# Those Abandoned Detroit Neighborhoods **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362 "2012-10-20T21:31:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362/1 "2012-10-20T21:31:20Z")
That you can see on Youtube: when did the people leave those houses? The video clips are depressing-most of those houses were once very nice homes. From the looks, most of them were built in the 1920’s (Boom times in Detroit). I once read that a typical wooden house would begin to collapse in about 25-30 years (once abandoned)-as the roof leaks and the roof rafters decay. Were most of these neighborhoods abandoned 20 years ago? So sad…people once lived there, these were once vibrant with people and life. Is detroit ever coming back? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362/2 "2012-10-20T21:34:21Z")
Actually, as reported in the New York Times on friday, occupancy in downtown Detroit apartments is pretty much 100% and new ones are being rented as fast as they can be renovated. > **[Finally, a Downtown’s Upswing (Published 2012)](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/sports/baseball/a-long-awaited-upswing-for-downtown-detroit.html?_r=0)** > > Not too long ago, Tigers’ games were the few bright spots in another otherwise blighted downtown Detroit. But those days are a dim memory, as the area experiences a rebirth. "The reverse exodus has become so pronounced that downtown Detroit can now be fairly accused of imitating such desirable New York addresses as Chelsea or TriBeCa. " Seriously, ralph, get with the century, we’ve been over this before. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362/3 "2012-10-20T22:12:16Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Actually, as reported in the New York Times on friday, occupancy in downtown Detroit apartments is pretty much 100% and new ones are being rented as fast as they can be renovated. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/sports/baseball/a-long-awaited-upswing-for-downtown-detroit.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/sports/baseball/a-long-awaited-upswing-for-downtown-detroit.html?_r=0) > > "The reverse exodus has become so pronounced that downtown Detroit can now be fairly accused of imitating such desirable New York addresses as Chelsea or TriBeCa. " > > Seriously, ralph, get with the century, we’ve been over this before. Detroit is a lot bigger than downtown, bub. The neighborhoods which aren’t downtown (which is to say, most of them) are the ones ralph is talking about. For example, [this](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=manistique+%26+southampton,+detroit&hl=en&ll=42.399728,-82.957989&spn=0.001513,0.001395&sll=45.00109,-86.270553&sspn=8.390564,11.425781&t=h&hnear=Manistique+St+%26+Southampton+St,+Detroit,+Wayne,+Michigan+48224&z=19) is the neighborhood we lived in when I was born. In fact, that lone house on the lower left corner of Manistique and Southampton is the flat we lived in. See all the empty lots around it? There used to be houses there, but they’ve long since been torn (or burned) down. And this is one of the _nicer_ neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362/4 "2012-10-20T22:16:29Z")
Downtown is posh(er) because this (and the immediate-neighboring areas) is where the city leaders have lived in recent years. Detroit finally is going to a ward-system city council, so now hopefully there will be some additional focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods. Detroit’s down, not out. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-abandoned-detroit-neighborhoods/638362/5 "2012-10-20T22:21:35Z")
or how about [here, on Edsel Ford at Van Dyke?](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=edsel+ford+%26+van+dyke,+detroit&hl=en&ll=42.387409,-83.018291&spn=0.000378,0.000349&sll=42.387409,-83.018291&sspn=0.000381,0.000349&t=h&hnear=Van+Dyke+%26+Edsel+Ford,+Detroit,+Wayne,+Michigan+48213&z=21&layer=c&cbll=42.387409,-83.018291&panoid=Xzee9KZp628bcp3AM0pfpw&cbp=12,23.83,,0,6.31) One of those houses is still there, though as you can see if you zoom out a couple of clicks, it has since finished burning down. and since I drive through there fairly often, that charred shell has been sitting there for over a year now.