A rail line skirts the east edge of downtown Detroit. This rail line, long abandoned by humans to the vagaries of urban tolerant wildlife, cuts a deep swath. Nestled in its embrace is an urban canvas. Hobos, debris and the occasional dog walker all gathered on this pathway that ran from the Eastern Market to the Detroit river. That was until the MDOT, encouraged by the noble rails-to-trails, came up with something a wee bit more family friendly.

With a surprising quickness the construction crews toppled the foliage and replaced it with sterile woodchips and manicured rows of flowers. The artists stubbornly persevered. Each night every newly erected surface received a complementary coating of paint. Every day towering construction vehicles craft new surfaces and the spiraling dance goes on today. For a glimpse into the past of the cut, stand at the mouth of the Gratiot bridge and stare north.

I finally entered some photos this year, crossing my fingers. Regardless, I’m going to the opening. I’d like to hear local photographer Patricio Izzo — resident photog at the River’s Edge Gallery in Wyandotte. I’ve seen her work but never heard her speak.

Before I read Fuzzy’s post and read this NPR article from Saturday, I wasn’t familiar with the license plate-size tiles that have shown up in the asphalt of several US cities including Detroit and three South American cities, but I feel like I have a faint memory of coming across one while downtown and thinking, “What on Earth is that?” and then just dismissing it as street art.

Has anyone seen any Toynbee Tiles around town lately? Apparently they get paved over quite often.

Minimalistfan on Flickr has pictures of the Detroit tiles – uploaded and taken in May 2005, but he credits them to someone else.

From what I’ve learned at Wikipedia on the subject, there have been about 130 tiles in all; each has some variation of the following message, which most believe refers to historian Arnold J. Toynbee and filmmaker/director-Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odessey:

TOyNBEE IDEA
IN KUbricK’s 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER.

Other tiles have a second message implying a conspiracy between John S. Knight of Knight-Ridder and the U.S. government.

I recently spent some time photographing the Book-Cadillac Hotel in-detail. It is quite an amazing building, architecturally speaking. See the extended entry for a full look at the facade details.

All photos are © SD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No photo shall be posted or used anywhere without my persmission.

Statues along Michigan Ave:

The view from the Kales building was halfway decent. If I weren’t looking for a house right now I’d probably move downtown somewhere. I’ve heard good and not-so-good things about various places, but on the whole the life that beats in the downtown area would make it worth it.

Alas, I’m not that young anymore ;)

Detroit Day is done…, originally uploaded by mainegal.

Taken from my apartment around 9pm this evening.

Belle Isle Casino, originally uploaded by violentlyhappy1.

Photo by violentlyhappy1

Choose your flavor, originally uploaded by lilpup.

From Metroblogging Detroit flickr group

Skyline, originally uploaded by Allan M.

From the Metroblogging Detroit Flickr Group.

We will try to feature a photo from the group once a week, so join and share your photos.

BTW Allan M, this is an amazing photo.