Urban Prairie Views

[MaxCady]

I find this whole concept fascinating.

Here's one from the East side near the airport:

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

All
What would be really interesting is if you could juxtapose the exact same street view to a point back in time before the very first home was abandoned or burned to the ground. There would be cars in the driveways, nicely trimmed lawns, a canopy of trees lining the streets and then of course kids, kids and more kids [[our parents, aunts and uncles) playing on the sidewalks or street hockey in the middle of the street... it would be a neat little trip to see the "with people" view and today's view "without people" view. I'm coming back to Detroit for a visit with my kids later this month and plan on taking them on a tour of my old neighborhood on the lower east-side that has fairly large tracks of urban prairie and many bombed out burned out striped out crumbling on its foundation type housing stock.

[Honky Tonk]

All
What would be really interesting is if you could juxtapose the exact same street view to a point back in time before the very first home was abandoned or burned to the ground. There would be cars in the driveways, nicely trimmed lawns, a canopy of trees lining the streets and then of course kids, kids and more kids [[our parents, aunts and uncles) playing on the sidewalks or street hockey in the middle of the street... it would be a neat little trip to see the "with people" view and today's view "without people" view. I'm coming back to Detroit for a visit with my kids later this month and plan on taking them on a tour of my old neighborhood on the lower east-side that has fairly large tracks of urban prairie and many bombed out burned out striped out crumbling on its foundation type housing stock.

The kids will be thrilled......

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

I'm calling it shock and awe, they will probably say "Daddy where did you, Grandma and Grandpa pitch your tent" I'll have to tell them that the grass was much shorter back when I was a kid. Honestly even for me as an aging adult that used to roam those streets as a teenager 30-40 years ago I still find it difficult to wrap my brain around all the neglect, destruction, looting of internal organs of homes and abandonment.

[Honky Tonk]

I'm calling it shock and awe, they will probably say "Daddy where did you, Grandma and Grandpa pitch your tent" I'll have to tell them that the grass was much shorter back when I was a kid. Honestly even for me as an aging adult that used to roam those streets as a teenager 30-40 years ago I still find it difficult to wrap my brain around all the neglect, destruction, looting of internal organs of homes and abandonment.

I know exactly what you mean. I no longer live in my original neighborhood either. I drive through once a year or so, and I too "find it difficult to wrap my brain around" the fact we used to walk to school, play in playgrounds, neighbors helped neighbors, etc., etc., etc. I almost question myself if it really happened or not.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Yep...those streets are straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Just what was Ron Serling smoking in that pipe afterall!

[mtburb]

And one from the West Side near the former site of a sign all West Siders who are over the age of 40 should know very well.


And a different kind of urban prairie, this one is so interesting I've started a thread about it.

[220hendrie1910]

And one from the West Side near the former site of a sign all West Siders who are over the age of 40 should know very well.

That one has an excuse for being an urban prairie; a tornado leveled much of that neighborhood.

[Ray1936]

This is 16th, just north of W. Warren.

[LeannaM]

This is 16th, just north of W. Warren.

That one is actually kind of pretty.

[JenniferL]

Urban prairies depress me.

[KJ5]

I love 'em. So peaceful. Probably not good for the city's tax base, but as a non car owner it's kind of hard for me to make it to the country. So I'll take an urban prairie in a pinch. Great thread.

[313WX]

I love 'em. So peaceful. Probably not good for the city's tax base, but as a non car owner it's kind of hard for me to make it to the country. So I'll take an urban prairie in a pinch. Great thread.

I take the complete opposite stance.

I want to live in a big city. If I wanted to be surrounded by the countryside, I would move to the countryside.

That's another reason why I must leave Detroit. As JenniferL said, it is depressing, I'm sure especially for those who remember all sorts of commercial, industrial and residential properties occupying these prairies.

[Honky Tonk]

I love 'em. So peaceful. Probably not good for the city's tax base, but as a non car owner it's kind of hard for me to make it to the country. So I'll take an urban prairie in a pinch. Great thread.

I have to go with KJ5. I love the quiet and the wildlife, [[read: nature) that has moved back into the City with the additional space.

[poobert]

If what passes for nature for you are trash-strewn vacant lots [[above basements and foundations filled with the contents of what used to be the house on top of them) with weeds that grow 6 feet high in the summer time, then I really feel sorry for you.

It's not like the areas are safe, either. There's no one around to hear you scream, so to speak.

Go to Huron National Forest if you like nature. Just because a rat-eating pheasant runs accross a pile of mattresses in a vacant lot doesn't mean you're at Yosemite in the 'hood.

What I wouldn't mind is if these tracts truly were turned into honest-to-God nature reserves [[or redeveloped) instead of left languishing. Of course, that would require creativity, planning, and work, none of which are natural to the leadership around here.

[marshamusic]

If what passes for nature for you are trash-strewn vacant lots [[above basements and foundations filled with the contents of what used to be the house on top of them) with weeds that grow 6 feet high in the summer time, then I really feel sorry for you.

It's not like the areas are safe, either. There's no one around to hear you scream, so to speak.

Go to Huron National Forest if you like nature. Just because a rat-eating pheasant runs accross a pile of mattresses in a vacant lot doesn't mean you're at Yosemite in the 'hood.

What I wouldn't mind is if these tracts truly were turned into honest-to-God nature reserves [[or redeveloped) instead of left languishing. Of course, that would require creativity, planning, and work, none of which are natural to the leadership around here.

But obviously, we're not referring to the trash filled, ill kept lots. Even the photos posted don't reflect that.

[KJ5]

[QUOTE=poobert;398424]If what passes for nature for you are trash-strewn vacant lots [[above basements and foundations filled with the contents of what used to be the house on top of them) with weeds that grow 6 feet high in the summer time, then I really feel sorry for you.

It's not like the areas are safe, either. There's no one around to hear you scream, so to speak.

Go to Huron National Forest if you like nature.
Like I said, I don't have a car. Let me know the next time you go and maybe I can ride along with you.

[mikefmich]

Urban prairies depress me.

I'm with you.
Some days I get lost on Google street view for an hour or so....never believing the neighborhoods I ran as a kid & worked as a young man would ever get to this state.

When I get back home for a couple of days, I usually spend at least one tooling around the east side & near downtown. It seems masochistic of me to do so.

[DownriverGRap]

Urban prairies depress me.

You are forgetting the best part of Google StreetView.....the sight of all the new ADA approved easements at intersections in the middle of nowhere!

[sumas]

I much prefer prairie to burnt out hulks of homes. I am a little spoiled though. My block is half prairie but as a block association we keep the blvds mowed and 65% of vacant land mowed as well. We also get some help from local churches. Our street [[Jefferson to Gratiot) is a little well run community

We do several cleanups a year and my complaint is trash. We pick up Amazing quantities. That certainly isn't just a detroit problem, drive any freeway. How so many people litter drives me nuts.

We have one serious eyesore on the corner. Other than that I love my street.
We do leave some areas wild for the pheasants, bunnys and fox but could do without the opossums.

[Hamtragedy]

I find it fascinating as much as I find it depressing. To drive down Kercheval near Bewick, or Mack and Lakewood and see my old houses still standing, along with a handful of other ones, I'm able to visualize what that neighborhood looked like in the early 70's, from the banks converted to churches, the giant cow, or the YMCA at the end of the street. Those same neighborhoods, especially Bewick, were rough back then, and I got grounded for playing in abandoned houses.

Compare that to my favorite spot in the Huron National Forest, which burned in the early 70's, and even in the 80's you could crest a hill and see big-sky for miles. Go back there now, and the scrub-oaks that survived the fire are the three things that resemble anything I remember as a teen-ager, and the forest is alive with birch and poplar, and getting lost is easy. I'm sure my parents found it depressing the forest burned in their 20s.

To witness, over 30-40 years, the cycle, natural or manufactured in both instances has been fascinating.

[RickBeall]

Just some thoughts.

There is an irony. Around some areas, the first buildings to fall down were the commercial buildings. So the busiest areas tend to turn to country first.

Detroit is a great city for riding your bike. No traffic.

I was taking pictures around New Center on Friday and I was looking at the pictures later and I realized there were no people in the pictures. I was on Lothrup behind New Center. It looked like a segment of "The World After People". Now, there were some cars in the pictues. But almost no people.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Just some thoughts.

There is an irony. Around some areas, buildings to fall down were the commercial buildings. So the busiest strips tend to turn to country first.

Detroit is a great city for riding your bike. No traffic.

I was taking pictures around New Center on Friday and I was looking at the pictures later and I realized there were no people in the pictures. I was on Lothrup behind New Center. It looked like a segment of "The World After People". Now, there were some cars in the pictues. But almost no people.

I'd be careful riding my bike. Too many idiots in cars that hit people walking, riding, pushing wheelchairs and keep going.

[sumas]

I'd be careful riding my bike. Too many idiots in cars that hit people walking, riding, pushing wheelchairs and keep going.

last I looked those incidents are in the burbs. More and more I see people riding bikes to work or just for pleasure. Our current lack of density is more a tax/monetary issue then a traffic issue.

There is an opportunity in our current emptiness to create a new vision.

[ordinary]

There is an opportunity in our current emptiness to create a new vision.

I think that all the time but just never could put it into words. Thank you.