Great Days in Detroit

This is one of my favorite pictures taken this past weekend. It was taken near Cobo Hall and the former Pontchartrain Hotel. I title this one "Have a Great Day, Detroit!". The RenCen in the background was built in the late 1970s, and you can see in some old pictures what the skyline looked like pre-RenCen.The People Mover tracks run through the center there. The People Mover opened in July 1987. The bus was on break at the time I took this picture. I like the setup of this shot. I was going to get up on the stairs nearby, but I couldn't get the entire RenCen without being blocked by the streetlight there. That ramp goes to the Lodge Freeway, which runs from downtown to the northwest side of the city and into the suburbs. It has feeders to I 75, I 94 and other freeways.

Tiger Books

I was out and about yesterday (April 24), and stopped into King Used and Rare Books (click the words to go to their link)to check out the books that they had. I bought this book that's pictured here (I'm a Tiger fan, in case you haven't noticed :-P). The cover shows his mugshot from Jackson State Prison and with the Tigers back in the day. My dad remembers Ron LeFlore when he played for the Tigers back in the days. From the chapters I've read so far, it's a pretty interesting read. I'll give you all a full review when I finish reading it. There are other pictures around the Internet of Ron LeFlore (and even a Fan Club that popped up in the '70s) on Picasa and Flickr . Hope you get to read something you like sometime.
Lauren

Favorite ads

These Metro PCS ads crack me up whenever I see them. I also see and hear the ads on TV and the radio with the "Tech and Talk" show with Ranjit and Chad with their dance careers, and their answers to questions about wireless service from Metro PCS. These ads with the Elephand and dog make me smile when I pass them. There are probably more ads like this around town somewhere. What are your favorite ads? Besides these ads, my favorite is probably the Pepsi Refresh Everything ad campaign. They had ads around town with phrasing like "Joy", "Optimismmmmmmm", "Wow", "Oh Boy, Oh Boy" and more with the Pepsi globe replacing the O in the words. The ads appeared around Detroit last year around Auto Show time in January.

David Stott Building

The tall building in the center of this picture is the David Stott Building in Downtown Detroit. According to its profile on Skyscraper Page, it was built in 1929, and is built in the Art Deco style. The building sits near Capitol Park downtown. According to its Wikipedia Page, David Stott was a former businessman back in the old days. Currently, there's a couple of businesses operated there now. I like the design on the upper floors that makes it look like stairsteps, and the crown up top there makes it look nice.

Gen. Casimir Pulaski

This statue downtown is of General Casimir Pulaski. It's across Michigan Avenue from a statue of General Alexander Macomb. This statue was dedicated in 1966 by a special Mass at Cobo Hall downtown for the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity in Poland, which was celebrated by the Primate of Poland at the time, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. There's a sign nearby that notes that the statue was illuminated by what was then Michigan Bell in the mid 1980s. I like the stance of Gen. Pulaski in this statue. It's pretty neat. This plaque tells about the General and that it was presented to the city by the many residents of Polish descent.

"The Joe"

Joe Louis Arena is a very popular place this evening. The Red Wings are playing this evening against Phoenix in the NHL Playoffs. Here's hoping for a Wings Win this evening! Go Wings! Joe Louis Arena has been home to the Detroit Red Wings since the late 1970s, replacing the former Olympia Stadium, which has since been demolished. Joe Louis has been host to a number of events over the years, ranging from Ice shows to Circuses (My mom has a picture of me at the Ringling Brothers Circus from the late '80s at Joe Louis). I was last at the Joe for TigerFest back in 2006, which was the last year the event was held there before moving to Comerica Park in 2007. The arena was built in the '70s, and is one of the older stadiums in the NHL. I found out on a Diamond Jack boat tour a couple of years back that one of the first events held here was the 1980 Republican Convention, where Ronald Reagan was nominated for the Presidency. I found that fact interesting. I hope you found this interesting

National Theatre and Water Board Building

This is the old National Theatre in Downtown Detroit. This was taken this past Saturday (Sorry for the wrong yr. on the date stamp there). This is one of the older theatres in the downtown area. According to its Cinema Treasures Page, it was a Vaudeville theatre when it opened. It showed movies in between times, and when it closed in the 1970s, it was showing some Adult-themed fare, as many theatres were in the downtown area back in those days. I like those two towers on either side of the frontage there. There was a sign in front of that archway in front of the theatre that welcomed guests to Super Bowl festivities in early 2006, and it looks like someone's fixing to do something with the theatre now, but work seems to have stalled the past few years. The tall building with the white top behind the theatre is the Water Board Building, where the Water Commission conducts business.