There is a lot going on in a small section of town that contains … almost nothing. President Woodrow Wilson Avenue in Detroit initially reflected the residential prosperity of Detroit, circa 1913. The building is the People’s Block. Nowadays, the President Woodrow Wilson (W.W.) corridor neighborhood is nearly vacant. It’s certainly wide enough to land […]
Shot IN Detroit
I began documenting public responses to the global COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020. As more recognition of the problem emerged, individuals set out to address the issue. This man is promoting wearing masks for safety here on the street in the Indian Village community of Detroit. In a quiet community in Detroit a […]
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 […]
Hair care in Detroit is a huge cash business. Beauty salons, predominantly female owned, and male-owned barbershops, take on unwanted retail space in nearly-impossible locations along major streets. The goal is to establish an independent money flow in the city’s often-difficult financial environment, and involves spending long hours on your feet. Building a regular client […]
A subtle green-trimmed sign in front of the Paris Hotel on St. Aubin Street in Detroit reads,“Your Home Away From Home Since 1952” Now abandoned, the hotel sits forlorn in a desolate location. Green is not the most popular architectural color in Detroit, but Glass House Hand Car Wash survives, and makes a brilliant statement […]
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 […]
Blue is not the most common color in Detroit architecture – it competes with the sky and is hard to see at night – but it’s a constant in the landscape. Spray Services is a current business that supplies paint equipment for auto repair. Sam’s Auto Parts’ sign still stands on 8 Mile, and OK […]
I stopped at Euclid and Brush St. in Detroit to photograph the exterior of W.F. Reynolds Plumbing. Great light! I was preparing for an interview with owners Frank and Stephanie Reynolds later in the month. I was standing on that corner framing up the shot when an SUV drove up. Out popped a woman who […]
In 2012 I met Kathina Cary. She was delivering a foil covered meal to a local resident at the end of the block. She lived just off the corner of McClellan Street and Goethe (locally pronounced GO-thee) Street, once a prosperous and dense North-South street on the East side of Detroit. Kathina had envisioned a […]
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 […]