About the project

I was inspired to tell the story "8mile" staring Eminem, in a new way using Flickr and other social media sites, and through my friends and family who are all from the Metro Detroit area, I wanted to tell the story through their eyes. The guidelines are simple. 1: find photos of Detroit MI at any of these locations. Shelter/St. Andrews, Detroit stamp factory, Woodward, 8 mile road, Eastern market, Chin Tiki (don't know if it still exists), abandon homes, and any photo of downtown D. 2: type a story about the photo's. 3: send it to noah.says@gmail.com When all is said and done, I am expecting to have enough photos and stories that resonate with the actual film locations from the movie, and using the audience to tell their experiences with these locations.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dan Simon

Location: Longfellow house 1950 -’74, wood and West Chicago Blvd. Detroit, MI

My parents bought this house in the Boston-Edison area of Detroit in 1950. I was born in 1953 and as early as I remember the neighborhood was never more than 25% white. I walked to elementary school and took the public DSR (Detroit Street and Railway) busses to Jr. high and high School. Later I attended Wayne State University, located right downtown, near museums, government buildings and retail establishments. I could have taken the bus here as well, but because I usually had to work after classes, I drove.

In 1967, the riots broke out 3 1/2 blocks southeast of us. Along with many buildings, our neighborhood drugstore, just 2 blocks northwest of us was burned to the ground. We were living right in the middle of a war zone. We lived in this house until 1974; I graduated from WSU College of Pharmacy, and then practiced retail pharmacy in Detroit for the next 20 years… “White flight” wasn’t for everyone.

Photo taken 2010

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