Photographic and Historical Record of Detroit’s Vanishing Advertisements

Detroit-Area Food Distribution During Global Pandemic

Hunger is a huge problem. Individuals, businesses, churches and charities in Greater Detroit are doing their best to help stave off hunger. I began documenting Metro food distribution in October of 2020; as the months pass, the need is certainly accelerating. Detroit’s Afro American Mission on Clay Street sits quietly between two of the last […]

Read more

Detroit: Write On !

And thou shalt write […] upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates  –  Deuteronomy 11:20 As the Detroit urban landscape suffers abandonment and the population dwindles, the desire and motivation to deliver a hand-written public statement to inspire and alert are stymied by lack of people and walls. The longtime resource […]

Read more

Motown A Go Go 2019

The 2019 Motown A Go Go at Bert’s Warehouse Stage in the Eastern Market area of Detroit attracted over 300 dedicated music lovers from Great Britain’s Northern Soul Movement, in addition to a substantial Metro Detroit audience. The event spans four nights of live performances by 23 or so musical artists/acts that recorded in Detroit […]

Read more

“Honor Bright and Black Beauty” – Ghost Signs Lost in Detroit

I first discovered the “ghost” wall advertisements on Hamilton Avenue in Detroit on a cold January day in 2011. The building next door had come down to reveal the amazing hand-painted artwork. The exposed upper left corner of the wall promoted Square Deal Hardware. The rest of the surface was split between Honor Bright Boys […]

Read more

Sheps Barber and Beauty Shop Highland Park, Mi. (Detroit)

WHAT INITIALLY caught my attention on Hamilton Ave. was the Trayvon Martin memorial wall painting on the south wall of Sheps Barber and Beauty Shop. This is the second memorial image in Detroit.  I met Terry cranking down the steel entry cover. We struck up a conversation and I set an appointment to visit.   […]

Read more