Detroit - 1951

The history and modern magnificence of Detroit is exalted in this film, which places the motor vehicle at the heart of its development. Looking past the hyperbole, it offers a glimpse of the city at its best. NB the film has been edited for relevance.

[@dawns297]

Detroit was once Upon a Time was a great place, to work, play, and grow. All I can say is : WOW

[@zyxwut321]

Yup, wow. It's slowly crawling back and diversifying itself into a 21st century economy after hollowing out since around 1951. Last year was the first year since the late 1950s where the population actually grew. It's coming back.

[@palepride7530]

@@zyxwut321make sure you invest your life savings

[@J-remyM]

My grandfather started out working on fords lake boats as a chef in the 1940s then later on the Ford Rouge plant where he retired from in the 1960s

[@niccoarcadia4179]

It really hurts to see this vid.

[@romaskincare9138]

Before America engaged in constant wars for profit that sucked up the people's tax dollars, no more new innovative infrustructure, no more paving the way into the next century. Just all war, war war for wealthy weapons manufacturing profiteers. It's an evil tragedy.

[@user-dw4kn9oi1m]

Wow, wonderful 1951 city views of Detroit, class and style !

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

When I was almost 9 my parents moved us out from Boston to Detroit, and they got a house way out in a small subdivision out in the country by Milford and the Highland State Recreation Area. It was quite a change from walking to school on safe New England town roads to having to take a yellow school bus that went along county roads and a state highway. The Big 8 CKLW was THE station to listen to! Then my dad's firm was moving its Detroit office to Chicago; he said no way and got lucky... and so we moved back east when I was just over 11. Detroit was still very much the city back when we lived near there as it was in this vid, except the state had already carved it up with freeways. That's what caused Detroit's decline and fall, giving the city over to the automobile and putting its eggs all in the one basket of the auto industry. 😢

[@palepride7530]

Diversification of the labor force is what caused Detoilet.

[@jamesbranham2217]

I remember growing up listening to cklw.. 800am radio.. cklw the motor city.. then they always played rock music.. i didn't live there but always listened

[@Trace7173]

That was a great radio station. I remember the CKLW double album of songs from the 1960s my parents bought for me!

[@edwardzamorski3711]

Downtown is beautiful again but the neighborhoods are burned and barren.

[@elmike-o5290]

Yes, downtown Detroit is basically a “Potemkin Village.”

[@NoahBodze-pm9ok]

Until you remove the demographic that flooded that city in the late 50s, destroying it, Detroit continues to decline. That downtown stuff isn’t even lipstick on a pig. Black violence is what people associate with your city and for good reason.

[@TheBizziniss]

Honestly, I liked downtown better when it wasn’t so nice. You could still have some fun down there without having to spend a ton of money.

[@alfredvalrie5541]

WRONG

[@christiaiken3557]

Please come back Detroit!

[@BIDENJOE2024]

It will. Just have faith.

[@zyxwut321]

It's on its way back and has been for years now. Start paying attention.

[@tenorly]

@@BIDENJOE2024 With one of Cheeto's super-duper FoxConn factories, no doubt (or maybe his infrastructure week!)

[@Otis_symbol]

It's never gonna happen. It's full of Communist and Eternal victims.

[@BIDENJOE2024]

@@tenorly listen. Trump our lord and savior Donald Christ Trump will rise

[@panatypical]

What amazes me most about Detroit is Motown and also the fact that such a large vital city could develop in a climate where, for about half of the year, you could die from hypothermia if you were sleeping outside!

[@NoahBodze-pm9ok]

Motown left after the 67 riots, which is ironic because the people who made Motown - black people - destroyed that city and under a generation. Lie to me and say it wasn’t that .

[@MooPotPie]

@6:12 the corner of Woodward and Adelaide. Nothing in that shot still stands. Completely unrecognizable today - though nicely redeveloped in recent years.

[@SlinkVI]

Oh, how the algorithm blessed me this day.

[@racecardriverrr4201]

"heart of America" Oh how times have changed....

[@jimmyduncan7650]

Heart disease affects the best of us.

[@elfulano5884]

It looks like the heart of American has suffered cardiac arrest.

[@edwardpate6128]

It still is!

[@CrossOfBayonne]

The Arsenal Of Democracy

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

Capitalism gave America open heart removal surgery. Jobs went South, then to Mexico and then China 😠😡🤬

[@kevinharris5737]

The old Olympia was great.

[@Douglas-up2vh]

I'm 62 now. Dream of living back in the 40's-50's. Watch nothing but Classic tv movies and tv series .My Dad that was born in 1934-2018. Praised Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Especially during the Greatest times. The fabulous 50's. This piece of film History should make every Patriotic American CRY ! America has Fallen so Far in 75 yrs. Mostly in the last 26 yrs. Were now 98% a 3rd World Toilet Bowl. Soon to be Cuba 2. I Pity the kids growing up today. They have nothing to look forward to except MISERY. At least I have fond Memories or the 60's,70's,90's,. But they'll never compare to life in America in the 50's. Dads stories will never be forgotten. RIP Dad

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

Soon to be Cuba 2? Actually Cuba doesn't have a homeless problem, a housing affordability crisis, and unaffordable health care!

[@jeffmaggard3694]

Everything has a beginning and end. Times are not the greatest today, good times will return at some point.

[@Chazd1949]

I remember Detroit in the 1950s. My grandparents lived there since the 1930s. I lived in Port Huron, about 70 miles north. I was just a youngster, but remember staying with my grandparents many times over a weekend or during the summers. My granddad worked as a machinist for GM and my grandma worked as a department manager for a large department store. They lived a block off of East Jefferson and I remember walking down Jefferson a few blocks with my grandpa to a drugstore where he would buy his newspaper and cigarettes, and sometimes we'd have a malted milk or sundae at the soda counter. It was a beautiful, vibrant city - safe enough to walk around downtown. I no longer live in Michigan. My folks moved to South Florida in 1959 so my dad could have year-round work; but we went back to Michigan just about every summer to visit friends and family. Eventually Detroit became unlivable for my grandparents and they moved up to Port Huron in the 1970s.

[@l3eatalphal3eatalpha]

All the times you mention are before neoliberalism and imperialism. Nowadays citizens are paying the military to keep the enemy from destroying the American way of life, which was destroyed the moment people were persuaded it needed protecting. Also, most of American boom times were during and after WW2, when all major competitors were destroyed industrially, economically or both. There is no return to this golden age, unless the rest of the world is destroyed again.

[@keithdukes5990]

I couldn't agree more sir!!! It's very sad how far the Country has deteriorated in a relatively short time!!!☹️😏😢

[@Jb74W]

How sad, the re was no future left for that city in 1951 and nobody saw it coming.

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

The Hudson or Packard plant over on East Grand Boulevard had just shut down the year before. Bad omen...

[@Jb74W]

@@user-uo7fw5bo1o bad omen in did.

[@KCCardCo]

Pat Buchanan's father in law Admiral Herman Scarney was my grandmother's eye doc. I have the receipts for her office visits from the 1940s. His office was in the Fisher Building.

[@CallMeOpia]

detroit's success was fueled off of it's automobile revolution. and it really was a revolution. it just couldn't keep up with the times it seems like.

[@talleman1]

Detroit will be again.

[@TalooshDaBoss]

Make it happen man

[@manbtm1]

Been living downtown for 16 years now in Detroit we love it. Great neighborhood great people and tons of things to do. It has improved enormously especially in the last five years.

[@MotownGuitarJoe]

Not to dismiss some real challenges, but there IS a lot to be optimistic about in Detroit, as anyone who actually spends time there knows well.

[@DonRamiro1]

No, it won't. At its height, Detroit had about 1.8 million residents. Right now, it's lucky if it has 700k. It will never have that many residents ever again.

[@billrichter8871]

Imagine walking down the streets of Detroit now?, make sure you pack some heat!

[@itzdonovan.gering]

or you'll lose your porch steps

[@manbtm1]

Live,, and walk downtown, daily,,,, typically sounds like you do not get around much, its not 1980

[@manbtm1]

Right downtown you obviously haven’t been there, very vibrant, where do you live? @@communistsaregross3165

[@rbeck313]

Sir it’s 2024 not 1994 lol. Downtown Detroit is actually safe and it’s beautiful.

[@flutebasket4294]

@@rbeck313 Where did all the black criminals go? I feel sorry for those (former) communities

[@MetalHeadAZ]

the good ol days

[@cheefadareafer]

Back when you could get a job with the big 3 and make enough to raise a family.. the good ol days

[@robt5818]

I haven't been to Detroit since the 1970s. This is fascinating!

[@MaddieSmith]

You should visit again. The downtown is beautiful and very safe :) it is so inspiring to see it coming back

[@DogsToAdventure]

That was only one lifetime ago.

[@christophermorgan9199]

So crazy how much can change in one lifetime

[@palepride7530]

You can see neighboring suburbs evolve right now.

[@BoydsofParadise]

Long ago Detroit was once the NYC of the Midwest. Today, not so much.

[@keithbrown8814]

Sometime in the kate 1950s....Detroit was the 4th largest city in the USA.....hard to believe only Chicago, NY and Los Angeles were bigger!....

[@DouglasBrooker]

The age of car centric designed cities is over. The way things are being done in northern Europe is the future.

[@edwaldocamargo4387]

É muito triste ver o que foi Detroit e o que é hoje Detroit. Jorge pop pop pop pop

[@josephsierzengaIV]

Population of 2.1M residents peaked in Detroit in 1951/53 As it was surpassed by Los Angeles as the 4th largest in the USA and Detroit fell to 5th

[@nighthiker8872]

Crazy horseless talk.

[@robertowarren7007]

On the rise...forget what the media says

[@Grundig305]

When Detroit didn’t “matter” so much.

[@user-ws8pz4ux9q]

💘💘💘💘💘👽👽👽👽👽

[@joshuajackson7050]

Back when one income took care of everything.

[@eazypeazy33]

Sad…

[@Douglas-up2vh]

What the Hell Destroyed Detroit ???? I can't understand it. No wonder my 85 yr old Dad said the 50's were the BEST !!

[@sophroniamason2730]

The same thing that always happens to great nations - corrupt politicians.

[@jayhpaq]

@@sophroniamason2730Not politics, but economics.

[@brettfinlay7447]

@@jayhpaq No Politicians were part of it as well.

[@Harvest133]

a certain demographic moved in.

[@manbtm1]

Detroit downtowm and midtown are beautiful now, I live here, we are-so tired of uninformed suburbanites and rural-talking like its 1980

[@KCCardCo]

The neighborhoods are not coming back. I go in them every working day and they're just as bad as they were 40 years ago.

[@Otis_symbol]

The one honest person here

[@abesorrell1661]

We all know why Detroit went downhill but no one is allowed to say it

[@johnfelle4401]

What happened?

[@user-nq1gx2ii2v]

Political justice says they government

[@talleman1]

Economic factors, a riot, the Reagan era and the loss of the Unions.

[@rmcq1999]

Racial justice agitators, riots, murder, looting, white flight, mayors like former union thug Coleman Young, party boy Kwame Kilpatrick and their corrupt city councils, globalism, Democrats generally, greedy leftist hypocrites. I know, some of these are redundancies. Endless union demands, bad planning and lack of market insight by the 'Big 3', Japanese automotive design and marketing superiority beginning in the mid to late 1970s. The influx of cocaine that the CIA was flying into Mena, AK under Clinton's gubernatorial protection, having it converted into crack and put on the street to further destroy urban black American populations and grow the prison industry... etc.

[@geminitwix]

@@talleman1 YEP

[@brettfinlay7447]

@@talleman1 It was democrats as well who were part of the problem

[@autoguy57]

…then 1967 happened.

[@Dana_inc]

Born in this god awful city!

[@DonRamiro1]

Me too.

[@Otis_symbol]

Word

[@Otis_symbol]

R.I.P to the D

[@MaddieSmith]

She’s resurrecting. Great things coming.

[@Tupac4sure95]

THE AUTO COMPANIES LET DETROIT CRUMBLE 💩

[@Otis_symbol]

Union greed destroyed Detroit.

[@timbescorn8372]

No. The corrupt city government let it crumble. Once Coleman Young was elected in 1974 he made sure he and his cronies "got theirs" from the remaining white owned businesses and residents.

[@panas1122]

Beggining of painful downfall of Detroit.

[@k.t.5405]

Birthplace of assembly-line mass production and thus , the GLOBAL economy...

[@RADIUMGLASS]

Demographics make a difference.

[@alekhidell7068]

We all know why Detroit turned into a wasteland; it’s just politically incorrect to admit it. At least downtown and midtown have rebounded since the investments by Dan Gilbert.

[@edwardzamorski3711]

Yep I sure know

[@Otis_symbol]

It's the Communist and the eternal victims... The saint Floyd's of the world.

[@peterschorn1]

NO!!! NOT DETROIT!!!

[@glennhopkins2643]

Detroit today is an absolute wasteland. The most miserable city in North America.

[@wa1ufo]

No, it is coming back.

[@donb1183]

You couldn't be more wrong about Detroit.

[@user-ch4ji5ux4s]

Detroit is coming back in ran into hard time brcause or the jobs that was took away from them and the economy went down . because of Joe Biden state Detroit is coming back strong

[@Otis_symbol]

Lol..yeah 👀

[@naturalobserver1322]

Dementia Joe doesn't even know where Detroit is. 🙄

[@shawnholey6976]

Very Sad what has happened!😢😢 Even know I have loved Michigan my whole life, I think about leaving this waste land!You can not survive and live on memories!! WWG1WGA!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥