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.

More Lafayette Parkness

As if being home to three of Detroit's top blogs (formerly four, detroitist is a quitter) weren't enough, Lafayette Park also enjoys a significant love from the print media. A great piece in Detroit Home last year featured a young family (who could that be?) and the Wall Street Journal did a great piece in their "Masterpiece" column last December.

The latest is a cover story in this month's Dwell magazine, featuring Friends of Supergay Keira Alexandra and Toby Barlow and their fab townhouse!


Actually Toby blogs for the Huffington Post, so I guess that makes LP home to four top bloggers. Maybe there are more I don't even know about - fess up!

Anyway - long story short, love LP. Sometimes I feel like living here is the happiest thing about my life in Detroit.
.

Mr. T Supports Gay Marriage

Sweet Juniper, another blog that originates from the amazing and wondrous neighborhood of Lafayette Park, is super excellent. I've actually been meaning to post about it for a while but I wanted to do it in a thoughtful and caring way, certainly moreso than my brief encounter last November, and I've been so busy feeling political and ramping up Doggy Style I just plum forgot.

Well now I've got a way to introduce you without all the rigamarole. Sweet Juniper is a blog written by a straight couple raising two young kids in Detroit. It's smart and arty and really popular all around the country and, in fact, the entire world. I'm assuming.

As part of a continuing series, "Dutch" took an old Mr. T coloring book and by only changing the captions, turned it into an affirmation of the power of love, no matter what genders are involved. It is so funny you will LOL, and I am not kidding! Click here (or on the image) to see the blog post, which includes a link to the PDF of the entire coloring book.

"I pity the fool who doesn't support marriage equality!"

Too bad we didn't have this in Cali before the election, it might have changed the outcome!
.

I think Andy Warhol said it best ...

OK it's Monday morning and someone (Zamfir?) is playing a pan flute in Lafayette Park. I love that it can't be something normal like a guitar or trumpet around here, you know? It has to be a pan flute or a bagpipe.

In mythology, the music of Pan was said to be capable of arousing inspiration or sexuality, which is the perfect segue to a brief recap of "Fierce Hot Mess" on Friday night at Oslo.

I gotta say, I think this event is tremendous, and I am proud to say I managed to achieve two of the three objectives in the name. The energy was great, everyone was having fun and when things shut down at 2am it seemed like we'd just gotten going.

It was crowded but not packed (the crowd was bigger than the inaugural FHM on July 4, though), and it was full of familiar faces, younger and older, freaky and subdued. One of my friends mentioned that one nice thing about the way the gay scene works in Detroit right now is that there isn't a place everyone goes all the time, but then periodically and sometimes unexpectedly there is a night when just everyone you love to see is there. Which, come to think of it, is pretty much how the straight scene works too, albeit with a touch more regularity.

So the crowd is great, and the music is greater. It was a fantastic mix of disco and new wave dance that you love from the olden days mixed with some house and ital-disco and new stuff you might not know. It's definitely a dance club vibe, but in an old school way. I got my Sylvester, "Do You Wanna Funk," which thrilled me to no end. And I got the song, "You Belong," by Hercules and Love Affair, which is currently in heavy rotation at Chez Supergay. It's got a little Kevin Saunderson/Inner City homage thing going on and is amazing. (And the video is genius, it kind of captures the sound and spirit of the Palmer Park after-hours club Midnight Sun back in '95-'96, before it became Numbers and got that tacky circuit party crowd.)

Interestingly, on Saturday I was up to August 2, 1978 in The Andy Warhol Diaries, and his entry for events exactly 30 years prior was:

"Life really does repeat itself. The old songs come back in a new way and the kids think they're new and the old people remember and it's a way of keeping people together, I guess, a way of living."

That pretty much sums it up. See you at the next one, first Friday in September.

The whistle kills me. It's perfect.

.

Rooms with a View

It's really the perfect morning: a gorgeous clear blue sky, a cool breeze blowing in the window smelling like early summer, the trees over the Mies van der Rohe townhouses finally their full leafy green, Blondie's Parallel Lines on the turntable and a cup of coffee. It never gets old.

The New York Times had a Real Estate feature on their website over the weekend with these two gay guys who bought an apartment in Lincoln Center. Their place was really, really unexceptional, although I highly approve of their sofas (although not the fabric choice) since I have the same one. They kept talking about how the view is just completely the focus of the place and I was like, I totally relate. I did want them to put in some fresh flowers or something before the Times photographer came in, though. Anything, an orchid, whatever.

My morning view.

The weather was just as great yesterday at Motor City Pride in Ferndale. I headed up there around 4:30 so I could help judge the Canine to Five Doggie Drag Show, which was a VERY fun event.

Motor City Pride is so different from what you get in other cities, and it takes you a little while to adjust to the small-town feel of it. Once you do, though, it's really really great. The people watching is fantastic, and everyone is in such a happy mood.

I was happy to see the black gay community present in relatively large numbers, and who knew there were so many black lesbians? Oh my God, it was nuts. And actually, the lesbians were out in big numbers in general. I guess they're not always invisible.

The entertainment, while maybe not name-brand, was quite good. Yes it skewed a little folky (while I was there) but you know, it's live music at a Pride festival. The Madonna impersonator was fun but oh my God, I have a better voice than she does. Credit to her for getting the outfits and choreography and a live band and everything, but my goodness, a voice coach couldn't hurt. Of course it being a set of Madonna songs you shortly forget about the specifics and just get into the groove. (It had to be said.)

I stopped into the new Affirmations community center, since I hadn't checked it out yet, and it made me happy. I don't know what goes on there all the time, but the space is really great, and they have a really nice library of GLBT literature and film. I was amazed and astounded by it. I fully plan on going back to check the place out on an "off" day.

Also making me extremely happy was the large gay youth presence. I'd guess there were kids there as young as 16 running around with their friends, holding hands with boyfriends/girlfriends, dancing on the always-packed dancefloor and just generally having fun.

There was a bit of a divide between the 9 Mile section, with the stages for live performances, which skewed more lesbian and the next street over, Troy (which had the dancefloor as well as the back yard of the bar "9"), which skewed more gay male. I guess not too surprising.

I only really missed seeing two contingents that one usually expects to see at a Pride day - the upwardly mobile gay crowd (and lesbian too, to a lesser extent) and drag queens. I guess the guppie crowd kind of saves their Pride for bigger events in Toronto and Chicago. And I guess we perhaps have a dearth of drag queens in the area.

As I wrapped things up for the day I spent a little time watching the dancefloor and just had to smile at the variety of people dancing - some serious, some seriously out there. I don't always feel connected to the gay community, perhaps just from being out of the thick of it for so long, but it does give me a lot of joy to see the community come together.

I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do post-Pride until I got a call from a friend who said come on over and hang on the roof of his building downtown. Another awesome view, and hanging with a friend discussing your individual gay problems, gripes and good times while watching the day come to a close was the perfect denouement for a really lovely gay pride day.

Not a bad way to end a gay pride Sunday.

Doggy Style Update

I was sitting in my apartment Tuesday afternoon, gazing out at the trees in bloom in Lafayette Park and at the beautiful sunset, and thought to my self, "What the fuck am I doing stuck inside like this?" Of course the answer was creating the video compilation for Doggy Style at the Park Bar.

Now that the weather is nice I am less inclined to take a day out of my week to create these things (not that I don't love doing it), so Doggy Style is going to undergo a little change.

The next two weeks will be the last weeks with original compilations for a while. Doggy Style is going into summer re-runs (and with four months of content put together we've got plenty to run through). We will show previously-viewed compilations, perhaps a gay movie or two, and word on the street is that there will be a Sound of Music sing-a-long soon!

It'll still be fun, and I am sure I'll put together a few new compliations as well. I'll keep you posted.

The next two weeks will be tremendous, however! This Tuesday, May 20, will be Doggy Style's Greatest Hits. Everyone's favorite clips will be shown on one amazing evening!

Tuesday, May 27, is the Birthday Edition - there are a few significant birthdays over the Memorial Day weekend (mine included) so it will be a big video extravaganza! I've been saving up lots of good stuff for this one ... it's not to be missed!

In June, the gay fun continues on Tuesdays, it'll just be ... less work for me.

(this photo was removed from my MySpace page as sexually explicit!)

An iTunes Editorial

You know how on iTunes there is that option to share your playlists over a network? You probably never gave it much thought. I know I didn’t. Well, until yesterday.

On my home computer I turned on sharing at one point to see how it worked and never bothered to turn it off. Every once in a while a neighbor’s playlist will show up in that left-hand pane, although typically the network connection is not strong enough for me to view the songs on the other computer. This is does not appear to be a problem for my neighbors, however.

Yesterday I was playing some music and saw the name of a shared playlist turn up in my list. Apparently one of my neighbors felt a need to weigh in on how gay he/she thought my music preferences are, because there in that little left-hand pane was a new playlist that seemed quite clearly to be a message to me.

It was named YOU LIKE PENIS.

Well I never.

It must be spring ...

... because kids are playing outside behind Chrysler Elementary and the guy who plays the bagpipe in Lafayette Plaisance is back.

Thank God.

The beautiful beauty of Lafayette Park in spring.

It Takes a Village, People.

With the dawn of a new year comes a renewed sense of purpose. Or at least that's what my therapist says. So I'm taking the Supergay Detroit blog and expanding its scope.

The holiday San Francisco trip was important in many ways. First off, caught up on shopping. Secondly, reaffirmed gay solidarity. And thirdly, realized how much living in Detroit is working for me.

It also gave me a chance to discuss my personal gay agenda and my objectives for this blog with friends who agree with me on key points about our gay identities, and to look at ideas to effect greater change.

One friend, over dinner at the hipsteriest East German restaurant ever, asked me, "How many gay people do you need to move downtown to create a difference?" Isn't that a good question? Thirty, I replied. Thirty this year. And then he said, "You need to create the Supergay Detroit Cultural Enhancement Program."

It was genius. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but in reality I am outspoken but stupid.

So this year, in addition to social commentary, bar reviews, and timewasting youtubing, I am working to create gay change in the city of Detroit. This year, we are going to get thirty new gay people into three key neighborhoods with great gay potential.

Here are the guidelines:

* The goal is new gay residents - we're not poaching from other Detroit neighborhoods. Let's get people who "get it" to move in from the suburbs, and let's snag people moving in from other cities before they are unceremoniously directed toward Royal Oak by their relocation expert.

* We need gay folks who will be publicly engaged with the community - the goal here is visibility, gang, so gays who want to stay home all the time might as well nest in Brighton. We need gays and lesbians who will be out and about. Singles are great, since they are forced out of the house by their desperate loneliness, but couples who want to do more than watch "Lost" snuggled up on the sofa each week are also needed. This is more than hanging out at the bar, it's being gay at the Y, at restaurants, with community groups ... it's being a part of life in the city.

* Newly-hatched gay people who already live in the city count too! Everyone knows Michigan isn't the most evolved place in terms of accepting gays and lesbians, so it tends to take some people longer than others to pull it together and come out of the closet. Instead of shunning these folks, we need to reward their honesty (while secretly recounting their closeted foibles) and make them a part of gay Detroit. And encourage their move to a designated potential gayborhood!

Naturally, Supergay Detroit has taken the time to identify three neighborhoods with amazing gay potential. If you've been a longtime reader then you know my take on gayborhoods. The areas I've selected have hit the mark on several key points, including a moderate gay presence currently, a variety of housing options, geographic desirability and potential for improvement on an individual resident level.

I have selected Midtown (for those skewing young), Lafayette Park (for the more sophisticated and mature gay) and West Village (frankly, for everyone) as Detroit's future gay neighborhoods. I'll take an in-depth look at these neighborhoods over the next few posts.

So these guidelines aren't that hard, are they? It's just about openly gay people moving into neighborhoods with amazing gay potential.

Your goal, gentle reader, is to encourage gay migration to these areas. And it won't be hard. People are tired of the generic homogeneity of Royal Oak. And they are getting frustrated by the lack of options in Ferndale. Detroit is the new gay frontier, (even though it's alway had a huge gay undercurrent), and I am all about pointing out options.

This is the foundation of the 2008 Supergay Detroit Cultural Enhancement Program. I strongly believe change starts from the ground up, so everyone stop waiting for leadership to text you an invitation and accept this one instead. Creating change is our gay birthright, so let's get to it!

Sunday in the Park with Dogs

I had a genius morning.

A friend texted me and found, shockingly, that I was up somewhat early on a Sunday and invited me to go for a walk in Lafayette Park (the actual park, technically referred to as Lafayette Plaisance). So I threw on jeans and a sweater, pulled on a hat to hide my bed-head, and took the elevator down to the park for a walk.

What ensued was a crazy example of why life downtown is so amazing to me. First I ran into the owner of Canine to Five, Detroit's doggy daycare, walking her two ginormous dogs. We chatted and walked around the park a few times. And it was good.

Then we ran into "Dutch," the writer of the great blog Sweet Juniper, who was out walking his dog and daughter. Sweet Juniper is an awesome blog about raising a child in Detroit, and he and his wife are expected a second child (a boy) soon. The gender of the new baby led to possibly the gay-friendliest post on any straight blog ever, which ends with the line:

"Well then let them circumcise their own potentially-homosexual son. Mine is going to get into gay night clubs for free."

Then we walked a bit more and ran into an older woman who lives in the Chateaufort association, one of the lesser-known but still lovely Lafayette Park co-ops that border the park (hang out with a dog-daycare owner in a park and you will meet everyone). And finally a cool couple who are inhabiting the design-y new loft development on Gratiot by the folks at Slows and their friends, also out walking their dog.

I can't have a dog - I simply don't spend enough time at home and I would end up boarding the poor thing all the time (like my brother does, ever since I turned him on to Canine to Five). But I love other people's dogs, and that was one fun morning, seeing cool people: people who love living in the city like I do, and frankly, the people who make living here great.

I feel like I seem really Pollyanna in my posts lately, liking Detroit so much as I seem to. But I'll be honest, the more time I spend here, the happier I am to be here. And the less I feel like Detroit needs a makeover.

Anyone who says Detroit is "on it's way" is kind of missing the point. Detroit is actually there. You just have to dig kind of hard to find it. But believe me, it's worth the work.

Love

Don't you love a late night, maybe a little buzzed, hanging out in a newly-cleaned home? I know I do.

Tonight was just a great Detroit night. Drinks with friends all night long at Honest John's; coming home to one of the best apartments in Detroit (which, if you must know, is in Lafayette Park, Detroit's best kept secret); old vinyl from high school on the turntable (Alphaville. Sure.)

Sometimes it all just comes together, and there is never any question why I live in the city. My view right now would blow your mind. Don't let my occasional (?) complaining throw you off, Detroit can be fucking awesome.