This is one of those JJMMOG streets, in the sense of Jesus, Joseph, Mary Mother of God stretches of urban despair that seems to beg for demolition.

But this isn’t bad.

You can see the ghost of the old prosperous street, a place with stores and customers and a variety of goods. It’s battered and shopworn, but keeping its own.

Let’s move along.

NO CONSENT

A firehouse in hell.

A regrettable typical structure:

You could say it was "third world" except even in the poorest countries you'll see a storefront painted bright hues to liven up the street.

The Sherwood!

Painted white and given over to God, its neighbors gone. No retail, no windows.

The words seem to hover in the air, apart from the ruined structure:

The building next door says housing is coming soon, a rehab’s in the works.

Great, but I don’t know why anyone would want to live on this street, unless you want the thrill of being an urban pioneer. And then you start to despise the people who move in after it's cleaned up and safer.

The metal structure on the door held a sign once.

There’s no way to tell if they’re still open. Next door: Another structure for a sign that’s long gone.

Alll these Detroit streets seem fixed in an eternal Sunday morning.

Good Lord, what’s behind those doors?

It's like the store is full of mindless zombie appliances waiting to be released so they can feast on the rust of the light pole.

Yes, a community is always improved by one of these.

If aliens came and built a facility that converted the locals to ash and fertilizer, it's hard to see how it would look different.

The pieces may have been pried off by vandals and sold for scrap.

Another example of a ripped-off metal facade, next to an old brick commercial structure blinded with white paint - with reminders that there are no services, either medical or law-enforcement.

I just hate that this happens. Hate it. A nice old bank building . . .

The Michigan State Bank. The people who worked here - the tellers, the clerks, the manager, the gals in the steno pool - never thought this would happen. Who would?

I’ve no idea. But it’s proof again that the happenstance of urban decay is sometimes indinguishable from modern art.

I’d love to get inside and see when it was renovated. Fifties, I’d guess. Early 60s. Might be some details left - or imagine if it wasn’t renovated at all, and still held the interior spaces and details of the 20s.

Another lonely bank; decades since anyone dropped by to make a deposit.

Ah: a going concern.

They have a Facebook page. Looks like a neighborhood institution, and congrats to them for hanging on.

Finally, the one thing on Michigan Avenue that sums up the city more than anything else, at least for me. The Train Station.

It's an amazing ruin. Wikipedia:

Restoration projects and plans have gone as far as the negotiation process, but none has come to fruition. Since 2011, demolition works, minor structural repairs, repairs of the roof structure, and covering the glass roof openings in the concourse have been performed. The basement, which was once full of water, has been fully drained, and a barbed wire fence has been installed in an attempt to keep out vandals and the windows in the tower have been replaced.

But there's hope. And for a positive end to this miserable account: take a look at the little video on this page.

From the story on the event that spotlit the building's possible future:

A small group of protesters gathered outside the razor wire fence that surrounds the train station.  They held signs that said "tax the rich" and "education not gentrification" and led chants decrying the newly opened Little Caesars Arena.

Yeah, keep Detroit Detroit.