New Partner Podcast: History Bedtime Stories Episode #1 – J.L. Hudson’s Memories

**We are pleased to share this new podcast from our friends at Detroit History Club, featuring its executive director Bailey Sisoy Moore with History Tours producer and tour-guide Kevin Walsh (also a Digging Detroit producer). More information, photos and even a Maurice Salad recipe on the Detroit History Club’s website. The legend and magic of […]

New Podcast: Detroit Blues Society

Join Digging Detroit host Pete Kalinski from Royal Oak’s Boo’s Music Bistro inside Mr. B’s Restaurant as he welcomes two of the city’s foremost fans and promoters of Detroit’s legendary blues legacy–President of the Detroit Blues Society, Steve Soviak and Vice President Tom McNab. It’s first meeting in 1985 began a multi-decade of transformations to increase public interest in […]

New! Episode 17: Birthplace of the Model T – The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant

In 1904, Henry Ford purchased three acres beside a railroad line off Woodward and moved his new car company from Mack to Piquette Avenue. Join Digging Detroit with special guest Tom Genova and come explore the historic Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, rescued from demolition and transformed into an amazing collection of priceless cars and fascinating […]

From Detroit to the Bulge: Priceless Snapshots of One Soldier’s Journey Across Europe

Originally posted in Kevin Walsh’s blog, MyMediaDiary. Before he was selected in WWII’s first draft for 18 year-olds, Detroit’s Lawrence Dupuis didn’t know the value of being color-blind.  “They would take me up in the aircraft and I could detect where the landscape had been disturbed and camouflage was laid down.” His cartooning skills were even put […]

New Episode 11! Four Generations, One Detroit Home – The Sisoy Family

Meet Pete Sisoy and his family.  In the 1920s his Russian immigrant father moved his young family from the crowds of Hamtramck to the wide-open country near the intersection of Southfield Rd. and Warren Ave.–the village of Warrendale under the watchful eye of Henry Ford–whom a young Pete met several times. Their large home held […]

New Episode 7: The Ernie Harwell Sports Collection at the Detroit Public Library

  Digging Detroit tours the incredible Ernie Harwell Sports Collection at the Detroit Public Library with curator Mark Bowden. In 1966, Hall of Fame radio announcer Ernie Harwell donated over 7,000 sports photos to the library and began the massive collection of sports memorabilia that also includes equipment, sports cards, clippings, broadcasting equipment and even […]

Episode 5: Detroit’s Nain Rouge

  The legend of Detroit’s ominous red dwarf goes back over 300 years, to Cadillac’s ill-advised decision to abuse the little guy while foolishly ignore a fortune teller. In Episode #5, Digging Detroit explores the legend of the little guy as he has morphed quite a bit from the mischievous house-elf of Normandy who might […]

New and Old Frontiers: Above Detroit with Aerial Photographer Alex MacLean

Alex MacLean has seen Detroit from the sky at various stages since 1980.  The large green-spaces below, for example, were once crowded neighborhoods and business districts in a city’s footprint that is large enough to fit Houston, Boston and Manhattan.  These grassy fields by Google Maps might be mistaken for parks. Similar green spaces a few miles north […]

New Podcast: Dodge, Detroit & Women in Industry

Digging Detroit’s Tom Reed and Pete Kalinski discuss the early days of Detroit’s automotive history with experts Bailey Sisoy Isgro and Madelyn Rzadkowolski. Topics include: Advertising’s current portrayal of the Dodge Brothers Dodge’s famous dependability—and fix-it-yourself car kits General Patton and the Dodge military contract Women and Detroit’s cigar industry as a vehicle for entry into the […]

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 […]