Book Read Free

Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis

Page 35

by Mark Binelli


  6. The term originated with Albert Speer, whose Die Ruinenwerttheorie (“Theory of Ruin Value”) proposed an architecture worthy of the thousand-year Reich—in other words, buildings that would eventually make cool-looking ruins.

  Conclusion

  1. Much of the symbolism of the Matthew Barney performance hinged on Egyptian notions of death and resurrection, perfectly suited (thematically speaking) for a city like Detroit. But later, I found myself dwelling on the Houdini Belle Isle Bridge stunt, so inspirational to the piece. It had been Houdini’s first-ever bridge jump, and in subsequent retellings of the day’s events, he’d embellished the story, claiming the Detroit River had frozen, forcing him to plunge through a hole cut into the ice, and that after unshackling himself from the handcuffs, he’d been swept downstream by the current and spent eight minutes floundering in the frigid river while he searched for the lost opening, snatching breaths from the ribbon of air between the surface of the water and the underside of the ice.

  In Houdini, the 1953 biopic starring Tony Curtis as the escape artist, the stunned crowd eventually begins to disperse, assuming the Handcuff King is dead; meanwhile, hidden from the spectators, we see Houdini paddling frantically along the bottom of the ice, his face a sputtering periscope. Not necessarily the metaphor I’d have consciously chosen to represent the struggles of Detroit. But I couldn’t seem to shake it.

  Curtis’s lips, in the movie, come so close to the jagged underbelly of the ice, it looks as if he’s preparing to kiss some hallowed ground where a miracle had once occurred.

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Adamo, John, Jr.

  Adler, William

  African Americans

  emergency manager and

  lack of mobility

  leadership and

  manufacturing jobs and

  middle-class

  northern migration of

  radicalism and

  riots and

  ruins and

  schools and

  techno

  upward mobility and

  vacant land and

  voting and

  white flight to suburbs and

  white return to city and

  Young as first black mayor and

  Agyeman, Jaramogi Abebe (Albert Cleage Jr.)

  Alberti, Leon Battista

  Ali, Muhammad

  All About Detroit (Farmer)

  Allen, James

  Allen, Matt

  Allen Park (suburb)

  Ambassador Bridge

  “American Acropolis”

  American Institute of Architects

  American League Championship Series

  American Motors

  American Odyssey (Conot)

  American Revolution, The (Boggs)

  Ancient Evenings (Mailer)

  Andrews, Asenath

  Angel’s Night

  Archer, Dennis

  Arc of Justice (Boyle)

  Assignment Detroit blog

  Associated Press (AP)

  Atkins, Juan

  Auburn Hills (suburb)

  “Autobahn” (Kraftwerk hit)

  Autoextremist website

  auto industry

  assembly line

  bailout of

  electric and hybrid autos and

  fuel efficiency and

  union concessions and job losses

  See also specific companies and plants

  Automotive News Annual World Congress of 2009

  auto parts suppliers

  auto shows

  AutoWorld

  Baker, General

  Baldwin, Tiffini

  Ballew, Paul

  Barney, Matthew

  Barnhill, Bryan

  Barren, James

  Barrow, Joe Louis

  Barrow, Pete

  Battle of the Overpass

  Beatty, Christine

  Beaumont, Gustave de

  beavers

  beehives

  Belle Isle

  bridge

  Belleville Three

  Benero, Virg

  Bennett, Harry

  Bennett, James

  Benz, Karl

  Berry Brothers

  Bey, Hakim

  Big Money, The (Dos Passos)

  Binell family

  Binelli, Anita

  Binelli, Clemente

  Binelli, Italo

  Binelli, Nonna Bianca

  Binelli, Paul

  Binelli, Rafaela

  Bing, Dave

  Bingay, Malcolm

  Bizdom U

  Björk

  Black Bottom Collective

  Black Bottom neighborhood

  Blackburn, Thornton

  Black Legion

  Black Legion (film)

  Black Man with a Gun (Blanchard)

  Black Panthers

  Blackwell, Arthur, II

  Blanchard, Rev. Kenn

  Bloody Run Ambush

  Bloomberg, Michael

  Bobb, Robert

  Boblo amusement park

  Bogart, Humphrey

  Boggs, Grace Lee

  Boggs, James

  Boggs Center for Social Progress

  Boileau, Lowell

  Book Building

  Bowles, Charles

  Boyle, Kevin

  Boyle, Robin

  Bracciolini, Poggio

  Brave New World (Huxley)

  Brewster-Douglass Projects

  Broderick Tower

  Brother Nature Produce

  Brown, Gary

  Brown, H. Rap

  Brown, John

  Brown, Mary

  Brush Park neighborhood

  Bryan, Tim

  Bullock, Rev. David

  Bunker, Nick

  Burnley, Kenneth

  Burton, Clarence

  Bush, George W.

  Butcher & Packer

  Byars, James Lee

  BYD (Chinese car company)

  Byrne, David

  Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe

  Cadillac Motors

  Canada, Geoffrey

  Car & Driver

  Caracalla, Baths of

  carjackings

  Carlisle, John

  carry concealed weapons (CCW) permits

  Carter, Jimmy

  Cash, Mr.

  casinos

  Cass Technical High School

  Catherine Ferguson Academy

  Cavanagh, Jerry

  Céline, Louis-Ferdinand

  census

  of 1789

  of 1794

  of 2010

  Center for Automotive Research

  Center for Creative Studies

  Chafets, Zev

  Chaison, Gary

  Chambers Brothers

  Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

  charter schools

  Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Carolyn

  Chesnutt, Vic

  Chevrolet, Louis

  Chevy Volt

  Chicago

  Child Protective Services

  Children’s Village juvenile detention center

  Chippewa tribe

  Chrysler, Walter

  Chrysler Motors

  Airflow

  bankruptcy of

  Design Studio

  Fiat merger of

  Jefferson Plant

  300C sedan

  Chrysler Museum

  Cities Without Suburbs

  City Airport Renaissance Association (CARA)

  City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701–1922, The (Burton)

  Cleage, Rev. Albert, Jr.

  Clinton, Bill

  Clooney, George

  Cobo, Albert

  Cobo Hall

  Cockrel, Ken, Jr.


  Coleman, Aaron “Mikey”

  Coleman, Jason

  Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport

  College for Creative Studies

  Computer World (album)

  Conot, Robert E.

  Considerations on the Substance of the Sun (Woodward)

  Conspiracy of Pontiac (Parkman)

  Conyers, John

  Conyers, Monica

  “Cool Cities” initiative

  Cooley, Phil

  Cooper, Des

  Corktown neighborhood

  corporate giveaways

  Cosby, Bill

  Couzens, James

  Covington, Mark

  Coy, Dorota

  Coy, Steve

  crack cocaine

  Crain’s Detroit Business

  Cranbrook art and design school

  creative class theory

  Cremaster films

  Criss-Crossed Conveyors (Sheeler photo series)

  Cromwell, Robert

  Cupcake Girls

  Curtis, Tony

  Cusic, Marsha

  Cuyler, Lieutenant

  Cyriac of Ancona

  Daley, Richard J.

  Darrow, Clarence

  Dateline: NBC (TV show)

  Davers, Sir Robert

  David Stott Building

  David Whitney Building

  Davis, Sammy, Jr.

  Dearborn (suburb)

  Dearborn Truck Facility

  Dearing, Jai-Lee

  Death and Life of Great American Cities, The (Jacobs)

  DeBaptist, George

  DeLorenzo, Anthony

  DeLorenzo, Pete

  Democrats

  De Peyster, Arent

  Detroit

  abandoned buildings and ruins in

  arson in

  artists in

  austerity and

  budgetary problems of

  bus system of

  census and

  city services cuts in

  city-state consent agreement and

  Core vs. Heartland of

  corruption and

  crime and violence in

  decline of, and failed states

  DIY activism and attempt to revive

  early history of

  emergency financial managers and

  European romanticization of

  gun ownership and self-defense in

  homicide rate in

  hopes for comeback of

  leaders blamed for failure of

  lighting department cuts and

  light rail plan for

  music concerts in

  popular culture and

  population decline in

  population growth in, pre-1950

  rebuilt after Great Fire

  rediscovery of

  reforms of 1960s and

  return to, and tone of absence and blight

  “rightsizing” plan for

  riot of 1967 as turning point for

  siege of 1760 and

  suburbs and

  urban farming and

  urban renewal and

  utopian post-urbanism and

  Young as first black mayor of

  See also specific mayors; neighborhoods; and suburbs

  “Detroit 2.0” initiative

  Detroit 300

  Detroit, I Do Mind Dying (Georgakas and Surkin)

  Detroit Advertiser and Tribune

  “Detroit Arcadia” (Solnit)

  Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

  Detroitblog

  Detroitblogger John (John Carlisle)

  Detroit City Council

  Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence (Widick)

  Detroit: City on the Move (film)

  Detroit Disassembled (Moore)

  Detroit Dog Rescue

  Detroit Edison Conners Creek plant

  Detroit Electronic Music Festival

  Detroit Free Press

  Detroit Institute of Arts

  Detroit Lions

  Detroit Metropolitan Airport

  Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art

  Detroit News

  Detroit Planning Commission

  Detroit Police Department

  budget cuts and layoffs and

  citizen patrols and

  integration of

  riot of 1967 and

  STRESS program

  Detroit Public Library

  Detroit Public Schools (DPS)

  state control of

  See also charter schools; and specific schools and school buildings

  Detroit Red Wings

  Detroit Riot of July 1967, The (Lachman and Singer)

  Detroit River

  “Detroit’s Beautiful, Horrible Decline” (photo essay)

  Detroit Symphony Orchestra

  Detroit Tigers

  Detroit Vacant Property Campaign

  Detroit Works

  Detroit Zymology Guild

  Devil’s Night

  Devil’s Night (Chafets)

  Dickens, Jamaine

  Dilhet, Rev. John

  Dillard, Angela

  Dingell, John

  Dodge, John

  Dodge Motors

  Fury

  Ram

  Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM)

  Donohue, Tom

  Dos Passos, John

  Douglass, Frederick

  Dowie, Mark

  Drake, John

  Drewery, Mr.

  drugs

  Du Bois, W.E.B.

  Dunn, David

  Durette, John

  Duryea, Charles

  Duryea, Frank

  Dyer, Geoff

  Dziczek, Kristin

  Eastern Market neighborhood

  Eastpointe (suburb)

  east side, defined

  Eastwood, Clint

  Economic Development Corporation

  Ector, Rick

  Edison, Thomas

  Edison Company

  Edwards, George

  8 Mile Road

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  Elegant Disciples

  Elevator Technology

  Elias, Vincent

  Ellis, Charles, III

  Eminem

  Engler, John

  Evangelist, “Benny” (Benjamino Evangelista)

  Evangelista, Santina

  Evans, Warren

  Fabulous Ruins of Detroit (website)

  Facts and Opinion (Pingree)

  Farah, Andrew

  Fard, Wallace

  Farmer, Silas

  Faulkner, William

  Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

  Feldman, Micah

  Feldman, Rich

  Fiat

  film industry

  Finney High School

  Finster, Howard

  Fire the Bastards! (Green)

  Fisher Body Plant

  Flint, Michigan

  strike of 1936

  Florida, Richard

  Forbes

  Ford, Clara

  Ford, Edsel

  Ford, Henry

  Ford Auditorium

  Ford Field

  Fordism

  Ford Motor Company

  Explorer

  F-150

  Focus

  Fusion hybrid

  Highland Park plant

  Model A

  Rivera murals

  River Rouge plant

  strike of 1937

  Fort Detroit

  Foster, Monique

  Franco, James

  Franklin, Aretha

  Franklin, Rev. C. L.

  Frederick Douglass Academy

  Frontier Metropolis (book)

  Frost, Wayne

  Fugitive Slave Law (1850)

  Futurama (1939)

  Futurama II (1964)

  Gaddis, William

  Gagniuk, Brian

  GalaxE. Systems Inc.

  GAR Building

  Gaye, Marvin
/>
  General Motors (GM)

  bailout and

  bankruptcy of

  EV1

  Hamtramck plant

  Tech Center

  gentrification

  Georgakas, Dan

  Georgia Street Community Garden

  Gere, Richard

  German immigrants

  Gettelfinger, Ron

  Gibbon, Edward

  Gilbert, Dan

  Gilles, Ralph

  Gingrich, Newt

  Ginsberg, Allen

  Girardin, Jacques

  Gladwell, Malcolm

  Glover, Danny

  Godbee, Ralph

  Godfather, The (film)

  Godfrey, Thomas

  Goldman, Tony

  Goodin, Michael

  Gordy, Berry

  Grafton, Anthony

  Granholm, Jennifer

  Great Depression

  Greater Grace Temple

  Great Fire (1805)

  Great Migration

  Green, Jack

  Greene, Tamara “Strawberry”

  Greening of Detroit

  Green Toe Gardens

  Green Venture Zones

  Gribbs, Roman

  Griffin, Toni

  Griffoein, Jim

  Grimble, Lisa

  Grimble, Ray

  Grosse Pointe (suburb)

  Gruen, Victor

  Grunow, Francis

  Guardian

  Guevara, Che

  gun ownership

  Guyton, Tyree

  Halberstam, David

  Hamilton, Henry “Hair Buyer”

  Hammond building

  Hamtramck enclave

  Hantz, John

  Hantz Farms

  Hard Stuff (Young and Wheeler)

  Harper’s

  Harper Woods (suburb)

  Harris, Robert

  Hart, William

  Harvard Crimson

  Harvey, John

  Hathaway, Michael

  Head of State (film)

  Heidelberg Project

  “Hello, Detroit” (Gordy song)

  Henderson, Fritz

  Henderson, Stephenn

  Henderson-Pearson, Ramona

  Henry Ford Community College

  Henry Ford Museum

  Highland Park

  emergency financial manager

  Highland Park Fire Department

  Highland Park Police Department

  Hills Have Eyes, The (film)

  hip-hop

  Hocking, Scott

  Hollowell, Eric

  Holton, Thomas

  Honda

  Hooker, John Lee

  Hoover, Ellen

  Hoover, J. Edgar

  Horseless Age, The

  Houdini, Harry

  Houdini (film)

  House Un-American Activities Committee

  housing-market collapse

  Howell, Bernard

  Howell, Brian

  Howell, Kevin

  Howell, Mary

  Howell, Sarah

  Hubbard, Orville

  Huxley, Aldous

  Hygienic Dress League

  Iacocca, Lee

  Ilitch family

 

‹ Prev