I'm pretty sure he's talking about the hill in Oak Park, the same one they shoot the City's fireworks display off of. I haven't ventured into Oak Park before, but now I kinda want to. I've always thought the best view of downtown was from 496 above Cedar St, good luck getting a picture from there though.
I found your story about what happened after I moved out east very interesting. There was a great turning away from the cities and Michigan that began in the 70's. People would line up out side Paramount News on Sundays to get the latest newspapers from Houston the promised land of jobs in the oil business. People in Texas called the Michigaders "Motor Heads" and make light of them for traveling to Texas in old cars with everything they owned packed into a trailer. Why desperate people seem funny is something I asked a Texan who was at my bar out east, he said because they look like the Beverly Hillbillys coming to town. I cut him off, and told him I was from Lansing, he did not know were Lansing is!
I did not see the devastation that crack brought here, I did see Boston in those days and yes it was kind of dumpy and could be dangerous in almost any neighborhood. Today most of Boston is beautiful.
Meanwhile back to here, today I am also going to take a little drive over there and check out Oak Park.
I was also wondering why there are always lots of folks down by the V.O.A. on Larch is there housing there, do they work there? Is that the shelter that blocks the view? I guess it must be!
Thank you for posting this photo, I have never seen it. I like how the have nice wide plank side walks on both side of the street. I am sure that was a point if civic pride. It is also interesting to note how developed the area is only 30 or 40 years after Lansing was made the state capital.
Thank you for posting this photo, I have never seen it. I like how they have nice wide plank side walks on both side of the street. I am sure that was a point if civic pride. It is also interesting to note how developed the area is only 30 or 40 years after Lansing was made the state capital.
I am not sure this is the page for this comment, I noticed the little field stone building at corner of Aurelius and Cavanaugh has been clad in vinyl siding. I know that it most be a privet home but it is kind of a shame. Years ago it was kind of a marker between the city and the beginning of the country.
They just put that siding on recently, maybe 2 or 3 months ago. That house is certainly weird and has always caught my eye, it's never been nice looking but the vinyl siding makes it look horrible.
BTW, I saw a Google Streetview car around so expect the imagery to be updated before too long.
I did not live here in '07 so I guess they must have removed the siding at some point,I think this summer it was an entirely field stone facade as it was in the 60's when I grew up. I pointed it out perhaps as an example of a house or building that had history and was unique and had all of that covered up by vinyl siding. They did that to my parents little Cape Cod,there were fluted columns and a sort of wood drape that framed the wooden front door, the window frames were four inches wide. All those little details were covered up by pale green vinyl siding that is still on that house today. My Dad would be happy, he never had to paint again.
I went the the State library to the Photography in Lansing exhibit which was very interesting. It was set up by subject and photographic style, family snap shots, school photos, reporter's photos etc. One of the subjects was the building of I-496. Several photos really sparked my memory of that time. The "before" photo of the grid of streets and blocks that were soon to be history. I could find my Dad's Sunoco station on the corner of Main Street and Logan, the Lincoln school, the Olds Mansion. It said that 900 buildings were torn down, and I very much remember the upheaval it caused for years. That was the heart of the African American neighborhood, and it's true a lot of those houses were not really good housing but there were many 19th century homes churches, schools and business that would considered treasures today that stood in the path of the highway. In those days people did not have any use for the old, we had to have a modern highway that could sweep all the state and GM workers right through Lansing and out to the burbs, and getting rid of an "unsightly" old neighborhood was also good in the minds of the people who built it. I guess I felt that way as well as I got my driver's license in '72 and I really loved driving on 496 all smooth and modern. Today living downtown I really don't use it much, and advocate covering it over.
I walked down Allegan to get to the Library to find that the building faces the parking lot on the other side. Seems like it should face the Capital Complex. The building itself is very 80's mix up of a lot things. It seems overly defensive with all the tall stone walls and few windows, we walked in down a black granite stairwell that was like entering a bunker. The inside was better with lots of light and big spaces. I also like the museum which is very well presented. We exited on the Kalamazoo street side and took in the sculpture in the circle, it is kind of cool once I figured out that it was lining up with Polaris the North star, the thing that got to me was, there it was this nice sculpture in a nice circle of grass and find that someone has placed this traffic direction sign right in front at the apex of the sculpture were it all lines up. Wow I do not have any idea how much that art work cost of if people even like it, but they could honor it a bit more by putting that sign in a different spot. Please keep in mind I was away for 30 years so all this is new to me!
Comments
I did not see the devastation that crack brought here, I did see Boston in those days and yes it was kind of dumpy and could be dangerous in almost any neighborhood. Today most of Boston is beautiful.
Meanwhile back to here, today I am also going to take a little drive over there and check out Oak Park.
Google is showing it was clad in siding since at least 2007. I never went by there enough to know what it looked like before.
BTW, I saw a Google Streetview car around so expect the imagery to be updated before too long.
I went the the State library to the Photography in Lansing exhibit which was very interesting. It was set up by subject and photographic style, family snap shots, school photos, reporter's photos etc. One of the subjects was the building of I-496. Several photos really sparked my memory of that time. The "before" photo of the grid of streets and blocks that were soon to be history. I could find my Dad's Sunoco station on the corner of Main Street and Logan, the Lincoln school, the Olds Mansion. It said that 900 buildings were torn down, and I very much remember the upheaval it caused for years. That was the heart of the African American neighborhood, and it's true a lot of those houses were not really good housing but there were many 19th century homes churches, schools and business that would considered treasures today that stood in the path of the highway. In those days people did not have any use for the old, we had to have a modern highway that could sweep all the state and GM workers right through Lansing and out to the burbs, and getting rid of an "unsightly" old neighborhood was also good in the minds of the people who built it. I guess I felt that way as well as I got my driver's license in '72 and I really loved driving on 496 all smooth and modern. Today living downtown I really don't use it much, and advocate covering it over.
I walked down Allegan to get to the Library to find that the building faces the parking lot on the other side. Seems like it should face the Capital Complex. The building itself is very 80's mix up of a lot things. It seems overly defensive with all the tall stone walls and few windows, we walked in down a black granite stairwell that was like entering a bunker. The inside was better with lots of light and big spaces. I also like the museum which is very well presented. We exited on the Kalamazoo street side and took in the sculpture in the circle, it is kind of cool once I figured out that it was lining up with Polaris the North star, the thing that got to me was, there it was this nice sculpture in a nice circle of grass and find that someone has placed this traffic direction sign right in front at the apex of the sculpture were it all lines up. Wow I do not have any idea how much that art work cost of if people even like it, but they could honor it a bit more by putting that sign in a different spot. Please keep in mind I was away for 30 years so all this is new to me!