Anyone remember the International Village plan for Detroit in the 60's?

[daddeeo]

This was businessman Walter Shamie's baby and it never got off the ground. After much ballyhoo, it dropped like a lead balloon.
Walter was once thought to be a possible mayor who never got it together. This venture pretty much finished him off as a challenger
to then Mayor Cavanaugh.
It's hard to find anything about this and that's odd because it seemed like such a big deal at the time.

[AUSSIE]

We had a similar idea in Australia, failed to get off the ground:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multifunction_Polis

Tall poppy syndrome at work

Cheers

[Dino]

I found this promotional insert in a 1964 programme. According to the description, they were "close" to making this work. They had the land and the plans all drawn up, and it was just a matter of funding...supposedly.

[EastsideAl]

That's a great find! Wasn't Mr. Shamie also the one with a plan to build a cable tramway across the river? And, of course, Detroit tried over and over again through the '50s and '60s to get the Olympics.

[Wesley Mouch]

I remember the idea, but know almost nothing about the proposal. Would like to hear more. This was a big deal at the time.

[Danny]

International Village in Detroit NEVER got off the ground due to community and racial concerns. The 1967 12th Street Riot close the coffin.

If International Village was there in the 1960s, add that in to the 1968 Summer Olympics bid. Then Detroit will have a stable and diverse population about over a 1.4 million by 1980 and 1.3 million by 1990 and 1.30 million. If gentrification has its ground in Detroit its diverse population could increase to 1.4 million by 2020.

nice try

[Worldsgreatest]

I don't understand what an international village is. They wanted to build a Disneyland style neighborhood in Detroit?

[dtowncitylover]

Sounds like it was the District Detroit of its day...

[Richard]

I don't understand what an international village is. They wanted to build a Disneyland style neighborhood in Detroit?

Its kinda like what church street station was in Orlando in the 70s and 80s

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chur...tion_[[Orlando)

Scroll down to nightclubs.

They basically take a couple of blocks of derelict buildings and create a destination out of it.

At the time you could go downtown after 5 and the only thing would be people sleeping on the benches and a cop on a bike,nothing and nobody else,a tumbleweed could have blown from one end of downtown to the other freely.

Church street had country western,disco,50s,dueling pianos and lots of shops and restaurants so it catered to everybody and families. 5c beer on Tuesday had its moments,nothing like getting drunk on cheap beer for $1

Danny Partridge got into a bar fight and many other celebrities on nickel beer night.

Yes Disneyworld kinda killed it by doing the same thing.

I guess the entertainment district is still being floated around,the biggest thing is,it is in a contained district and easy to maintain safety.

The trick is creating a safe environment that is easy accessible that appeals to locals and tourists as a destination.

[Meddle]

What I remember was ... Monroe Street, Trapper's Alley, Emily's, the weekend festivals, the State Fair .... things people came from long distances to experience.

Then there was ... crap.

Now there are ... Yuppies.

Ain't never gonna be what it was.

[Richard]

No more Yuppies,nobody is having 2.5 kids and driving Volvo’s anymore,that’s the problem.

Its hipsters now,kids are considered a commitment.

We still have our state fair and fair grounds,every weekend there is something going on,concerts,boat and houseing shows,gun shows,train shows etc. some events cost money to get in and some are free.

It can be what it was,the problem was back before and during the bankruptcy everybody kept saying nothing will change,but it is and has.

I am still not sure why the decision was made to drop the fair and still do not agree with the whole belle island thing.

Its like the old buildings,it is old and scrapped out tear it down,nobody will ever devolve it,but yet we see differently.Sometimes getting caught up in the here and now can have horrible consequences in the future,or as they say,it comes back to bite you.

If I was a tourist coming to Detroit from Florida for a vacation and say for instance my age group was mid 50s,naturally I would be interested in the automotive aspects,check out the arts and most definitely the architecture.

But then what happens after 5 pm? Go back to the hotel and go to sleep?

I would be interested in making the most out of the limited time,it would be nice to maybe have a good sit down meal,maybe catch a live show or theater or maybe hit up a nice club with some live music.

Without haveing to navigate a large unknown city in the dark and like most cities straying off to that one extra block by mistake can have bad results.

That is the concept or goal of a functional entertainment district.

A variety of establishments that one could visit many times over and never have that been there done that view.

It helps locally also because it is not really just a place tourists go,there will be live shows,street artists etc the list goes on.

If you look at how Disney world operates,it is designed as a trap.

Tourists fly in,they are picked up and brought to the property and the concept is to provide everything that is needed without ever leaving the property,maximizing profit.

As it stands Detroit does have a lot of wonderful things just not that complete package that would or could absorb a week of ones vacation.

I know a lot of Filipinos that fly to Detroit to connect to fly international, sometimes they are stuck in the airport for over 8 hours waiting for the next flight,I ask them,how come you do not go into Detroit and visit in that time.

They are scared of the unknown,they love to gamble,buy all kinds of trinkets and enjoy the sites,just like anybody else but they still have that past Detroit propaganda in thier minds.

Sometimes when it comes to tourists you have to take them by the hand and show them the way,you cannot base it on Detroit is tough so you have to be also.

In spite of it all Detroit really does have a lot of positive things to offer the rest of the country,it just seems to be really undermarketed.

Why do millions visit Nashville? The music ,nothing else.
Why do millions visit Orlando? Disney World ,nothing else.
Why do millions visit Washington DC? The museums.

The majority of the cities have one thing that they capitalize on,you guys have at least four or five major things that any one on its own would be a major reason to visit in another city.

[EastsideAl]

I don't understand what an international village is. They wanted to build a Disneyland style neighborhood in Detroit?

Yes, and instead we got Bob Cobb's short-lived attempt at hippie Disneyland on Plum St.

[Honky Tonk]

Yes, and instead we got Bob Cobb's short-lived attempt at hippie Disneyland on Plum St.

Plum St. was great. It was fun. It drew crowds. In the days of Haight-Ashbury, it was Detroit's attempt to be part of the national "scene". Shops, coffee houses, food, and music. It was organic and not contrived. You need to tune in, turn on, and drop out, man.

[Smirnoff]

Surprised this "sham" didn't get millions like some of the other hare-brained flops.....how is the "development" around LCA going or the Uniroyal Plant?

Next.....

[Vitalis]

The flood gates of my once nimble mind are trickling-out with remembrances of the early 60s, thanks to Daddeeo! I am wondering, for instance, whether Detroit's Olympic bid in 1963 for the 1968 Olympic games had any relationship to an International Village [[or was the timing wrong?) I recall further that one of the facilities for the Detroit Olympic games along the riverfront [[perhaps, the Olympic stadium itself, would later become the new home of the Detroit Lions?) And to think that Detroit finished second to Mexico City for the 68 bid! Also, recall the hubbub about constructing an exact replica of the Globe theater [[Oh, happy 455th birthday Bill Shakespeare, today, 4/23) along the riverfront at some point during the early to mid 60s.