Eastland Shopping Center - The American Dream
News from the east side of Detroit brings sadness to me, and makes me think that Bill Cortes may be right:
Mr. Murray may be safer in Lagos than if he were back in his beloved Motown!
Police: 2 men shot inside suburban Detroit mall
Nov 27 11:09 PM US/Eastern
By ED WHITE
Associated PressHARPER WOODS, Mich. (AP) – A dispute between two rival groups of teenagers escalated into gunfire Saturday when members of one of the groups opened fire inside a shopping mall, critically injuring one teenager and a clothing store worker as holiday shoppers dashed for cover, police said. The shooting happened around 6 p.m. at Eastland Mall, east of Detroit, on the heels of Black Friday, traditionally the kickoff for what retailers hope is the busiest weekend of the holiday season. The mall was closed for the night as police searched for suspects, said Harper Woods deputy police chief Jim Burke. The 18-year-old victim, a member of the rival group, was struck in the chest, and a stray bullet hit the leg of the worker, in his mid-30s, who was standing outside the clothing store, Burke said. “He just happened to be standing out there and this broke loose,” Burke said. Both were taken to St. Johns Hospital in Detroit. Burke said they were listed in critical condition but were expected to survive. A hospital spokesman declined to confirm this or release any information, citing privacy laws.
My family, and many of the long time Motown crowd who read this blog, will remember Eastland fondly. Although small by today’s standards, Eastland and Northland were the first mega-malls in the Detroit area.
Originally an outdoor Mall, connected by courtyards with artistic statues and fountains, it eventually became enclosed to protect shoppers from the nasty Motown winter weather. It was the alternative to going downtown on the bus.
As kids, Aunt Sue and I climbed this Hippo many times.......
The Lion is playing with a Mouse on this statue - kids and parents loved these things. Wonder where they are now?
I’ve never been in the enclosed mall, remembering the old setting, with piped in music, penguins (remember them?) and soft lighting.
I grew up on the exact border between Detroit and Harper Wood. There really was not much difference between Detroit and Harper Woods in those days. Working class families, single family dwellings, tidy neighborhoods. It was a great place to live in the 1950’s through the early 1970’s.
Detroit’s problems really started in the 1950’s as the auto industry began building plants in the suburbs. It was just a matter of time before the workers would follow, leaving Detroit to struggle with an aged and crumbling infrastructure and declining productive population of tax payers.
A major warning came with the Riots of 1967. The first wave of Motown diaspora headed out of town pronto.
Things started to visibly go to crap with forced school busing in Detroit in the mid1970’s. Middle-class families, like mine, said enough, and escaped to the suburbs. The jobs also were moving out-of-town. And Detroit began to noticeably unravel.
It used to be that Detroit’s northern boundary (8 Mile Road) was a clear delinatation line between Detroit’s chaotic dysfunction and the relative tranqulity of the suburbs.
Alas, no more.
Last time I was in Detroit (a couple of years ago) the chaos had moved north of 8 Mile. A car jacking had just taken place at 10 Mile and Gratiot. This is the type of social dysfunction that South Africa has learned to deal with. It’s now part of the new Detroit normal.
So Sad.
murray global blog 