1515 Broadway and Chris Jaszczak

[Lowell]

A gentle giant of the Detroit Art scene, owner of the 1515 Broadway art and performance micro theater, and good friend, Chris Jaszczak has passed.

Chris presented so many unique and cutting edge acts, poetry readings, theater performances, techno venues, protests, visual art and film events that it would take days to relate. In later years 1515 featured a sidewalk cafe coffee house that was one of my favorite hangouts. And basically he 'never made a nickel' as he struggled to keep the lights on and pay the bills across the years, while living above on the often unheated second floor, all the while giving an immense gift of art to Detroit.


Chris in gray on the left.

I was honored to know Chris, the only person whose last name was more difficult to spell than mine [Boileau] as I used to tease him. He was a former marine, who fought in the horrendous Battle and Siege of Khe San in Vietnam, and yet became a quiet, humble anti-war advocate with a NO WAR sign in the window of 1515.

1515 was in a scary dead zone of abandonment on Broadway when Chris arrived in 1987 with the crumbling Wurlitzer Building next door. A 50 pound chunk of terra cotta from it of crashed through his roof one night barely missing killing him. After that event he, with his typical humor, created this sign.


Today that stretch of Broadway is one of the most vibrant parts of downtown with every building thereabout revived, the Wurlitzer is the Siren Hotel, the dead Madison Theater and Broderick Tower filled with residents and coders, the shuttered Capitol Theater across the street, now the bustling Michigan Opera Theater. 1515 is a part of Siren now. Back then it was only Chris, the venerable Wright & Simmons Jewelers and the tumbleweeds.

Free Press Tribute Here

[masterblaster]

Touching tribute, Mr. Lowell. Thanks for the history! I wish I could have met this fine person, I would thanked him for believing in Detroit when no one else did. And I would have thanked him for his service to his country.

[Bheka]

Artists, I find, bring beauty, not just on canvas, but in all wonders of beauty's other and very human forms. Your friend Chris was obviously blessed with a beautiful and generous heart.

[stasu1213]

I loved attending the smaller productions that were held at 1515 Broadway. Great acting. Chris fought hard to keep his building

[canuck]

Sorry to hear about Detroit’s loss of a great defender/promoter of Art. Also, sorry about your loss of a personal friend, Lowell. He certainly did experience a lot of hardships during his stewardship of 1515. Those drawbacks may have influenced his outcome, healthwise. Thank you for your touching testimony, Lowell!

[evergreen]

Touching tribute, Mr. Lowell. Thanks for the history! I wish I could have met this fine person, I would thanked him for believing in Detroit when no one else did. And I would have thanked him for his service to his country.

I met him once decades ago after a performance at 1515. What a memorable man, he spent a considerable amount of time with me discussing in detail the history of that building and his plans. Never met him again, but remembered him and his hardy determination to make a go of that part of Detroit during a time when most had abandoned the city.
God rest his soul. A true visionary.

[Lowell]

Wow. Check this out. The spirit of Chris Jaszczak lives on at 1515--on Google street view at least. While looking up the site on street view, I notice someone in the second floor window where Chris lived. Zooming it in, it is indeed him.

[EGrant]

That's really cool! What a nice record of a slice of Detroit history to have online.