Cabrini Green in Chicago is the same way. My daughter had basketball games at the rec center across from the high rises in the winter. Up until last spring, though, people were still living there (including lots of her friends at her school), but I think they are supposed to have left and only squatters remain.
Jim:
I never quite know what to think or feel about what you write and show. However, it really stays with me somehow. Just a liberal over here in California living my semi-suburban life. I admire you and your values. I studied architecture in college and have drifted into corporate facilities. Seeing these ruins makes me think of the fall of Rome or something else. Very odd, very poignant, please keep telling the story. It's important in ways we don't even know yet.
Take care.
I love your blog about all of these abandoned places. I don't understand why on earth these important records were left unattended. You reported about it in the abandoned elementary school and then here in the projects. These people could be subject to some identity theft. Really a shame that someone in Detroit doesn't realize that and take care of these records.
I too have been watching the gradual stripping of those buildings (a complex that, architecturally, I rather like). I always thought some kind of cool re-use, like one apartment per wing, might be cool. A fantasy, but cool.
You left out one detail of the scrapping that I love - once the scrappers were done with the metal from the buildings, they took the cyclone fence that had been erected around the project to keep the scrappers out. Some friends were taking pics there last summer and some Detroit Police drove by. They asked if the cops were doing anything to stop the scrapping in progress and the police replied that nobody had made any complaint!
The cast of characters that hangs around what's left there is Sketchy with a capital S. You are brave for venturing in there. Or crazy.
Oh, and the gay community thanks you for the Diana Ross shout-out.
Wonderful interview on The Story, Jim. I am SO jealous that you got to spend time with Vergara. Would love to hear more about what that was like if you ever have a chance to write about it.
Great interview, lots of time for you to answer the questions, etc. Thank you for the link!
Dang...I was jealous when I heard you on The Story, but driving around with Camilo Jose Vergara...uggh. That's too much!
that closet series would have made my photog prof in art school lose his mind...it is awesome. the lighting is so closet-y, but i can't imagine you wandering around the abandoned projects with a large format camera/tripod- what about some lenses to up the contrast? do they make those for digital cameras?
i also wonder where all those people have been moved to.
once again i want to thank you for your beautiful photos and words. what wretchedness...
I heard you today on The Story (a program I try never to miss). I have a friend who lives in one of the run-down parts of Detroit, and tells me stories that to me seem almost surrealistic, they are so far outside my own experience. Hearing you took me behind the outside of her stories.
So I looked up your website and from there your blog. I am stunned by actually seeing in your photographs what you and my friend described. Pathos: the waste of lives and the resources that could enrich those lives. Those awful housing projects (one of which my friend and her mother ended up living in until it was closed).
There seems to be hope in seeing nature reclaiming some of the ugliness. But I can't help but wonder where all the people have gone, and what their lives are like now. I wonder if someday Detroit will re-emerge as a city that is able to retain the nature that is reassurting itself, and at the same time be an place for human lives to thrive.
Then I remember the corruption and the greed that still controls the politics.
In the interview and in your writing, you downplay your role in recreating possibilites through the work you do by speaking of those who do more. But it takes all of you. And you are the one who will tell the story, using your camera and your words to give it substance and meaning.
I too am jealous you got to spend time with Vergara. I worked on American Ruins for Monacelli back in '98 or '99 (as a freelance copyeditor), and it changed how I see everything.
So I heard you on the story today and was like "hey I know that guy!" except that I don't, I just lurk around your website from the next town over.
Congratulations. I'm in the teacher Ed program at Eastern and I use your blog to a means to try and show my peers--future teachers, current professors--what we're up against.
Its an odd sense of calm. Thanks.
I wanna help. Let me know if you need help-- moving stuff,find it homes.
When you do these stories I cannot get past what it must smell like in these places, that alone would keep me away. But that diary of the old woman is fantastic. I hope you filched it. But I'm guessing you didn't, you are far more upstanding than I.
I left it there, along with her old lady undies.
When I saw the title of this post, I admit to a little thrill -- ooh, pictures of ... and then I felt a little sick at how much I -- enjoy? relish? rubberneck at? am transported by? -- these pictures and stories.
It's both awesome and awful and it evokes those same emotions in equal parts. Thank you.
How did you get in contact with Vergara? Did he hear about you & contact you? That's great for you. Let us know more about that if you can.
Kudos on an amazing interview! I rarely get to hear The Story, but we just happened to be in the car when it came on and my husband shouted, "Hey, that's the guy we just met!"
Now I am star struck. 
Jim-Great interview this evening.
I came to Detroit in 1984 from Cols, Ohio. I lived downtown in the Towne Apts for three months until my wife joined me. We lived in the Riverfront apartments for four years. My son was the first baby born in those apts.
My wife and I spent our first Christmas alone in Detroit. We celebrated by taking pictures in the train station that day. The pews or seats in the terminal were still there. This would have been 1986.
My daughter just completed a 100 page hard bound pictorial on the city for her final project in high school. She entitled it "Through the Windshield" She spent the first part of her work in the car and then couldnt resist the temptation to start getting out. She won awards for the book. I would like you to see it. I know you would appreciate the work.
I just got laid off from a job in financial. Worked all this time in the Detroit region. Am taking the next year to see whats up for an encore performance in new economy sectors such as energy, green, urban etc. Too young to retire at this point.
I am working with a church in Detroit on Grand Blvd. Woodbridge area. It is a beautiful building. Run by Henry Covington for the homeless. In pretty tough shape. Huge building
He houses the homeless two nights out of the week. Mitch Albom has adopted it. Dr. Phil just visited and has committed $25,000 to repairing the roof.
I am interested in an attempted restoration of the stained glass windows. The area is amazing. Trumbull has some wonderful old homes near the church.
I have some crazy ideas about what could be accomplished there. I call it "Woodbridge Corners."
Certainly would love to have you meet Henry and the guys if you are up for it. This building is magnificent as are the buildings close by.
E-mail me if you would like to see the church. My schedule is, for the first time in my career, flexible.
Curiously, I intend to go to Milwaukee next month and meet with a man who some consider to be the "father" of urban farming. That really intrigues me. There is great potential in the ruins to do some new age living. Life that I envision that will be commonplace in urban areas mid-21st century. Pockets will form. I am very intrigued by the notion of being a true urban pioneer. I have a year or so to explore my options.
I never understood why I was so attracted to the ruins. Because of you, I now know. There is life there and there will be life there. I spent easter morning riding around Woodbridge and envisioning what could be done to make it a truly viable community for folks from all walks of life including our homeless and addicted.
Urban farming certainly a great way to to help the addicted work their way off drugs etc and see the fruits of their labor. I am interested in the potential urban farming has for addicted men. I see the formation of kibutzes much like those in Israel.
Crazy. Maybe. I have had that similar dream since I came to Detroit in 1984. Now, I have the time to see if some of the daydreaming I did back then could come to fruition. My start is at Woodbridge.
I hope we have the pleasure of meeting. Like I said, I didnt know there were other nuts like me out there.
In my estimation, given the right dose of care and vision, it will be the new America generations from now.
Love to host you for dinner at the church on a Tuesday or Thursday night. Brief non-denominational service and then we serve the guys. The food is brought in by wonderful churches throughout the region.
I rarely get to listen to The Story - just turned on NPR tonight, not even knowing you'd be on! I can't wait to hear the interview ... been a fan of Sweet-Juniper! for years.
Kudos!
If you haven't already, you might want to check out the book Root Shock by Mindy Fullilove. http://books.google.com/books?id...result&
resnum=3
Your mention of Paradise Valley made me think of it. Its a brilliant book that I keep thinking about over and over again.
I heard your interview on The Story tonight on my way home from the hospital. It was completely riveting! I was actually home but had to drive around the block several times in order to finish hearing about your cause.
My family and I live in Toledo, OH, only a mere 60 minutes south of downtown Detroit. I have gone to baseball games, museums, casinos, the auto show, and of course have used to Ambassador Bridge to visit Windsor and Toronto, Canada numerous times over the pasted 13 years living in Toledo. Everytime I pass thru Detroit the same wonder and mystery haunts me that you so aptly explained tonight during your interview.
I have longed to see the inside of Michigan Central Station and because of listening to your interview tonight I was able read your blog and see the beautiful photographs you have taken of the building. Thank you so much for your interest in all things "ruined." We should all take the time to explore the world around us and appreciate it as you do.
holy smokes, Jim,
I turn on the car to drive home from the gym, hear a promo about a "sort of urban archaeologist," and I'm like, "Aha. And all these years, I've been pronouncing it 'Griffin' in my head."
The Story's on at 1AM in DC, so I'll track the show down online. Congrats!
Beautiful, riveting, heart-breaking...
Thank you.
Brillant photojournalism. It's kind of ironic to see urban decay (civilization's decline,) yet nicely captured in pictures & words? Reminds me of Richard Nickel's photos of old & about to-be demolitioned Chicago bldgs. Thanks for photographing this urban decline.
~ Jason
Sometimes these posts of yours are difficult for me. They stir up such odd emotions and honestly, I don't know why. I can't even say what the emotions are, exactly. The images are beautiful. They are just so powerful.
This one, I can pinpoint a few. Mostly, deep melancholy. It's partly the specific people there. It also reminds me of the fact that all our lives contain this detrius and even if our houses have new occupants, our stuff has to float through the world without us or just go. There's such an intense feeling of loss those pictures evoke. Even the cane but God! the funeral board for the baby.
When I was a kid, my parents took us to the Aztec and Mayan ruins in Mexico and Central America and this made me always imagine my own city as a potential lost civilization. It's so strange to see such a recent world lost like this.
I hope the people that moved went somewhere nice. IS there any way of finding out where they went? Are there Hope VI projects in Detroit? (Not that they all necessarily went to Hope VI projects.)
I must also say with some shame that it would be difficult for me to go through these apartments and not take some stuff. Not the coffee table necessarily (although such a thing might tempt me), but the pictures. It's hard not to rescue lost items that I associate with people. Like--I will remember you just in case no one else does? But that's what pictures do. It's like you are saving something, through the pictures. So maybe you can resist that impulse to rescue these things.
I look forward to listening to The Story. I don't have sound on this computer here.
Your stories are so moving. Thank you for what you do.
I have to ask... are you ever afraid for your safety?
I've made up an ending to the diary. I hope that's okay. (I NEED an ending! I suppose no amount of begging, if you had finished reading, would change your mind so that you would tell us?)
What strikes me is that these apartments look to have been renovated not all that long ago: The kitchen cabinets and counter tops, the electric receptacles and switches, the baseboard trim all seem to be of recent vintage. It may be the lighting, but the paint on the walls seems clean, too. All of that makes it appear like a rather hasty decision to abandon the projects. I ache to know about the people who lived there most recently and where they have gone...
Just found your terrific blog via Bug Girl....looking forward to more visits.
I was just listening to "The Story" the other day and thought, SweetJuniper would be an awesome interview. Good for you! Can't wait to listen!
Your interview on NPR couldn't have come at a more providential time for me. Being a North Carolina native, I had just gotten back from a week in Detriot for the NCAA Final Four Tournament. I found the devastation of Detriot unbelievable. New Orleans may be pale by comparison, but why is Detriot ignored? I like to think of the analogy of sowing and reaping. Detriot has reaped decades of the acumen of enterprise. All the astute entrepreneurs have in one generation destroyed what was built in two. I need a wake up call, as to what may happen In North Carolina if this selfish undertow unchecked. I have no doubt that what has happenned in Detriot could happen here, but how can we help Detriot?
I listened to your interview on The Story yesterday evening on my way home from work and I was absolutely riveted. I grew up in Toledo and in 29 years I have been almost completely unaware of the immense amount of history, beauty and sadness that is Detroit. Please continue your work, it is stunning.
You've inspired me to blog some of the photos I've taken. I've lived in metro-Detroit my entire life, but had never ventured into these buildings.
If you're interested: http://shaunanicholson.com/blog/...-and-snapshots/
Your photos and the accompanying stories are amazing, beautiful, heartbreaking, and somehow, hopeful. You are chronicling an important time and place in American history. Thank you for showing the world what is happening in Detroit.
Holyshit, I have the same. exact. coffee table. Bought it from a couple in Hamtramck, beautiful MCM lines:
http://www.sherwoodandblack.com/...es/
holyshit.jpg
I've looked on the underside of mine for clues as to the manufacturer but no dice. Wonder if they were made around here somewhere.
Cheers J, beautiful post as always.
Last night I just happened to be going up to the store for milk after dinner. My husband keeps his car radio tuned to 91.7. So there I am, driving along, and then out of my radio speakers comes your voice talking about finding a book with a tree growing out of it. I just hope someone listening has the authority to, I don't know, DO something.
Also, do you by any chance have a relative in Grand Rapids who's getting married? Saw a wedding announcement in the Lansing State Journal for a guy with the same last name as you
I thought of something else- so, the housing commission comes along and says okay, this building has to close, and the people have to leave IMMEDIATELY? They can't pack up their apartments? The office staff can't pack up the files? I don't understand what would have to happen for it to look like the people just vanished. Any thoughts on that?
This is haunting. I sometimes rustle through my parents' "old garage," looking for tidbits about them, momentos, notes, old boas...something that tells me more than I already know. I love the mystery around the things you've found. I'm still looking.
I just keep thinking wow...look at what you are doing.
I really enjoyed the interview on The Story! I'm forwarding it to all my architect friends who are interested in distressed cities/ruins/urban farming.
Also, thanks for the link to hope.
I need to know the ending to the old woman's story! Did she marry him? What happened?
let's just say it proved difficult to resist the charms of the man in apartment 1210.
wow! of all days to NOT hear The Story...poop poop and more poop. thank goodness there is a thing called the webbernets and I can find it and listen without driving off the road between GR and Chicago like I would have had I been listening! I'm thinking there has to be a reality show in here somewhere...
Hey Jim! I ran across this today and thought of you. You might already know about it but I wanted to make sure....great interview and cute picture!
http://www.habitatforhamtramck.org/
Hi Jim,
I attended the event you spoke at yesterday at UMMA organized by the Cultural Alliance for Southeast Michigan and I wanted to salute you for your work, specifically the way you are documenting Detroit from your unique perspective.
My father, Julio Perazza (1943-199
, was a Detroit photographer and artist who documented the ruins of his city in a similar manner through a B&W photographic series entitled "Demolished by Neglect". My father was born and raised in Southwest Detroit and worked for over 10 years in the Detroit Police Central Photo Unit, so he was no stranger to the darker and less publicly-viewed side of Detroit. Like you, however, he reveled in providing an uncensored and unedited view of his city including its Good, its Bad and its Ugly.
I saw you get a little heated when a woman in the crowd asked if you felt any moral obligation to show a different (less 'negative') side of the Motor City. I wanted to reach out to you on your blog and let you know that not everyone who was in that room yesterday misunderstands the valuable point of view you which you are offering the rest of the world. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Please tell us how the story ends for the lady who was going to buy a ring and get "marry".
I can't even get my head around all of the things you see in Detroit. Incredible.
Hi Jim,
Just came across you blog and find it fascinating so had a look through the archived ones. In one posted on June 16th 2008 you say you studied in Dublin. I’d love to know when, as its where I live and was born.
You described it as “a dirty, depressing little hamlet”. I wonder was that the 80’s when crippling unemployment and mass emigration was having a devastating affect on our fair city. Then in the 90’s right through to the recent past our economy boomed and our fair city was transformed and all those emigrants who left came back commenting on how much Dublin has changed. Tourism grew and we became a hip trendy exciting city. However with the recent economic woes (which Ireland has been hit with particularly badly) it will be interesting to see if we return to those dark days of the 80’s and all those abandoned buildings. I for one hope not.
Detroit really is a wake up call as to how easily a once thriving city can be reduced to an empty shell in a relatively short space of time.
Anyway will continue to check in on the site. Great stuff.
Tom
I love your blog so much that I posted it on my twitter. I think it is one of the best on the web. Thanks for doing what you do.
I was probably a bit harsh with the empty shell discription. I'm sure most parts are still thriving.
Hey Jim, haven't been around in a while but just checked in and glad I did. We did an exhibition of photos by Vergara probably over 15 years ago when I worked at the Municipal Art Society and I've never forgotten the images. Keep exploring bud.
Why won't you say how the journal story ends? Are they marry?
Your pictures are riveting.
What a joy to hear you on The Story. It's so mind boggling to know that people simply walked away from their schools and homes, I still can't get over it. I'm glad you're telling this particular story.
I'm sure you have been asked this before, but are you ever tempted to take some of the things you find home? Like the woman's journal, for example. I know you have, in the past, found new homes for old school books but I was just wondering about the personal stuff people leave behind. I think I would be tempted, but i'm really not sure what I would do with it. I know it's only 'stuff' but it just seems like it needs a home too.
I have never taken anything "personal." I once took a drawing someone made of MLK, but generally I leave everything where it is. If something seems really personal (SS#s, banking records) I might toss it down the elevator shaft or something.
I like the part of your interview where you talk about the old books you take and read to Juniper and about the trees growing up through abandoned books. I like to think that she'll be 'rooted' somehow to the city through these books that you read to her. Lovely.
I am so glad they contacted you. I suggested your blog as an idea via The People's Network. Your stunning photography and succinct writing is the epitome of blog writing. I'm thrilled they took the time to interview you.
I actually missed the original broadcast so I'm heading over to iTunes to get the podcast.
-Abby
My family roots are in Detroit, from way back before the depression. Detroit was once a vibrant city and now is a cesspool. It will not change until the citizens who are left quit electing idiots and incompetents. Look at Kwame and Conyers, for example. They get every dime they can get out of the city and they don't give a damn about the poor people who have to live there. Detroit is doomed.
Your stories and photos are stunning.
From historic marker on the site of Brewster Homes
“Between 1910 and 1940 Detroit, Michigan’s African American population increased dramatically. Faced with restrictions on where they could live, many African Americans were forced into substandard housing. In 1935 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground for the Brewster Homes, the nation’s first federally funded public housing development for African Americans. The homes opened in 1938 with 701 units. When completed in 1941 there were 941 units bounded by Beaubien, Hastings, Mack and Wilkins Streets. Residents were required to be employed and there were limits on what they could earn. Former residents described Brewster as ‘community filled with families that displayed love, respect and concern for everyone in a beautiful, clean and secure neighborhood.’ The original Brewster Homes were demolished in 1991 and replaced by 250 townhouses.”
I felt compelled to leave a comment after reading your blog for awhile now. Please don't stop writing about Detroit. My ancestors lived in the city and my parents were born there. My great grandfather was a doctor with a home office in Detroit; my grandmother was a nurse in the 1920s in Providence Hospital. Although my husband and I moved away from Michigan in 2007 to find better career opportunities, we have strong, family ties in Detroit, a city that we love. It's very painful to read about Detroit's problems in the news and feel helpless to fix them. You are bearing witness to one experience of Detroit. You speak for hundreds of people who don't have a voice or a place to speak out about the loss and wonder and good things about Detroit. Please don't stop.
Hi,
I've been following your posts about Detroit for some time now, but preferred to lurk. 
Thanks so much for sharing your photos and stories, they speak for Detroit much louder than any news report or statistic ever could. The beauty you find in the most desolate places is incredible.
I happened upon the Brewster Projects this afternoon while leaving Eastern Market. I remembered your post here, and drove around a bit. I got out and walked around the center courtyard between the towers, but was wary of entering the buildings by myself. I'm glad you did, and that you record all these things that I am so curious about and so anxious to explore, if I were a bit tougher.
It's sad to me to see the disrepair of so many homes in this part of town, both the old and the new(er.)
Thanks again. You're my hero.
-Sara
Commenting by HaloScan
