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Photo essays from Detroit artists and photographers. A Brief Peculiar History of Detroit is a collection of photo essays and texts created by artists and writers who have journeyed beyond Detroit’s fading edifices of commerce and industry to become the archeologists of a lost city and its people. Their reports from the scattered sites of their excavations reveal compact, shimmering facets of countless lives lived–well and not so well–by the people who have called this city home. The artifacts recovered are the images, the stories, and the memories contained in these pages.Buy the ebook or a PDF viewable on your computer at www.peterokeefe.tv
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A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R YO F D E T R O I TEdited by Peter O’Keefe
Edited and curated by Peter O’Keefe.
Copyright 2012 by Peter O’Keefe.
Epub Edition (date)
ISBN: 978-0-9888481-0-8
Cover and Book design by Kevin Fye.
Cover image “Factory” from Jef Bourgeau’s “Art as Logo” series.
the artists.
C O P Y R I G H T
Jef Bourgeau
Barbara Greene MannTom Hagerty
Bruce Harkness
of Barbara Greene’s work from the 1970s and ‘80s. The artwork had been scattered to the four
assistance in this artistic treasure hunt:
Anne Cummings
Laura Freeman
Tribes of the Cass Corridor
Barbara Greene MannBruce HarknessChristopher King
Workman Arts
Sandra Schemske
Wayne State University
Annette Seip
Wayne State University
Managing Director Workman Arts
com).
A C K N O W E L D G E M E N T S
C O N T E N T S
PART ONE: GHOST STORIES
INTRODUCTION 11Peter O’Keefe
“GHOST LAND detroit” 27Jef Bourgeau
Photo of My Grandparents Working Their Lunchwagon at the Gates of Dodge Main
DODGE MAIN 47Peter O’Keefe
POLETOWN 97Bruce Harkness
C O N T E N T S
PART TWO: LOST WORLDS
DETROIT: THE MISSING YEARS 179Tom Hagerty
THE CASS CORRIDOR 243Bruce Harkness
BARBARA GREENE’S DETROIT 297
TIGER STADIUM 339Tom Hagerty
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES 374
CREDITS 378
11
I N T R O D U C T I O NA BRIEF PECULIAR HISTORY OF DETROIT
Peter O’Keefe
A BIT OF HISTORY
INTRODUCTION
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
13
careers there.
INTRODUCTION
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
INTRODUCTION
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
17
rocks.
INTRODUCTION
Jef BourgeauGHOST LAND detroit
There are times as an artist or a writer when an
that.” Jef Bourgeau’s “Art as Logo” series had that affect
of New Art (MONA).
Photo of My Grandparents Working Their Lunch Wagon At the Gates of Dodge Main
The tremor of recognition I experience when reading Jim’s Detroit
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
19
in Detroit.”
Barbara Greene MannBarbara Greene’s Detroit
other artist of the era--capture the creative ferment and
INTRODUCTION
Tom HagertyDetroit: The Missing YearsTiger Stadium
Bruce Harkness
The Cass Corridor
at Wayne State University and we both worked
Woodward Avenue. In between serving Heinekens
P. Reuther Library on the campus of Wayne State University.
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
21
The images contained in this book represent a fraction of the body of work Harkness created between
Peter O’KeefeDodge Main
Detroit is the Motor City. For the past century the city’s fortunes
PART ONE: GHOST STORIES
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R Y O F D E T R O I T
27
“ G H O S T L A N D d e t r o i t ”Jef Bourgeau
T H E H A M T R A M C K D O D G E A S S E M B LY P L A N T
D O D G E M A I N1 9 1 0 - 1 9 8 0
Peter O’Keefe
P O L E T O W NBruce Harkness
PART TWO: LOST WORLDS
A B R I E F P E C U L I A R H I S T O R YO F D E T R O I T
179
D E T R O I T: T H E M I S S I N G Y E A R STom Hagerty
basement dance parties.
Tom’s Tavern.
Peter O’Keefe
243
T H E C A S S C O R R I D O RBruce Harkness
297
B A R B A R A G R E E N E ’ S D E T R O I T
1980s.
T I G E R S TA D I U MTom Hagerty
