Friday, May 9, 2008

Not tuf enough


The now defunct — of course — Tuffy Muffler on Hamilton Avenue shot by talented photographer Michelle Figurski, who has a series of Flint images on Flickr.

Because I lived on the west side and went to school on the east side, I passed this shop more times than I can remember.

UPDATE: Jack reports: "That building isn't vacant anymore; a local guy reopened it as a repair shop, and there were quite a few cars in there when I drove by last week."



4 comments:

  1. Wow, more urban decay porno! I used to shoot a lot of this type of stuff years ago, but now it seems to be a fairly popular past time along with "urban exploration". God bless/goddamn the internet.

    Anyhow, I'm not 100% sure, but if this is the muffler shop on Hamilton and Saginaw then this was the site of the old boxing/pro wrestling arena mentioned on Bill Dakota's blog. Goregeous George, Jackie Cusic, Tom Thumb, Dick the Bruiser, and The Sheik all plyed their trade at this location.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This made me smile. Even if it means Flint is falling apart, the memories are still there..

    I remember passing by this about 10 years ago, on the way to be babysat by my Aunt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I have to admit this image really struck a chord with me. It's not like I ever think about the old Tuffy Muffler, but once I saw the photo, it instantly brought back so many memories of the drive down Hamilton Avenue, which I did, literally, hundreds of times.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That building isn't vacant anymore; a local guy reopened it as a repair shop, and there were quite a few cars in there when I drove by last week.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.