Another SHORPY Detroit photo -- check out all the cars!

**Ray1936** · June-16-11, 11:07 AM

I've been saving all these magnificent Detroit photos to a separate file. They are priceless!

http://www.shorpy.com/node/10642?size=_original

**Detroitnerd** · June-16-11, 11:22 AM

Chop suey!

**Richard** · June-16-11, 11:41 AM

So cool .

The first two cars bottom left the steering wheel is on the right the one behind the for hire car it is on the left.

The Catcher on the front of the street car is massive.
Even the little public notice booth is well thought design.
Exciting times to live in back then.

The streets are really wide considering they were built before heavy use of the car,so one could really say that Detroit was built originally for the use of the street cars in mind ?

**gnome** · June-16-11, 03:15 PM

I think I spy Jjaba hawking bulldogs near the corner of City Hall. Is that TheRock next to Jjaba?

**mikefmich** · June-16-11, 07:09 PM

Excellent. Sometimes when I look at these I wonder if my grandparents or my zillion aunts, uncles, & cousins from my ma's side are wandering around in the image.

**jtf1972** · June-17-11, 11:31 AM

This is my new desktop on the computer.

**BrushStart** · June-17-11, 11:56 AM

What an interesting moment in the history of transportation! Three eras all converging at a single intersection in Detroit: electric-powered street cars, gasoline-powered automobiles, and hay-powered horses. Incredible.

**BrushStart** · June-17-11, 12:02 PM

Also, anyone notice the Chinese Chop Suey sign? I didn't know there was an Asian influence in Detroit in 1910.

**DinNC** · June-17-11, 01:19 PM

This is a great pic. I love looking at these old photos. What is the tall building all the way to right?

**Detroitnerd** · June-17-11, 01:45 PM

Yeah, I saw the chop suey right away. There's a great section in The Oxford companion to American Food and Drink about the development of Cantonese-American food. After the Chinese Exclusion Act, a lot of stranded Chinese-Americans needed a way to make a living in a hostile environment, so they turned to laundries and, since Canton is famous for its food, low-cost food. In a way, chop suey joints were some of America's first fast food restaurants. In that context, it fits downtown in 1910 like a glove ...

**Ray1936** · June-17-11, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by DinNC

This is a great pic. I love looking at these old photos. What is the tall building all the way to right?

That was the old Hotel Pontcharain, torn down in the thirties.

**Detroit Stylin** · June-17-11, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

That was the old Hotel Pontcharain, torn down in the thirties.

You were close ray "Ponchartrain"....

**buildingsofdetroit** · June-18-11, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by Detroit Stylin

You were close ray "Ponchartrain"....

You were close, Stylin' ...

http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LR...6/G3BW000Z.jpg

It was the Pontchartrain, not Ponch.

**detroitbob** · June-19-11, 03:32 AM

Actually the old Pontch was torn down in the early 20's for the First National [[Bank) Building

**wolverine** · June-19-11, 03:42 AM

Incredible street scene. I love how there are no paint markings. Didn't need really need them.

**Sandhouse** · June-21-11, 10:09 AM

To answer the question about why Nineteenth-century main streets were so wide,

It wasn't in anticipation of future traffic, but out of regard for how much room it took to turn a four-horse team and freight wagon.

**Detroitnerd** · June-21-11, 10:33 AM

Wide main streets were the modern style. Haussman used them in Paris so that rioters couldn't hide and occupy neighborhoods. Haussman's plan of wide boulevards allowed military forces to battle mobs more effectively.

L'Enfant also designed Washington with wide boulevards after Haussman, with extremely wide boulevards, not in anticipation of traffic, but for style. Mumford talks about how they are too wide, and were only filled in later by traffic, luckily.

Woodward's plan had broad main drags meeting at hexagonal markets and campuses. But the interior streets were less broad, allowing dray traffic but not huge horsecarts. And the tiny little streets inside those were more for foot traffic. Think about Campus Martius: Broad roads, open space, people meeting and eating. Now think about Harmonie Park, how all of a sudden you're away from the streets and noise and on this intimate little path. That's the way Woodward intended it. Woodward's Detroit didn't just have wide streets, it has a lot of variety.

In the 1810s, Detroiters abandoned Woodward's plan for good. As a result, they had to bulldoze a lot of what was built before 1920, to widen roads for the private automobile and truck.

**gnome** · June-21-11, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by wolverine

Incredible street scene. I love how there are no paint markings. Didn't need really need them.

I believe Edward Hines invented the center line as a safety measure.

**EastsideAl** · June-22-11, 12:04 AM

All of the buildings in the foreground are gone. In fact, other than the Soldiers & Sailors Monument, and not counting the Merrill Fountain [[which was moved to Palmer Park), I can spy only a couple of buildings visible in this picture that are still standing. Both are off in distance, and one is only partially visible. Do you know which ones they are? Can you spot any others?