JennFriend #6: Fake Parking Attendant Guy

Near Fort and Cass there's a small parking lot that's apparently struggling at the moment, because they've resorted to using a fake flag waver to reel in cars. I love how they even suited it up in a vest that says, "PARKING ATTENDANT".

I realize there's not a U of M logo visible on the blue and gold coat, but there was no way I could deny this thing entry into the JennFriends. In fact, I think I might nominate it president of the club.

The Grosse Ile-Grand Circus Park connection

As I wandered through John King Books earlier today looking to bolster Island Girl's Danielle Steel collection (hey, everybody gets a Kage nickname - even mothers-in-law!), a book called "Grand Circus Park U.S.W." caught my eye. It wasn't the title that grabbed me, but the author's name.

Kage readers with Grosse Ile ties (there must be hundreds) will recognize the name, on account of there's a street called H.C.L. Jackson off Church Road where they probably got silly on Bartles & James back in high school. Now we know who H.C.L. Jackson was. It turns out, he lived on the island and was a well-known columnist for The Detroit News back in the 1940s. He was apparently a pretty funny writer, and readers were fond of his newspaper column, "Listening in on Detroit". It was kind of like Grosse Ile was the home of the Mitch Albom of his times. I don't believe "Grand Circus Park C.S.W." sold as well as "Tuesday's with Morrie", but still...

"Grand Circus Park C.S.W." (he never did divulge what the C.S.W. stood for) is a collection of brief stories that all, in some way, have a connection to the downtown Detroit park, which Jackson wrote about for The News during the days when the park was being planned and built. I didn't buy the book today, but I'm thinking about heading back over to King Books next week and grabbing it. If you're interested, his other books include "Ups and Downs", "Round Corners", and "The Paper Bag and Other Stories", and he wrote a forward for a book titled "Pot Shots from a Grosse Ile Kitchen".

Updating the Lafayette Building demolition

Progress continues on removing the Lafayette Building, but it does seem to have slowed in recent days. I'm assuming it gets a little trickier as they closer to the side of the building nearest Lafayette Coney Island and the other retailers next door. Check out how high the pile of rubble has gotten at the base of the building!

Hitsville USA: the small home with a huge story

Not that we've run out of stuff downtown Detroit to see, visit and scribble about, but today the Kage stretches its boundaries a little bit and ventures out to the New Center area, for a couple of reasons. One, I had a small legal matter to tend to out that way. And two, I've always wanted to see Hitsville USA up close. It's kind of hard to believe that I hadn't at least driven past it. Until today.

Hitsville USA, for those unaware, is the founding site of Motown music, the house where Berry Gordy, Jr., lived and built a recording studio, where people like Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5 recorded some of their biggest hits. I didn't stop in for the official tour, but it's definitely on my to-do list now. (Check out www.motownmuseum.com for details.)

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I got to Hitsville, but I guess because nearly everything that counts as a tourist attraction these days is huge, I was picturing something bigger. Instead, I turned on to West Grand Boulevard from the Lodge and drove past a row of old homes that could easily have been mistaken for a block in Wyandotte. And there it was. Hitsville USA. I almost passed it. It's just a house. No elaborate entryway. No marble statues. Not even a parking lot. Aside from the "Hitsville USA" letters stretched across the front, it's just a house, which really is one of the reasons it's so cool. What have you ever made in your home? An omelet? The bed? In this house, Marvin Gaye made "Can I Get A Witness?"