Detroit is one of the Great American Cities, an absolute behemoth of the 20th century. But it’s also one of my personal favourite cities of all time. An underdog place that I’ve been fascinated with since I was a teenager. I first stepped foot in the Motor City in 2018, but it was a whirlwind sojourn. I was fortunate enough to return 5 years later and immerse deeper into this captivating metropolis.
A lot is said about the decline of Detroit, but the city’s been under an intriguing renaissance over the last decade. This is Dan Gilbert’s Detroit, and it’s a bit weird. The city without a Target or Wal-Mart suddenly has Whole Foods, Gucci, and Shake Shack. Downtown is being fixed up while the inner ring neighbourhoods of vast abandonment are slowly returning to the prairie from which it came as the local government clears as much abandonment as possible. The most famous recent addition to that clearance is the Packard Automotive Plant. It’s also worth noting that Detroit as a city-region continued growing despite the inner city decline in the late 20th century. People bring up how the City of Detroit had almost 2,000,000 inhabitants in 1950 and like 800,000 now, but Metro Detroit is nearly 4.5 million strong now, up from 3 million in 1950. Not major growth, but still, better than Pittsburgh, the poster-child of a “healthy” Rust Belt city, which has posted population declines for decades at the metro level.
Growth isn’t everything, though. And yet, so much of the story of Detroit is tied to economic performance. It’s used to project a value judgment on the place, as if to suggest that the city has been demoralized and even a place of horror. Detroit is often fetishized for its decrepitness, something I’ve fallen prey to in the past. I never really found Detroit to be scary, though, as most places seem to have regular people going about their day. There just might be more gaps in buildings or abandonment betwixt inhabitants than you’d expect in, like, Edmonton. Truth be told, I’ve been more uncomfortable in Canadian cities. This commentary isn’t to downplay Detroit, but merely to demystify the mythology of the city, and clarify it as a real place with real people. Not dead, not haunted, and still with problems, albeit real ones. Like how the renaissance seems to target the very suburbanites that turned their backs on the city starting in the ‘60s, rather than aiding those that have continued to call Detroit home for decades.
Regardless, Detroit is ultimately a beautiful place, teeming with so much grandeur from the past. There’s something Winnipeg-y about how that clashes with the often lower-scaled post-1980 stuff, which almost feels like an affront to the city as it was meant to be. I think what most fascinates me about Detroit is in how different it feels from Alberta. It’s not new, it’s not plastic, and yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but it’s so iconic too. As much as I bemoan car culture, there’s still something sociologically fascinating about the city from which that culture originated, as a particularly American technology and way of being. Speaking of transportation, it was odd witnessing the same transit vehicles as both the Toronto Streetcar and Vancouver SkyTrain in the context of Detroit. The Detroit versions of these technologies is so underbuilt and underutilized by comparison that it almost feels surreal. But there’s potential in Detroit. And it’s already so rich in identity, culture, and history. Plus, Art Deco. How can you not love a metropolis dripping in deco?
I think i spend as much time wondering after your shot selection as I do each photo. I'm not kidding when i say it's either act of social terrorism, or unfathomable courage to use an entire photo slot for a shot of a random gold fish. It goes against everything we've ever been told to do.
But then, I think about the title of this newsletter and I applaud the discipline of keeping it hovering between a public display, and memories of your travels. Viewed through that lens, despite knowing how much thought you put into stuff, it all makes more sense.
Wow fantastic photos Tyler!!
And yes responding to your question about adding comments to your photos (I thought I would post on here instead of IG) yes would totally love to hear more about each of the photos!!
On a more technical note, these were all taken on your XT-1 correct? Loving the colours!