* * * * *
A detour to historical Detroit
My original plan to drive to Buddy's [1] was to take I-275 south to I-96 east
to the Davison Freeway, leaving us two blocks south of Buddy's. Then I saw a
two mile stretch that wasn't a freeway and had second thoughts (this is
Detroit, after all). The backup plan was to then drive I-275 north to I-696
east to I-75 south to the Davison Freeway, but a chance conversation with the
front desk revealed that the I-696/I-75 interchange was closed off until I
think next year. That meant I went with my original driving plan. I only
bring this up, because on the way back to the hotel I caught sight of the
“Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural Center and Book Store / Art Gallery”
(the street view from Google [2]). Despite the sign being so fantastic, this
is for real [3] and I spent some time going down a historical rabbit hole.
Not only had I never heard of this organization, but its history [4] is mixed
with that of the Detroit Riots of 1967 [5], which I had heard of from my
grandparents. I also learned that Gordon Lightfoot's [6] song “Black Day in
July [7]” was about the Detroit Riots, and the song was banned in 30 states
(although I do recall hearing the song as a kid—either because it wasn't
banned in Michigan, or my parents had the record, but I do distictly remember
that song).
And to think that a chance glance of an odd sign on a building could lead to
such an interesting rabbit hole, only because my preferred route to a Detroit
restaurant was under construction.
[1]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2021/06/20.1
[2]
https://goo.gl/maps/SUmag2vTHeBf6HVRA
[3]
https://www.shrinesoftheblackmadonna.org/
[4]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_the_Black_Madonna
[5]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot
[6]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Lightfoot
[7]
https://youtu.be/vCQmx_wJH6o
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