  Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 202 Registered: 03-2006 |
or more importantly, what was it a part of? It appears to have been some sort of locker room or just rest rooms for the park area. Photo taken 8/15/07, Outer Drive near Tireman.  Please forgive the crappy quality of the picture.. Requirements here don't allow for much detail in photos. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1356 Registered: 04-2006 |
Rouge Park used to have several comfort stations with bathrooms and enough room to get picnicers out of the rain or sledders out of the cold. Some still exist, but none are 'technically' open. These still exist in Hines Park. | ||
Gary Member Username: Gary Post Number: 231 Registered: 02-2004 |
I think that building was public rest rooms. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 1197 Registered: 07-2005 |
I wonder if Wade sealed the deal with Cindy in that building? You think he still loves her? | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4809 Registered: 10-2003 |
I thought Willeke designed a few of these structures but I could be wrong. | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 413 Registered: 05-2006 |
It was just a restroom. There are four such lavatory buildings in the park. I don’t know when they were built, but if I were to guess I would say it was some time during the 1930’s. They have been in ruins for at least the last 40 years! Besides this one, there is one along Outer Drive near the intersection of Rouge Park Drive. It is in worse condition than this one. The other two are along Spinoza Drive. One near Tireman St. and the other near the tennis courts off Plymouth Rd. These two are in somewhat better condition and open because the people who regularly use the picnic and recreation areas around these restrooms have taken it upon themselves to provide maintenance. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 1843 Registered: 10-2003 |
I'm sure it is still used as a restroom. Only not in the conventional manner. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 225 Registered: 02-2007 |
What is this? Two things... 1) a reminder that Detroit once had the money and inclination to provide real amenities, i.e. this was a better town a long time ago 2) evidence that there's a hell of a lot less respect for public property today than in years passed. Hard to believe that people would be enthused to pay for more when what we have gets trashed as the photo demonstrates. | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 203 Registered: 03-2006 |
Craig, I was actually kind of thinking the same things. The real reason I posted and asked is I work with some people who grew up in this area. They talk about (1950s) when Detroit had public Pools and would literally spend every waking summertime moment there. This building looks large enough to have housed locker-rooms and I wondered if it may have been part of one of those facilities. I pass by this building several times a week but have never investigated it beyond the photo and this thread. Along this stretch of the park, people mostly just sit in their cars/trucks. Once in awhile, I'll see someone actually using one of the broken down picnic tables. Playground equipment (swings, slides, etc) sits sun faded and static. Most of it looks like it was moved from other locations. Someone, don't know if it's the city or not, sometimes cuts back the weeds that overtake those areas. All kind of sad, really, at least this area of the park looks like an out of sight, out of mind place. Whenever I hear of all the $$$$ being spent on the riverfront and similar areas, I think of places like this and the surrounding neighborhoods. Actually nice compared to some standards in detroit, it still looks abandoned and forgotten to me. I wonder if all those people who came here for the superbowl and raved about the city (don't get me wrong, that's a good thing), actually left the downtown area and looked around. | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4812 Registered: 10-2003 |
"Wade Loves Cindy" | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 415 Registered: 05-2006 |
Wabashrr1, if you pass this area several times a week then you should know that Brennen Pools is less than two miles away. They are along Plymouth Road. between Rouge Park Drive. and Burt Road. They are open and currently in use. Of course, they're not as crowded as they were when I was a kid, but then there aren't as many kids as there were back then. Here are a couple of pictures I took last year before the pools opened for the summer. Brennen Pools 1 Brennen Pools 2 (Message edited by Ramcharger on August 16, 2007) | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6341 Registered: 10-2003 |
The only Wade I know, wouldn't be interested in Cindy. | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 204 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ramcharger, Typically my travel on this stretch of Outer Drive is from Joy Road, South. I'm sure I've seen the building in your photos before but never gave it much thought. Is the Brennen pool a city supported venture?? Or privately funded? | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 417 Registered: 05-2006 |
City owned. | ||
Ventura67 Member Username: Ventura67 Post Number: 152 Registered: 12-2003 |
I always wanted to snag the slate shingles off those and reroof my house in that beautiful slate, but I could never sink so low as to become a scrapper! | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 418 Registered: 05-2006 |
It wouldn't take much. They're laying all over the ground around the buildings. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 540 Registered: 08-2006 |
Why exactly are there ALWAYS people just sitting on the side of the road in hines park.......Are they waiting what I think they are waiting for? Some "company" | ||
Ventura67 Member Username: Ventura67 Post Number: 153 Registered: 12-2003 |
I so innocently asked that question to a guy I worked with and was "blown" away by the answer. I stopped having my lunch along that stretch soon after; guess I couldn't "stomach" it !!!!! (Message edited by ventura67 on August 16, 2007) | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 535 Registered: 05-2007 |
Fareastsider's insinuation is the same impression I had of Hines Park, even back in the 70's. | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 420 Registered: 05-2006 |
I guess some people just like to sit in their cars. It is, after all, a park. Shouldn’t someone be able to sit in his or her car, in a park, in the middle of the day without arousing suspicion? | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 205 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hines Park?? Parking not allowed along side the road. Any I've ever seen are usually quickly moved along by the wayne county sheriffs. Of course Hines park Has parking areas. Rouge Park, on the other hand......or at least this stretch of it... | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 422 Registered: 05-2006 |
The reason roadside parking is no longer allowed along Hines Drive is because back in the 70’s it was one big party. Parked cars filled with teens and 20-somethings, many of them drunk or high, would line both sides of the street. The traffic would be bumper-to-bumper and at times so bad that it would take over an hour to travel from Outer Drive to Inkster Road. Man, those were some good times! | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 536 Registered: 05-2007 |
I for one have on occasion gone to a park in the middle of day by myself. Usually for the solitude or to ponder something. I keep to myself other than a courteous hello here or there. You won't find me gazing upon other people in the park as if I want something from them. | ||
Wabashrr1 Member Username: Wabashrr1 Post Number: 206 Registered: 03-2006 |
I remember the time, Ramcharger.. Too young to drive though so wasn't able to actively participate in the 'party atmosphere'.. | ||
Abracadabra Member Username: Abracadabra Post Number: 56 Registered: 04-2007 |
Hines is right down the street from me. I go there often with the kids and the dog. It is a different place than I remember as a kid. Restrooms are clean, and up until this year, the grass was always cut. Since they closed the stables over in Rouge, I really have no reason to stop there. It was nice to pick up some carrots at Randazzo's and let the kids feed those giant horses. Nowadays, if you arent a cop hitting the range or in the mood for some anonymous gay sex, all Rouge Park is good for is cutting North/South with less traffic. | ||
Fishtoes2000 Member Username: Fishtoes2000 Post Number: 268 Registered: 06-2005 |
quote: Before rushing to that judgment, I suggest you broaden your horizons and try some of the other activities Rouge Park offers, e.g. Brennan Pools, the model airplane field, the new hike/bike trail, the paved trails, the sledding hills, etc. It's a great place to ride a road bike: lower traffic, nice roads, and plenty of green space to appreciate. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 544 Registered: 08-2006 |
I always liked the fact that you can be in the woods and still be IN detroit! I should scan some pics I took before down by the Rouge surrounded by woods. | ||
Abracadabra Member Username: Abracadabra Post Number: 60 Registered: 04-2007 |
Are the pools open this year? I have to admit I haven't been down Plymouth this summer. I seem to recall something about the copper being heisted? I have nothing against Rouge Park. I'm just fortunate to have the option of either Rouge or Hines, and Hines offers everything Rouge does but in a cleaner environment. Also, what are the large hills that are fenced off west of the stables and south of Joy? Dumps? Part of the shooting range? | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1359 Registered: 04-2006 |
Those hills were not there until the mid-1980s. What are they? It is the contaminated dirt from Harbortown. Back then remediation meant taking the dirt from a brownfield and dumping it in the woods where it can wash into the river. Nice huh? | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 981 Registered: 06-2004 |
Cindy... I still love you. Come back to me. |
