Some thoughts from someone who was in middle school and living in Grand Rapids back then:

-I didn’t realize the DAC’s parking garage pre-dated Comerica Park.

-What used to be where the Opera House garage is now?

-I know that some are upset about the buildings we lost for Comerica/Ford Field, but that area looks very dead to me. Given that the YMCA/YWCA were replaced by a very nice facility that replaced a parking lot on Broadway, and the Gem and Elwood were moved, I really think the Wolverine Hotel was the only real loss. [[Of course, that’s a maddening one, because it wasn’t actually in the footprint of the ballpark).

-West Foxtown doesn’t look much more full with buildings than it is today. For some reason I thought much of it was cleared when Comerica was built for parking/”future hockey arena.”

-My god the area around DTE used to be depressing. I know their weird garden things aren’t very urban, but they’re better than parking lots. And didn’t there used to be a cool neighborhood west of there where the MGM Grand is? I can’t really see it. Was it already gone in 1997?

-Campus Martius today is much better than the Kerns block/Kennedy Square/confusing intersection that was there back then.