Detroit, Michigan - Ghost City USA

Noon day Ghost Town - Detroit, Michigan

Found myself in the Detroit area and I was excited to finally visit this amazing city. I had always admired the “Motor City” and its architecture but nothing could have prepared me for the reality that I found. I followed I-94 East into the city and then Highway 1 south. I parked in the Fox Theatre parking garage. The old Fox Theatre now welcomes rock and comedy acts which seems to me like a far cry from the glory days of the epic shows that must have played here once upon a time.  An older black gentleman there introduced me to 106.7 the “D” and this classic rock station “ROCKS!” what’s left of Detroit. I walked past Com America Park which is the home of the Detroit Tigers and this beautiful stadium seems somewhat out of place in this otherwise silent city. The surrounding areas are a bit sketchy so I continued on. Freeway 10 provides access to downtown from I-94. I Walked down Woodward Ave to Grand Circus Park. This place must have been vibrant and amazing back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It is very quiet now. I can imagine the hustle and bustle though and hear the echoes of history as I look over the nearly deserted center of town from the Grand Circus People Mover platform. Got on the People Mover and rode it down to the Renaissance Center. Cost was 75 cents. The locals call it the “Mugger Mover”. Cars came every 5-10 minutes it seemed but the People Mover was largely deserted. I walked into the Renaissance Center and other than the large line at the Starbucks Coffee joint, the place seemed empty. I went down to the food court to get a bite to eat and there was no one around so I didn’t wait in line to get my chow, I just walked right up to the register at lunch time. Very strange for such a large complex. I walked through the General Motors showroom where there were beautiful new cars lined up, in particular I marveled at a new red 2013 Corvette but there were no people anywhere. I walked out of the “Ren Center” as it is called locally, into a bright and beautiful sunny day – because it was too depressing inside. I sat down on the steps that front the Detroit River in front of the “Ren Center” and ate my lunch which consisted of two “Coney Dogs” while watching a freighter pass. I sat and stared at Windsor, Canada across the river. A young black man approached me and asked me if I had a “light”. I told him I didn’t and he walked off saying to himself “Where is everybody”. I looked up at the 70 plus story “Ren Center” and thought to myself how quiet and un-busy it was around here, noon day on a week day. There were a handful of tourists around snapping pics but no locals it seemed. I walked down river to Hart Plaza, the literal heart of the city. It was deserted. One lone black man was reading history panels and I talked with him for a minute about how he never knew where the name of the city of Detroit came from until he read these panels. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who with his flotilla of 25 canoes, planted the flag of France on this river bank on 24 July 1701 in the name of King Louis XIV and founded Detroit. What an adventure that must have been back in the day. I spoke with the man at the panel for several minutes and realized that we are all the same; people that is. We all have interests, hopes and dreams. If only all of us could get past the color of our skin and judge people according to the content of their character rather than the color of their skin as Dr. King suggested so many years ago. There was a stirring monument there upon which I read about the role of Detroit in the Underground Railroad. After the fugitive slave act of 1850 was passed, which required slaves who escaped to be returned to their owners, many slaves goal became to reach Canada. Detroit was code named “Midnight” and was known as the doorway to freedom. Hiding places were “Stations”. Helpers were “Conductors”. Runaways were “Passengers” or “Baggage” on the Underground Railroad. There was a sobering statue with “Slave” and “Freemen” tags from Charleston, South Carolina etched upon it. There are interesting and somewhat bizarre art sculptures in Hart Plaza but it was abandoned and kinda creepy in the noon day sun with surveillance cameras growing like hair out of several fixtures. Huge memorials to organized labor in the shadow of the Ren Center at Hart Plaza. Ironic – the large part organized labor played in the demise of this once great city. The memorials to labor now stand lonely in the sun. Not even Obama’s money bags and bailouts could “make” Detroit prosper. It is a dead city. There are no people on the people mover; The “Grand Circus” is less than Grand; The Renaissance has past; and there is no pulse in “Hart” Plaza. The Times Square area is full of vacant skyscrapers. The 38 story, 495 foot “Book Tower”, which is an incredible and enormous gothic skyscraper from the glory days gone by, is abandoned with many windows knocked out. The 35 story “Broderick Tower” and many other high rise buildings are similarly vacant, giving the city a ghostly appearance. The only constants left in Detroit are the “Detroit Tigers” , the rising sun, and the water flowing by in the Detroit River. Across I-75 from the parking garage was a jumble of abandoned, spooky looking buildings. The tallest of which was 12 stories and had no windows. Across the top of the building someone painted giant letters which read “Zombie land”. It looked scary over there. I left Detroit and was glad to do it. It was no fun to be there. There was garbage everywhere, abandoned houses and buildings, and this former Marine didn’t feel safe even in broad daylight. I came to the sad realization that I don’t want to go to Detroit again and I would never bring my family there. A once proud city, a former icon of America…. is now abandoned