  1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1049 Registered: 12-2004 |
Anyone else notice that the mural on Broadway between Gratiot and Grand River was painted over? How long had it been there? Any information to share? | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1818 Registered: 11-2004 |
That was very sad when that happened. It was recent. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 867 Registered: 11-2003 |
Do you mean the "Broadway-Randolph" mural? | ||
Pistonian_revolution Member Username: Pistonian_revolution Post Number: 26 Registered: 05-2006 |
pics please? before and after? i think i know which one you're talking about but im not sure. if its the one im thinking of, the sort of industrial one, then thats a tragedy. | ||
Formerspringgardener Member Username: Formerspringgardener Post Number: 14 Registered: 07-2006 |
The wall faces the new YMCA. It looked like it was probably from the sixties or early seventies. Now it's a lovely shade of brown. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 782 Registered: 03-2006 |
say it ain't so!  | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 5937 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes the Boradway-Randolph Mural. I noticed that a few weeks ago when I was at the Lions game. | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1050 Registered: 12-2004 |
Has it been a few weeks? Wow. That's a sure sign that I'm not taking enough lunches while at work.  | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 868 Registered: 11-2003 |
Good. It always looked to me like a 'failed attempt' at adding visual interest to a dead street. These days, it's just not needed - fortunately! | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1051 Registered: 12-2004 |
I sort of feel the same way. Its sad that it had to go, but I'd rather see condos in that building and no mural than a mural without condos. Sure, they could have kept it, but a little gentrification can't hurt downtown. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1109 Registered: 01-2004 |
Yep yep - a modern metropolis is no place for cultural aspects like a work of art. While we are at it, lets make fucking lofts out of the DIA. Come on people. | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 149 Registered: 05-2006 |
I saw the building last night and knew something was different but couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks for pointing it out. Sorry, but I didn't like the mural either. BTW, how old is that picture? | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1110 Registered: 01-2004 |
 $50 bucks says one of those crappy plastic ads will be on this space asap. culturalwasteland-atcha | ||
Eric Member Username: Eric Post Number: 570 Registered: 11-2004 |
We're a cultural wasteland because someone painted over a cheesy 70's mural? Like Eric C stated that thing was nothing more than lame attempt to brighten a dying downtown. | ||
Rms Member Username: Rms Post Number: 47 Registered: 11-2005 |
Look at the structure of that wall. It was never pretty. There were obviously buildings next to it and the side was never meant to be seen. That mural was a 70's self-conscious attempt to be stylish. No lipstick on the pig please. Let's just let it be brown and blend in. When it had the mural it had open unatractive parking lots next to it. That whole area is really transforming now. At least one of the parking lots now has attractive historic looking fencing. There is decent landscaping. I'd rather my eye be drawn to these recent improvements, or the interesting architecture of the building facades. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 290 Registered: 04-2006 |
I don't see anything wrong with this going away, it was not clever, it was not bright, it was not trompe l'oile. It was sort of distracting from the street activity. | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 373 Registered: 06-2005 |
Aboslutely! Rms is right about this parking lot. I consider it to be best looking surface parking lot in town. On the strip between the the (ersatz) wrought iron fence and the sidewalk, they have planted trees, hostas, and daylilies. This week, they have trimmed the hostas and daylilies back for the winter. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 864 Registered: 12-2005 |
What do those motel toilet seat strips say? "Sanitized, for your protection." They would have made subtly poignant headbands. (Message edited by Jimaz on October 26, 2006) | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 152 Registered: 05-2006 |
For some strange reason, the way those letters were stretched, it reminds me of those "Keep On Truckin" guys of the '70s. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 865 Registered: 12-2005 |
 | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 153 Registered: 05-2006 |
THAT'S what I'm talking about! See the resemblence? lol | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 867 Registered: 12-2005 |
 | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 868 Registered: 12-2005 |
 | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1111 Registered: 01-2004 |
yep. | ||
Stecks77 Member Username: Stecks77 Post Number: 144 Registered: 08-2006 |
Just so the above artist who drew the caricatures gets some credit... His name is Robert Crumb. Awesome cartoonist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R obert_Crumb | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1053 Registered: 12-2004 |
Wash_Man: That picture I posted is from when they were redoing Broadway....so probably 2 years ago. That's the old parking garage on your left. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 172 Registered: 11-2003 |
The mural gave the building and the street charater. Not it is painted some crappy brown color. Too bad it could not have been touched up. I am sure some art student painter would have loved to have done it or a new mural. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1368 Registered: 05-2005 |
i always dug that mural too. dang. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 59 Registered: 04-2006 |
What's everyone got against the 70s? | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1819 Registered: 11-2004 |
I thought the mural was fun. It was one of my faves downtown. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 785 Registered: 03-2006 |
I agree Dialh4hipster. I had that vintage Metropolis-esque look to it. And I didn't mind that it was faded and beat up. Oh well. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1113 Registered: 01-2004 |
There are several other endangered works of art around that may get the boot, such as the Park Shelton mural, and the one next to the fire station behind the Ponchertrain. Sux to lose the history and art because people dont consider such things as valuable. Its a dim reflection on the new breed. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2996 Registered: 08-2004 |
Unfortunately if you look at downtown Detroit pics in the Movie Palace Hall of Fame Thread, you will see a city in the boom years of the roaring 20's absolutely covered in advertisments, be they billboards, or wall ads. That may upset a lot of folks, because Detroit looks nice without all that advertising. But building owners will go for any income that they can get. Just look at 42nd St. and Times Square in NYC. It's awash in advertising. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1116 Registered: 01-2004 |
Yeah, Chicago and New York protect their public art though. I know not everything can stay forever, but if its at the mercy of willynilly "i dont care for that" art critics...well put ads up over everything then. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3172 Registered: 10-2003 |
Been there, done that... | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1054 Registered: 12-2004 |
I'm all for public advertising, but that doesn't mean that every ad is public ad worth saving. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 2876 Registered: 10-2003 |
Lowell, what, no whales?  | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 709 Registered: 11-2003 |
A ways up in the thread Rms wrote, "There were obviously buildings next to it and the side was never meant to be seen." Not necessarily. Even if no adjoining construction was immediately built or planned, owners of many buildings did not want to layer ornament on something that might later be stripped off or obliterated during possible future construction. One example is the side of the Michigan Theatre that faced the Tuller Hotel; the Tuller did not physically join the theatre, but the theatre's wall was still built basically unadorned. Other examples are the south wall of the Book Building (perhaps already in anticipation of the never-built 81 story tower?) and the various exterior walls of downtown Hudson's as the block was gradually filling in. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1121 Registered: 01-2004 |
The michigan theater building is adorned 360 and is bordered by streets on all sides - do you mean the ua building ? | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 711 Registered: 11-2003 |
Oops-- yes, I meant the UA. | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1056 Registered: 12-2004 |
The Broadway Market used to but up against that building on Broadway. My great aunt has some vivid memories of that place, which she loves to share. |
