skid row cities

Time was ,not so many years ago that the " skid row" , or a visible and often distressed place of decline and public poverty , was a contained area of older buildings and sad faces and stories found often geographically on the older commercial edge of a City's downtown. Down around the rail yards. Wholesale produce districts. Cheap single room hotels. Funky , smelly old bars. Cheap hash house and chili parlor restaurants. Small retail stores featuring thousands of useful items for the laborer to purchase. Including. Splits of fortified wine with names like wild irish rose, thunderbird , pluck, and the like. Blister wrapped baloney . Smoked meats. Yellow cheese. Tins of mackerel or sardines. Sliced sunbeam white bread. Tobacco of all variety , pipes , papers , work gloves. nudie magazines. cold beer. playing cards. that lady sitting near the store's office door was for sale , or at least for rent.Recreational drugs no problem. Tiny bottles of hair oil , olive oil , tooth powders ,condoms, dice. Amazingly , every last item for sale was behind the store's counters. The store's ancient shylock clerk capable of just about any cash or credit transaction. In some skid row hotel's every floor served a function. Bootlegger in room thirteen. Floor three was for gambling ,y poker and barbut played with a heavy house cut and house armed protection provided . Never no questions asked! Problems with the police department , are you kidding? Fat envelopes of juiced cash with plenty of vig action slipped to the hotel's night clerk. The Old school pawn shops. Labor pools. Salvation Army thrift stores. Junk shops. Used furniture stores. Grocery stores with weathered vegetables and the acrid meat which hit your nostrils as soon as you opened the door. Fabled old neighborhoods , high and low victorian architecture. Federal style architecture. Weathered buildings and poverty apartment houses. //// Cleveland , Ohio and Detroit , Michigan are now skid row Cities. Not a very pretty site for the eyes. Mile after mile of abandoned lives and properties. East side and west side. North and South.Troubled affairs. Desperate people engaged in the pathos of living out lives that present ethical and moral quandaries . Rule not exception. Hunger visible and hang dog gaunt visage. The physical nature of the buildings and social environment are form fit to this raw stew of existence known as life in modern 21st century Cleveland , Ohio and Detroit , Michigan. Nothing much romantic or poetic found here save the waters of Lake Erie , the Detroit River , and the tragic and ironic souls of the survivors of these abandoned and destitute places. An old school bust out by any stretch.A sad state of affairs found today.Not that very long ago Cleveland , Ohio was a city described as having no major or quality hotels. Now corporate hotels dot the landscape , and we have no city. Poor judgement on the part of the politicians and what passes for leadership in contemporary Cleveland. The city of East Cleveland lies to the east and west of the City of Cleveland borders and should serve as a stern example as to how the mighty can tumble and fall. Described widely as a sister city to Lakewood , Ohio which is an inner ring suburb developed concurrently with East Cleveland at the turn of the twentieth century , Lakewood , Ohio survives as a viable place of residence to this day , and though the buildings and residences were constructed at the same time in history , once proud East Cleveland is now ravaged by years of neglect and crime and serves as great example of a contemporary skid row city. Similar elements and conditions at play in Cleveland, Ohio are working hard to insure at joining East Cleveland in this miserable ghetto existence . The true heroes are the brave and true law abiding citizens that remain committed to Cleveland and East Cleveland. Those said citizens who choose to remain and not flee to the beckoning further afield suburbs. These same citizens who might work a bit harder to help out a neighbor less fortunate. Crime always an issue. Detroit , Michigan has experienced a similar decline as Cleveland's , only on a larger scale , and for a longer period of time . Detroit is always a favorite city of mine. Difficult to perceive much hope for it's future , any more or less than Cleveland's own. Murder is a reality both places , and desperate people take extreme measure to settle disputes. Detroit , Michigan is the current " deadliest city in the United States of America" , according to a report issued by the FBI and Federal Government this past week. Cleveland, Ohio is seventh "deadliest city ". Cleveland , Ohio was once referred to reverently as the " Sixth City" in the 1920's , when at the same time Detroit , Michigan was the automotive and industrial giant of America. Both Cities have prospered previously , and are in great decline today in spite of political efforts to keep them alive and vibrant today in the 21st century. Not much positive hope in sight for either! A pair of post industrial 21st century stumble bum joker run politically incompetent cities . Both bleeding from crime and population loss today. No tourniquet seems to heal the open wounds. Detroit had a great skid row downtown , and as a youth in the sixties we would drive the two hours in search of fun of one form or another. We found what we were looking for in Detroit! Burlesque theatres with filthy comics and tawdry strippers. Bootleg bourbon whiskey . Grande Ballroom on Grand River. Rock and roll music with Stooges , MC5, Rationals , Up , Suzie Quatro and Bob Seger. Pale blue Motown sound abounding. Clang of the street level motor vehicle plants reminded us of Cleveland in a friendly fashion. Baseball games at Tiger Stadium when it was painted green and Kaline roamed the outfield. Years later we followed the Rick Manning era Cleveland Indians to Tiger Stadium to burn his rabbit ears with a sour chant of "Rickieeeeeeeee! " , while perched in the old section of the second tier grandstand in right field. Rick Manning had a great affinity for hitting into rally killing ninth innings 4 - 6 - 3 double plays. I believe the one Cleveland Indians record that Rick Manning owns is for hitting into game ending outs. After viewing his less than illustrious career , Manning is perhaps the most representative Cleveland Indians player of the late 20th century. Terrible baseball! Detroit on the other hand had damn good baseball teams , and it was always about going to an Indians game to watch the quality talented players on the opposing team. Having players like Manning in the starting lineup ensured a loosing season! Skid row baseball in Cleveland, Ohio. Well in all fairness they still made Cadillac's in Detroit back then. Cleveland made Ford's and they broke down a bunch. Professional baseball is healthy in both cities today , though not many citizens of Detroit , Michigan or Cleveland , Ohio can afford the price of admission to the baseball stadiums. Poverty budgets do not allow for paid admission to professional sporting events ., For all the public assistance that has been heaped on these baseball franchises , the least the Indians and Tigers organizations could do is to allow inner city geriatrics and youngsters free admission after the fifth inning. Children and their elders go first in a fit society that is able to imagine a healthy population of more value than mere profit. Not in the skid row cities of Detroit and Cleveland! Detroit and Cleveland politics share a sordid secret. Corruption at critical levels of their elected and appointed political positions . Unfit leadership. International perceptions of Detroit and Cleveland are dire. Note the former " devil's night" in Detroit as a model for the trash tourism that both cities have failed to embrace to date . Sordid sells! Detroit has embraced this trashy tourist notion more than Cleveland due to it's casino culture and international border . [ Always suspected that Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes only good idea that was not self serving was his proposal to build a bridge from Cleveland to Canada ] . A gambling culture promotes crime , as well as more negative than positive social behavior in the urban communities that reside within Detroit and Cleveland borders. Citizens of both cities historically have had access to municipal government sanctioned mob run versions of casinos . Detroit is sin city for the rest of Meeeshegan. Cleveland is the northern most part of the American south. Just above the Mason Dixon line. A blue Northern orphan city in a renegade county . Perched in anoxiated style on the south shores of Lake Erie, a sea of rednecks in the eighty seven counties below that comprise the hicksville that is the remainder of the State Of Ohio. Detroit and it's relationship to the remainder of the State of Michigan in geographically opposite fashion. With the Uppers and jackpine savages that inhabit the Michigan wilds above Detroit the addled equivalents of southern Ohio residents. Bookselling Time! Both Cleveland and Detroit have books that represent better days , and two of these visual documents are YESTERDAY'S DETROIT , and YESTERDAY'S CLEVELAND. George Condon the noted Cleveland journalist and author did a great job composing the Cleveland volume. George is a great writer , fine fellow , and you as readers should be familiar with his great wit and ironic sense of humor.

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