Unique Car Art Set to Display in Detroit and Windsor this Spring

Side view of a CarTunes Sculpture

If you had a chance to visit the North American International Auto Show last month, chances are that you saw many unique and different vehicles, and were also exposed to the automakers' visions for the future.

Surprisingly, my favorite future car wasn't the sleek silver Chrysler concept, or the new H3; instead, I was most drawn to the cute little red car pictured above.

What is this mystery mobile, you ask? It's a CarTune and it and many like it will be popping up all over the landscape of Detroit and Windsor this Spring.

What are CarTunes, exactly? They are seven-foot long pieces of fiberglass that will be molded into cartoonish-looking automobiles. From there, each one will be given to a local artist, who will then design the sculpture in a creative and fun way using the underlying theme of cars and music as the focal point of imagination. We are sure to see some that are representative of the classic Motown sound. Maybe they'll even give some props to the local and always-controversial sons of Detroit, Eminem and Kid Rock.

A CarTune on display at the NAIAS

As we wait in anticipation for the unveiling of the fiberglass masterpieces, here are some firm details about the event:

- Expect about 200 different sculptures on the streets of Windsor and Detroit during the months of May through September

-The unique art display will be the first of its kind for both Detroit and Windsor

-At the end of the public showing period, each CarTune will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Proceeds will be split three ways: one-third will go to the Metro Detroit YMCA or the Windsor Endowment for the Arts (depending on the location of the piece); one-third will go to the artist; and, one-third will go to the buyer's charity of choice

-In addition to raising money for charitable causes, CarTunes was designed to motivate the people of both Detroit and Windsor to explore their own cities, as well as each other's

-Although several other cities have partaken in a similar type of event (Chicago had cows, Toronto had moose) CarTunes on Parade will be the first international event of its kind

For more information on CarTunes on Parade, visit www.cartunesonparade.org

Touting the Positive Side of the D - Hey, That's What I'm Talkin' 'bout!

This Thursday, Detroit Synergy and the Tourism Economic Development Council will pair up to offer a happy hour event at Detroit's ultra-cool Elysium Lounge.

Designed to increase awareness of the city's public information campaign, "The World is Coming - Get in the Game", the two groups have invited Metro Detroit residents, business people, and community leaders to take part in the post-workday event, which begins at 5 pm.

Free hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available at the get-together, which is located at 625 Shelby Avenue in Detroit.

Detroit Synergy is a non-profit organization that aims to bring Detroit-lovers together to assist in touting its greatness, while using positive promotion to enlighten those who misunderstand it. Hey, that's my kind of organization!

For more information on upcoming meetings, scheduled events and projects of Detroit Synergy, visit www.detroitsynergy.org.

Detroit's Role in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Although the infamous 1929 massacre didn't occur in Detroit (it happened in Chicago), most historians and researchers still believe that a small group of Detroiters were responsible for the seven killings that occurred that day.

Several websites, as well as the book, "The Detroit Almanac", say that Detroit's Purple Gang - the mob organization that ruled the D's streets from 1925 to 1930 - was involved in a highly secretive plan staged by mob lord Al Capone, who wanted fellow mobster George "Bugs" Moran "out of the picture".

According to legend, the scenario was as follows:
At Capone's request, a member of Detroit's Purple Gang contacted Bugs Moran and arranged to deliver some liquor to Moran. The liquor - which was the property of one of Moran's establishments, but had been stolen in route to its destination - was to be delivered to him at a garage located at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago. Instead of delivering the hooch on that fateful Valentine's Day, however, the contracted members of the Purple Gang illegally acquired a paddy wagon and some police uniforms, and went inside the establishment pretending to be police on a raid. Upon entering the small garage on Clark Street in their officer's garb, the Purple Gang members ordered Bugs' men to face the wall; but, instead of performing a frisk of the alleged wrongdoers, they pulled out machine guns and fired round after round of shots. Just minutes later, all seven men were dead.

Ironically, Capone and the hit members of the Purple Gang later discovered that their target of the event, Bugs Moran, had not been inside the garage. Many speculate that Bugs saw the paddy wagon outside of the dropoff location and immediately headed in the other direction. Capone, who was vacationing in Florida at the time of the massacre, claimed he had no involvement in it. Bugs Moran later lost much of his power within his own gang, the Northsiders, and eventually moved to Ohio. He was later arrested for bank robbery, and died in prison in 1957.

Capone died in 1947 of pneumonia and the aftermath of a stroke, both of which were brought on by syphilis, a disease that took over his body and mind during a seven-year sentence in prison.

Detroit's Purples were suspected as the hitmen in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, but it was never proven. The Purples fizzled out after its leaders were imprisoned for the Collingwood Massacre, which occurred in Detroit in 1931. The shootout at Collingwood Avenue pitted the Purples against their hometown rivals, the Little Navy Gang.

MADISON-LENOX DEMOLITION BLOCKED

WDIV-Channel 4 reported this afternoon that the Detroit Historic District Commission has again denied the request of Olympia Entertainment to raze the historic Madison-Lenox in downtown Detroit.

For more information on the hotel or the information behind the DHDC's protection of the hotel, please see my post from yesterday.

Fate of Historic Hotel to be Decided Upon Tonight

Initially, tonight's meeting between the owner of the Madison-Lenox hotel and the Detroit Historic District Commission was designed to address some unanswered questions that arose last month when the Commission tabled a request by the property's owner to demolish the historic building. In light of an announcement by a Birmingham developer made this morning, though, tonight's hearing is likely to take on a much different turn.

In case you are not familiar with what is going on with the Madison-Lenox, let me step back and give you a brief synopsis:

The Madison-Lenox Hotel is a 105-year old property that was designed by A.C. Varney, an architect that masterminded many of the buildings in the historic Harmonie Park district (most of which have been demolished). Constructed in 1900, the Madison Hotel was joined by the Lenox three years later and, eventually, a two-story dining area was constructed as a connection between the structures. The beautiful French-gothic styled structures served Detroit's rich and famous, as well as out-of-towners for decades, until the cycle of suburbanization, a decreasing city tax base, and blight put the Madison-Lenox out of business in the 1990s.

Sold to a private company - Olympia Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ilitch Holdings - soon after its closure, the original redevelopment plans for the structures indicated that they would be used as office space. If you've driven down Madison Avenue lately, however, you know that the Madison-Lenox hasn't been used for anything, except perhaps as a haven for birds and bugs.

During the latter 1990s, concern about the beautiful historic buildings that had been left to deteriorate quickly mounted on both local and state levels. Although numerous citations were issued to the property owner about the dangerously decaying state of the Madison-Lenox, the notices were continually ignored. As a result, the mid-size double structure has continued to erode. With nearly all of its windows broken and its inherent inability to fend off natural elements, the Madison-Lenox has gone from grand to grotesque.

As Detroit struggles to prepare itself for the 2006 SuperBowl, many people - including Detroit's Economic Growth Corporation - believe that the Madison-Lenox has become nothing but an eyesore. Located in an area of Detroit that has seen an enormous commercial revival in the past five years, the decaying M-L is a reminder of the historic property negligence that many growth-supporters of Detroit want to forget. Their solution? Tear the building down.

The situation is not that simple, though. Although the Madison-Lenox has been under investigation since 2001 under the body's demolition by neglect rules, the structure cannot be torn down by its owner without the approval of the Detroit Historic District Commission, the same organization that tabled the demolition request back in January. According to the fabulous website of The Friends of the Book-Cadillac Hotel, a group of Detroiters that saved the famous BC from demolition in 2003, the current owner of the Madison-Lenox has no solid information to back its request for demolition. In fact, the website has a number of items available in .pdf format - such as a 2003 environmental feasibility study whose findings indicated that the structure can be soundly redeveloped - that counter the financial, economical, and social constraints that Olympia Entertainment has relied on to back its demolition request. Adding further strength to the anti-demolition arsenal is the fact that the Madison-Lenox was added to the National Trust for Historic Preservation last year, a label that surely strengthened its barricade against demolition.

Until this morning, however, the fate of the M-L was frighteningly unknown. The struggle - which pitted the preservationists against the capitalists - could have gone either way, especially considering that no alternative buyer had entered the picture.

But then, like an 11th hour bargaining moment, the tides quickly turned: a developer in Metro Detroit came forward, announcing a $24 million redevelopment initiative for the structure.

According to The Detroit News, Kathy Sinclair of Bimingham's Downtown Development Co. proposed a $24 million infill development of the structure that would keep the facade details and original architecture intact while renovating and restoring the entire property. Sinclair provided an artist's rendition, which is viewable on the site of the article noted above, and noted that the hotel would be turned into condominium units and a 40-room hotel.

With this new development, it will be very interesting to see what the decision of the DHDC will be tonight.