Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2007 » Dream Cruise in Detroit? « Previous Next »
Top of pageBottom of page

Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 1630
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 11:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1393
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Pythonmaster
Member
Username: Pythonmaster

Post Number: 83
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live near Ten and Woodward and I wish they would extend it right up out of here.
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1396
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Yvette248
Member
Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 813
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 5:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ditto python.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3542
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 6:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Yvette248
Member
Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 817
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 6:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mackinaw you obviously don't live on the Woodward corridor. Nuff said.
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1400
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 1:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3549
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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?
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1405
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus

Post Number: 1805
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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...
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1407
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well you don't see to many Detroiters at the Dream Cruise, do you?
Top of pageBottom of page

Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 1672
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Pam
Member
Username: Pam

Post Number: 2280
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3553
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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?
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1409
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3556
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 5:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2421
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 7:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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/
Top of pageBottom of page

Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 2883
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 9:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Way down low riders.
Top of pageBottom of page

Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 1684
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 10:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"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)
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3559
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 11:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Silverbeauty
Member
Username: Silverbeauty

Post Number: 28
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 11:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Angry_dad
Member
Username: Angry_dad

Post Number: 160
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 3:10 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Royce
Member
Username: Royce

Post Number: 2351
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 3:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thejesus, you are a racist and you are ignorant.
Top of pageBottom of page

Silverbeauty
Member
Username: Silverbeauty

Post Number: 29
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 7:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

>>>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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Silverbeauty
Member
Username: Silverbeauty

Post Number: 30
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 7:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

>>>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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Hpgrmln
Member
Username: Hpgrmln

Post Number: 88
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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....
Top of pageBottom of page

Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2422
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3563
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Interesting insight, Silverbeauty.
Top of pageBottom of page

Silverbeauty
Member
Username: Silverbeauty

Post Number: 31
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

>>>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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2424
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Eric_w
Member
Username: Eric_w

Post Number: 284
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 4:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Gumby
Member
Username: Gumby

Post Number: 1596
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 5:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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 /
Top of pageBottom of page

Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2426
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 6:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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!
Top of pageBottom of page

Yvette248
Member
Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 830
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 8:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2427
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 9:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Angry_dad
Member
Username: Angry_dad

Post Number: 161
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Yvette248
Member
Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 836
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 10:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe it doesn't make sense to those who don't want to think that hard???
Top of pageBottom of page

Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 3567
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
Top of pageBottom of page

Silverbeauty
Member
Username: Silverbeauty

Post Number: 32
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 8:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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!

Add Your Message Here
Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.