What happened to the boulevards down Washington and why?
I live downtown & moved to the area about 2.5 years ago. Can someone answer what happened to the boulevards down Washington Ave.? In old photographs I can see they had a strip of pavement or something down the middle as is often seen in Europe. A perfect place for park benches and pedestrian enjoyment, safely buffered from traffic by trees.
What happened? The boulevards are still there, but with trees planted down the middle, making them awkward for pedestrians to enjoy...when and why was this change made? Were there other pedestrian friendly boulevards in the city [[between Campus Martius and the river along Woodward, for ex)? Is there any talk restoring the boulevards as part of Gilbert's new vision?
This has me baffled & someone on here probably has the answer.
Here's a pic:
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpg
Thanks! And sorry if this has been discussed before, I searched and didn't find anything.
Detroit streetcars - 1950's
Quote:
Originally Posted by
EastsideAl
A2Mike: I was actually living in San Francisco, just off Market St. in the Hayes Valley area, when they installed the tracks on Market and started the service with the antique streetcars. I was so excited that I blew off work to go down there on the first day, and ended up riding several different cars back and forth from the Embarcadero to Castro for over 4 hours. I loved riding those during my remaining time in S.F. Nice that they have painted one in Detroit livery now.
Old as I am, I'm too young to have ever ridden a streetcar in Detroit [[other than the aforementioned Washington Blvd. line). But I did get to ride on Detroit streetcars - in the '70s in Mexico City! Detroit shipped its remaining cars down there when service ended here. We even got on a couple of them that still had old DSR markings on the inside.
http://www.playle.com/pictures/WHIMZY2574.jpg
EastsideAl: I was born in 1945 and lived in Springwells. I remember going downtown with my sister on the Baker streetcar, an old boxy style, in the early 50's. One year we went to the State Fair on one of the streamlined models. Sorry they were taken out of service in 1956, before I and my friends were allowed to go downtown on our own. I think their demise and the gaping hole where the Kern Block was accelerated downtown's decline.