Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1630 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20070810/NEW S05/708100325/1007 Pointless speculation, but hey, it seems to be a slow day here on DYes. |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1393 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:37 pm: | |
If they really wanted to extend the Dream Cruise to the end of Woodward downtown, then 2007 would prob. have been the year to do it with the "Hands Along Woodward," but at least it is still being considered. |
Pythonmaster Member Username: Pythonmaster
Post Number: 83 Registered: 12-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:41 pm: | |
I live near Ten and Woodward and I wish they would extend it right up out of here. |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1396 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:45 pm: | |
yeah that was one of Detroit Synergy's arguments for extending it: there is plenty of room at like the traffic circle in Campus Martius for the 'dream' traffic to disperse and/or turn around. |
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248
Post Number: 813 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:54 pm: | |
Ditto python. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3542 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 6:05 pm: | |
Not worth it. Historically speaking, the "cruising" was not a Detroit thing. This would just be another downtown event. A day or two or three with a little spinoff business for downtown restaurants and such, but no substantial benefit. Plus if the Tigers are in town or some other event is already on tap, then it could just cause congestion and add overflow to already large downtown crowds. If you coordinate it to occur during a time when you know downtown will be dead, maybe it's worth having all the suburbanites and their smelly cars in the city. But I wouldn't be there. I think most people who do cruise to downtown would take one of the freeways down to midtown and then drive from their. Most would be too scared to drive their prize possessions through the 8-mile to 94 stretch. |
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248
Post Number: 817 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 6:09 pm: | |
Mackinaw you obviously don't live on the Woodward corridor. Nuff said. |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1400 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 1:03 pm: | |
If you were to go downtown and bypass "the 8-mile to 94 stretch," you would miss out on passing by some of the historic locations that led to the car that you are driving. End result is that that would be very ironic. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3549 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:08 pm: | |
Yvette248, I'm wondering what you are hinting at. You're correct, I don't, but you leave a lot up in the air here. Are you referring to Woodward in Detroit or in the 248? Are you of the opinion that bringing the cruise to Detroit would be good or bad? Are you saying I'm misinformed?...I have been at the DC once. So what does living on Woodward have to do with my comments? |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1405 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:25 pm: | |
I think that she is saying that she hates the traffic where it currently ends (at about ten or nine mile) as all of the vehicles come around and/or stop and have to make their way back up Woodward. Interesting thing is that if the Cruise even made it down simply across Eight Mile, there is plenty of room there for vehicles to turn around. Maybe there could even be some sort of stagging area at the State Fairgrounds with some car related events and what not. |
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 1805 Registered: 06-2006
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:31 pm: | |
There are too many areas of Woodward between downtown and 8 Mile that simply aren't pleasant to drive though and that people from the suburbs don't feel safe in... Also, I'm not sure a guy driving his family around in his classic convertible really wants to pass De Ja Vu or that hotel in HP that always has hookers out in front of it... You all can scream racism, ignorance, intolerance if you want to, but reality is still that the vast majority of cruisers won't be roaming south of 8 Mile anytime soon... |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1407 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:38 pm: | |
Well you don't see to many Detroiters at the Dream Cruise, do you? |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1672 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 3:21 pm: | |
"If you coordinate it to occur during a time when you know downtown will be dead, maybe it's worth having all the suburbanites and their smelly cars in the city. But I wouldn't be there. " Lots of people and cars in a city? You're right, that's that's just silly. What are they thinking. |
Pam Member Username: Pam
Post Number: 2280 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:22 pm: | |
quote:Interesting thing is that if the Cruise even made it down simply across Eight Mile, there is plenty of room there for vehicles to turn around. Maybe there could even be some sort of stagging area at the State Fairgrounds with some car related events and what not. They have done that in past years. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3553 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:38 pm: | |
JLodge, it would be a good thing, just not something that I'd be interested in. If the merchants downtown want an extra event, and I'm sure they want the $$, then do it. I'm basically just hinting at the fact that the impact would be the equivalent of a couple Tigers' game crowds...certainly an impact, but big enough to justify the traffic and pollution? I don't know, we'll let the people in charge decide. I think TJ is right about the suburban mindset. Plus the DC participants probably aren't the younger, more open-minded suburbanites who make more frequent trips to the city when they go out. My father is in his 50s and is quite comfortable with the city, but I can't see him wanting to leave his classic car in a garage or street, even downtown. He has a hard enough time walking away from it in the burbs. I'm sure the same attitude holds for many classic car people. Most people love these cars more than their homes, and in a city with a property crime problem, how many people will do anything other than cruise downtown and then cruise back to OC, without making any stops? |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1409 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:47 pm: | |
Yeah most Dream Cruisers prob aren't trying to make a statement by crossing Eight Mile or not; they are just out to do what they did back when they were younger. No reason though that those that live in city shouldn't have a cruise there as well, no? Tell me people don't cruise within the city limits. Certainly might be a different setting though. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3556 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:57 pm: | |
Historically, though, this was an activity in the 50s-70s, as the products of the early baby boom turned 16 and got out of their north of 8-mile sububs to go to a communal gathering space and burn cheap gasoline in so doing. The Free Press article notes how things were different in the city-- plus, the city was a changing place and not the popular place for suburban youth to drive to in their hoopties-- but I really don't know as I was not around in this time period. |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2421 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 7:50 pm: | |
Well, we can see if a car event can work in downtown Detroit when the Detroit Festival of Speed and Style is held in two weeks, Aug. 24-26, at Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit. "The free, three-day event features a car show and a cruise down Jefferson Avenue to Belle Isle that includes a lap around the Grand Prix race track. ... Many high-end car shows attract older car buffs, Towns said. The festival instead is targeting people who love cars from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. That means there will be plenty of low riders, classic cars and Detroit muscle cars with growling engines and custom paint jobs, cars not traditionally seen at shows such as the Concours d'Elegance."" http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/U PDATE/708010432/1003/ Official website: http://www.detroitfestivalofsp eedandstyle.com/ |
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz
Post Number: 2883 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 9:18 pm: | |
Way down low riders. |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1684 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 10:09 pm: | |
"I think TJ is right about the suburban mindset. Plus the DC participants probably aren't the younger, more open-minded suburbanites who make more frequent trips to the city when they go out. My father is in his 50s and is quite comfortable with the city, but I can't see him wanting to leave his classic car in a garage or street, even downtown. He has a hard enough time walking away from it in the burbs. I'm sure the same attitude holds for many classic car people. Most people love these cars more than their homes, and in a city with a property crime problem, how many people will do anything other than cruise downtown and then cruise back to OC, without making any stops?" Well I think you are right Mackinaw, and I think a big part of it is that people aren't going to cruise where there aren't people to see them do it. They want to be seen, and they won't be seen by too many cruising through Highland Park, but Woodward in Royal Oak will be lined five deep with onlookers. (Message edited by johnlodge on August 11, 2007) |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3559 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 11:05 pm: | |
Yeah, it's a scene where people want to be seen. Gives people who put $$ into their cars a lot of gratification. If you do it just right this can be a great downtown event; I think a lot of onlookers would show up around merchant's row, etc. I just hope that the people with the nice cars show up, and aren't scared away by the drive. Perhaps I'm too negative here. |
Silverbeauty Member Username: Silverbeauty
Post Number: 28 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 11:31 pm: | |
ditto pythonmaster and yvette248 Mackinaw mentioned spinoff business, we have a business in Birmingham. We have closed every year for the past 6 or so years on "dream cruise Saturday" there is no spinoff business for business owners. Anybody in town is there for the cruise. They aren't shopping and I don't think the restaurants are that busy. Non cruise people can't get to town because the traffic is so bad. So I don't think the cruise creates any spinoff business. Unless of course you are selling lawn chairs, water and umbrellas. |
Angry_dad Member Username: Angry_dad
Post Number: 160 Registered: 02-2006
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 3:10 am: | |
If you could be making money selling lawn chairs, water & umbrellas... why aren't you? Most businesses aren't open Xmas, New Years or Thanksgiving but they sure do use the occasion to sell. |
Royce Member Username: Royce
Post Number: 2351 Registered: 07-2004
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 3:18 am: | |
Thejesus, you are a racist and you are ignorant. |
Silverbeauty Member Username: Silverbeauty
Post Number: 29 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 7:07 am: | |
>>>If you could be making money selling lawn chairs, water & umbrellas... why aren't you?<<< We don't sell those items in our store. It wouldn't make sense to carry them for one day. This is not a retail event. It brings no spinoff business for local businesses. Many stores,beauty salons, even doctors offices in Birmingham close for the day. |
Silverbeauty Member Username: Silverbeauty
Post Number: 30 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 7:15 am: | |
>>>Most businesses aren't open Xmas, New Years or Thanksgiving but they sure do use the occasion to sell.<<< Xmas is a retail holiday, you can't compare Xmas and the dream cruise. Thanksgiving and New Years aren't retail holidays, we are closed then also. |
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln
Post Number: 88 Registered: 06-2007
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:15 am: | |
Detroit does fine without it. Its not a spectator hobby down there, its a summerlong way of life. I see old convertibles, oldsmobiles,chevy caprices and the occasional Rolls Royce on Jefferson whenever its warm out. The DC is largely a spectator event that gathers media attention. Cruising in a classic or beefed up car on Belle Isle is just a part of city life in the D. I never see people in the suburbs with car club logos on their back windshields like I have in Detroit. They cruise half the year just because thats part of the culture of the city that once was the automotive capitol.Actually, Im kind of envious of that.... |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2422 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:39 am: | |
Silverbeauty: I've always wondered why the Woodward Ave. retailers don't use the Dream Cruise simply as a way to advertise their wares or services, passing out welcome flyers with information and a coupon inviting people back to check them out. Certainly I realize that might not work for all types of businesses, and I have no idea what your situation is, but as a Woodward Ave. patron, I know that there are a lot of establishments that would or could be attractive to customers if they knew more about them. Some of them are well-kept secrets outside their core customers. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3563 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:57 am: | |
Interesting insight, Silverbeauty. |
Silverbeauty Member Username: Silverbeauty
Post Number: 31 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:41 am: | |
>>>Silverbeauty: I've always wondered why the Woodward Ave. retailers don't use the Dream Cruise simply as a way to advertise their wares or services, passing out welcome flyers with information and a coupon inviting people back to check them out<<< Our store is kinda known as a well kept secret. We have a great customer base, they don't come shopping dream cruise Saturday. There just isn't a retail interest that day. Sure we could bring some people in, but not enough to warrant keeping the store open. Our manager lives east of Woodward, she can't get across Woodward to get to work that day. Too hard on our employees to get there. It just isn't worth it. |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2424 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:56 am: | |
I'm not talking about being open on Dream Cruise Saturday per se, but using the day as an opportunity to publicize one's business to bring people in after the Cruise and throughout the year. Use the day as a way to grow the business through some proactive marketing. Stand in front of the business and pass out flyers, business cards, magnets, etc. Offer a discount coupon to encourage people to check you out in the month following the cruise. We've lived in Royal Oak for over 25 years. I love to shop the local businesses rather than go to the mall. But new businesses pop up and then are gone before I know it. And there are establishments that are "hidden" within the storefronts that all of a sudden one day we find are there and have been there for a few years or longer...because we walk the Cruise route for a couple miles in both directions. As for getting to your establishment on Cruise Day, well, I guess if you get out early enough, you could get there easily enough. We've been out that Saturday morning as early as 7am so that we can cruise the entire route from the State Fairgrounds all the up to The Loop in Pontiac. I know that one can find parking within walking distance of Woodward until mid-morning. Where there's a will, there's a way. |
Eric_w Member Username: Eric_w
Post Number: 284 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 4:05 pm: | |
Cruising the Detroit stretch of Woodward-what a joke!Hookers,crackheads,bums pissing or crapping in plain sight and god knows what else. The thugs might enjoy it though-extra gun targets. |
Gumby Member Username: Gumby
Post Number: 1596 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 5:39 pm: | |
Same thing was said up here in FLint five years ago when our Back to the Bricks Cruise started. "Who would drive their car downtown FLint?" Well the nay-sayers were proven wrong when they drew 600 cars and between 6,000-7,000 people. It grew to 2200 cars and around 12,000 people last year. MInd you it is also held the same week that the Woodward DC is. I think you would be surprised at the amount of people that would make the trip. http://www.backtothebricks.org / |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2426 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 6:37 pm: | |
Hey Gumby!! Yes, I would make the drive up to Flint for the Back to the Bricks Cruise event...if it weren't the same weekend as the Woodward Dream Cruise. It sounds like fun, but I won't miss our event here! |
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248
Post Number: 830 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:18 pm: | |
Hey Mackinaw. Yes, I was referring to the annual madness of trying to fit 1 million people in a two square block radius. However, your concerns about "crime in Detroit" is not valid. If you've ever taken the time to go downtown, you would know that the vast majority of people down there for events (Tigers, Lions, Red Wings) ARE suburbanites. They are not "scared" to go downtown. They are down there hanging out and having a great time on a regular basis - drinking, driving and cheering for their favorite teams without incident. Charlotte, you made a good point. Even if it doesn't extend downtown, extending it to State Fair is a logical alternative. Trying to turn thousands of cars around at 696 is just NOT a good idea. Every August, I absolutely HATE where I live for just this reason. |
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2427 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 9:43 pm: | |
Doesn't the current Dream Cruise route extend south nearly to Eight Mile Road? Certainly it goes south of 696 because both Pleasant Ridge and Ferndale have Cruise events. And in the past, there were Cruise events at the State Fairgrounds as part of the State Fair, but that didn't work out for the Fair as they had to open the Fair about 5 days earlier than usual. Still seems like something could or should be worked out with the Fairgrounds. |
Angry_dad Member Username: Angry_dad
Post Number: 161 Registered: 02-2006
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:30 pm: | |
The arguments against the cruise just don't make sense. Sure it's a bunch of people, but if you are so set against it, may as well ban all parades, holidays, heck every day will be the same. That a business doesn't use the event as a way to pass out fliers and promote themselves, just silly. And as far as living through, screw that, I'm living it up while it's going on. Anybody with any common sense can navigate around it. To say it's otherwise, you just screwed up on your routing. Cripes, they can shut down the Lodge for months and everybody is still getting where they need to be. |
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248
Post Number: 836 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:55 pm: | |
Maybe it doesn't make sense to those who don't want to think that hard??? |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3567 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:22 pm: | |
Yvette, WTF? First of all, they're not my crime concerns, I'm speaking for others. Yes, perhaps that's a slippery slope, perhaps I shouldn't say that alot of people will be on edge taking their prized possessions through neighborhoods of Detroit that they are scared of (I really wasn't talking about downtown, I was talking about the space between 8-mile and downtown, that, no doubt, a fair % of 248-ers are scared of-- get on task and read my posts closer), crime or not. I'm sure there could be police everywhere, and the event could go off perfectly, but people would still be on edge. It's all perception, very little reality. But that is the subject of my comments. Next, you want me to go downtown some more? Well, that would be a tad redundant. I'm there whenever I can be there, and I know what the crowds are like. Indeed, mostly suburban, mostly there for sports, and "drinking and driving" as you put it haha. I'm glad I never have to get on the freeways with them after the events. So suburbanites are, manifestly, comfortable with taking in a downtown event. Well known fact. But it requires quite a leap to say that, therefore, they will be comfortable with driving valuable possessions through the city, along Woodward, to downtown. Again, I'm not speaking for myself, but trying to draw some sensible predictions. All this does not mean that there shouldn't be a Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit. I just anticipate that most people will take the freeway to downtown, drive Woodward, and then be gone. If there are reasons to believe that this will make money and positive feelings for/toward the city, then do it. |
Silverbeauty Member Username: Silverbeauty
Post Number: 32 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 8:48 am: | |
I don't complain about the Dream Cruise. I think it is a fun event for the area. We don't mind being closed for the day. I will not drive to work a couple of hours early so I can twiddle my thumbs all day in between passing out fliers. Trust me, there is not enough retail happening to make it worth it. We were open on Dream Cruise Saturday for many years before we decided to close. My point is that it doesn't bring spinoff business like some think it might. Typically all the events that come to the area don't product spinoff business in my area. When the PGA championship was at Oakland Hills, it was totally dead. Might be because a lot of street parking was taken away due to security. (street parking around the police station and the Townsend were blocked) Same thing for the Super Bowl. If the cruise can extend all the way downtown,great. That would be one HUGE event. Many of the people that live around Woodward find it a very difficult weekend to get around town. Sure there are different routes to take, but if you have ever tried to cross Woodward during the cruise then you know how hard it is. I know lots of people that go up north or somewhere else for the weekend. The cruise never bothered me, even if it does affect business. To all of you who love it, Cruise on! |