Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2007 » Ford Auditorium Demo? « Previous Next »
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 9
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 3:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j b3/602977282/

Not really looking for any responses from anyone, i think i know most of your opinions on this subject. I jut wanted to post this picture and to say how much i really like this building. I've only been inside once when they still used it for high school graduation commencements. I actually don't care about the interior. I just love it's presence along the riverfront. I would hate to see it torn down. I find it very majestic, stoic, unapologetic, dignified...ultimately, to me it represents the essence of detroit. It would be a shame not to be able to adaptively re-use the building. What i do hate is the stupid parking lot in front along the River. It would be awesome to to be able to take back the parking lot and transform the lower portion into an outdoor market of some sort.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j b3/603003440/

It's tough enough being a pedestrian around the 'Jefferson/us10 divide' that we don't need to be disassociated from everything by more parking lots, especially along the riverfront. That goes for the UAW building too and that silly street running next to and below Hart Plaza. If we could just get the city to agree to selling street vendor licenses around Asian Village and the Riverfront, i think we'd have a truly awesome place!
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 1049
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 3:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I really like the blue walls (mica and granite, I think). Acoustics are poor but they could be fixed. Unfortunately, the "raison d'etre" for the building has been gone since 1989 when the DSO moved out. There just isn't a need for the performance space, and there hasn't been the political will to find alternate uses.
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French777
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Username: French777

Post Number: 181
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 10:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That was a cool idea to turn it into a Aqauarium


some one on here suggested that!
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 5694
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 10:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not just someone on here, it's been one of the plethora of proposals thrown at the thing to try to get the place renovated over the many years its been vacant. It it were to be an aquarium it would have to most definitely be a privately owned and operated one. The city can't/doesn't even want to keep the small Belle Isle Aquarium opened, let alone a full-scale regional/national attraction-type aquarium.
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Granmontrules
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Username: Granmontrules

Post Number: 104
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 8:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Tear it down (Ford Auditorium). The City doesn't need to spend money doing an aquarium there. I am ok with an aquarium - but the city shouldn't have anything to do with it (other than approving it being built). And I don't think aquariums are exactly large moneymakers.
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 15
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 9:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Aquarium?!? OOOKay. Not sure if that's the best idea, but tear it down because it can't be an aquarium? ugh, i'm way too hungover to be posting right now. Went to Vincente's on Library last night. Best Sangria's in the world is say. It was like a tasty desert in alcoholic form.



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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 4660
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 2:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The aquarium idea on the Ford Auditorium site has been bandied about since CAY was mayor, but it was always just an idea that never took off. They were always rather ambiguous about whether it would involve the auditorium structure, or a new building to replace it (more likely).

But the Ford family was still angry about the closure of the auditorium, so it never made it past the idea stages.
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Granmontrules
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Username: Granmontrules

Post Number: 105
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 4:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hmmmm is that my mother-in-law dancing?
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Ltdave
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Username: Ltdave

Post Number: 71
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 5:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

And I don't think aquariums are exactly large moneymakers.

have you ever been to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago? it is such a poor money maker that there are perpetual lines consisting of up to 2 hours wait time to get in to see some of their special exhibits. it is also pertinent to get your tickets for the pacific gray dolphins in advance or you wont get in...

of course the Shedd is all part of a greater intelligent use plan of the Chicago waterfront. something Detroit is just now starting to grasp...

david
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 5696
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 6:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Who's quote is that? I'm not a fan of cash-strapped Detroit trying to develop, own, and manage new large-scale aquarium, but that idea that they don't make money isn't the reason why. Most museums and such don't make back their money in full, and have to be subsidized by the municipality or region they are in.
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Catman_dude
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Username: Catman_dude

Post Number: 172
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 9:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Is the Ford family *still* mad about the closure of the Ford Auditorium?
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 5705
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 11:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If they are angry, it should be at the DSO, and even then, Orchestra Hall should be angry for the auditorium stealing away their symphony orchestra in the first place. Hell, everyone should be mad at everything!
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 4663
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 11:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There are Ford Centers for the Performing Arts in Chicago, New York, Toronto and Vancouver.

Detroit was first in 1955 with Ford Auditorium. But boy you would be surprised if you compared some of these other venues to it. The flagship of the Ford Centers is the Chicago Ford Center.

Chicago's 3,000 seat old Oriental Theatre movie palace (built by Rapp & Rapp in 1926, a 3/5 scale Far Eastern design similar to the Detroit Fox) was gloriously restored about 5 years ago as the Ford Center.

New York City has a smaller Ford Center, where the old Lyric Theatre and Apollo Theatre (not the famous one in Harlem) were dismantled and merged into a 1,800 seat Ford Center theatre that had the super opulent facade of the Lyric, and the ornate plasterwork of the Apollo.

If anything Detroit should get a Ford Center, and not just a rather plain auditorium. That's why I've always touted the Michigan Theatre (built on the site of the Bagley workshop where Henry Ford built his first engine and automobile back in the 1890's) would make an idea Ford Center for the Performing Arts... in the town that should have the flagship theatre (4,050 seats)... Detroit!!

Michael Hauser (author of 2 Arcadia books - Movie Palaces & Hudson's), once told me that it would probably cost $50-$60 million to bring the former Michigan Theatre back as a performing arts venue, something he said will never happen.

Of course, they'd have to build Michigan Building owner Anthony Pieroni another parking structure for his tenants.

Maybe we could get Atty. Gen. Mike Cox to talk to the Ford Foundation about paying for it all! :-)
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Ramcharger
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Username: Ramcharger

Post Number: 337
Registered: 05-2006
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 1:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I always thought the building could have been remodeled to serve as a Motown museum with films and exhibits telling the Motown story, a terraced café overlooking the river and shuttle buses to Hitsville U.S.A.

Another idea was that it could have become a satellite art museum in association with the DIA dedicated to a specific artist or artistic movement. Of course, something like would have required a generous benefactor. If only Henry Ford II had saw fit to donate his expansive Impressionism collection upon his death.

In any case, I’m afraid Ford Auditorium’s days are numbered. It has been unmaintained for too long and as Burnsie said in an earlier post “there hasn't been the political will to find alternate uses.”
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2441
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 8:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

More like the political will is not to do anything with Ford auditorium.


I appreciate your sentiment Gistock but lets face it; it borders on derangement and is a fantasy at best. There will be no restoration of the Mich theater it is a parking structure.


Ford auditorium should have never been let deteriorate to the condition it is. If we are going to use the logic some of you have about how often it is being used or what purpose it serves then about 3/4ths of Detroit should be gone_ Music hall, Orchestra hall, Book-Cad, and numerous other buildings should have been demolished years ago using that logic.


Perhaps some of you would be content with Detroit looking like Troy or some other generic urban locale_ whether it happens or not Ford aud deserves a better fate than what it has gotten from the city of Detroit............but then there is a lot that deserves better from the city.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1450
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 8:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The steel ball will start swinging at Ford auditorium during Bill Ford senior's funeral.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 4664
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 1:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well thanks for calling my folly "derangement" Citylover... I guess "subtlety" isn't in your vocabulary".

At least I am happy to be in good company... many folks thought Dr. David DiChiera deranged for the Capitol Theatre restoration as the Detroit Opera House... today they use a different word... smart!

(Message edited by Gistok on June 25, 2007)
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Johnlodge
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Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 734
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 1:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I dunno... It's kinda ugly, and ugly things don't belong on the river. (I'm lookin' at you, Cobo...)
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Crew
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Username: Crew

Post Number: 1303
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 2:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Johnlodge, I thought the same thing about some of the poeple I saw on the Riverwalk on Saturday.
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Johnlodge
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Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 735
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 - 2:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hmm. It is amazing what some people are willing to wear, who maybe possibly shouldn't be...
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Civilprotectionunit4346
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Username: Civilprotectionunit4346

Post Number: 82
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 10:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It'll be a good possibility it will be razed due to the whole riverfront program. They'll build something there in it's spot when it's demolished. I am thinking it might wind up sitting around like most buildings that the city has planned on demo'ing for a little while. My question is what is there plans to do with Joe Luis Arena once Illitch builds the new one?
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Crash67
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Username: Crash67

Post Number: 12
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 2:40 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Another option for the Ford Auditorium site ... similar to Ramcharger's concept but a little broader in scope.

What if there was a downtown Detroit attraction that embraced ALL of the musical history of Detroit in the 20th and 21st centuries?

Not just the Sound of Young America, but Detroit's rich history in gospel, blues, jazz, classical, techno, hip hop and rock. Rekindle the knowledge of Ossip Gabrilowitsch and the early 20th Century rise of the Detroit Symphony, McKinney's Cotton Pickers and all the great jazz cats that came out of Detroit, John Lee Hooker and the blues, the gospel greats Rev. James Cleveland and Aretha Franklin, the various rock sounds that came out of Detroit and its environs (from 50s doo-wop and Jack Scott to all the Motown superstars, Mitch Ryder, the MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, the Romantics, all the way to the White Stripes and today's garage resurgence), the birth of techno and the Belleville 3, and the hip hop superstars that hail from the D (Eminem, D12, J Dilla and others).

A multi-media experience combining a Detroit music hall of fame (of sorts), interactive exhibits, cool stuff to see, a cafe, and an intimate performance venue could work downtown and attract both natives and tourists alike ... don't you think?

This would give the City a chance to right the wrong that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wasn't built here, while creating a diverse attraction that everyone (and their musical tastes) could be proud of.

Would you support something like this, if someone could make it happen in Detroit?
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Oldredfordette
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Username: Oldredfordette

Post Number: 2066
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 2:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Legacy of Music Museum?
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 24
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 11:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I like it Crash. the cultural center has all of it's museums and tourist draws, but what at the river front other than the river (yes i know, event medium that draw isolated groups...conventions, hockey fans, concerts...). The first thing evryone will scream about is parking though. So i pose the question, is parking an issue for such a venue? Is it something we as Detroiters should continue to rack our brains over or do we say we have enough parking around the City and with the people mover to get em around and not worry about it?

Cleveland has it's rocknroll hall of fame on the riverfront as well as the science museum. Is Cleveland better than us? Good idea Crash and Ramcharger, let's run with it!

I seriously hope it doesn't get torn down. I know alot of you think it's ugly, but if they got rid of that cop parking lot and turned it into a little plaza, it would make a great transition spot along the riverwalk. With the monolithic wall, it offers a psychological spot of refuge away from the cold hardscape of the Jefferson/10 divide.
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 25
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I imagine with a small plaza it would even get people to use the riverwalk in winter when it will be hardpressed for the sight of another living soul. ...Good historic music playing in the little plaza...maybe spark a comeback of twenties nightclubs with jazz and featured local nightingales...i'd pay money to see some beautiful women singing to just a piano...Jessica Rabbit anyone? What was that movie with the two Bridges brothers and Michelle Phieffer?
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Digitaldom
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Username: Digitaldom

Post Number: 635
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 11:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry Gistok have to disagree with you here.. Ford Aud.. needs to be demoed.. It's NOT a good looking structure.. adds nothing to Hart Plaza.. It seems out of place to be honest.. Another theatre deserves more attention NOT the ford...

The plans for hart plaza I agree with.. demo it.. and redo the whole area.. We have cracking concrete around the area.. potential lawsuit.. I call it on the tours a concrete jungle.. bring a green space back to the river.. Give it life...

My thoughts..

Dan
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Crash67
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Username: Crash67

Post Number: 14
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 12:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jb3:

That movie was "The Fabulous Baker Boys."

Ironically, I'm originally from Cleveland (born and raised), but I've been a Detroiter full-time for the last 19 years.

Thanks for your thoughts ... now, what do the rest of you think?

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