Grab a bucket of pop corn and crack open your mind.

Detroit Michigan skyline reflectionsBecause I’m totally wiped out, (I underestimated Utah. It kicked the crap out of me), I am going to substitute today’s post with the following message which I think is an important one to convey. Recently while discussing this matter on the AHTBM Facebook page I declared the following;

“- This is what I was saying years ago. From isolated and run down neighborhoods in Brooklyn to Oakland to San Francisco’s SOMA district to lower downtown Denver to the warehouse district in Minneapolis… All of these neighborhoods were effectively populated by artists and musicians. Eventually when the neighborhoods were deemed hip and safe, developers move in and throw up bullshit ‘artist’s lofts’. SOHO is a prime example of this happening years and years ago… So this repopulation that they are talking about is the exact same principal but not just in a district or neighborhood. This is happening in an ENTIRE FUCKING CITY. This has never happened before on such a broad scale and I for one am extraordinarily excited about it.”

Just watch the documentary, and decide for yourselves. From my perspective, there is an incredibly inspiring renaissance taking place in The Motor City. One which could conceivably teach us a lot about ourselves, our hand in bringing manufacturing back home (even on a small scale) and the various environments in which we live.


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20 Responses to “Grab a bucket of pop corn and crack open your mind.”

  1. Pete July 26, 2012 at 5:22 am #

    Thanks for posting this Stevil. I love this city and it’s been fun and exciting to see the beginnings of a turnaround here. The renaissance you refer to is very real and is the direct result of people taking a fresh look at the city and deciding to invest not only their money but more importantly, their time. And despite its moniker, it’s actually incredibly bike friendly.

  2. b-real July 26, 2012 at 5:54 am #

    USA manufacturing output is higher now, even in the “recession” than it ever has been, but technology has increased efficiency & eliminated jobs while still producing more (this is the so-called “loss of American manufacturing” that a lot of people talk about). Technology eliminates jobs. Weblog vs zine, candle makers vs light bulbs, seamless tubing vs blacksmiths, refrigerators vs ice makers, automobiles/trains/airplanes vs horse carriage/ship builders. Et cetera.

    http://mercatus.org/publication/us-manufacturing-output-vs-jobs-1975

  3. Tamie H July 26, 2012 at 6:28 am #

    That was awesome! Thanks for sharing it.

  4. bRad o July 26, 2012 at 6:39 am #

    Awesome shit

  5. isabella July 26, 2012 at 7:09 am #

    i would already be there if there were a mountain and an ocean there, too. it is an exciting time for that town. we should all go live it and experience it before it’s taken over by developers, chain stores and gentrification

    • Stevil July 26, 2012 at 7:24 am #

      It’s like America’s (broke down) Prague.

      • isabella July 26, 2012 at 9:52 am #

        except that the drug of choice is probably crack vs
        heroin

        • Johnbanger July 26, 2012 at 8:13 pm #

          Wrong wrong wrong! As someone conceived in the backseat of a suburban in Hamtramck, you need to be enlightened. There is only one drug of choice in Detroit, and that drug is Nuke.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hg-nM3YLnE

    • Andrew Warren July 29, 2012 at 9:04 am #

      Just to clarify, what you just witnessed in that video is a form of gentrification, by definition.

      • Stevil July 29, 2012 at 3:46 pm #

        And in this case, the gentrification is something that can save a city.

  6. brainbow July 26, 2012 at 7:25 am #

    Having worked in Detroit 6 years ago, it’s impossible not to have felt the immense potential. Like a long, winding, bombed out, steep-ass hill climb that might dead-end on some derelict washing machine, but you absolutely got to do. Viva Detroit!

  7. gabrielle July 26, 2012 at 7:28 am #

    Artists with business sense can wreak some serious positive change all over this country. I’m using this documentary in my high school art classes this fall. Thanks for posting it.

  8. hellbelly July 26, 2012 at 8:14 am #

    I thought of Prague too. Amazing video!!! Thanx for posting…hmmmm, maybe I could go fix the artisans and hipsters choppers? Ha!

  9. Sky Blu July 26, 2012 at 11:26 am #

    I’ve never been more interested in Detroit than I am now. Great video, I’m glad you posted it and I’m sure it was a difficult decision on choosing what’s more important in our country when you have other eye openers like this on the front pages: http://omg.yahoo.com/news/robert-pattinson-packs-up-and-leaves-the-home-he-shares-with-kristen-stewart-after-her-cheating-scandal.html

  10. Sjouke July 26, 2012 at 1:22 pm #

    It is time to acknowledge the truth: that our leaders have nothing to say, really, about any of this. They have nothing to suggest, really, to Cairo, Illinois, or St. Joseph, Missouri. They have no comment to make, really, about the depopulation of the countryside or the deindustrialization of the Midwest. They have nothing to offer, really, but the same suggestions as before, gussied up with a new set of clichés. They have no idea what to do for places or people that aren’t already successful or that have no prospects of ever becoming cool.

    http://www.thebaffler.com/past/dead_end_on_shakin_street/P2

  11. Newtron July 26, 2012 at 3:56 pm #

    glad to see this again…it almost made me move back home the first time I watched it…

  12. pedalman July 26, 2012 at 5:55 pm #

    I’m thinking Danny MacAskill could have a good time in Detroit.

  13. dirty randy July 26, 2012 at 9:00 pm #

    Growing up in Detroit I can attest to the fact that anyone can have fun in Detroit. Cass Corridor….i spent most of my free time skating and riding all over that place. There is some amazing old architecture there. The old County Building is to be beheld, bronze horses and chariots on top!?!

  14. irishpunk59 July 27, 2012 at 8:18 am #

    shite if the beehive state kicked your ass what chance do I have. but still will haul mt bike (and beer dear lord there will be beer despite the lds inlaws) over there end of next week will let you how it turns out.

  15. Sailor July 30, 2012 at 5:36 am #

    Having been born and raised in Detroit, I am glad that there seems to be a real breath of air being pumped into the city And not another failed government program. As a kid riding and skating around the city I witnessed the decline after the riots in 67. What killed Detroit was racism and classism the same cancers that are killing Urban centers all across this country.