D Tour 313

09/04/2024

Stu Evans, Lincoln Mercury dealer on Grand River, Detroit - 1956.

Stewart Evans (better known as "Stu"), car dealer and former Detroit Red Wings player, was born in 1908 in Ottawa, Ontario. He would grow up aspiring to be a pro hockey player, playing for years in amateur leagues in Canada. In 1929 his life would be forever changed, moving to the Motor City and signing on as a defenseman with the Detroit Olympics (amateur as well) then signing later in 1930 with the Detroit Falcons (formerly the Cougars), later renamed the Red Wings in 1932. He would be traded halfway through the 1933-34 season to the Montreal Maroons, going on to win a Stanley Cup with them in 1935. He would serve as the Maroons final captain for the 1937–38 season, joining the Montreal Canadiens the following year (1938-39) as his final season in pro hockey.

After retiring, Evans would move back to Detroit and return to the company he worked for part-time while playing for the Wings, the Ford Motor Co., but now as a labour relations manager. Although he went on to pursue his auto sales ambitions, he would never cut ties with the Red Wings, proudly serving as general chairman of the annual "Face Off" fundraising dinner benefiting Detroit youth hockey and founding the Red Wings Alumni Association in 1960, serving as their first president.

In 1945 Evans built his first Lincoln-Mercury dealership, acquiring his second in 1955, and his third in 1957. At the height of his career his auto dealerships were among the nation's top 100 in sales and customer satisfaction. In 1993 Evans would sell his remaining dealerships to his eldest grandson John, but continued on as chairman of the board until his death in 1996. Stu lived a life of cars and hockey. That has Detroit written all over it.

Resources: Detroit Free Press
Photo credits: vintagearte.com, Detroit Free Press and National Hockey League

02/04/2024

Belle Isle bound, 1928. A rare view of a leisure boat cruise heading north up the Detroit River, first passing a Boblo Boat (the Ste. Clair is our guess), then an unfinished Ambassador Bridge (later opening in 1929), the downtown skyline while a freighter passes by, the Belle Isle bridge (1923), the Detroit Boat Club (1902), with the final destination being a festive boat racing event at the Detroit Yacht Club (1923).

Video editing: D Tour 313

18/12/2023

Happy early 85th Birthday to Detroit’s own Frank Isaac Robinson! Better known as Frankie “Sugar Chile” Robinson (December 28, 1938), he was born and raised in the city’s North End neighborhood, just north of the Russel Industrial Center. Thanks to a boogie woogie piano audition held at the Michigan Theatre in Oct. 1945, the six year old would become an instant sensation. Having never taken piano lessons, he would begin teaching himself at the age of two, showing exceptional gifts of singing the blues while playing the piano. To make the most of his small hands, he would use his fists and elbows as signature moves.

The years that followed, you could often find “Sugar Chile” playing the ivories at many of the city’s top entertainment venues - Masonic Temple Auditorium, Music Hall, Orchestra Hall (then Paradise Theater), the DIA’s Detroit Film Theater, State Fairgrounds Coliseum, Olympia Stadium, Briggs Stadium and the Book Cadillac Hotel. And share the stage with the legendary performers like - Danny Kaye, Paul Robeson, Mickey Rooney, Harpo Marx and Detroit’s own, World Heavyweight Champ, Joe Louis.

He would play with big band orchestras like Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey & Lionel Hampton. Accompany the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and play for President Harry S. Truman at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He’d even perform in a MGM movie called “No Leave, No Love” with actor Van Johnson.

By 1956, Robinson would only make occasional appearances as a jazz musician, billed as just Frank Robinson. By then boogie woogie piano had fallen from popularity with Rock and Roll music on the rise. He would step away from his musical career that year. Continuing his academic studies, he would earn a degree in history from Olivet College and a degree in psychology from the Detroit Institute of Technology. In the 1960s, he worked for WGPR-TV, helped set up small record labels in Detroit and opened a recording studio.

On April 30, 2016, Robinson attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner on the 70th anniversary of his appearance at the 1946 dinner. Robinson met President Barack Obama and was saluted during the dinner, receiving a roaring standing ovation as the picture of him as a child appeared on the video screens. That same year, Robinson would be inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.

Resources: Detroit Free Press & Jazz Improvisers

18/10/2023

Bygone theaters of Detroit, 1952. There was a time when three iconic movie theaters once entertained thousands on both sides of historic Grand Circus Park. Beginning with the Downtown Theater (1927-1952), originally opened as the opulent Oriental Theater, it's entrance and lobby remnants are now apart of Pan-Asian cuisine restaurant PAO Detroit, located inside the historic Briggs Houze (1926). Next is the Adams Theatre (1917-1988), once sharing the Fine Arts Building with legendary restaurant Victor Lim's, it would be demolished by Ilitch Holdings in 2009 with only the building's facade standing today. Last is the historic Madison Theatre (1917-1985). Today it's home to a ground floor Buddy's Pizza with its upper floors and rooftop deck used as multi-use event spaces called The Madison aka Rock Events Detroit.

Video editing: D Tour 313

27/09/2023

Last game at the old ballpark - Sept. 27, 1999. On this day 24 yrs ago, the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-2, in the final game at Tiger Stadium.

Photo Credit: Mary Schroeder, Detroit Free Press

17/09/2023

Answering the Call, Michigan Theater - Sept. 17, 1942. It was on this day over 81 yrs ago, 350 volunteers from throughout the Detroit area and the state of Michigan made the pledge to join the U.S. Marine Corps. The recruits were to take the place of hundreds of Marines who defended Wake Island (a remote Pacific island, 2,000 miles west of Hawaii) during a 14 day siege by the Empire of Japan (Dec. 8 – 23, 1941), taking place immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

As a promise to be kept by the Marines, the new recruits (to be known as the “Wake Island Company”), were to be trained and kept intact as a unit throughout their enlistment. The induction ceremony would take place on the stage of Detroit’s Michigan Theater following the premiere of “Wake Island”, Hollywood’s first WW II motion picture production based on the against-all-odds stand made by the original Wake Island Company.

Admission to the movie screening and enlistment ceremony would only be through War Bonds purchased at any 20 of the United Detroit Theaters or through the Detroit Board of Commerce. The sale of bonds were so successful in fact they totaled $1.3M (close to $20M today). The event would also include speeches by guest of honor - U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Chester Fordeny and Mayor Edward Jeffries who would declare “In profound gratitude to the gallant lost defenders of Wake Island and to honor 350 Detroit and Michigan boys enlisting in the United States Marine Corps new Wake Island Company, I hereby name today, Thursday, Sept. 17, 1942, as Wake Island Memorial Day.”

Wake Island would undertake numerous air U.S. raids (one of them included future pres. George H. Bush), but would be remain occupied by the Empire of Japan from 1941 until their formal surrender in Sept. 1945. Today the island is a refueling station and military installation of the U.S. Air Force.

Resource credit: Detroit Free Press
Photo credits: Wayne State University, Detroit Free Press & Heritage Auctions

16/08/2023

Heading downtown - 1942. Looking from Briggs Stadium east down Michigan Ave., two men wait on a streetcar platform to take them downtown. Much has changed along this location. After the demolition of Tiger Stadium came the reinvestment of a new baseball field called The Corner Ballpark, residential apartments via Elton Park Corktown, hotel rooms at the Godfrey Hotel Detroit and the soon to be reopening of Michigan Central Station.

Photo credit: LIFE magazine

25/05/2023

An afternoon stroll downtown, 1939. Looking south from Grand Circus Park, J.L. Hudson’s stands impressively in the city’s skyline as Detroiters walk near the busy intersection where Park Ave. meets Woodward Ave. Since being imploded in 1998, construction of two new structures on the old Hudson's site began in 2017, one that will reach 685 feet tall, are expected to be completed next year in 2024.

Photo credit: Joe Clark
Retouching: D Tour 313

05/04/2023

An Unstoppable City - April, 1939. This month 84 years ago a week-long program called "Nothing Stops Detroit” took place downtown. Presented by The Detroit Board of Commerce, the event promoted the city’s decade-long comeback since the 1929 Stock Market Crash, showcasing Detroit's top brand products, touting their innovation, resilience and passion in supporting the city as a global industrial leader.

Public displays were set up all over the city, including banks, shops, department stores as well as an extensive collection of brand new 1939 automobiles paired up with their 1929 counterparts on Washington Blvd. The event concluded at the Book Cadillac Hotel with rousing banquet speeches, given by a number of Detroit’s business leaders. Fred M. Zeder, highly respected Auto Engineer and VP of the Board of Chrysler Corporation, summed up the celebration best - “The nation is looking to Detroit, and we have an obligation. But you can’t stop Detroit when we get on our way!”

Photo credits: Wayne State University and the Detroit Free Press
Photo colorizing: Imbued with Hues & D Tour 313

04/12/2022

Downtown Shopping, 1931. Pedestrians hustle along a busy Woodward Ave., maybe with the purpose of holiday shopping on their minds, between John R. and Whitherell St., south of Grand Circus Park.

Photo credit: Wayne State University
Retouching: D Tour 313

30/11/2022

Start the New Year with a Packard, 1952. A brand new, Detroit made 1953 Packard Cavalier sits proudly on display at its namesake assembly plant on Grand Blvd. Founded in 1899, the iconic plant would eventually close in 1958.

Photo credit: Detroit Public Library, original in black & white
Colorizing & retouching: D Tour 313

29/09/2022

02/08/2022

So inspiring to see all the progress! A glimpse of the restored ceiling in the Main Lobby/Waiting Room (at 1:14 sec) is just breathtaking.

As one of Detroit’s most notable eyesores transitions into one of the city’s jewels, it’s time to get a peek at the progress in the final stretch of a massive restoration project.

13/06/2022

The Heat Is On, 1928. Children frolic about as they play in the cool waters of the elaborately carved, Merrill Fountain (1901). Commissioned by Elizabeth Merrill Palmer in honor of her father, Charles Merrill, Sen. Thomas W. Palmer (husband to Elizabeth) would speak to the beauty and purpose of the fountain at the dedication ceremony - "As men were crowded into great cities and denied the frequent sight of the contact with water in agitation or repose, a craving for it, as a feature of the landscape, has led to construction of artificial lakes, cascades and fountains to cool the air, please the eye and soothe the ear, as well as supply the physical wants of the people."

The fountain would remain a centerpiece to downtown's Campus Martius until 1926 when it would be relocated to Palmer Park, just north of McNichols, to ease traffic congestion. Today the grand old fountain is in badly need of repair and restoration.

Resource: HistoricDetroit.org
Photo credit: Wayne State University
Retouching: D Tour 313

06/05/2022

A Good Cleaning - May, 1939. A statue of Detroit settlement founder (1701), Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, looks out upon Michigan Avenue while a Book Cadillac Hotel maintenance worker gives him a bath.

Photo credit: Detroit Free Press Archives

16/03/2022

The beginning of the new Motown Museum has begun!

26/02/2022

Photo credit: Emily Joy

15/02/2022

Sunrise from Riverside Park, 1965. Officially opened as a city park in 1981, the now 29-acre area at the foot of W. Grand Blvd. has seen vast improvements in recent years that include a new softball diamond, soccer field, picnic area, playground, basketball court, boat launch, skate park and the largest dog park in the city.

Photo credit: Harold Mayer

06/02/2022

NHL All-Star Game, Detroit - Feb. 5, 1980. Detroit Red Wing legend, Gordie Howe (representing the Hartford Whalers) would be selected to his 23rd NHL All-Star Team. Among the opposing team was a young, 19 yr old Wayne Gretzky, it being his first All-Star Game and the chance play against his boyhood idol. Late in the 3rd period, Howe would prove he still had it, setting up the final goal for the Wales Conference, beating the Campbell Conference, 6-3.

Prior to the game, an emotional Gordie would be humbled by a long, thunderous standing ovation before a hometown crowd that showed they never lost their love and admiration for him.

Video credit: NHL Network

01/02/2022

Lunch at American Coney Island - 1970. With seasoned hot dogs from Dearborn Sausage, "Original Coney Island Steamer" buns from Hamtramck, covered in the Keros family's famous chili sauce, topped with sweet onions and mustard, it remains to this day a Detroit institution.

Photo credit: The Detroit News

30/01/2022

Sunday in Hamtramck - 1942. Parishioners leave Saint Florian Roman Catholic Church, located at Latham, St. Florian and Poland streets. Funded by mostly Polish immigrant factory workers, the Gothic Revival styled church was formally dedicated in October, 1928. It would later be visited by Cardinal Wojtyla in 1969 and later when he was Pope John Paul II in 1987. The church would also provide as a backdrop in the 1998 movie "Polish Wedding". Since it's opening it has offered mass in both Polish and English.

Photo credit: LIFE magazine

19/01/2022

Beautiful night for a warm fire, a drink and a breathtaking view (14 stories up from atop the Metropolitan Building).

Photo credit: Alanna St. Laurent Photography

15/01/2022

Michigan and Trumbull, January 1979. Snow falls as Tiger Stadium patiently awaits a turning point for the Detroit Tigers in the 1979 season. It would begin with manager Les Moss, with former Tiger, Dick Tracewski replacing him as interim. By June, two-time World Series winner, Cincinnati Reds' manager "Sparky" Anderson would take the helm.

After taking stock of the team's wealth of young talent (names like Morris, Petry, Trammell, Whitaker, Gibson and Parrish) he would famously proclaim to the press that his team would be a pennant winner within five years. The rest is history.

Resource: baseball-reference.com & Sports Illustrated
Photo credit: Tom Haggerty

22/12/2021

A Holiday Tradition - Victor Lim’s, December 21, 1959. Victor and his wife Katie, pose for a photo in front of his namesake restaurant across from Grand Circus Park. It would be for an ad in the Detroit Free Press to remind Detroit area residents that his renowned restaurant would be open to all during the holidays. It would read “Victor and Katie Lim, Most sincerely wish you The Merriest Christmas and The Happiest New Year. Victor Lim’s. 48 West Adams Ave. Detroit, Mich. Our doors are open for your dining pleasure every day in the year 11 A.M. to 4 A.M.”

For many it would be a tradition to eat and drink at Victor Lim’s on Christmas Eve as well as other holidays throughout the year. Though the much loved restaurant (1950-1984) would close years later, the memories of its delicious food, signature cocktails and the man and his family that made it all possible, remain.

Photo credit: Wayne State University
Retouching: D Tour 313
Resource: Detroit Free Press