DETROIT • Houses for sale ONE DOLLAR

There are over 60,000 of these empty houses…..the city will eventually tear them down.  The cost of ONE DEMOLITION is $20,000.  Asbestos removal, disconnect water mains……gas lines and electric lines.

APARTMENT HOUSES go for $500.

CASS TECH HIGH in Detroit

CASS TECH HIGH………where I went to school………majoring in the Art Department……….and almost every student won a scholarship to an Art College.

My scholarship was to the Philadelphia College of Fine Art…..where I attended for four days…………then I quit and passed my scholarship onto my alternate………who was so grateful to receive it.  I went back to Detroit and worked at  Holland Associates Art studio.

There were 5000 students………all having to choose a university preparatory major.

A few of the distinguished graduates include:  Ellen Burstyn, Muriel Costa-Greenspon [nyc Opera], Artie Fields, Carole Gist [Miss USA], Naime Mora [Americas Next Top Model Winner], Della Reese, Lily tomlin, John Delorean, Charles Wysocki

The school was built in 1917. This photo shows a deserted building that was demolished  in 2011.  There was a last ditch effort to save the building….led by Diana Ross.……who was one of my class mates.

The auditorium where the DRAMA DEPT staged their performances.

I wrecked quite a few experiments in this chemistry lab………and it was the only class that I failed……..and had to repeat  in summer school.

American  History was taught in this classroom……..but I slept thru most of the lectures.  I am currently reading the textbook that was used…..trying to “catch up”

Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr………”I have a dream”……….

On August 28th, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.………….speaking to marchers during his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

 

 

The following photos are in DETROIT during the race riots.

 

Dr. King was assassinated on April 4. 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

GIVE ME YOUR SHIRT………….

AND I’LL GIVE YOU A SKIRT !

[service charge is $30]

Give her a call :  {313} 207-2826

My friend Maria……….in Detroit……..is now into the fashion world of tease……..ooooops………TEES !

Send her your TEE and she’ll return it as a very “chic” skirt that is impossibly flirty.

Braided ties for a BOHO sweet finish.

The details are entirely enticing.

Maria………..actor……singer…….dancer………and now, FASHION DESIGNER

CLICK ON

and watch her interview.

AYN RAND predicted the downfall of DETROIT

In Ayn Rand’s book…..ATLAS SHRUGGED……..She described how American Cities would die…….she called hers Starnesville.  Detroit fits that description.  BANKRUPT.

Ayn’s description:

A few houses still stood within the skeleton of what had once been an industrial town. Everything that could move, had moved away; but some human beings had remained. The empty structures were vertical rubble; they had been eaten, not by time, but by men . . . The inhabited houses were scattered at random among the ruins; the smoke of their chimneys was the only movement visible in town . . . Beyond the town, on a distant hill, stood the factory of the Twentieth Century Motor Company. Its walls, roof lines and smokestacks looked trim, impregnable like a fortress. It would have seemed intact but for a silver water tank: the water tank was tipped sidewise.

This is Cass Technical High……where I went to school in 1958.

For Sale  $100.  The Chas. W. Hauschrr building.

What isn’t dumped in the street…..is stolen.

80,000 houses are in this condition.  Anything of value has been stolen……….plumbing and wiring ripped out and sold.

This is the house where I lived in 1950.

The only sign of life near here is a liquor store on Jefferson Ave.

A hundred abandoned schools.  Illiteracy is almost 50%.

 

 

 

 

City of Detroit 111……the STEAMER

The steamer….CITY of DETROIT 111…….was built in 1910 by the Detroit Shipbuilding Co.  It was designed by Frank E. Kirby.

In todays’s dollars…..the ship would  cost $38 million.  It was the largest side-wheeler in the world……….traveling between Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit.

The interior decoratios were designed  by painter and architect Louis O. Keil.

The “Gothic Room” with it’s gothic architecture.

The ship was taken out of service in 1950 and sold for scrap six years later.  The GOTHIC ROOM was salvaged and can now be seen in the Dossin Great Lakes Museum.

DETROIT……….I was there for the last 2 weeks

On Grand River Avenue………across from the abandoned Train Station………

was this very interesting GRAFFITI.

Click on to learn more about it.

http://www.dare-dare.org/

DETROIT…….Houses that are Homes

My sister, Wini, and I drove around our old neighborhood……..and this is what is left of it…….and some people are actually living in these houses.

CLICK ON TO SEE MORE:      Detroit City Tour of Ghetto (final cut) – YouTube

I was born in this house on the corner of Alexanderine and Cass Ave.  Looks like someone is trying to restore it.

This reminds me of the time that City Marshals evicted us for non-payment of rent.  A neighbor let us move into their garage in the alley.  Then local kids broke into the garage and stole it all.

Three little kids were on their porch.  We gave them a pumpkin………and they ran inside.

Sidewalks grown over……ghostly !  The entire city block looks like this.  Only 3 houses left standing.

The man who lives in here came out and shooed us away.

A guy came out and told us he would call the police if we didn’t leave! WE LEFT!

My friend Lucy used to live here.  She was the dress buyer for Sak’s and Korvettes.  She now lives in Heaven. {I hope}.

Someone is trying hard to maintain their home.

We lived on this corner for 10 years………..

This Catholic church was just down the street on Trumbull Ave. Now it is the only building left for 12 blocks.  Homeless people are living in the basement.

Sad !  What happened to the family who lived here?

They were having a Bar-B-Q in the front yard!  I was NOT invited to chow down.

He is actually trying to restore this house.  GOOD LUCK!

Entire neighboorhoods are GONE.  Sidewalks GONE.   Families GONE.

This church was called HOPE GOSPEL when I was a kid. It’s still there on the corner of  what used to be Lincoln and Willis streets.

Now the church is on the corner of Aretha and Temptations!.  I get the “temptations” part………but Aretha?

Dionne Warwick sings “A House Is Not A Home” at St Lucia Jazz Festival – YouTube

DETROIT IS BANKRUPT………and burning down!

Detroit is BANKRUPT!  They have no more $$$ in the budget for tearing down the abandoned and burned out houses.  Tens of thousands have been demolished……..78,000 are waiting for demolition and the city only tears down about 1000 a year.  Kids have fun burning down the others.

This is 195 South Military…..where I lives as a child in the 50’s.

There are 43 firehouses …..but many of they have no fire fighters on duty.

95 percent of the fires are arson.  This was our living room and dining room.

Other fires are just labeled “suspicious”. They have only 15 ladder trucks with only have 27 engines…….duh!  This was our kitchen.

They only have 15 ladder trucks.

There are only 8 Batallion Chiefs to deal with the thousands of fires.

Peeling paint….or ART?  Both !!!

My childhood home is just one of the thousands of yearly  tragedies in Detroit.

DETROIT IS BANKRUPT…….Cass Tech High School is…….

Detroit tears the old schools down.  CASS TECH where I went to high school…..is GONE.

I was in town and watched the bull-dozers smash and destroy.

The new school is just across the street.  When I was there the enrollment was 5000 students.  Now there are only 2000……and 97% of the students are minorities..  Diana Ross rallied at the last moment to try and save the school.  She was too late.