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Ouellette & University

Here’s another old postcard shot. This is from the late 1950’s early 1960’s (thanks Don!) and is taken at the intersection of Ouellette and University looking north.

Look at all the shops and on street parking… Back when downtown was vibrant, and you really could get everything you needed.

Sigh…

Andrew

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  • Does anyone remember Lyttles Bakery at the corner of Maiden Lane and Ouellette. It was across the liane, south of Lazares.
    They had the best choclate eclairs.

  • Does anyone remember Lyttles Bakery at the corner of Maiden Lane and Ouellette. It was across the liane, south of Lazares.
    They had the best choclate eclairs.
    And, yes, I do recall the old underground washrooms. One was at Riverside and Ouellette.

  • Does anyone remember Lyttles Bakery at the corner of Maiden Lane and Ouellette. It was across the liane, south of Lazares.
    They had the best choclate eclairs.
    And, yes, I do recall the old underground washrooms. One was at Riverside and Ouellette.

  • Gabe--the building you mention is the beautiful Michigan Consolidated Gas Building at One Woodward Avenue (for the Detroit-challenged among you it's the one with the blue cube on top--representing a natural gas flame). The building is notable because it's the work of Minoru Yamasaki, who went on to design the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC. If you go over and have a look you see the influences--the long narrow windows, the use of marble and the forecourt fountain. The building also has what was a contraversial sculpture infront--a nude dancer standing on point called Passo Di Danza--contraversial because it was a nude in the 1960s, and also because it's sculptor--the famed Italian artist Giacome Manzu--was a known Communist. Anyway...sorry for the off-topic post--love the shot of the Avenue in it's heyday.

  • Further to JT's appreciated details regarding the Gas Building, I remember having dinner on special occasions with my Grandparents atop that building in the Top Of The Flame restaurant. Given that it was well before the RenCen, it had the best view of the river and its never ending parade of ships.

  • thanks JT for that great info. the building is ok, but it blocks our view of that awesome Art Deco Guardian building behind it. !! must have been a great scene back in the day from downtown Windsor to have such a clear view of both the Penobscot and Guardian building.

  • I like it all Gabe--I think I'm one of the few people who truly loves the HQ building that was built for NBD between the Pen and the Guardian--the one that is 'lovingly' referred to as the "cheese grater" the main NBD branch (now occupied by Chase) is a fantastic trip back to the late 50s/early 60s--the Guardian is a breathtaking building--unmatched really--but I love modernism and internationalism also--and One Woodward, The Cheesegrater, 1001 Woodward and 211 West Fort are all great modernist buildings. Yamasaki had a great eye for purity of form--and he was a Metro Detroiter--downtown D has a lot of gems and a lot of fantastic architectural history--it's really a story that needs to be told. Great public art too--as evidenced by Passo Di Danza, among others.

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Andrew

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