After 32 hours and 1200 miles of trains (yeah about that… Chicago was nice and all but really? You can fall asleep on a train and wake up 3 states too far?) I finally arrived in Detroit. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, maybe some third world abandonscape right outside of the train station, but it really seemed like any other American city I’d ever been to. There were cars on the road, people in the streets, a crowd gathering at the station to catch the next train to Lansing, 9am and well into their tailgate already on their way to Michigan State. (A helpful security guard even advised me that maybe it wasn’t the best day to be wearing green in this town! So much footballness here!) After another wait, Mike showed up and we were on our way! First stop was Cass Tech, an abandoned community college in a giant 1920s building right in downtown Detroit replaced by its even more gigantic neighbor. From the looks of it, it seemed to specialize in art and engineering — I would have loved to spend my 12th grade year here.
The desks are bolted to the floor in perfect order.
Buehler… Buehler… Buehler…
Next to the art rooms there was a print shop with drawers upon drawers of movable type, now scattered all through the school.
Electronics class? Radio station?
The chalkboards are still here from the final day, 6/14/05. I can only imagine the teachers presided over one last exam, then at 3:49 it was just last one out of here, turn out the lights, and suddenly there was, where there was once a school, only abandonment.
The theater… anyone want to have a show in here?
Basketball arena… with a very weird, inward-leaning balcony. I’ve heard Michael Jordan played here once many years ago.
(part 1 of many from this weekend. I’ll include a photo link on the last page)