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For those of you who have not visited Detroit there are large areas that look like they were in a war zone and that is not an exaggeration.

A few years back I drove Livernois from Ferndale to Rougemere. Felt like I was in the wrong place all the way.

Bad people need to stop breeding.

Some things I learned working down there around the Packard Plant and other glamorous parts of Detroit.. Mind your own business, its not the place to get out walk across somebodies yard to take a picture of a train, in "da hood" if you must spend time there, carry a photo ID and a couple bucks in your pocket, leave your wallet some where secure so when you do get mugged you they only make off with cash. Finally pay attention to where you are and stop signs and traffic lights are a recommendation(only in the hood of course don't run lights and stop signs in downtown).... That may sound extremely ridiculous but I've seen it with my own eyes, you need to drive on the defensive down there.

Take a ride out Grand River or "Woowert", from downdown to the city limits. There are no people, or cars, all the way out Grand River almost to Greenfield. Be extremely careful at stop signs and main intersections. People blow stop signs and run red lights everywhere. If they hit you, they just jump out and run. A state cop was on the news a while back, and said at least half the drivers on the road in Detroit have no insurance, no license and no registration. They drive beaters, and just bail when they hit someone. And the chances of getting stopped in Detroit by a cop are slim and none. The few cops that are left, get sent from one run to another, and have no time for traffic stops. If you are injured in an accident in Detroit, you will likely be robbed, and wait at least a half hour for an EMS. The emergency financial manager is going to be interesting. Detroit employees have already taken a 10% pay cut. Half the fire dept is gone. Same for the cops. Everyone who could leave Detroit has already left, and the ones who are left are desperate. A guy was killed last week, trying to steal stuff in a sewer. Prolly overcome by methane. His girlfriend called for help when he didn't come back out, AFTER A COUPLE HOURS!

I still feel bad about Detroit. I was born and raised in Detroit, back in the 40s and 50s. Detroit was the 5th largest city in the country. Perfectly safe. Sunday picnics on Belle Isle. The soap box derbys in Rouge Park. The Bob Lo boats. The Pere Marquette streamliner. The electric streetcars. Hudsons at Christmas. The State Fair. Canoeing on Belle Isle. Taking my girlfriend on the Bob Lo moonlight cruise. The Ford Rotunda. Every kid walked to school. Every kids dad had a job. Every kids mom was home after school making dinner. Cops walked a beat, and came to our school. A fireman came to our school, and did a safety talk. There were no drugs, no pot, we couldn't even get cigarettes. We used to have Boy Scout Jamborees at Eliza Howell Park, on Fenkell near Telegraph. Now they find bodies there. What the hell happened!

hoborich wrote: What the hell happened!

Redlining for starters.

The 12th St Riot on 7/23/67...43 people died, in a riot the size of which our country hadn't seen since the Civil War.

tyrone williams wrote:The 12th St Riot on 7/23/67...43 people died, in a riot the size of which our country hadn't seen since the Civil War.

Two days before I was born. They must have known I was about to arrive.

Good info in that link, Thnx for posting it. Big Frank has most likely cleaned some of this up since he has been living there. LoL.

Thats why i tell everyone Enter at your own risk.

Ah, the '67 Detroit Riot. Was working 3rd shift at 15th st tower, buddy was on the other end of the depot at 20th st, we were both wideawake all night as the noise of tanks & gun fire filled the air.
So much of Detroit that was ruined in that "instant urban renewal" incident still looks like a warzone.

HEY HOBORICH - GREAT WORDS ABOVE. SO SAD AND SO TRUE.

I spent the night of July 23, 1967, sitting on the floor of Engine 42 and Ladder 21s quarters, at Livernois and Chicago, away from the windows, in the dark, while some idiot half a block away, took potshots at the station! Then we got a run to Grand River and Edmonton, for a fire at the John F Ivory warehouse. As soon as we pulled up, shots rang out, and we rolled under the rig, on the pavement, till it stopped. No police were available! We managed to jump in the rig and get out of the area. It was a false alarm! An hour later, they sent us back again. Same thing again! Later, an order came out that if we had no police protection, do not stop! Just vacate the area.
We were at the first fire, at 12th and Philadelphia, that morning, which went to a third alarm, and I personally observed a number of out of state license plates in the area, leading us to believe the whole thing was pre planned. As we returned to the station that afternoon, a car with three black guys and Minn plates pulled up next to us on the Boulevard, and started laughing, and said things were going to get a lot worse. By evening fires were breaking out on the East side, in the area of Mack Ave. This all came shortly after the riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles. There were riots all over the country that summer, and they appeared to be well planned. A lot of what happened never got in the media.
After the riots ended, the Black Panthers used to hold marching drills on Mack Ave on Saturday mornings. The Black Panthers even engaged in a shootout with police from a barracaded house on Indiandale and 14th, just south of Davison. It went on for two days, and unbelieveably, the police finally just left the area and gave up. There were no SWAT teams in those days. And that was the beginning of Detroits demise!

AARR wrote:For those of you who have not visited Detroit there are large areas that look like they were in a war zone and that is not an exaggeration.

That's because it was a war zone

next foamer board meet should be down by the Packard Plant.

CAT345C wrote:next foamer board meet should be down by the Packard Plant.

Delray