
Exploratorium
Founded in 1969 by noted physicist and educator Dr. Frank Oppenheimer,
the Exploratorium houses a playful array of over 650 hands-on science,
art, and human perception exhibits. From salt volcanos and bubble bombs
to fault lines and frogs, the line up tests imaginations young and old.
Just the building itself, a palatial domed structure left from the San
Francisco Pan Pacific Exhibition of 1916, is worth a visit.
Fisherman s Wharf
Popular with tourists and sea lions, Fisherman s Wharf is full of shops,
silly museums and family fun. Still a working wharf, its vendors sell
thousands of tons of fish and shellfish. Take an early morning walk down
"Fish Alley" to see fisherman at work. Later, the Wharf is
boardwalk-style family entertainment with decidedly tourist attractions
such as Ripley s Believe It or Not! Museum, the Red & White Fleet, a the
Wax Museum. For maritime-lovers and WWII buffs, the San Francisco
Maritime Musuem is at the foot of Polk St. and massive USS Pampanito is
docked right at Pier 45
Ghirardelli Square
Shopping and waterfront dining at fine restaurants and shops in historic
San Francisco Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory near San Francisco
Fisherman s Wharf. The building was saved from destruction in one of the
U.S. s first examples of adaptive reuse.Ghirardelli Square Chocolate
Festival takes place in early September.
Golden Gate Park
Larger than Central Park, the 1,000-acre Golden Gate Park;s treasure
trove of attractions includes Stybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, a
biodiversity hub where 6,000 plant species, including a towering display
of California redwoods, thrive; the ethereal Japanese Tea Garden; a
children s playground; the Asian Art Museum; MH de Young Memorial
Museum; and the California Academy of Sciences, with its aquarium,
Morrison Planetarium and laserium. Even more, the open tennis courts,
horse stables, baseball diamonds, polo grounds, croquet and lawn-bowling
greens, an archery field, a golf course and a fly-fishing pool draw an
outdoorsy crowd year-round. For a full experience, follow the green
panhandle between Fell and Oak streets straight into the park.
Grace Cathedral
The gothic landmark of the west coast, the ornate beauty of Grace
Cathedral is home to hidden gardens, curling dragon statues, and a
redwood pulpit that has seen the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama. The Grace hosts glorious
concerts year round and its Columbarium is the only sacred landmark in
San Francisco where freshly cremated remains may be laid to rest.
Mission District
The heart of San Francisco s predominantly Latino neighborhood is 24th
Street, a colorful collection of authentic restaurants, taquerias,
Mexican bakeries, produce markets, specialty shops and murals. Mission
Dolores at 16th and Dolores streets is the oldest structure in San
Francisco (many of San Francisco s Spanish pioneers are buried on the
site). Two blocks away on Dolores and 18th St., the palm tree studded
Dolores Park still has a Spanish flavor.
Union Square
A lone Corinthian column surrounded by newly installed palm trees marks
SF s mecca for shopaholics. Ringed by Macy s, Saks, Neiman Marcus, Nike
Town and Levi s stores along with colorful flower stands and street
performers. Surrounding streets feature superstores like Virgin
Megastore, FAO Schwarz, Gump s and Britex Fabrics along with boutiques
for Coach, Bulgari, Cartier, Thomas Pink, Louis Vuitton, MaxMara,
Emporio Armani, Diesel, Prada, Celine, Escada, Gucci, Guess, Hermes,
Agnes B., Betsey Johnson and Wilkes Bashford.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Fumihiko Maki s daring architecture is home to eclectic exhibitions,
performances and films. The lawn of Yerba Buena Gardens above is great
for frisbee throwing. The nearby Sony Metreon, which opened in 1999 has
become a major South of Market destination with 350,000 square feet of
shopping, restaurants, movie theaters, interactive arcades and
attractions.
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