The Eastown is going to be razed.

[Richard]

It would be nice if they could at least preserve the facade,it seems like they are trying to remove memories that bond.

[Hypestyles]

what are the development plans for the property?

[Oddz313]

This was in the late 90's, and the building was still in good enough shape to host large gatherings. Power was the last of our issues, as the sound crew didn't complain about it nearly as much as they did about security. The place was just old and not up to code.

I didn't know who the owner was, but the place was being managed by a middle aged black dude at the time.

Until in 2000 when a chunk of the ceiling hit that girls in the head lol

[detroitsgwenivere]

Until in 2000 when a chunk of the ceiling hit that girls in the head lol

Didn't know that... Our people had switched venues by then and were throwing parties at the old firehouse in the industrial graveyard, the empty warehouses off 94 and under the Ambassador bridge. The manager had wanted more dough from the promoters but wouldn't provide the basics, like regular working plumbing and security. We tried to explain to him that if it wasn't for the party scene, he wouldn't be making any money and should be investing in the buildings upkeep. After we stopped using the place he tried to replace our revenue with the hood version of rave parties. That didn't last long though, and before we knew it the place was being picked over by scrappers. Which was really sad because the place was absolutely salvageable at that point.

[Richard]

what are the development plans for the property?

Who knows,but the city has been cracking down and enforcing on the blight and owners are now required to either have a plan,mothball,or do something with their properties or face fines.

They are enforcing it with some teeth,it may have some unintended consequences when it comes to historic properties as the owners may feel it is better as a vacant lot.

[warsaw7]

what are the development plans for the property?

Development plans?! Have you been in that area? There is nothing around there ripe for development.

[G-DDT]

Okay. Too tempted not to post. DGwen you obviously ran in similar circles with me, as I was affiliated with Technology [[Yeah, those guys. Yet, I can say I was kept in the dark about a lot of what they were connected with.). When the operation was handed over to the "gay afterhours crowd", attempts were made to work with the Firehouse, but we found T--- and his crew difficult to work with [[not to mention many incidents reported of girls being raped in the far back areas behind the building). We tried working out of the Butcherhouse, only to have T and his crew sending cops [[ones seen at afterhours with hookers and balloons-the kind of balloons Green Velvet sang about) on the take coming over and busting legitimate Memorial Day house parties and threatening kids based on the rude actions of suspicious party-crashers.

The suspicious shooting at Bagley Optical, gave the cops [[and Foxnews) all that they had wanted and hoped for [[for over a year and half) to go in and clampdown on every last party. This, by the way, was also happening simultaneously, across the entire country.

[G-DDT]

Oddz be true! I used to call the Theater the "House of the Happy Headwound". Though, the incident where pounding decibel levels sent a tiny chunk of plaster coming down on the heads of two giggling girls [[how my boss charmed and smoothed it over with them in the office, I can't understand-Jedi mindtrick?-, but I guess he even got their phone numbers and everything) was one of many minor incidents:

One time we had guys pretending to be security [[but were friends of friends-so on-of one of the lackeys of the many soundguys we hired-Livewrire and Burst being a few). One of them started to scramble through the audience and bumped into a kid who went into "What's the problem? Tell me what's the problem! I can help. Just tell me." The "security' yelled at him to get out of the way, the kid persisted with "Chill. just tell me what's going on." and WHAM! the guy cracks this kid really hard across his skull with a maglite. That security guy flees. Noone gets his name or knows who he was connected to. Yet, we made sure the kid was taken care of and driven to the hospital.

There were also many incidents of kids on "K' [[that hideous crap) sitting on a bench in the bathroom one second and SMACK! They fall face first onto the hard tile, chipping teeth, blood gushing out. Stupid.

Oh, and noone was shooting at you, DGwen. Chances are if it was chases and skirmishes coming from tehat really shady nightclub six blocks down Harper, they were just shooting at each other. So, sleep tight and keep your head low. Also, that incident on New Years was some kid thinking he could buy crack and then dash without paying from some shady dudes running a bogus lot [[we eventually drove them away with the help of Detroit's finest); so, they shot him in the arm [[his brother somehow ended up doing security for us, somehow). Yet, that got blown way out of proportion by many of the other competitive party promoters [[especially the ones who didn't like us not letting them come in and traffic their drugs) out there [[many kids claimed they happened to be there that night-but, NO! we had a strictly enforced lockdown-no getting in or out between 11p.-1a.-so, those who came knew what they were in for.).

Yet, there was worse...

[G-DDT]

Security with us was always an issue [[we eventually had to rely on retired cops to help out), and I did my part as eyes-n-ears. Yet, we had gone through more than three different ambitious teams of security who wanted in and wanted to hijack things in a foul manner. The worst was when we had a huge event going into the Theater [[Mezzanine, back stairways, etc.) itself. I noticed to anxious girls, and I came up to ask how they are doing. "Not so good." "What's wrong?" "Well,-uh-one of your security guys just robbed a friend of ours. " I told them to sit tight, while I grabbed another employee scooting by, they confirmed that they got two other reports of kids being shaken down for drugs and cash [[we had a strict policy of no bringing in booze or alcohol-if found at the door, they can turn around and put it back in their car, or watch as we walk them to the bathrooms and flush it down the toilet; weed didn't concern us, but if you were crafty enough to sneak a few pills in, chances are, you weren't bad enough to come in trafficking massive bulk amounts of drugs).

I noticed a sketchy security guy trying to schmooze with two girls on the back stairwell, and they were not hiding the fact that they wanted to find a moment to slip away from him. As he talked, his gaze cut to me at the top, they slipped off, and he spun on me and got hideously aggressive. I knew this guy was acting like a fool and didn't know who I was, and I told him he better stop or I will have him removed. "Oh oh, you steppin' up on me, dude." So, I stalked off, and I went to go get others and told them to remove someone pretending to be security.

These guys were Gung Ho at first, but when they saw who it was, they were putting their arm around him and laughing, and I got this real sick feeling in my gut, standing off to the side. I started to look for someone-anyone-closer affiliated to our core crew. I was up in the Psychedelic Corridor [[the long winding one with images of wizards and stars and other Great Space Coaster type vomit-doesn't anyone have any videos or photos?-because, I know a friend of mine took some video shots as we pushed him down in it a wheelchair), when I caught someone and told them what is going down. They confirmed it and told me to stay there as they got others.

I remember just sitting there, getting this sinking sensation, as I felt more an more like a dead duck. Just then, I saw the troublemaker barreling down the smoke-filled hallway past others, heading in my direction [[Oh Jeez, This is it." I thought.). Suddenly, I saw Killer K--- right behind him, one of our office tech guys, who was an ex-Navy Seal, and I felt a sigh of relief. K spins this guy around and starts jabbing a finger up at this guy, as I notice two of our other members flanking K. That's when I jump forward and hear them accusing this guy of shaking down kids. I then jump in and say "Yeah, yeah, and what's up with you threatening me in that back hallway?!" K goes into "Oh, you threatening us, you need to go-get out of here, right away!"

The "security" guy says "Oh, you steppin' up on me, too!?" K calmly goes "oh-I see", straightens up, passes off his flashlight to his left hand, which then, in full display out-stretches it to the far-left and drops it....which was just a mere diversion. Just as one of our staff reflexively goes to grab it. K winds up and swings a hard uppercut into this guy's jaw. CRACK! [[you hear that sound in movies, and you think "eh, that really doesn't happen in real life."-but it does, believe me.). This guy is now hunched completely over clutching his head in pain and howling loudly like a wounded mongrel. K starts to kick him repeatedly in the tuckus while screaming "Go on! Get out of here! You know where the door is-Go on!" And this guy is scrambling quickly, still hunched over.

I thank them, and they say "It isn't over, yet." Their entire security crew had to be ousted. Our chief sound technician had to wrastle a dreadlocked dude twice his size. At first, he and another were trying to wrangle him away admidst a tangle of a crowd poring in from both ends of a stairwell and the door leading into-and try and keep the crowd safe [[not easy to do-and my big mistake was being at the top of the stairs yelling "I need everyone here to clear out, now!"-which does the opposite and just brings in many more crowds of gawking idiots wanting to curiously see what is going on.). All the while, the soundguy is leaping up and down over the heads of others and repeatedly walloping this guy on his dreads with a maglight in loudly audible cracks. Later, I heard the soundguy had to tussle this guy about down the huge marble staircase and onto a pile of boards with exposed nails on them.

These guys were all outside screaming threats at us. When they left, the police arrived. We filed a report. The cops asked if my boss had a gun. He admitted yes, [[a Luger in the filing cabinet), at which point, they just nonchalantly said "Why didn't you just shoot them." That always stays with me [[much like Police Chief Wiggum saying "Look we can't always run around "policing" things for everybody.").

Despite that, police were actually quite helpful to us, and it was odd that they [[my boss and Co.) had an agreement with them to let them do walkthroughs [[in which they could care less if they saw small circles of kids puffing on ganja-as long as we kept out Nitrous Oxide, alcohol, and bulk drug distribution.).

[G-DDT]

We had a lot working for us on our side: the cops [[oddly enough), many neighborhood businesses [[the barber across the way didn't mind us, and the guy at the BP liked that kids were coming into his store for pop, snacks, and cigarettes, so, we gave him a walkie talkie to report to us.), but as someone asked: someone from the Corktown Council who wrote an Images of America book once translated the blueprints for the Theater. I guess the Theater was built in the early '30s and was arranged in an odd pattern in alignment with certain "ley lines" or some Masonic jive [[shades of Ivo Shandor. It went many stories under [[which makes me wonder what is to be handled with those parts) ground [[supposedly with a sealed off bowling alley and three extra sealed off floors).

As one walked towards the back and down into the depths you got deeper and deeper into Kruger country [[as in Freddie). Steam warmed, pipes, random red lights tucked in spots-heavy atmospheric stuff. After going a bit, you start to feel a hum and the hairs on your arms stand up. Supposedly, there is an Edison substation down there with enough power to back up the nearby neighborhood in an emergency [[we also had wonderful theories of what to do if things for the country "went South" really bad-like that dreaded "Y2K"-remember that? Remember when Y2K knocked out the whole world forever? Remember that? Me neither.). So, that answers the issues we had with power.

Plumbing on the other hand was an issue. First, my boss had all the radiators pulled from the ballroom to make room for dancing and stored them in the coat rack room [[which proved a bad idea, because when winter came, keeping the ballroom warm proved difficult and the Theater next to impossible). Then he let our Treasurer toy around with a main plumbing valve to get the plumbing in the Mezzanine bathroom flowing better. What happened was a sewage valve busted and doused the costume room, forever contaminating that area [[and all the costumes from the Wiz when one of the performance arts groups was there). I really wish they had made mention to me of their intentions, as I could've scared up someone blue collar from the Westside better equipped to look into it.

[G-DDT]

We also had things working against us: there were many unfriendly aspects in the neighborhood trying to mess with us [[the shady nightclub down the way, the guys from the apartments running the bogus lot). The security issues we had were bad. Parking was an issue [[yes, the first time I ever went there with my girlfriend, we didn't know where to park and came back to a smashed window and her purse contents scattered about.), and we made up for it with staffed parking guys freezing their butts off.

We had lots of genuine haters either competing with us or angry that we wouldn't allow them to run heavy drug rackets through our venue; so, they were constantly smearing us and exaggerating every issue we encountered there with others. Worse still, is that saboteurs were constantly coming in there and doing stuff like trying to tamper with electrical gear, spilling water [[or combination of it with candy onto the ground so it'll stick fast), urinating on walls, seeing how they can clog the toilets up, and/or taking every flier we had laid out and then throwing them in the garbage can. Imagine having to be vigilant for anything like that all the time?

The building was the main dilemma. The ceiling in the ballroom was chipping up quickly. Trying to plug in gear [[like a mounted monitor with VCR playing a looped tape) that won't get tampered with was difficult. We had hopes of getting the projection room in the theater going [[maybe with help from the folks at Kinoeye-but, again, I don't know what goes on in those private office meetings, because, my boss somehow turned them off from it all.), however, the entire theater itself was falling apart. We tried to implement a task a week [[just scooping up all the dead pigeons from up there into a box and decontaminating that room was hell enough)-including dealing with bulk rubbish that accumulated, since we had no dumpster. Didn't matter, the only reel-to-reel we found to play on that old projector was a portion of Porky's 2.

When winter came, keeping that place warm was the most trying task. Then deluges of melting water started breaking through the back, upper sections of the theater and ruining that area. All we could do was try to staple and tape [[?!) up heavy visqueen tarp to create a water chute that would carry all that water out and over the balcony railing into the side aisleways-an area that was beveled-and would naturally drain out one of the fire exit doors. Imagine 3 guys struggling with freezing cascades of water coming down these high up holes while music is thumping upstairs. It's like the old films showing folks in Ireland trying to sandbag off a flood.

[G-DDT]

While the inner lay-out was an amazing enigma. I can tell the basics: there was the theater [[stage, balcony, projection room, back area for rigging, series of three floors of dressing rooms off to the left, enclosed boxed orchestra pit where old sound equipment was stored, the bottom seating area that had many of it's first rows of seats ripped up to make room for dancing, etc.), the Mezzanine [[with small offices with ancient, heavy safes and bathrooms with old fashioned waiting areas), the back stairwell that went up to the Psychedelic Corridor, the front stairwell, the large marble staircase that went down to the lobby where the concession stand and box offices were.

Off the front stairwell was the ballroom with it's bulb-lit-in-the-round bandshell [[which had a back storage area few knew about), coatroom, a room we sold water out of, a janitor's area, a small office for storing electronic equipment, and the bathrooms with huge waiting area there.

As one went up the huge wooden stairs, there was the huge office area, the huge waiting area, bathrooms, and a storage closet that had a ladder that went up to the roof [[if one traversed that, they'd find a hatch that brought them down to a back elevated secret spot behind the theater stage where 2-3 rooms were in an area with some giant silver half-circle designs in the hall-I called it the Silver Apples room, and our main sound tech genius was hoping to turn that into his little hideaway, as it could also be accessed from the back stage by a very long metal ladder).

Behind a large metal door near the office ladder was what led to the 4 story apartments [[some bigger and better than others, I guess 12 to a floor). We appropriated half of the top floor, after the hoodlums running the bogus lot were driven out. Our boss moved into the best room [[with working tub and fridge), two others got the smaller ones, and the other rooms were used for storing the pulled up seats and such. I rarely saw a person or two come in and out of that place, and if I went down the stairway closest to the office, I'd look down a hallway, see a room open and hear a T.V. set on.

Supposedly under that was a Methadone clinic [[yes! we had one of those, yet, we had absolutely nothing to do with that. In fact, we had to end and clear out our Friday shows at 4a., so that that function could kick in without hindrance. There was a door near the janitor's area, that was boarded up, yet, I could hear commotion coming from there every Saturday morning and would have to clean up the cups and discarded cookies littering our sidewalk area [[and the occasional stray needle under the Marquee).

There were a few other secrets. Supposedly, under the apartments was a tiny, unfinished nightclub the middle-aged caretaker wanted to turn into his own licensed bar. I got to see it once. The tech genius showed me an area behind the janitor area/fusebox room across from the Theater doors in the main hall way. If one shimmied up the debris, you could get into the very roof of the theater. You could enter a crawl apace that housed the huge dome shown in many videos. He called it the UFO room, because the way the flashlights looked in there, and all the white foam and plaster and rods-well-straight out of X-files. Yet, if our budget for lightbulbs had been better, we would've seen to it that every bulb in that dome was lit up.

[G-DDT]

We would occasionally have some old locals stop us outside and ask us questions [[we tried to keep that Marquee well lit). They would regale us with tales of how they went there when they were young to see films. In the '60s-'70s there were acts [[I'm sure there are some Garwood folk who can share some interesting tales) I would've loved to have seen perform there. Shame two girls got killed there by some "crazed hippy".

I many times look back and wonder what "could've been done better". I could've been better in acquiring resources just in my neighborhood alone [[in fact, I rather went into it Gung Ho the first few months, but once it became a "No, we can't do that right now, cause the owner told us so", or something like that, I would feel stalled out and got mired in stupid stuff to occupy my mind.). I wish I hadn't played so many dumb video games [[damn you Nintendo 64!) and smoked so much herb. I would've had the nerve and energy to take on quite a bit. Also, I would've mingled, promoted, and networked better [[especially with the ladies).

I wouldn't have trusted some folks over others, I wouldn't have let some folks borrow the family car, and I would've told my boss to fire the laser guy [[who bilked him out of thousands for an "amazing display" that never was delivered and then phoned in a fake bomb scare when he was fired for admitting he snorted all of that money up.), had I known then what I know now. I also would've organized some sort of function with F-N-B to serve a weekly meal and giveaway clothes to better assist the troubled community-that's for sure!

Even just taking more photos or getting folks in there with video cameras [[feel free to chime in any second Lowell.) for documentation would've rocked. I do wish I could've booked a movie gig or shows with music being manually played [[even if electronic), from guys like 4FR or Laughing Gas. We always talked about going back and repelling into the back hatch into the inner parts of the theater to rescue all of those 1/4" cables, and light rigging, and switch boxes, and such that were just getting all exposed and rusty, but after the gays contaminated the stage with asbestos [[from a firewall curtain that we all knew better than to touch-in fact, the sound genius tried to cover it up with many backdrops-maybe, we should've left a warning sign.), we were afraid to go back down into that area.

All in all, I guess I was just recovering from a accepting a new health condition [[the blood sugar deal) that had messed me up earlier with no understanding from my friends, being shot at in Highland Park, breaking my first bone on the job at a Halloween supply store, a breakup from a girlfriend, a band that went belly-up, and a gig selling ice cream for a guy who I backed away from when he started acting like a pedophile, so, jumping into the theater left me vulnerable and clueless as what to do next.

Thanks for reading if you have. They were some strange memories, but like everything else I've known, they all get physically erased--eventually-like tears in the rain.....coming down from those G--damn holes in the back of the theater.

[kathy2trips]

Shortly before my mom passed, she told me that my grandmother walked with her up to the Eastown [[from Charlevoix and Concord) to see Tom Mix...with his horse! Then all the kids watched the new Tom Mix movie. This was in 1930. The Eastown was the "big deal" movie house on the east side. All those years later, she still remembered the experience with a twinkle in her eye.

[pgn421]

Eastowne Theatre coming down as i post this message

[pgn421]

[G-DDT]

Shortly before my mom passed, she told me that my grandmother walked with her up to the Eastown [[from Charlevoix and Concord) to see Tom Mix...with his horse! Then all the kids watched the new Tom Mix movie. This was in 1930. The Eastown was the "big deal" movie house on the east side. All those years later, she still remembered the experience with a twinkle in her eye.

To live is to remember, and those memories do indeed count.

[248lurker]

@G-DDT

Thanks for sharing your story and memories. While the stories about the raves and associated troubles would likely make my hair stand on end had I experienced it live [[I'm not the adventurous type), I did enjoy your description of the building layout and talk about the apartments, hidden panels, and rumored substation.

I have to agree that getting photo documentation of any or all of that would have rocked. The old adage about hindsight undoubtedly comes into play here.

Sometimes our strangest memories are our fondest.

[G-DDT]

Thank you. Sorry for the sordid details.
Thanks to my brother's reminding-there is a great site called Water Winter Wonderland that does it's best to document attractions [[mostly long gone) all around the Michigan area. The splendor that was there [[along with a few snaps of the the psychedelic corridor-which I'm sure Lowell has kicking around with the Tour Detroit snaps on this very forum site) and the ruin afterwards. Also, there are some good forum posts there on that site, as well. http://www.water-winterwonderland.co...?id=574&Type=5

One other thing I regret not doing when I was there was cooking more for the troops and spearheading a project to get Food Not bombs in there once a week to serve a community meal under the marquee where I could distribute clothes and items from some drive or somesuch.

[G-DDT]

I also want to thank p69rrh51 for all of their in depth interest in Historical Detroit architecture.

[G-DDT]

p69rrh51, have you thought of uploading any personal collections of images of architecture and vintage Detroit locales in the Photo Gallery section of your profile?