Green exterior paint sales had a brief boom-now fading. Last I read, the City of Detroit had over 200 green beacons of hope. Medical marijuana dispensaries. This new business life in Detroit is coming off rapid growth, now that the City is beginning to monitor and regulate the location of stores established […]
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Bikers for Christ are looking for new members. Detroit Renegades are staked out on W. 8 Mile between Woodward and John R St. with their own outdoor advertising display signaling their presence. Sin City Deciples and Satan’s Sidekick Motorcycle Clubs of Detroit are rumored to be looking for new members. […]
“When we bought this building in 2001, all the buildings on Michigan Avenue were occupied, even with a bad economy”. Now they are nearly all empty or gone. For 15 years Angel and Gladys Cancel have kept Angel’s Place Restaurant open, serving food from their home, Puerto Rico. The interior is very basic, with homeland […]
I have never seen a more patriotic business on a summer day. In the clean morning light, the business vibrantly calls for recognition in Detroit. Flags flying, green grass, flowers, and layers of security. “You never know who may just walk right in and try to rob me”. He has permits for multiple guns and […]
Talking Shops: Detroit Commercial Folk Art is now available in paperback from Amazon and Wayne State University Press. Photographer David Clements captures a gloriously funky array of Detroit’s urban folk art”…Detroit Free Press. I have selected 10 images from the 135 photo publication for review. All photos are ephemera. Painted to attract business, warn off […]
THE STAGING AREA on Woodward Ave. in the Detroit Culture Center began to fill early in the morning with a wide variety of marching bands, floats, clowns, horses, all in a festive mood on this grey damp day. Sousaphone players brought up the rear of the massive Marysville High School Band numbering over 175 members. […]
I had met Aaron Gary Shackleford in the men’s bathroom during a gospel concert last year. His remarkable blue suit with matching shoes were amazing. We struck up a friendship, which is easy to do at these events. I had shared a photo of that meeting with him. Pastor Shackelford invited me to document a […]
When I drove past the little storefront, a brick wall building with second floor apartments, on S. Solvay St. near Fort Wayne in Detroit, what caught my eye were the plants in the window. The building sat on a block nearly empty of any life and architecture. Next door sits one remaining home, neatly painted […]
When I first saw and heard The Masters of Harmony I was amazed. A pure, balanced harmony of four stunning voices. A vaulted ceiling in the host church amplified true a Capella gospel quartet musicianship. The Masters of Harmony were one of 6 to 8 gospel groups on the bill for the evening. They gave only […]
PastorSam Scott (age 74) invited me to the weekly, Thursday 6:00pm rehearsal of The Pure Heart Travelers at his storefront church, Our Savior ABBA on East Warren in Detroit. The gospel group is rehearsing for their upcoming 48th Anniversary gospel event. Up drives Sam in the official Pure Heart Travelers van. He opens the building […]