Hart Plaza

[beanietek]

does anyone remember the name of the restraurant[[s) that used to be located in hart plaza years ago when it first opened - there was a more upscale one...you could dine in or sit outside. only one i can remember is the landsdown that was docked near the plaza but that's about all i can come up with.

[401don]

Can't remember though I seem to recall it was Japanese. Was there ever a dumber design than an underground restaurant at a riverfront park?

[Kathleen]

Can't remember though I seem to recall it was Japanese. Was there ever a dumber design than an underground restaurant at a riverfront park?

Pretty sure that in the early 80s, the restaurant under Hart Plaza was called The Underground. And it wasn't Japanese. Just regular American cuisine. I'm sure that there were other restaurants that followed in that location...perhaps one was Japanese.

[Gistok]

Can't remember though I seem to recall it was Japanese. Was there ever a dumber design than an underground restaurant at a riverfront park?

Would you have preferred it to be above ground and block the view of the water from the park?

Although today the underground at Hart Plaza is a ghost town, I remember when it first opened up, and all the ethnic fesivals [[German, Polish, Italian, etc) were all held there all over the park It was a nice place to visit, and we enjoyed the large number of people and the smells of the food cooking... watching some of the folks fishing along the water, watching the boats go by. it was really festive.... and then it disappeared... all the ethnic festivals moved to the burbs. Does anyone know the reason why? Safety didn't seem to be an issue... was it city wanting too much money to rent the space, or what?

Today it's just a shell [[literally) of its' former self and doesn't get the use that the plaza had before, when it was packed every weekend.

And then there's the fountain.... it was promised to be a wonder of water displays... but all we ever saw was the equivalent of the awe of a lawn sprinkler... urban legend has it that some workman left a bucket in the water pipes, and it never worked to its' potential.

[DetroitPlanner]

I seem to recall the Wong family of Windsor being involved with this restraunt at one time. The place was located where it was to take advantage of the shows and the ice skating that used to take place in the center of the ampatheatre. Once the shows started to become so large that they required a stage above the original spot it lost much of its business. You can't keep your doors open selling hot chocolates in winter to ice skaters.

Gistock, a lot of the emphasis on the shows shifted over to the big evens like Montreaux and the Hoedown. In addition there was a lot of turmoil involved with the Yugoslavian festival. Eventually everything shifted to the bigger shows and the smaller ones were left out. After all, the irish festival could never ompete with the money coming in from the Hoedown or Montreaux.

[illwill]

this website is screwed. it always sticks when I try to post a comment.

[astongraham]

I also recall the original restaurant there being Japanese.

[beanietek]

thanks everyone and kathleen thanks for the underground..... i too recall that it was american and the underground is what i was looking for.... but if there was another one that was japanese - can anyone recall the name? the only japanese restraurant i recall was the one in the ren cen when ren cen first opened.