Michigan Theatre
238 Bagley Street,
Detroit,
MI
48226
238 Bagley Street,
Detroit,
MI
48226
29 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 106 comments
RUDYMILD HERE, let us not forget steppin wolf ??/??/??
RUDYMILD here. let me add leslie west—-may/17/?? 2 comments up.
Homeboy, this would be the United Artists Theater. Info available here and here.
There appears to be a defunct theater in the building right next to the Michigan. What is it?
HEY RUDYMILD HERE.i have gone through all my steve glantz / mich. palace stuff. this info is from stage passes/ryders/and guestlists.
(not in order). —-springsteen & east st. band, mich palace 10/04/75
(belkin prod.)—-ohio players (promo sticker lists songs, fire,skin tight,jive turkey, etc.)no date.—-doldinger jubilee concert with PASSPORT and brian auger,johnny griffin,alexis korner,volker krieger,and pete york, no date.—-zz top, mich. palace pass, a beaver prod.(palace or cobo?) 09/24/75—-kiss palace pass 12/20-21/76?—-ceech&chong palace pass 11/07/??—-black oak arkansas 5/04/75—-back stage glantz/palace pass 05/11/76 ???—-kiss orlando glantz pass ??/??/??—-kiss cobo steve glantz pass 1st&2nd&3rd show
01/25/76—-alex harvey band autumn tour 75 a pink pass and a purple
pass—-dobbie bros crew pass, steve glantz proud. ??/??/??—-aerosmith, grand valley state college glantz prod. 09/13/??—-nektar
(sticker) PALACE ??/??/??—-fleet wood mac with kansas palace ??/??/??—-kiss erie 12/23/?? steve glantz pass.—-eureka shelter tour 1974/1975 (california/torrence) pass looks like a licence plate ??/??/??—-bob seger with todd rundgren,elvin bishop, pontiac silver dome steve glantz prod.june 26 ??.—-aero smith sticker train all nite long ??/??/??—-manfred man with blue oyster cult palace ??/??/??—-status quo & rush palace ??/??/??—-george carlin palace ??/??/??—-wish bone ash palace ??/??/??—-wolf man jack palace ??/??/??—-iron butter fly palace ??/??/??—-spirit palace ??/??/??—-mike quatro palace ??/??/??—-pavlous dog palace ??/??/??—-hawk wind palace ??/??/??—-quatro & hawkwind palace 05/10/75—-franky valley & four seasons, ??/??/??. THATS IT FOR NOW. i have co workers from steve glantz prod., that i can still get a hold of, (some of them went on to road crew/personal/lighting/stage etc.)with national acts. should be able to fill in the gaps.
TEST 123
Wow!
Thanks for the link, that is incredible.
It’s too bad they have to try and make a profit though, it should be public domain. If only i had the money, I’d show everyone here those amazing videos.
Hey SNWEB, dig this:
View link
Indeed you are correct. I forgot to correct myself on that, I confused the spotlights with the projectors (spotlights remain).
Not too much of what you stated remains, or at least from what I remember seeing (didn’t get many good pics up there)
The Michigan coming back is a pipe-dream indeed, but I sure dream of a day where my favorite ruin is restored, heh.
DYes is joke, it’s overrated, full of flames and uneducated mass at large.
SNWEB-we did indeed take two Simplex XL projection and sound heads from the Michigan booth in March of 1977. We also took a very large DC arc rectifier. We left everything else. the Brenkert spotlights, the simplex bases, all of the audio and changeover gear, the Paramount television reproducer—we left all of that, and only took what was of value, the Simplex heads. That in essence is the booth. The Michigan has enjoyed much chat on Detroityes.com of late, many dreamers wanting to “put it all back”, a project so unrealistic in scope that you couldn’t print enough money to contemplate it.
The Michigan Theatre opened on August 23rd. 1926.
I think if the money could be pulled together, the space could have a use and a parking garage built on the vacant lot next door (owned by the name owner), and a car elevator type would be best.
Chunks of plaster fall occasionally, but the plaster is fine as it is heavier when first installed because of being wet (water content). The owner keeps the roof somewhat maintained, so it isn’t much to worry about. The SW corner of the building has suffered GREATLY from water damage due to a leaky roof. I find the corner is still need of roof repair, as water is constantly flowing down from the projection booth down.
It seems realistic to think that the remaining elements of the theatre might be incorporated into a better use than the present one. I doubt that it will ever be fully restored. It sounds like there is strong demand for secure parking. So I suppose the challenge would lie in trying to get the owner to give up this function.
Hey SNWEB: I’ve always wondered something about this place. Have they ever had a problem with plaster chunks falling onto the parking deck?
Does anyone have any pictures to post of the Michigan Palace, when they had concerts and removed the lower seats? How about crowd shots? Anything from that era would be nice to see.
Here is the link to the videos KISS shot @ the Michigan Palace in the Spring of 1975. http://www.kissfaq.com/video/concept.html
hello rudymild here.
i’ll post my stage passes
as soon as i figure how too.
im certain my collection doesnt
jive with MICHIGAN PALACE VENUE SHOW LIST.
(wolfman jack,george carlin, status quo, ohio players)etc.
Great to see another memory of this fine palace.
i would love to see your artifacts from the building. I have unused tickets to the shows, such as BOC, Kiss, Aerosmith, etc. in addition to floorplans and a few other things.
hello im i worked 4 steve glantz at the palace in the 70s rite aft the bowie shows. i lived there 24/7. my duties were guard,head of clean up(boof squad),stage hand,part time limo,full time back door man,& occasional road work.my partner Jason Von Jett (doberman) was not trained.i have dreams of that place good&bad. i do miss it and aft reading this web realize i was part of the dirty image. it truly was all 4 money. i cleaned & waxed the main lobby twice, you should have seen it. i must say i had 2 be one of the last crew werkrs to leave. rite behind me was a salvage crew who basicly ransacked the place. i guess they knew it was 2 torn down. i hav a folder of stage passes,a few posters and a lot of memories. i hope i can add something to this web, cause it is really sad how it went down.
Indeed most would need to be recreated, the walls and the seating are gone.
The foyers, and lobby are pretty much all intact.
As far as I know, the superstructure is virtually all there, and except for removing a few ramps and the like, it could be sructurally returned to theatre use. BUT, the real cost comes not in structure, but restoring the plaster shell, columns, and other physicals aside from the merely decorative. The systems would ALL have to be replaced up to today’s building code, and none of this addresses just what would pay for the building to continue each year paying taxes and upkeep. Theatres make expensive museums, which is why I can’t think of any that have gone that route. Yes, it could be restored, provided a ‘Mr. Deeppockets’ is a billionaire willing to invest the many, many millions now AND create an endowment so large that the place could meet all its expenses without a penny in proceeds. Any billionaire volunteers out there?
Is the Michigan able to be restored? I know it would cost a huge some of money and the need for another theatre in Downtwon Detroit is zero. I was just curious if it was possible or is the structure to far gone.brucec
Well from what I understand the theater would of had to go in order for the office business to survive. It’s a shame though, and I don’t support that conversion.
To be honest if I had to choose between having the office building occupied and having theater gutted or having the whole place intact and abandoned (theater and office bldg), I would choose it being abandoned, at least it would not be touched or gutted in anyway and could have been brought back.
Wow cool picture of the horse, as I mentioned much earlier, I was only about 10 when the Palace closed — so my memories are spotty. I was talking to my older sister and she said something everyne should know: It was not Rock n Roll or concerts that killed the Palace, it was the owners of the Michigan Building: they are the ones that destroyed things and created a parking lot (although Glantz gave them the opportunity by not living up to his part of the agreement).
Thats a shame.
One horse is in the glass atrium missing a head and another horse is in the room next to it, no chariot to be found.
Photo HERE.
DavidDavid could you email me with any of your contact info? I would love to get into contacts and discuss the theater as well as show you some pictures.
Glantz' crew destroyed most of what they couldnt take, including the chariot – however I was able to collect enough ‘bits’ and glue together one of the heads.