The Spirit of Detroit

Another repeat visitor to this blog is the Spirit of Detroit.  If you were to pick one statue that people would easily identify with Detroit, this is the one.  Sadly, I wish I would have gotten a picture of him a couple weeks ago, because I think he may have been wearing a Tigers' jersey.

I was just trying to get some unusual pictures and angles of him.

Probably the typical angle.  I like it when he is wearing a Red Wings jersey because it looks like he is making a save.

A close up of one of his hands.

And the other.

Another attempt at an odd angle.

And looking from the other side.

So that was my morning in Detroit.  I kind of wish I had more time down there but I was heading up North for other pictures.  I hope you guys enjoyed these.

The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Again...

Another statue that has made repeated appearances on this blog is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Campus Martius.  I would have to say that it is probably the coolest statue in Detroit.

Since I've posted about it here before, I wont go into detail about it.  It was built to commerate the Michigan effort in the Civil War.  It has represenation from the Navy and different branches of the Army.

The statue at the top is pretty cool.

Just a shot of some of the detail on the statue.

A detailed shot of the statue at the top.

The figure representing the Navy.

This one represents the artillery.

The Cavalry.

Another shot of the sailor.

And another overall shot of the statue.

The Renaissance Center

This is another building I've posted before but it's been a while since I've taken a picture from this angle and at this time of the day, so here it is.

This is probably the one building that people will look at and identify as Detroit.  Sadly, it is not a unique building as this style has been used elsewhere.  I guess the nice thing about a skyline is that each city has it's own character.

One Woodward Building

This is another building I've posted before.  It was designed by the same architect that designed the World Trade Center and was used as a prototype for that building.  In many ways, you can see some of the resemblence.

It's not one of the more unique looking buildings in Detroit but it still is pretty cool in its own right.

Looking from the Hart Plaza.

Looking up at the building.

The Guardian Building

Many people when they think of Detroit will mention all the decaying buildings and neighborhoods.  Sadly there is much of that but there are also some buildings that managed to escape the ravages of time.  One of them was the Guardian Building.

In the 1940's, the Guardian Building would be one of the crown jewels of the "Arsenal of Democracy", it was where much of the factory planning that would win the war was done.  It was also used as a bank.  It is a pretty good example of Art Deco Architecture.

At one time, it was nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance and if you walked in, you could see why.  There are the arched ceiling and even some religious overtones.

One of the entryways has a very neat colored ceiling.

At one end of the hallway is a nice map of Michigan.  It could almost be like a crucifix.

Looking at the other end of the hallway.

Looking at the brass clock.

Looking up at that clock.

Looking at the entryway from another angle.

The outside of the building is just as nice.

The building is now used for the Wayne County offices.  It's kind of a shame that it is off the tax roles but I guess anything to preserve it.

The Grand Trunk Pub

Situated on Woodward is the Grand Trunk Pub.  I've always been curious about this place as I've see the Grand Trunk lettering on the building.  It turns out that at one time it was a ticket office for the Grand Trunk Railroad.  It has since been converted to a pub.

So I decided to have lunch there.  It was pretty good.  They had a smelt special so I decided for that.

This is the lettering I was mentioning.

Another Shot of Joe Louis' Fist

One of my favorite sculptures in Detroit is Joe Louis' Fist.  Some people decry it because of the violence it portrays.  But you have to admit what Joe Louis represents to some people.  Many people will point to Jesse Owens but  Joe Louis was in a similar circumstance and stuck it to the Nazi.

I like this angle.

But I think I like this angle more.  Although there are times when I hear national broadcasts and I think it should be at a different attitude with one of the fingers extended.

Looking down Woodward.  I know that I've taken this shot before but it is one that I can't get tired of.  When I take it on a weekday, there is actually some bustle to the city.

Just another angle of the shot.

The Comerica Tower

This is another shot from last Friday.  After I was finished boatwatching, I decided to wander over to Woodward Avenue to grab lunch.  While I was over there, I decided to take pictures of some of the buildings and things around there.  I'm not going to do these in any particular order.  So first up is the Comerica Tower.

This is another building I've posted about before, so I'm not going to go into the building details.  I do like the looks of it and it is probably one of my favorites in downtown Detroit.  Detroit may not have the tallest or flashiest buildings but I do think that it has some of the most unique.  This one is an example.  It has sort of a gothic style to it.

It represents one of the newer buildings in Detroit.

Looking up from Woodward Avenue.  So what is your favorite building in Detroit?  Please post in the comments section.  Thanks.



The Wayne County Building

Unfortunately, I think the Wayne County building now stands idle.  I kind of hope that someone ends up picking it up because I would hate to see this building fall into disrepair.

I've posted about this building so I wont go into too much detail about it.  This is a shot from a parking lot nearby.  It's in kind of a cramped area, so I can't get a clean shot of it.

Looking up at the tower.  I like the pair of statues at either side of it.

This is a closeup of one of the statues.

More Shots of the Detroit Skyline

I guess I can never get tired of seeing shots of the Detroit Skyline from Riverside Park.

For this one, I decided to use the Ambassador Bridge to frame the shot.

And one this one, I kind of like how the light was hitting it because I thought it made it look like a painting.

The Tug Everlast and Norman McLeod

Just as I was about ready to leave Riverside Park, I saw this barge/tug combination pull out of the dock.  I'm not normally a bit fan of these but this one looked pretty unique combined with the fact of me wanting to get at least one ship picture.

I don't have any details of either of these, so I will pretty much let the pictures do the talking.  I kind of liked how the tug portion of this combination looked.  Set off against the bluish water looked pretty cool.

As she was passing by.  It was still early enough that there were some pinks in the sky.

Passing under the Ambassador Bridge.

I pulled out the shot a little bit to get the reflection of the tower in the River.

Another shot as she headed upriver.

The AlgoSteel Again

So I took the day off on Friday and I was hoping to do a little boatwatching.  Unfortunately, I was running too late and mostly missed both ships I was hoping to see.  One of them was rounding Belle Isle out of view and the other was rapidly moving downriver.  The one heading downriver was the AlgoSteel which has appeared on this blog before.

I don't remember what the other ship was but I didn't catch her, so it doesn't matter.

One More Teaser Pic of the Mackinac Bridge

And I leave you with one more picture of the Bridge. This time from the St. Ignace side.


And as always, more coming later.

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Location:St. Ignace, MI