Big blocks of marble in deserted Detroit

From:  The Grand Rapids Press

The 1960's might be the golden era for boring postcards.

It seems like places were in a mad rush to show off their municipal buildings, and deemed that a postcard needed to show the entire building, without people or cars.

It’s almost like there were a lot of ghost towns – but filled with drab government buildings.

That brings us to this week’s Bad Postcard of the Week. Reader Michael C. Brennan of Adrian submitted this beauty from the Motor City.

“I’ve been collecting postcards for about 10 years, most are from Hudson where I was born and raised,” he wrote.

“I used to buy Michigan postcard lots on eBay and have several of the one I attached to this email. It’s a chrome postcard, probably from the early 1960s, of the Veterans Memorial Building in Detroit."

“The back of the postcard says it's in the Riverfront Civic Center. I don’t know if the building is still there.”

Michael, the building is still there, right between Cobo Hall and the Hart Plaza Skating Park. Built in 1948, the building was leased to the UAW to be its national headquarters in 1995. Today, it’s the UAW-Ford National Programs Center.

The tragedy here is that the building has some nice details, like the 30-foot high “Victory Eagle” by Marshall Fredericks, that would made for a nice photo. But they’re hard to see when the photographer has to practically stand across the street to get the entire building in the shot.

Sans the details, and we have what appears to be a giant marble block. As a co-worker said, I guess they didn't feel the need for natural light on that side of the building. Or maybe they didn't want to see anything in downtown Detroit.

Jersey Shore update

Hey, Perfy, don't you have a New Jersey landmark to pose with?

Last week’s submission of the “NJ & You – Perfect Together” mascot sparked horror and an investigation.

Colleague Julie Hoogland uncovered that the thing has a name, “Perfy,” and that he was the state mascot between 1985 and 1989.

I was able to find a couple more postcards of Perfy in action. Note to New Jersey: When you send your mascot to post with other state’s landmarks, that’s a sign of trouble.