Detroiters are unregenerate . When we get used to something , it ai n’t gon na shift . Sometimes that ’s not always a sound thing – we just got used to that old caravan station not get window up until now , did n’t we ? – but oftentimes , it ’s healthy for us to be moribund . It helps us preserve our history .
Let me excuse : my great - grandmother lived to be 96 , and was sharp until the end , but she was stubborn about keeping up with the times when it came to some of her terminology . She referred to refrigerator as icebox , pantyhose as stockings , and , even though it ’s been awhile , Kmart as Kresge ’s .
Although S.S. Kresge ’s line of deduction fund became Kmart decades ago , this was one of those curious habits she would n’t rent go . It ’s vulgar amongst all of us Detroiters to call something by its original or conversational name rather than whatever name it ’s been most recently officially baptize as . Whether it ’s sting to custom or refusing to give into corporatization – try as he might , Dan Gilbert ’s attempt to brand the M-1 rail line as “ QLine ” under the Quicken family of weird nomenclature is run short to flush it severely around these parts – there are plenty of things around Metro Detroit we ’re just going to call by another name .
General Motors Headquarters, 2004 | Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com
I still come to to Cadillac Place as " the one-time GM building , " and I ’m sure I ’m not alone . My mama would take me there just to see the new cars on the first floor , so in my ticker , it ’s still the HQ for General Motors . But even though the state - owned building in New Center has been formally known as Cadillac Place for more than a 10 , we all remember the big GENERAL MOTORS sign on top of the building . It ’ll always be " the old GM building , " no matter how many times we renew our tags at the Secretary of State .
And speaking of concert locale – no matter how many multiplication I convey my mummy Downtown , she ’ll always denote to The Fillmore as State Theatre . Some of her best concert memories were there , just like how Detroiters of another coevals ’s best shows were played at Majestic Theater , and not friggin ’ Populux .
Sometimes it ’s more than just computer storage , though . Is the real cause some residents are noncompliant about calling Cass Corridor " Midtown " a tap against gentrification , a preservation of the culture of the neighborhood , or both ? And why do we pick and pick out reckon on the news ? We call it Midtown when a bougie macaroni and cheese place opens , but it ’s Cass Corridor when someone is stabbed and carjacked .
Cadillac Place, 2004 | Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com
Still , the lines of where Cass Corridor ends and where Midtown get are blurry for many , one of the many reasons ( that , and the sweeping rebranding matter ) there ’s still a divide . We ’ll revisit this conversation in a few years when we ’re settle between Midtown , Cass Corridor , and " the Arena District . "
The Midtown / Cass Corridor argumentation may never end , but I ’ll recite you what : a swift , verbal smackdown to whomever is prove to rename parts of Mexicantown and Southwest Detroit . Springwells Village ? The Garment District ? I guarantee we ’ll keep calling it whatever the neighbors require to call it , no matter how much developer - friendly nomenclature is forced upon the area .
We Detroiters are indeed stubborn about our tradition . Like the rest of Michiganders , we put unnecessary ’s - es on store name ( see you guys at the 8 Mile Meijers ? ) . Six Mile is six Mile , even if the sign pronounce McNichols . We ’ll always call things by the original name . Now if you ’ll excuse me , I have to pick out some blurred thrill forMovement– er , make that DEMF .
The State Theater, 1980 | Flickr/Charles Plater
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Aaron Foleyis the writer ofHow to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass , editor program ofBLAC Detroit magazine , and probably knows more about Detroit than you .
