Friday, April 27, 2007

Woodward Avenue Kresge & Shopping District


Detroit, Michigan - circa 1960s

Though not a shopping mall here, I'm posting this postcard photo I bought recently, for three reasons: 1. because I really dig the old Kresge five & dime stores, 2. because it's just so gloriously kitschy looking, and 3. because I paid good money for it so you're darn right I'm gonna use it! :)

This is a vintage view of Woodward Avenue's shopping district back in its glory days. The snazzy "DDD" flags you see here stood for Downtown Detroit Days, a regular Woodward Avenue shopping tradition where the merchants along the avenue would work together to offer special promotions and deals to shoppers--what a concept! Here's the card's short but sweet caption:
"Looking north on famous Woodward Avenue in the heart of Detroit's shopping district."
Yeah, Woodward Avenue's still there, and stores are still there, but this kind of swankiness isn't.

9 comments:

  1. Seeing that the location is Detriot and reading the above posters comments, I dread to hear the update on this place.

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  2. Seeing how I'm from Detroit, and remember those days well, you three can go straight to hell with your opinions!!! I'm sick and tired of people putting Detroit down!! As for YOU Jennifer, you probably don't even have enough BUTT for air to be between!!!!

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  3. Oh, by the way Carole, the word is spelled appalled!!

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  4. Heh, I miss the days when things like this was still common to see in any downtown.

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  5. Wooooah, ouch! Personal attacks, no fun.

    Unfortunately, Detroit is only one of many hundereds of downtowns that have fallen by the wayside due to suburban sprawl during the 1970s-1980s and the buildup of huge mega-malls. It's not just a 'Detroit' thing.

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  6. Guys... it was a TROLL. Some loser with no life who comes and spams my blog every once in a while with junk like this hoping to get a rise out of someone. Unfortunately you fell for it. I usually delete these very quickly before anyone even sees them (the two names used are always the same), but I've been away from the blog a lot the past few days so I missed them this time.

    They're deleted now.

    Please ignore obviously silly, inane messages like that in the future. Don't respond to them.

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  7. Ok, thanks for the warning.

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  8. Keith, it's a shame you have to waste valuable time and energy on stuff like that. Thanks for your efforts to keep things under control.

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  9. I see that this blog "ended" in 2007 - too bad; malls continue to be an American fascination and it's sad that our children didn't have a great opportunity to work in a mall. I made a few lifelong friends from mall jobs of LONG ago. ;)

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