What happened to the boulevards down Washington and why?

[EastsideAl]

As A2Mike's story makes clear, Washington Blvd. was once the fanciest shopping district in the Detroit area. Anchored on either end by 2 of the city's best hotels, and with the gracious St. Aloysius church and the large and beautiful Book Buildings in between, Washington Blvd. was one of the most prominent and exclusive places in the city. Lined with top-end stores, luxury hotels, high rent office space, restaurants, and airline ticket offices and travel bureaus. My mother, who grew up in very poor circumstances on the near west side, always recalled the thrill she got just walking down that street, looking in the store windows, and seeing the elegant people coming and going from the hotels. She was overjoyed, and thought she'd really arrived, when she got a job working at the Book Cadillac Hotel just after she graduated from Wayne.