Stranded at the Corner
I was lucky enough to be invited along to the premier of documentary film on Tiger Stadium, “Stranded at the Corner”, at the Gem Theater in Detroit. Just seeing the theater was a treat enough for me, but to share it with a packed house of die hard supporters was an experience I will not soon forget. The documentary featured clips from the Stadium’s glory days to the controversy surrounding its abandonment today. Seeing clips of a packed Detroit brought tears to my eyes even though I had never experienced a game at Tiger Stadium. What struck me most was the issue of race in the debate. The history from the perspective of black Detroit was featured, where admission was restricted and then segregated. There is a definite concern that saving Tiger Stadium is not high on the agenda of black Detroiters as Tiger Stadium is seen as “white” history. It is awful to see preservation of historic buildings as a racial issue, but I suppose it should be taken into consideration . . .
wow, that’s an interesting perspective… something i would’ve never thought of, but maybe should have… there are many issues that we hear a lot about that aren’t necessarily the concerns of the majority of folks…
It was a great documentary, was very well shot and unbiased.
James Turner did a fabulous job on the race issue.
Tiger Stadium was great. The key word is “was.” It’s sad to see the stadium decaying and left to crumble. It’s time to demolish the stadium. The memories will live on, but right now, old Tiger Stadium has seen it’s better days and will not see them again. Put Tigers stadium out of it’s misery and tear it down now.
Why tear it down when there is no talk of building? Leave it be. Its not in misery; its a building. We cannot just demolish every building that is no longer in use and replace it with a parking lot. This is happening too much downtown.
Whatever happened to historic preservation?
I wasn’t quite decided about what to do with Tiger Stadium before I saw the documentary, but I wasn’t for tearing it down. I am very much a supporter of using the existing resource for any use be it sporting events, concerts, or exhibitions. I was a little upset when the use of the stadium for the Snoop Dogg concert during the Superbowl was sneered at during the documentary. After watching the documentary, restoration would be ideal as would using it for baseball games, but the bottom line is that it should be used.
this is a tough one… i think that if someone can or wants to use it and is willing to fork over the cash to take care of it and such, so be it… but i don’t think we should wait around for it to be used… right now, it’s just another vacant building in a city full of vacant buildings… i think a time line should be set… like if by a certain date no one wants it who can afford it, take it down… it costs the city some amount of money to maintain it, and right now we don’t have any… if we hold on to Tiger Stadium too long, it’s not gonna get any better… look across the way at MCS… it’s so dilapidated that it costs too much to fix… how much longer do i get to observe the world’s largest see through building???
There was an entire conspiracy theory presented in the documentary . . . I wonder how much is true. It showed how there are people interested in using the space but that certain parties are preventing it. Question is, where do we go from here?
I love Tiger Stadium. I would like to see it restored and used, but realistically, I don’t see that happening. If nothing is done with the structure, why leave it sit to decay? Corktown is turning a corner, and maybe tearing down Tiger Stadium will lead to new development. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.