Mies You Much

Being without a permanent address currently, I've taken to waxing nostalgic about my last apartment in the Mies van der Rohe-designed Lafayette Towers. I had a lot of love for that place, it is probably the most amazing place I've ever lived.

So why move out? The once-in-an-adulthood chance to take the summer off and travel was a big part of it, to be sure, but I considered leaving even before that opportunity arose. My desire to keep things upbeat has kept me from discussing my reasons in depth, but (at the risk of establishing myself as the elitist curmudgeon of Detroit bloggers) I should probably revisit what is really, in blunt terms, an aesthetic travesty perpetrated on one of Detroit's greatest modern treasures.

The owners of Lafayette Towers when I moved in – Chicago's Habitat Company – made the place feel like a real luxury property, despite the occasional out-of-service elevator. The building was meticulously maintained, had well-tended landscaping and a staff that was responsive, friendly and really seemed to know what a treasure the building is. The lobby was always spectacular, and despite a few aesthetic missteps (Marriott décor in the hallways being primary, having the base of Mies' Barcelona table oriented the wrong way in the lobbies), it was really like living in a high-end high-rise for only $700 a month.

The apartment itself was just perfect and the views unparalleled. I think the only things I didn't love were the carpeting and the shower, but the apartment's strengths made up for those tenfold. I won't waste words describing the place, I think these pictures speak for themselves.

My apartment shortly after moving in.  And the view.

In early 2008 the two towers were sold to The Northern Group. You may have heard of them, they are the investment group out of New York who went on a real estate shopping spree in Detroit, picking up the Penobscot Building, the First National Building, Cadillac Tower, Alden Park Towers and finally, Lafayette Towers.  (We won't even discuss Cadillac Centre.)  And then one by one, they lost these iconic buildings to foreclosure (although they are trying to regain control of the First National Building again, a move the tenants are fighting tooth and nail).

Well, they didn't lose all of them. Call it bad luck, but they somehow managed to hang on to Lafayette Towers, and after cleaning house of all the long-term employees they introduced a series of outsourced property management companies who treated the buildings like a generic suburban apartment complex instead of a downtown modern masterpiece.

Northern Group did make some initial investments in the buildings. The new laundry facilities were nice. And if they'd actually been able to complete and maintain it, elevator replacement was smart. But while making some capital investments they neglected the very things that made living there special: gone were the meticulous landscaping, the well-maintained public areas, the uniformed doorpeople, the friendly staff. Instead we got weed-ridden sidewalks, haphazard maintenance, a perpetually leaking parking structure, dirty elevators and rent-a-cop security. My apartment, which in my first year was so warm in the winter I occasionally had to open windows, would be freezing until enough people complained that the heat wasn't on high enough. The office staff was halved, resulting in exactly zero responsiveness. And I won't elaborate on the multitude of aesthetic issues other than saying if you are running a Mies building, act accordingly. I think these photos speak for themselves.  Click to make them larger.

(WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS MAY BE DISTURBING OR EVEN OFFENSIVE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED)

(L) The "faux bois" OfficeMax special shown here replaced a far more attractive marble and stainless (ok maybe faux marble) podium that the doorperson sat behind. 
(R)  The new owners didn't know what to do with a Mies Barcelona table either.

(L) A message written in the dust on the lobby marble: "Move today." Noted.
(R) For the last year and a half I was in the Towers this ladder was everywhere but put away: either in the lobby as shown or outside leaning against the glass.  Note to management: there's no "behind the garage" in an all-glass freestanding tower.  This isn't Warren.  Put it in the basement storage room where it belongs.

How hard is it to keep plants alive?  Apparently very. I spoke to the manager about this once and she said, "Nobody knew who was supposed to be watering them."  Two of these were eventually removed and not replaced.  The sansevieria (photo 1) remain similarly afflicted.

Nothing spruces up a Mies lobby like dying gladioli or a fake rosebush.  After two weeks of looking at the scene on the left I pulled out the decaying stems, which smelled wretched by the way, and moved that hideous vase out of sight.  Another friend in the Towers took the initiative to remove the fake plant, which still retained its $19.95 pricetag.

Can I assume these photos speak for themselves?

Once again, there's no "behind the garage" at Lafayette Towers.  Interestingly, both towers had a hose caddy that could have stored these, but they sat unused nearby.  The photo on the right is directly outside the rental/management office.  When I called to mention they should consider how the office looks from the outside and then followed up when nothing was done to adjust the crooked blinds, boxes pushed up against windows and papers behind desks, I was told there is "a process," and they can't just do everything immediately.

This is one of my favorite debacles.  Left photo shows the planters as they were when I moved in.  Right photo shows planters as painted when someone arbitrarily decided they needed sprucing up.  Many thanks to the neighbors across the park in the townhouses who called to yell at management about this tragic ignorance. The planters were re-painted white.

To the left, my other favorite debacle. I guess someone misunderstood "Less is more" and decided a jazzy row of banners along the East Tower on Orleans Street was just what was needed to attract design-lovers to these modern masterpieces.  I may not have been the only one to complain, but they came down after I got mad at the manager.  On the right, what you might call a weed patch at the entrance there was, I'm sure, intended to be a garden of indigenous plants.  This was the year they gave up on maintaining the landscaping.  Oh and that sign?  I know.

Ah, Christmas.  Under previous ownership decorations were restrained and tasteful.  Under Northern Group they gave the maintenance guy $100 and sent him to CVS.  Note the lovely cord management, and is it really too much trouble to remove the tags from the cord of the wreath?  Photo 3 has a great shot of the ficus tree that was never replaced in the lobby, too.  And believe it or not, Photo 4 is from the following year.  You can almost see the mis-matched un-lit wreaths hanging in the back windows.

It seems the Northern Group was hiring a management company, giving them no budget, and expecting big increases in occupancy. Instead, long-term tenants left the buildings in droves, many over to the other Mies building, the Pavilion (still owned by Habitat, which now has something like a three-year waiting list [edit: I've been informed there are a few availabilities - act now!]). Studio specials and attracting drive-by attention with banners (on a street that, frankly, doesn't get a lot of traffic from your professional crowd) were apparently the extent of marketing the Towers, all the while professionals and stable tenants who previously happily rented the more expensive one- and two-bedrooms fled.

The week I was preparing to move I talked with three other tenants who had been there at least as long as I had who were moving out within the month. Since then I've met several people who used to live in the Towers and have now moved to Harbortown or the Riverfront Towers or finally bought their own places. And I've heard rumors that the Towers are once again accepting Section 8 residents, although nobody seems to be able to verify that.

Since I wrote about my move out of Lafayette Towers last June, I've had several people contact me asking what the deal is there. In particular, my comment about the "ghetto-ization" of the Towers seems to have struck a chord. Throwing the word ghetto around might have been a bit careless because it often has racial connotations.  But to me "ghetto" in Detroit is primarily about lowered standards and the disastrous effect of just not caring.

In Detroit the rate of entropy is highly accelerated. It takes vigilance and dedication (along with a decent helping of good luck) to keep something nice. Just try ignoring a vulnerable situation and see what you get: a disintegrating train station; an entire housing project, fully scrapped; another demolished historic building; a RoboCop statue. The lowest common denominator usually calls the shots here. When you look at the areas of town that are defying the pull toward chaos you see areas that fight to keep standards high - the co-operatives of Lafayette Park, or Indian Village, or Corktown, or Midtown.

But look at a place that by most accounts was a craphole, Trolley Plaza on Washington Boulevard. It was taken over by (wait for it) the Habitat Company, renamed Washington Square, upgraded like crazy (including replacing the killer elevators) and now? 100% occupied (although currently managed by a different company). And you have to think that it doesn't take a genius to attract good tenants to a rental building within walking distance to the Central Business District in a time when the rental market is strong. But it does take an idiot to run two amazing buildings in one of Detroit's most popular neighborhoods into mediocrity and MAYBE 75% occupancy.

Lafayette Towers has new management since I moved out. I don't know how they are doing because I haven't been back, but I've heard that some issues persist. Friends who still live there report several weekends this winter with no heat or hot water, and I know the elevators continue to break down (sometimes all three).  I know that they still think placing banners along Orleans Street is somehow going to get people to move in, which isn't a promising sign. If you have anything to share, feel free to post it in the comments.

This photo from last fall.  Doesn't it make you want to move in?

I was telling a friend that I would move back there if I never had to leave my apartment, because usually it was the journey from front gate to apartment door that threw me over the edge. And as tempting as it is – because let me say one more time overall it was a phenomenal apartment – I absolutely refuse to even entertain the notion until I know for sure that the Northern Group has officially lost those buildings. It can't happen soon enough.

They can't take away the view.  Thank God.

Well Hello!

Hey what's going on?

Listen, I'm still completely swamped with real world work. It will be four weeks without a day off by the time things (hopefully) let up. I hate a down economy, you have to work so hard.

In the meantime there are a few random things I would enjoy addressing with you, things that could be addressed in bigger, more comprehensive posts. But sometimes it's just good to clear out the backlog.

The Terrorists Won
I got my car back from its latest repair and I got a Club.


Gayer Than Ever Before
The Dirty Show is going on right now and it has a ton of gay stuff in it this year. Like, super high calibre gay erotic art. Here's an excerpt from the email I got from Jerry Vile, the creator of the Dirty Show.

[We have] the the lovely work of Michael Breyette, funny and clever work spins by Harald Seiwart, gone too far imagination of Marc DeBauch, the disturbing hardcore of Bruce LaBruce and the premiere of Clive Barker's erotic photos (I think he has pretty much redefined beefcake, and has taken the male nude to some place we have not seen before). There are a few local artists as well -- we have more gay art than ever before in our history .... So if your readers like cock, you may let them know we have plenty of sweet juicy cocks all over the place - we aren't a few talking inches here - you'll need a yardstick.

Now I missed the boat on telling you about this before the opening last Friday, but the show is still on this Friday and Saturday. A few years ago I went with my friend Laurita Guarita Los Angeles Jara Perez and we had a filthy charicature drawn of me banging her (what else?) doggy style, which she kept on her fridge for an uncomfortably long time.

So if you want to see yards and yards of cock (plus some great people watching) I definitely recommend a stop by the Dirty Show. It's at Bert's Warehouse Theater in Eastern Market this Friday and Saturday.


Closings
So Zaccaro's Market in Midtown announced their closing today. Even though they were a bit expensive they were a convenient stop for some nicer grocery-type items, and I will miss them. After I take advantage of their 20% off clearance sale.


Business As Usual
Cutting up to Cafe 1923 on McDougall today I passed some kind of resale/fencing operation and saw somebody loading one of those Grosse Pointe art frogs into their car. It's not so much the weirdness of seeing a questionable operation on the near East Side, but the fact that someone actually swiped one of those stupid frogs, and that someone else wanted one.


Of course it could have been a fully legit repair operation too. Surrounded by burned-out houses.

I Love the Theatahhhh!
University of Detroit-Mercy's Theater Company is putting on a show! "Speech and Debate" is a play is about misfit teens, two dealing with their sexuality through the speech and debate club they are trying to form - all the while exploring the drama of a scandal in their high school.


This touching comedy runs through this weekend, so check it out early and often! Shows are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $13, with students only $9 and UDM and Marygrove students only $5. The performances are held at the Marygrove College Theatre, 8425 W. McNichols Rd, Detroit, MI 48221.

It's great to see some gay-themed work being presented at our fine Catholic institutions of higher learning. A good turnout can insure more creative gay-friendly content in the future!

Gotta Nickel?
So I have been obsessed with the gay mustache for a while now, ever since wallowing in 70s nostalgia early last summer. Not the hipster handlebar mustache, but the gay stays-on-the-upper-lip mustache.

When Milk was released with James Franco looking sexy with a 'stache I became even more obsessed. And then the New York Times weighed in in the Thursday Styles a few weeks ago, ironically right at the time I had started growing my beard just so I could save the mustache for a bit when I shaved it off to see how it looks.


Well anyway, during the growing-in period I decided that I wanted to help bring back the gay mustache, so for late winter/spring I am sporting one proudly. I have to say so far the reception has been mostly positive, it's about 75/25 wants-to-make-out vs. shave-that-off-now. We'll see how it goes.

New Year Musings

Sitting in the waiting area to board my flight to Palm Springs on New Year's Eve, I commented via text to some friends that it was like sitting in death’s waiting room, on account of all the old people. It turns out I was completely correct as a woman in first class had a heart attack in the restroom and we were forced to make an emergency landing in Colorado. And after we took off again the guy across the aisle from me had to be put on oxygen. It was really insane.

[And as a nice bookend, as I waited for the flight that would take me back to the Midwest – a flight that was delayed on its way to Palm Springs because of an emergency medical landing – I heard the gate agent put in a call for SEVEN wheelchairs to assist the arriving passengers.]

But Palm Springs isn’t just old people. It’s gay people too. A lot of them. Like so many it’s a little uncomfortable, as least until you get used to it. Well, if you come from the gay desert of Detroit it takes getting used to. 40% gay is the number I heard. Isn't that nuts?

I went to Palm Springs to meet up with a group of guys who were my core group when I lived in Ann Arbor. Over time we all moved away, me only as far as Detroit, but the rest to various California locales. It is always absolutely wonderful meeting up with them, because as we've all noted, we've met great people in our new homes but there was a special kind of connection on the sense of humor front in that group. Whenever we meet up it's pretty much constant laughs. And we're not even high.

Palm Springs is like the opposite of Detroit - it's mostly modern, the weather is beautiful (even in winter, when it is the cold desert). The amount they do modern there is actually almost crazy. Even all new contruction seems to be modern, and you know America loves a neo-traditional homestead. All in all, it's very pretty there.

An open house at the condo across the lane from my friends' place ...
the pool was gorgeous, but alas, the interior was straight-guy TRAGIC.

A lady moment at the wonderfully prissy Kaffeehaus.

Fruits are cheap in PS!

A spontaneous drag moment while out for Sunday afternoon cocktails

As mentioned, the gays are everywhere. And they skew older, this isn't a young man's town. So it is a little strange to go to the bar and see guys in their 40's and 50's acting as typical and stupid drunk as the kids you might see at Menjo's. Honestly fellas, haven't you learned anything in the past 20 years?

The up side, of course, is that I am basically a twink when I go there, and that was kind of nice. Everyone wants to feel pretty now and again.

Now speaking of pretty, even though not all the architecture there is executed flawlessly, people there are pretty house-proud and modern is the prevailing aesthetic for commercial spaces as well as residential, so from my perspective things look good. And there is no blight. Even the homeless people seem pretty happy (and they aren't braving frostbite standing out with their stupid "Why Lie? I want beer" signs).

It was with a heavy heart, then, that I returned to the depressing winter weather and the oppressive oppression of the economic disaster that is Michigan. Everything just looked so ... ugly. It was just so ... cold. And getting together with friends - the usual antidote when the bad parts of living in Detroit get to you - is met with people complaining about the same things you're complaining about.

Now boarding: flight back to Detroit.
I would have been lucky to be seated in between these two. Instead I got the overweight single mom from downriver
with a smoker's voice, and a styrofoam container of fast food and a two-year old on her lap.

It's an ugly time in Detroit.

And that leads me to thinking about the Supergay agenda for 2009. Last year I wanted to promote the city as a good destination for gays and help foster gay community. I think overall I can say that was achieved, although without any measurable result (except for Doggy Style, that's a certifiable hit).

This year I need to strike closer to the root of the problems that disturb me. I learned in Palm Springs that a surplus of gay people isn't what I really want - being there, as delightful as it was, actually made me long for the mosaic of people who are part of my life downtown, even if I do sometimes feel like I'm somewhat isolated as a gay dude. All good things in moderation, I suppose.

This year, we've got to work on the aesthetics of life in Detroit. As inspiring as the cycle of decay and (ideally) rebirth can sometimes be, the downward slope can be really depressing. Palm Springs showed me what pretty can do for your attitude, and my return home showed me how ugly can just suck the life out of you.

I can't fix the weather, and I can't fix the blight. But I can point out what is right and I can try to encourage individual efforts to make Detroit slightly more attractive.

So on top of the gay attraction agenda of 2008, this year we'll add "beautification" to the list. Because Detroit, you can do better, even if means not wearing that ugly sweatshirt out in public. I'm sure I'll follow through as well as last year, but at least we'll get the message out there for a while.
.