The guys behind Digging Detroit share how the idea got started, their backgrounds and their visions for the show. Featuring: Thomas J. Reed, Jr., Pete Kalinski and Kevin Walsh Watch Episode 1: Tommy's Watch Episode 2: Rediscovering Detroit
1890 Detroit – Growing, Brewing and Showing Off to the World
Detroit was not only the largest producer of heating and cooking stoves, it was also on the forefront of ship building, rail car manufacturing, cigar production and development of cutting edge pharmaceuticals. Detroit was also on the verge of launching a bustling automotive industry but at this point factories were being constructed to design and […]
The Day I Got Caught by Santa Claus
In the summer of 1996, just about a year out of grad school, I was hired by an event production company in West Bloomfield to manage their video department. As a photographer and someone who lives for exploration and adventure, commuting between Auburn, Alabama and New Orleans on the back roads was enjoyable, but not […]
Hot Buttered: The Summer of ’69 on Livernois
TERRA-SHIRMA STUDIOS Over on Detroit’s northwest side of town sits a nondescript grey brick building upon the top of which is an eagle with open wings. This building was home of the famed Rainbow Records and Terra-Shirma Studios. Studio A – home of the Rainbow Records – is now a gas station at the […]
Public Grand Opening of the John D. Dingell Transit Center
The widely heralded high-speed rail project got some great acclaim as residents of Dearborn streamed into the brand new John D. Dingell Transit Center on Michigan Avenue just west of Evergreen. Designed to increase tourism and develop business in West Dearborn as well as spur growth for both the University of Michigan – Dearborn and […]
Digging Detroit – Episode 2: Rediscovering Detroit…One Bar at a Time
In Digging Detroit’s second episode, Pete and Tom climb aboard the Detroit Bus Company’s Prohibition Tour as they examine how bars with links deep in Detroit’s history are helping metro-Detroiters rediscover their city. Special guest, historian Mickey Lyons, shares her insight and research with the guys from inside The 2 Way inn, built by Civil […]
Going Going Gone: Demolition of the 40-year old North Park Plaza
On the gloomy overcast morning of December 14th, 2014, the former North Park Plaza Hotel and Office Building was razed to a pile of pulverized concrete and twisted metal in 8 seconds. Owned by Oakland Community College and deemed unfit for renovation, the 40+ year old building on 9 Mile Road in Southfield, Michigan, was worth less […]
When Wolverines and Buckeyes First Fought – The Toledo War of 1835-6
It’s that time of year again: gorged on turkey and cranberries, we turn our attention to that oldest and nastiest of contests, the Michigan-Ohio State game. This seemed like as good a time as any to examine the origins of what ESPN has dubbed the greatest sports rivalry of all time. Think the vitriol between […]
Digging Detroit: Three-Weeks-Old and Counting…
We’ve had a great first three weeks of existence at Digging Detroit and want to once again thank Tom Burelle, owner of Tommy’s Detroit Bar & Grill, for letting us launch our show in his basement/speakeasy. (See it again below!) We’ve had over 1,300 YouTube views, 425+ Facebook likes and 1,200 visitors to this site. […]
Digging Detroit: Episode 1 – Inside a Speakeasy – Tommy’s Detroit Bar & Grill
Read about the making of Episode 1 on Huffington Post In our first episode from October 2014, “Tommy’s,” Digging Detroit takes a look at a 170-year-old building that has served spaghetti, soldiers and gangsters. Take a look inside a speakeasy with its generous host, Tom Burelle. On March 30, 2015, Channel 4’s News also ran […]