The Day Downtown Stood Still

[dtowncitylover]

On this day 60 years ago, downtown Detroit stood still. Well, jammed at least.

From the Free Press December 25, 1956:

"Downtown Detroit was jammed Monday with last minute shoppers who clogged the stores and merged with early-leaving office workers to create one of the biggest traffic snarls of the year."

This minute detail of Detroit's history came to light for me while pouring over Michael Hauser's 20th Century Retailing in Downtown Detroit, where he makes a fleeting mention of it. He does say there were half a million people downtown! The article doesn't give an estimate at all. Simply put, wow!

I found the Free Press article, short and sweet, while pouring over the Free Press archives on Newspapers.com. Cars, trucks, and buses were bumper to bumper, double-parkers also blamed. Even with the massive crowds, sales were predicated to be down over the year prior. Extra police forces had to be brought in for crowd control.

As a millenial, such an image of a bustling Woodward Avenue is now only found in photos of the era. I hope for the day where it is bustling once more. But for now we can only wonder in amazement what that afternoon must have looked and sounded like!

If you were there or remember relatives talking about this day, do tell.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

[canuck]

Doesn't it seem strange now that suburbia has taken hold of a lot of retail business that used to be located in dow ntowns? Mind you, shopping plaza everywhere are now feeling the hurt that downtowns have for a long time.

[Bobl]

We took the street car down Gratiot, to see Santa at Hudsons. No need to park. They called this public transit. What a concept.

[Meddle]

We took the street car down Gratiot, to see Santa at Hudsons. No need to park. They called this public transit. What a concept.

When everything old is new again.

[313WX]

I imagine even intersections like...

*Grand River / Oakman
*Grand River / Greenfield
*Gratiot / 7 Mile

...had similar, albeit smaller-scale, gridlocks through the 1970s around the holidays as well.

It's just puts into perspective how much Detroit has fallen / shrunken.

[Hermod]

We took the street car down Gratiot, to see Santa at Hudsons. No need to park. They called this public transit. What a concept.

Waiting for a streetcar ride home at Christmas time in the D.

[dtowncitylover]

We took the street car down Gratiot, to see Santa at Hudsons. No need to park. They called this public transit. What a concept.

This was probably the crux of what happened. If you remember this was the first holiday season without Woodward streetcar service and downtown was still the heart of Detroit retail, so everyone was either driving or waiting for overcrowded buses. Plus add on all the regular traffic and it resulted in the biggest clusterf**ks on the last day of shopping before Christmas.

Perhaps this event helped start the flock to the malls...

[dtowncitylover]

Waiting for a streetcar ride home at Christmas time in the D.

A beautiful sight for sure!

[313WX]

Marvin Gaye released an album in 1972 called "Christmas in the City."

It has a very nice rendering of Woodward Avenue in the early 1970s.

[Bobl]

When everything old is new again.

Still waiting for the new. All I see is the well meaning construction of a three mile section of rail that will provide a convenient ride to those fortunate enough to live and work in a gentrified area, and a fabulous subsidation for the billionaire investors who invested in real estate there. Hockey and basketball fans will be able to shuttle between restaurants, bars, and parking facilities if they can afford several hundred dollars for a night out in their white playground.

[Honky Tonk]

Still waiting for the new. All I see is the well meaning construction of a three mile section of rail that will provide a convenient ride to those fortunate enough to live and work in a gentrified area, and a fabulous subsidation for the billionaire investors who invested in real estate there. Hockey and basketball fans will be able to shuttle between restaurants, bars, and parking facilities if they can afford several hundred dollars for a night out in their white playground.

Coal again this year?

Now that the jokes are done. I agree with your post, SSDD. I feel this is turning into a coliseum Disneyland.

[Hypestyles]

many more independent and chain retail outlets need to open up downtown and in the neighborhoods, too.

[401don]

This thread's subject is the opposite of my initial guess. I figured this could be about any random day in the 1980's or 90's.