Forgotten Detroit

The other day I was watching a video of Greece with my family, trying to decide where we would go after visiting family there next summer. Looking at all of the ruins, it made me start thinking about how we preserve things here in the states, or don’t preserve things I should say.

I do realize that the ruins in Greece were built several thousands of years before the United States even existed, but I feel like the general sentiment of appreciating your past, and not replacing something unless it’s broken is a different mentality than we have here.

In a significant part of Europe many of the buildings are original, and communities have not been re-build since they were originally erected. Because people have taken good care of these structures, and not just torn them down after they reach about 30 or 40 years old, they still exist and are now appreciated by generations many years down the line from when they were initially built.

I started to wonder if the United States would ever be able to reach a point where they would have anything preserved that was older than a few hundred years old. Obviously places that have historical significance, like Monticello, will stay around. What about the everyday neighborhoods? Will we just tear them down once they start getting older without keeping them up, or do we take such poor care of it that seeing it last generations won’t even be physically possible?

I found this website the other day called Forgotten Detroit. It shows some really beautiful photographs of buildings and theaters in Detroit, which in their prime must have been absolutely magnificent. Two of my favorites are the Lee Plaza Hotel, and the United Artist's Theater. Sadly, due to age, neglect, and vandalism, they are no more than abandoned remnants of what once was.

I think you can probably tell a lot about a society or culture by the way they take care of the things they create. When Americans are labeled as unappreciative and consumerist, I look at things like this and it makes me agree.