New Downtown vs. Old Downtown Detroit

[DeLemur]

Am I missing something here. I'm trying to understand what you are trying to say but I can't figure it out.

I think he's trying to put into context what Detroit can and should be - a town - not a major, dense city. I tend to agree. We have the ability to incorporate blue [[canals) green belts [[forest parks/tree farms/agriculture farms) and areas in the city next to fairly dense housing. Hell put a racetrack in the middle of the city for all these fools who want to break their Dodge Charger axles. Use our space in new ways, not regular high demand Chicago/NYC/Tokyo ways in which we couldn't get if we tried our assess of due to economic factors. I'm speaking in fairly vague terms but the large point is don't chase major metropolises, we can't compete with them in immediate downtown or further out. Hop them and be a city with a creative town feel. If there's anything cities in the U.S. are crying out for besides affordable housing, yoga and bike lanes, it's a place with regional identity. Every U.S. city is trying to be the same and if the Chase banks, Duane Reades and specialty sweet stores of Manhattan show even our original Gotham city is looking like a mock up of bland chains and isolated hyper rich towers [[a la Stephen Ross). Manhattan is a shell of the human vibrancy it used to be.

[rjlj]

Bullshit. the name Midtown was created i the early 2000's.
Where is the evidence that the name pre-dates cass corridor and prove me wrong?

The name Midtown pre-dates Cass Corridor.

[O3H]

I never heard of Midtown, during my Wayne State experience
of the late 1980's. I explored quite a bit, no one used that term back then.
It was ""invented"" to give new life to a formerly crummy area.

[313WX]

I agree with the others about the Cass Corridor. I recall Midtown being a relatively recent name, in the same vein of "SodoSopa" and "CtPa Town," as the name "Cass Corridor" was tied to the area's notorious reputation for being skid's town in the 70s - 90s.

[dtowncitylover]

Bullshit. the name Midtown was created i the early 2000's.
Where is the evidence that the name pre-dates cass corridor and prove me wrong?

I've looked at many articles from the Detroit Free Press archives pre-1980 that all reference the "midtown" area.

In fact, doing a quick search, pre-1970, "midtown Detroit" was referenced exclusively. It's actually kinda funny, because when you enter the date range to end in 1969, there's almost no reference to CC. Except when you include 1970. BOOM. Suddenly, Cass Corridor pops up. It's as if on January 1, 1970, the media decided to use Cass Corridor.

[Gistok]

Midtown with an upper case "M" was IMHO first used when the UCCA [[University Cultural Center Association) came up with it and 6 regions of it... Cass Park, Brush Park, Medical Center, Museum District, WSU and Orchestra Place. [[I'm not 100 percent sure if I got the 6 regions names right, but I think I did.)

But lower case midtown has been the name of that area probably going back to the beginning of the 20th century.

[JStone]

Bullshit. the name Midtown was created i the early 2000's.
Where is the evidence that the name pre-dates cass corridor and prove me wrong?

I realize this information doesn't fit your Detroit world view here but it doesn't change the fact that you're wrong. I'm all for keeping traditional names the same, even when they're unpopular [[e.g. - Tartar's vs. Warriors or Harmonie Park vs. the New Paradise Valley etc.), but over the years, I found that Midtown was used quite extensively prior to Cass Corridor. I believe the name still has a place as an area located within Midtown.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/4397

[Bham1982]

Midtown is a new name. The fact that you can find a theater named "Midtown" has nothing to do with whether that neighborhood had such a moniker in previous decades.

[313WX]

I've looked at many articles from the Detroit Free Press archives pre-1980 that all reference the "midtown" area.

In fact, doing a quick search, pre-1970, "midtown Detroit" was referenced exclusively. It's actually kinda funny, because when you enter the date range to end in 1969, there's almost no reference to CC. Except when you include 1970. BOOM. Suddenly, Cass Corridor pops up. It's as if on January 1, 1970, the media decided to use Cass Corridor.

I stand corrected.

Thank you for actually providing the extensive evidence with your post to back up the claim.

[dtowncitylover]

Midtown is a new name. The fact that you can find a theater named "Midtown" has nothing to do with whether that neighborhood had such a moniker in previous decades.

But it's not a new name. I literally just posted that the Free Press used "midtown Detroit" throughout the 20th century in mentioning the area for everything between downtown and the Algiers Motel, which was referenced to be in "midtown Detroit".

The term "Midtown" Detroit, with a capital M is new in part because of the non-profit that uses the name. It makes no sense to me why the geographical area of midtown needs to have a capital M if it's not referencing the non-profit.

[iheartthed]

If "midtown" Detroit was a thing, did it always include Cass Corridor? I had never heard of CC referred to as "midtown" before the 00s.

[Gistok]

If "midtown" Detroit was a thing, did it always include Cass Corridor? I had never heard of CC referred to as "midtown" before the 00s.

Cass Corridor was never all of midtown. Just the area around Cass Avenue. The medical center and cultural center were never referred to as Cass Corridor either... unless people just used that name generically for the whole area. When I went to WSU in the 70s, I had heard the name Cass Corridor often, but referred to as the area below WSU. It was a notorious part of Detroit that I as a student was told to avoid. I don't recall the use of the name midtown that often. That's cuz they used other names for the other parts of that part of town.

[iheartthed]

When I went to WSU in the 70s, I had heard the name Cass Corridor often, but referred to as the area below WSU. It was a notorious part of Detroit that I as a student was told to avoid

That is also what I have always understood the Cass Corridor to be. Roughly the area from Second Avenue to Woodward, Fisher Fwy to the south, MLK Blvd or Warren to the north.

[stasu1213]

Detroit was never set up to be a Metropolis even from the beginning when it were a Port then became an area where poachers hunt for Wolverine and Beavers for the skin or hydes. I enjoy and appreciate what Dan Gilbert's had done and is doing for the downtown area. I appreciate the same what Due Posey had done to midtown. I am routing for the 900ft building to be constructed. I am also in agreement with Tony Goldman's concept of what Detroit including downtown Detroit should be.A mixture of art, retail, offices, and entertainment while keeping the rest of Detroit a affordable working person's, uh hum, city where someone working a blue collar jobs could live aside and artist, a data base analyst from Microsoft. Google, or Amazon, and a school teacher or Principal

[Zacha341]

Actually, the term Midtown goes back to the mid seventies thru the eighties. Though sparingly used until the last fifteen or so years. It never REPLACED the Cass Corridor name/ area as Midtown was associated further north of CC, more-so in the WSU campus area, north.

There was even a publishing business/ ad agency known called Midtown Associates housed in the Belcrest Apts [[it was much nicer then).

I knew one of the owners, the late Woody Miller [[a very active publisher, writer, city advocate, and arts supporter -- some may also recall him as a prominent cyclist in the Detroit area). I found this re. the business:

From article - Woody worked as an insurance agent for a short while and then went on to become President and Publisher of the Michigan Healthcare News as well as Midtown Associates, an advertising agency, for the next 12 to 13 years. The offices were housed in the Belcrest Hotel on Cass.

http://www.thedetroiter.com/v3/2010/...-woody-miller/

I never heard of Midtown, during my Wayne State experience
of the late 1980's. I explored quite a bit, no one used that term back then.
It was ""invented"" to give new life to a formerly crummy area.

[DeLemur]

This Midtown vs. Cass Corridor battle is epic.

[MrMichigan]

This Midtown vs. Cass Corridor battle is epic.

Definitely getting off topic though.

From what I’ve heard, read, and seen in photos, downtown today is nowhere near what downtown used to be.

[IrishSpartan]

The world is different. Of course the future isn't knowable, but there's no reason to expect downtown to be anything like the regional shopping center it was in the 50s.

On the other hand, the restaurants are already much better, and more people probably live downtown than have for 100 years. It's definitely in a virtuous cycle right now, so people are right to be optimistic, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

I guess that is a personal preference deal. Back in the 1950's-1960's the chop houses were at the top of the downtown food pyramid.

[Zacha341]

Whatever happened to all of the downtown pigeons? I recall as a kid [[late 60s-70s) them all over the parks downtown, south of where the old Hudson's building stood for example.

[Former_Detroiter]

Definitely getting off topic though.

From what I’ve heard, read, and seen in photos, downtown today is nowhere near what downtown used to be.

Not even close.

[archfan]

Definitely getting off topic though.

From what I’ve heard, read, and seen in photos, downtown today is nowhere near what downtown used to be.

Not even close. I'm also blown away every time I see photos of retail in areas near downtown, like the pre-riot photos of 12th street, with businesses lining each side of the street.

[dtowncitylover]

Whatever happened to all of the downtown pigeons? I recall as a kid [[late 60s-70s) them all over the parks downtown, south of where the old Hudson's building stood for example.

All the pigeon ladies died and no one replaced them.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Yeah, they used to all but cover the grass in certain areas! Someone referred to them as flying rats. I thought better of them that that!

[401don]

^^^ Yeah, they used to all but cover the grass in certain areas! Someone referred to them as flying rats. I thought better of them that that!

As a kid visiting Detroit, all the old people feeding the pigeons in Kennedy Square was the quintessential scene of an American city.

[dtowncitylover]

^^^ Yeah, they used to all but cover the grass in certain areas! Someone referred to them as flying rats. I thought better of them that that!

I'll meet you down there Saturday and we can start it again! If you feed them, they will come...