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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 2790
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.202.227.12
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 5:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anyone know if there are expamples of this bulding design still in existence in the city limits of Detroit if not the region?
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 514
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.234
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 5:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Big Boy restaurant-Farmington road, just west of 8 mile--Farmington.
I trust you have the Googie book?
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 3626
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 69.47.100.44
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 5:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Isn't there a retro styled McDonald's over on Telegraph Road just north of I-94 that has that style of architecture?
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Dalangdon
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Username: Dalangdon

Post Number: 44
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 66.54.213.11
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 5:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

While I don't think it's in Detroit proper, the GM design center was/is (if it hasn't been altered) amazing.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1691
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.126.102
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 9:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The GM design center is not Googie.Googie can really only be things like restaurants, hotels, coffee shops......

I can't think of anything in Detroit that is googie.I doubt the big boy mentioned is unless it is very old.Most big boys are now from the 1990's with a few from the 80's. There must be some old coffee shop or bowling alley or something that is still standing that has been converted to some other use somewhere in Detroit or the burbs.

Between A2 and Ypsi is the Ypsi-Arbor bowling alley.The bowling alley is not Googie but the neon sign is the closest thing left of googie around here that I know of.
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Detroitej72
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Username: Detroitej72

Post Number: 55
Registered: 05-2006
Posted From: 66.184.3.44
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 9:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

56packman, just exactly where is Farmington Rd. west of 8 Mile? Do you mean Plymouth just west of Farmington?
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 373
Registered: 06-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 9:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I know the Big Boy on Farmington Rd NORTH of 8 mile (not west). It's been there forever. Not sure if it's a Googie or not. The McDonald's on Telegraph is also very old (probably dating to the 60s or very very early 70s since we frequented it on Friday's when I was a kid).
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1694
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.126.102
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You may think the McDonalds is old Detroitteacher but I can almost gaurantee it is not. McDonalds builds new usually on the same site about every ten to fifteen years.I doubt vey much if there are any active McDonalds in the state oder then five to ten years.

They knock the old one down and build a new one and it all done in a short period of tiem.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 375
Registered: 06-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live right around the corner from the Telegraph McD's and never noticed any construction. Everything is in the exact same spot as before...parking areas, bathrooms, etc. It could have been redone but I never saw it happen.
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Bvos
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Username: Bvos

Post Number: 1794
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.228.57.79
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The McD's on Telegraph being refered to is not Googie. The sign out front is very old, but the building itself has either been radically altered or it's been demolished and rebuilt.

The YWCA on Grand River and Beech Daly in Redford is definately Googie. There is also an bank on Gratiot in downtown Mt. Clemens, just down the street from the Art Deco County Building, that is Googie. Those are the only two buildings I can think of that are Googie.

There are lots of Googie signs still around, and as stated above bowling alleys seem to have some of the best. The Ypsi-Arbor Bowl is a good one as is the Bowlero in Royal Oak. There are some flop house motels that have managed to hang on to their Googie signs as well as some party stores.

The soon to be demolished Mercury Motel on Michigan Avenue in West Dearborn is a modern building with a Googie sign. There's also Donut World on Michigan Ave. in East Dearborn which has a great Googie (ish?) sign. I can't recall if the design of the building is Googie however.

A great place to search online for demoed and still standing Googie stuff in Michigan is at http://www.waterwinterwonderla nd.com
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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 2791
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.202.227.12
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 10:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I just thought of one. There is an old restaurant/ coffeshop that sits on Greenfield and 8 Mile, on the Detroit side, is it possible that that is Googie as well? What I would like to do is create a portfolio of Googie structures in the region.

Thanks for all of your input...
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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 2792
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.202.227.12
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 10:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here is a photo of the Ford-Wyoming...

Is the sign here a good representation of Googie? Most of the rest of the Drive In seems more Art-Deco-ish.

F:
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Bvos
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Username: Bvos

Post Number: 1798
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 134.215.223.211
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 12:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Ford-Wyoming is Art Deco (and a pretty good example of an art deco drive in theater). Do a Google Image search for some notable examples, such as the Ypsi Arbor Bowl, and you'll start to understand what makes Googie different from Art Deco.
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Toolbox
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Username: Toolbox

Post Number: 960
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.184.29.148
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 12:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The information at Space Age City on Googie should more than answer you questions as to what is Googie.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 515
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.105
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 12:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry, Farmington Rd. just NORTH of 8 mile, east side of the street. jeez, what was I thinking.......?
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1228
Registered: 05-2005
Posted From: 198.208.159.18
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 1:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

the GM tech center is most certainly not googie. It is a Modern masterpiece of Eero Saarinen.
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Dalangdon
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Username: Dalangdon

Post Number: 45
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 66.54.213.11
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 2:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I would argue that the GM tech center is a fountainhed of Googie, owing to the designs that emerged from it. But then again, I don't ascribe to such narrow notions of what Googie is. I think it's more of a state of mind than a collection of coffee shops, bowling alleys and motels. Certainly there were Googie elements (as defined by the spacecity.com website, not me) in the design center. The floating staircase is straight out of a Morris Lapidus hotel.

But even under that definition, the googie structures were inspired by the car culture - and GM was the king of that culture. Many people ascribe Googie's origins to southern California - that's where the Googie's coffee shops were - but I think their true birthplace was in the design studios of Detroit.

But I am just an amateur afficiando of mid-century design at best. :-)
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Sumotect
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Username: Sumotect

Post Number: 224
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 64.243.32.9
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 3:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The GM tech center was/is an extremely influential work. A first rate work by a very important architect. A very early example of “High Tech” design. It only remotely relates to “Googie” if one might follow a trickle down theory of design, with GM tech center at the top and post war donut shops and gas stations at the bottom.

I don’t mean to disrespect those kinds of buildings because they are great at what they do and how they do it.

It falls is the same realm as arguments about “High” versus “Low” art.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2590
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.98
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 3:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

IIRC, didn't Eero Saarinen meet an untimely early death at age 50? Our collective loss...
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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 2793
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.202.227.12
Posted on Thursday, August 10, 2006 - 4:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Interesting website that discusses the GM Center BTW...
http://www.greatbuildings.com/ buildings/General_Motors_Techn ical_Center.html

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