So considering that I may be out of work for a little bit, I started pondering things to do with my spare time once my knee heals. Something that I’ve always wanted to do is checkout some of these old abandoned buildings in Detroit that are complete works of architectural beauty…at least they used to be before time let them go to hell. Places like Michigan Central Station and The Book-Cadillac Hotel (although I’ll doubt I’ll get to go in there as it’s undergoing renovation. Yay Westin hotels.). So i’m currently going to plot some interesting kind of exploration for “The Ruins of Detroit” sometime around the new year or in January, as I should be able to at least get around by then. I’d like to do it before school starts, but we’ll see how that goes. Check out the train station:
I discovered the website forgottendetroit.com, with lots of good information about these old places, including a map, pictures, historical info, and lots of helpful links to other similar sites. It’s run by author David Kohrman, and he’s definitely done his homework. Glad to have it as a resource.
I just need to get a hold of a good digital camera and possibly some people to join me (who wants to wander into places like this alone?). So that’s the plan for early 2008.
My random clickings around led me to the Detroit Historical Society. Only $20 for a student membership? Why not add another weird random thing to the list of organizations I affiliate myself with? So I’m part of that now.
I also discovered that a handful of new cities have been added to Google Maps’ street view. Detroit being one of them. This is awesome. Hopefully they can catalog the east side as it seems like they pretty much have the west side down pretty good.
The gem of the day, however, was finding TripAdvisor’s customer reviews of the Leland Hotel in downtown.
This stuff is absolutely hilarious on so many levels I can’t really explain it till you read it yourself. For those of you who don’t know, the Leland is basically a place to: either buy crack/heroin/pussy/etc; live if you so choose; party it up at City Club; or take random female met at said club up to a room for some fun and be gone by the time she wakes up. *Disclaimer* I am not advocating this kind of behavior, I’m just saying that this is more or less what happens here. Anyways, the people from out of town who actually stay here are in for a really healthy dose of what a certain side of Detroit (Dave Chapelle would call this “When keepin’ it real goes wrong”) is like. It’s especially amusing because the hotel used to be a Ramada, and in some places it is still branded as such. So people come there expecting a Ramada-type experience. The looks on their faces must be priceless. Here are some of my favorite quotes.
“Every person we spoke to in elevators was either there for the sex show/rave taking place in the hotel ballroom or were also horrified by the disgusting rooms.”
“There was an old woman wandering around the lobby in her Sunday best (from 1940??), makeup caked on her face, mumbling about when the bar was going to be open - this was about 10am! ”
“On the last leg of our HONEYMOON we thought we’d taken a wrong turn and checked into PRISON!!! That is how inviting the he/she (not sure of gender) guard at the front desk was to us.” Uhm, Honeymoon? Way to go, buddy.
“The elevator doors slammed my brothers wheelchair, nearly decapitating him upon going up to our rooms. As soon as we walked into the room I knew we had to get the hell out of here.”
“It looked like something out of the movie “Escape from New York” meets “The Shining”. ”
“The stairwell was filled with graffitti, urine, condoms and beer bottles.”
“My wife and I pulled in at 11:30 pm at night and were approached to buy crack in the hotel lobby and bums begged us for money in the elevator ride to the room.”
“Drugs seems to run rampant in this hotel. A man that was clearly a junkie jumped on the elevator with us gnawing on some cold leftovers that looked like he found them in the trash - this was at 6:00 a.m.!”
“We decided to lock ourselves in our room and wait for daylight to get out. At about 12:00 at night, we heard a woman in the room next to us screaming and yelling for her life. We assume she was being raped but we will never know. We were to frightened to call the police.”
“Even if you are curious DO NOT go into the club because there is a chance you will run into the devil himself.”
And the icing on the cake:
“I lived on the streets of the Bronx, homeless for 3 years before putting myself together and I can say, honestly, that this is the worst place I ever stayed at in my life. ”
Now, the hotel is also home to 2 industrial/goth clubs, the Leland City Club and The Labyrinth. Yes, 2 clubs. Which can be disturbing for out of town guests who i’m sure feel that they’re in the middle of a rave the entire time they’re there. I’ve been to city club numerous times, never ventured to The Labyrinth yet, sure I’ll have to try it at some point. However, I have never gotten a room at this place and can not attest to the stories told or the quotes I quoted. However, there is no doubt that it’s all accurate.
All I have to say to those who book online, their corporations put them here or just by sheer luck end up at the Leland, is welcome to Detroit. Enjoy your stay.
