Skip to main content

Throwback Thursday Downtown Detroit

By
Given the World Series will have concluded by the time (I'm writing this at 1:30 PM on 11/1/17) this road blog gets published I figured this one would be fitting since it involves baseball.  Originally I'm from the city of Detroit and I grew up as Tigers fan and attended countless games at Tigers Stadium.  In fact, I was at the last series at Tigers Stadium in 1999 with my Dad and Grandfather when the Tigers swept the Kansas City Royals.  Despite the Tigers completely sucking in 1999 having lost 92 games it was still an appropriate way to send out the old stadium before it was replaced by Comerica Park.  I didn't move from Michigan to Arizona until 2001 but for some reason I never found time to attend a game at Comerica Park.  By 2010 Comerica Park was already well established and I returned to the city for a family visit.  I actually stayed at the Motor City Casino which ironically had opened back in 1999.  I thought the view was pretty cool with a nice overlook of down town, the M-10/I-75 junction and even Grand River Avenue (former US 16).






I could also see something far more grim out the window as well; the Ruins of Tigers Stadium.  The old stadium had been completely razed by 2009 despite many private interests attempting to save it.  A lot of people blame the former major of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick for Tigers Stadium falling into ruin.  Whether that is true or not I couldn't speculate on but I can understand the suspicion given Kilpatrick is now occupies a cell in El Reno, Oklahoma.  Regardless the city of Detroit had already been going through hard times and they were only going to get worse in the years following my 2010 visit.  On a brighter note I could also see Michigan Avenue (US 12) and the Ambassador Bridge south where Tigers Stadium once stood.





Comerica Park is located on M-1/Woodward Avenue (former US 10) across from the Fox Theater.  I thought the new stadium really was in the perfect spot for some awesome views of downtown.  There was some nice tributes to Tiger's players of old in the outfield with statues and plaques.  Ford Field had opened a couple years after Comerica and I still haven't attended a Lions game there to date (oddly the Lions played a lot of games in Phoenix in the 2000s).  Really though at the end of the day despite the downtown setting and cool motif near the Fox things just aren't the same.






 
Tigers Stadium was a dump but it also had charm that can't be replaced by a newer structure.  Despite some of the shitty sight lines and highly questionable neighborhood you were right on top of the game.  I've never been to another Major League Stadium anywhere else of any vintage that had you so close to the actual game.  I might swing through downtown Detroit now and then but things will never be quite the same.  The city of Detroit post bankruptcy seems to be finally trying to embrace it's history rather than rip it to the ground.  If the Packard Plant has hope to survive then Tigers Stadium certainly could have too, but that's my opinion and it is too late now. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
3 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more