Woodward Avenue, 1915

**DetroitPlanner** · November-13-09, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Detroit would still look like that if it weren't for all the crime and taxes. Everybody knows that.

Why would we want to live in a city full of all those white people in silly hats? Not even a fedora in the bunch of em!

**iheartthed** · November-13-09, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by English

I almost choked on my afternoon snack! Thanks for the laugh.

I swear that I'm going to open up an anti-urban, anti-Detroit t-shirt site somewhere. I will use unauthorized quotes from DYes curmudgeons, and then I will donate all the profits to the Greening, Alternatives for Girls, Gleaners, Blight Busters, and Mariner's. The more bile, the more sales, and the more sales, the more Detroiters will benefit. Talk about turning hate into love...

Anyway, while I adore photographs, footage, and stories from the past, I always wonder what is not being told or passed down. After all, the Detroit of today is the legitimate child of the Detroit of yesterday. Something was going on in the Detroit of yesteryear that was uniquely different from other, comparable cities. What was it?

We may never have all the answers.

I don't think that the differences in what Detroit did, compared to what her peer cities of that era did, are all that mysterious. In fact, they have been stated over and over and over and over on various threads in this forum.

**d.mcc** · November-13-09, 04:23 PM

My curmudgeonness is all a ruse anyways. Just like Stephen Colbert is a conservative, or Rush Limbaugh is intelligent

**bdglsmn** · November-13-09, 04:25 PM

Stunning photograph!

**zitro** · November-13-09, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by bdglsmn

Stunning photograph!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. PLEASE!!!

**ghettopalmetto** · November-13-09, 04:31 PM

RE: Woodward Avenue 1917

Tear that schitt down!

Oh wait....

**d.mcc** · November-13-09, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto

RE: Woodward Avenue 1917

Tear that schitt down!

Oh wait....

That's my line sir...

also, you could say that photo was SHOPPED! Look at all the people!

GP is a curmudgeon for real...

**Rocko** · November-13-09, 04:45 PM

If someone were in the north corner of the Chase Tower they could get about the same view.....with a somewhat wide angle lens.

**cman710** · November-13-09, 04:47 PM

From the perspective of 2009, it is ironic that the Hudson's sign says "Hudson's Grows With Detroit," because Hudson's did indeed grow with Detroit, and also eventually shrunk with Detroit.

**English** · November-13-09, 05:37 PM

OK... I can't stop laughing! Especially the "Tear that schitt down!"* Haven't been to a DYes gathering in ages; will have to dig back up my t-shirt making skills.

Poor Circa 1915 Detroiters. They had every reason to expect that in 2015, Mr. Ford's company would be building flying motorcars, we'd be able to "just add water" to instant food, and hunger and disease would be no more. I love websites that talk about turn-of-the-century speculations about the future. The best is this one:

Paleofuture:
http://www.paleofuture.com/

And here's one about how the 1950s and early 1960s vision of the future went kaput:

Why Our Amazing Science Fiction Future Fizzled:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science...ack/index.html

Perhaps our descendants in the year 2109-2110 will look back to this era in Detroit, and marvel that we couldn't see the wonderful things that would happen just around the corner.

*Really, it's just as sad as it is funny.

**Zimm** · November-13-09, 05:49 PM

i have a very similar photo framed and hanging on my wall. mine is dated 1918 and was taken from down at street level [[and a little to the right) on a much less busy day.

**eriedearie** · November-13-09, 06:26 PM

Love this photo Ray! Thanks for sharing.

DetroitDad · November-13-09, 10:52 PM

Amazing photo! Look at how many people are in th street. How fast do you guys think those cars went? 25 mph?

Hats probably served a purpose back then. They probably used them for protection from the elements while walking and waiting for the trolley, and they were made fashionable like we "pimp" our rides [[make our cars look hip and cool) today. Some things change, and some things don't.

**Ray1936** · November-14-09, 03:28 PM

At least it appears that no one is wearing their hat backwards.

**Danny** · November-14-09, 06:06 PM

That was Detroit before the political and racial mess came into town the devour everything in site.

**Zacha341** · November-14-09, 06:58 PM

Thanks for this photo... every time I look at it I see new things. Really clear for the time period!

**stromberg2** · November-14-09, 07:01 PM

Great find, Ray36, you've done it again!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Mrs.! Looking forward to your next find.

Stromberg2

**stromberg2** · November-14-09, 07:02 PM

You got that right, Danny.

Stromberg2

**missn** · November-14-09, 07:30 PM

Wonderful new background for my desktop!

**kathy2trips** · November-15-09, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by missn

Wonderful new background for my desktop!

Mine, too! Born 75 years too late, I guess! [[sigh)

**LeannaM** · November-16-09, 01:07 AM

Wow. That's incredible. Just awesome.

**kathy2trips** · November-16-09, 02:43 AM

Upon further inspection of the films [[silent, of course) showing at the Detroit Opera House, we see that The Spoilers [[1914) has top billing. That film still exists today. The more interesting selection is Somewhere in Georgia [[1917), the Ty Cobb biography starring, who else, Ty Cobb! He must have been a huge deal in Detroit back in the day, to star in a movie about himself!

**kathy2trips** · November-16-09, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by kathy2trips

Upon further inspection of the films [[silent, of course) showing at the Detroit Opera House, we see that The Spoilers [[1914) has top billing. That film still exists today. The more interesting selection is Somewhere in Georgia [[1917), the Ty Cobb biography starring, who else, Ty Cobb! He must have been a huge deal in Detroit back in the day, to star in a movie about himself!

Hey! I just noticed the sign with Elsie the Cow's head saying " Detroit Creamery Milk IS Health Insurance"! LOL