Flint Postcards: Walli's Drive-In

The Call of Nature

A guy from Flint invents a toilet for dogs, a worthy project that will render my hard-hitting investigative journalism pointless.

Happy Days for G.M.?

To commemorate General Motors emergence from bankruptcy, let's look back to before the beginning. These are shots of the the "ribbon wheel" that still resides in the Durant Dort Carriage Company Building, the birthplace of G.M. It's a unique, homemade keepsake that the carriage company created to honor its employees — many of whom have streets named after them in Flint.

Tell Fritz!

Reading The New York Times story on G.M.'s emergence from bankruptcy, two seemingly minor paragraphs jumped out at me:

1. "[CEO Fritz] Henderson announced several new ways that G.M. planned to reach out to customers through the Internet. A Web site called 'Tell Fritz' will let consumers offer suggestions directly to Mr. Henderson, and the company will experiment with selling vehicles through the online auction site, eBay."

Thanks for the empty P.R. gesture, G.M. Do you think potential customers really believe Fritz will take regular breaks from saving a corporation on the brink of extinction to peruse random email suggestions? This reveals a lot about how G.M. regards the public. At best, the company is out of touch with its customer base. At worse, the G.M. executives think we're all a bunch of idiots.

2. "Robert A. Lutz, a G.M. vice chairman who planned to retire at the end of the year, will stay to oversee marketing and communications. Mr. Lutz, 77, is responsible for the improvements that G.M. has made in vehicle design recently, with notable examples such as the Chevrolet Malibu and the newly revived Chevrolet Camaro."

Do you really want a 77-year old, regardless of his management skills, in charge of marketing a company that is notoriously alienated from the younger demographic?

UPDATE: Anyone remember Chrysler's ill-fated "Ask Dr. Z"?

Flint Photos: Buckham Alley

Flint Photos: Riverbank Fishing

Vote for the Flint Farmer's Market

Farmer's Market photo courtesy of sarrazak6881.

Care2 and Local Harvest are having an online contest to pick the best farmer's market in the county, and Flint is currently in first place. Cast your vote here.

Flint Expatriates on WDET 101.9 FM

I was a guest yesterday on WDET 101.9 FM, the Detroit NPR station based at Wayne State University, discussing the concept of Flint as a "college town" following my recent article in Slate.

You can listen to the complete podcast here. The Flint coverage begins at about the 27 minute mark with a report on conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh's take on plans to shrink Flint. Stan Blood of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce discusses recent Flint development projects at about the 32 minute mark. I chime in at about the 42 minute mark.

You can listen to a shorter version with only my comments here. Simply download the file as an attachment to give it a listen.

Flint Bloggers at Work

Flint bloggers Gordon Young (left) and Gerry Godin (right) relax in the private club accessible only to those who blog about the Vehicle City. (Well, technically, the owner of the house, along with his friends and relatives, are also allowed access.)

Many readers have asked what it's really like to be a Flint blogger. They've no doubt heard some exaggerated tales about the booze, the pills, the cash. None of that is true, although after a few nights sleeping on the floor in Flint I was over-indulging in ibuprofen.

But that's not to say Flint bloggers don't have a good time when they get together. Gerry Godin, who publishes the astounding All Things Buick blog stopped by in his Park Avenue while I was in Flint, and we had the kind of day you'd expect of two guys who spend large amounts of time writing about Flint. I'm reluctant to even post this because the lives we both lead are so extravagant, but I feel we owe it to our readers to give them a glimpse into our world of privilege.

We began the day taking in the great outdoors at Oak Park, which happens to be right next to the now-demolished Buick City plant where Gerry worked for many years.

Gerry attempts to fathom the logic behind GM tearing down a neighborhood to create more parking for their factory, and then building a park for the neighborhood they had just leveled. For good measure, G.M. then closed the factory but left the park.

Tennis at Oak Park is particularly challenging.

Just what the Michigan economy needs right about now.

Next, we toured some Flint factory sites and discovered that even though all the jobs are gone, the security guards remain. We we're told to get lost by one guard who clearly didn't know who we were.

Fine food is one luxury we enjoy as Flint bloggers. Although we could have sat in a private area at Angelo's, we chose seats near the counter.

Gerry demonstrates excellent coney-eating technique acquired by years of practice.

My technique...not so good. When the onions fell in my lap, I started to panic. Luckily, Gerry's old union president, who was eating at the counter, didn't notice me.


I tried to impress Gerry by wearing a t-shirt with a childlike drawing of a car engine on it. It's the sort of thing considered cool in San Francisco, but Gerry put me to shame with an amazing shirt commemorating the last car made at Buick City on June 29, 1999.

Next we paid a visit to our friend Bill who owns the Hardwood Smith house.

Gerry gets under the hood of Bill's 1956 Buick Century.

Who says old Buick hood ornaments weren't pedestrian friendly?

Thirty years of Buick craftsmanship and paint jobs that look a lot like primer. The '56 Century next to an '86 Century.

After a long day of all things Flint, Gerry rests on his Park Avenue and has a smoke while the birthplace of G.M. looms in the background. Notice the inexplicable one-way street sign in the background. Yes, Flint still has all those maddening one-ways. It's good to know some things don't change.

Flint Photos: Moon Over Grand Traverse Blvd.

Actually, the moon is a little tough to spot.

I'm a Loser

Ahh, the joys of being savaged in the comment section of The Flint Journal:

"Who cares what some guy that leaves town for 20 years thinks? Does he have some sort of credentials relating to Urban Planning? If not, Why the heck is this guy's opinion even news-worthy? Because he has a blog about living in Flint 20 years ago? What a waste of space."

I often ask myself the same questions and reach the same conclusion.

Buick City for Sale

Anyone interested in buying a sprawling, weed-strewn example of deindustrialization? GM is planning to auction off the old Buick City site.

Disco Demolition Anniversary

We're getting close to the 30th anniversary of one of the Detroit Tigers most memorable victories — the infamous "Disco Demolition" double header in Chicago.

Rolling on Flint Wheels on the 4th

This is what happens when you let friends ride your bike in Dolores Park in San Francisco on the 4th of July. Now what does this have to do with Flint? The bike that Mr. Big Glasses is riding — while descending a steep incline and holding a helmet in one hand — is the Schwinn Le Tour Luxe my mom bought for me in the spring of 1984 back in Flint. It's covered a lot of miles in the Vehicle City. It's still rolling along and even managed to survive this test run.

Warning: Professional Tecate stunt rider. Do not attempt this maneuver.

Kearsley Park on the 4th of July

I usually spent the 4th of July in Kearsley Park when I lived in Flint. My grandparents' house was around the corner on Illinois Avenue, and we'd all head over to the park with blankets and sparklers. I took these photos a couple weeks back just after a torrential downpour that temporarily turned Kearsley Park Blvd. into Lakefront property.

If you look hard enough, you can almost see Safetyville.

The steps down to the park near the intersection of Kearsley Park Blvd. and Olive Street. Gypsy Jack lived just a few blocks north.

Flint Photos: Downtown

Shrinking Flint

Here's a good overview of Dan Kildee's plans to shrink Flint, which is shrinking all by itself anyway, including a BBC interview.

Flint Goes Bang

Flint shows up in the strangest places on the Internet.

Flintoid

An earlier post back by popular demand...

Remember that Flintoid song set to the music of Miss You by the Rolling Stones? Here it is, courtesy of YouTube. Warning: If you're a big Mick Jagger fan, you may find this offensive. If you're from Flint, you may find it hilarious.

Collegiate Type Stuff in Flint

This house is not a prop. It's an actual fraternity house near downtown Flint. It's been there since the early nineties. It has parties with more than 300 people.

Let's be honest, the recent attempts to re-brand Flint as a college town seem a little far-fetched. It sounds a bit like an intellectualized AutoWorld scheme. Watch videos like this and you have to wonder if Flint boosters are just begging Michael Moore to make another movie about their earnest but lame efforts to promote the city. (Note to Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce: Endless cliches and really bad techno do not connote progress.)

But during a stroll down Garland Street one day I happened upon an actual fraternity house. Theta Chi. I was stunned. I know, I know...GMI/Kettering has had frats forever, but this was right near downtown and it looked a little like Animal House, not like those low-slung ranch-style numbers near Ballenger Park and Mott Golf Course.

I was fumbling for my camera when an actual fraternity dude stumbled onto the front porch, announcing that he'd been up for 24 hours straight watching episodes of Lost. Then another "brother" emerged. And another. They all seemed to be getting a fresh start on the day at about noon. I looked around to see if I'd wandered onto a film set. I was half expecting someone to offer me bong hits, but that didn't happen. Instead, I got a tour of the house, including the strange "Room of Large Woodshop-Class Paddles," which they call the Chapter Room. They pointed out that their next-door neighbor has a toupee and allegedly sells pianos. (No idea if that's true; I just played along, not wanting to provoke people who spend large amounts of time fashioning wooden weapons.)

My favorite part of the tour was the half-eaten birthday cake that looked like it had been there for a few weeks. There was some exposed piping in the ceiling leaking into a bucket near the table. It all seemed very collegiate to me. And the knowledge that there's a group of smart, funny guys — with reasonable standards of cleanliness — living near downtown was really encouraging.

When I took a tour of the UM-Flint campus with Flint Expat Randy Gearhart a few days later, we both remarked how, well, collegiate the campus looks, especially the expansive lawns near the dorm on Kearsley Street. When I was living in Flint, I was never exactly sure where UM-Flint started and ended. Now, there's no doubt when you're on campus. I'm still not convinced that Flint can become a college town like Ann Arbor or Columbia, Missouri, but parts of it are definitely shaping up as a place where youngsters can hang out and pay lots of money for a degree. That's a good thing.

Now if we can just get some of the Communication majors to help the city and county produce less embarrassing promotional videos.

Do you want people like this in downtown Flint? I would say, yes, you do.

David Bainbridge (left) and Cade Surface (Right) and a fish (Above) they caught with their bare hands in the Flint River. Cade did not coordinate his shirt with the fish for the photo; it was just a happy coincidence.

The infamous Paddle Room, er, Chapter Room. No idea why fraternities are so into this stuff.