Comely Detroit

SPERAMUS MELIORA | RESURGET CINERIBUS WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS | IT WILL RISE FROM THE ASHES

[thefashioncomplex]

Kresge Court, Detroit Institute of Arts, Bill Rauhauser, 1970s

[nevver]

Here be dragons, Zhiyong Jing

[detroitlib]

Group portrait of musicians in the Detroit City Band. Musicians pose with musical instruments. "Detroit City Band, J.W. Johnson, director" is printed on bass drum in foreground. Handwritten on back: "Detroit City Band, 1908."

E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

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National Bank of Detroit (hoy The Qube) durante la construcción, 611 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan, USA 1959

Arq. Albert Kahn Associated Architects and Engineers

Diseño de interiores. W. B. Ford Design Associates

National Back of Detroit (now The Qube) during construction, 611 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan 1959

[detroitlib]

View of hallway at Detroit Golf Club; corridor is furnished with cane chairs, drapes and vases. Paper lanterns are suspended from ceiling. Printed on front: “Corridor, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Mich.” Printed on back: “The Calvert Lithographing Company, Detroit, Michigan. Made in U.S.A.” Handwritten on back: “Nov. 27 /22. Hope some day to get time to write you a letter. Will tell you all I know there. Very busy - still alone, but am quite enjoying … so independent. Saw Nelly for the first time since last June. Was invited there for the weekend. Best wishes for a nice Thanksgiving.” Card is postmarked November 28, 1922.

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[urbancentury]

Traffic at 5:30 on Second Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 1942.

[comelydetroit]

I’ll meet you at Comet.

[comelydetroit]

1982 Detroit,

Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American, is bludgeoned to death by two white men, one of which wielding a baseball bat. Under the witness of two off duty Detroit police officers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz are quickly stopped and apprehended.

These events spawned a four year civil rights suit that would receive massive amounts of media attention, relatable to the recent Zimmerman case.

Despite this, these two men would collectively serve less than two days in jail for the attack.

[detroitlib]

View of Rosemary Tremonti hanging wires for a B-29 Superfortress bomber wire harness at the Hudson Motor Car Company. Label on back: “Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich. Not spaghetti, but wires for the B-29. The wires and cables being hung on racks in the wiring department of a Hudson Motor Car Co. plant in Detroit by Rosemary Tremonti will be numbered before they are made into some of the 146 wire harnesses the company makes for the three Boeing B-29 Superfortress fuselage sections it builds. About 30 miles of wires are needed by the B-29. Failure of a single one might mean the loss of one of the $600,000 planes and its trained crew.” Handwritten on back: “Women workers.”

Courtesy of the National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library

[detroitlib]

Three-story Queen Anne style brick building with large prominent signs on front and one side reading “Fresh cool beer.” Recorded in glass negative ledger: “D/Streets-Jefferson.”

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[comelydetroit]

[comelydetroit]

Ford Mansion

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[comelydetroit]

1992 Detroit:

Malice Green is pulled over during a routine traffic stop. As the two plain clothes officers approach him, they notice Green has something balled up in his fist. When Green refuses to hand over the object, officers begin beating him over the head with their flashlights. 

Green did not resist, though his hand remained clenched over the object while officers continued to beat him. He died while seated in his vehicle. He received more blows to the head even after his death.

Detroit Police Chief Stanley Knox called this event disgraceful and a total embarrassment, claiming it had brought tears to his eyes. 

Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young concluded that Green was “literally murdered by police.”

The autopsy coroner sued after being pressured by superiors to falsify cause of death in an effort to protect the officers.  The officers involved were sentenced to prison for murder.

A memorial was painted for Malice on the wall of a store, which would eventually close, and the building demolished.

[comelydetroit]

“We all could do us some good, always remember that. This is ours. You didn’t give yourself your life, your life was given to you.”

Michael “Dreadlock Mike” Alston. Born into an institutionalized life with no parents and suffered from child abuse until he was old enough to get away. He was a common sight on the streets of Detroit, seen getting around on his wheelchair as both of his legs had been partially amputated.

Dreadlock Mike was said to be a “calming force” to those that knew him. Always respectful, and always helped to deescalate tense situations. Our own “Detroit Street Jesus.”

Mike was killed in 2013 when a hit and run driver took his life and the life of his best friend, James “Eat Em Up” Van Horn.

-Artwork: Rashaun Rucker | "Detroit Street Jesus"

[comelydetroit]

Michigan Central

[comelydetroit]

Detroit, Party City