Yesterday’s news about GM cutting 21,000 more jobs and killing the Pontiac brand evoked nostalgia and some mixed feelings. So this is a photo-sequel to my almost two year old post about life in Detroit.
For two years, I lived, worked, breathed, ate, and slept in the shadow of this landmark. General Motors World Headquarters, the Renaissance Center, affectionately known as ‘RenCen’. RenCen is one of the world’s largest office complexes, totaling 5,500,000 square feet. It is so confusing inside for newcomers, that I had made a PowerPoint presentation for guiding our new team members.
The red monorail is the ‘People Mover’ – a public transport system in downtown ‘World Auto Capital’ Detroit.
These are views from my apartment window.
A few snaps of Detroit downtown at night. Just like the darkness of the night, and unlike the men of the Renaissance Era who brought the light of reason in our lives, GM’s Rencen is headed back to the Dark Ages.
Related posts:
Great pics. I wonder if Detroit will survive this, or will Mr Tata buy it off.…
050, Mahendra, 020, 030 and 010.
Also, I like Hard Rock Cafe.
Unsustainable companies have to go, we can’t afford to waste money propping them up for populist reasons.
I didn’t know that you have worked at Detroit for a good amount of time.
Those are some impressive looking skyscrapers!
You seem to have traveled a lot Mahendra and had an interesting life! Pune is where you have homed in now finally and that is the right choice! So hey traveler, restaurant owner, writer, blogger, would-be tabla player, you are on the right path!
THose night shots of Detroit were beautiful.
And Nita says, you are a restaurant owner?
Oh, thanks for the nice-sounding adjectives that make me feel as if I’m a special person! However, I always like to remind myself that I’m just playing with pebbles on the beach…:-)
As I mentioned earlier to Priyank, I’ve no plans of playing the tabla. I hope I’ll learn the keyboard, after I’m able to start learning it in the presence of my 2-yr old, who’s as crazy about music as me!
Mahendra
Unless the $ 3T budget can be expanded further to finance the building of a public transport infrastructure, the huge size of America means that Americans will always drive cars. No option but that Detroit cleans up (pun intended) its act. Tesla can hardly provide all of America with cars. :-/ (Yes I know they have a choice of Japanese and a smaller number of European marques but they will have millions unemployed too.)
Memories! Where were you in Detroit? We were in Auburn Hills for a couple years ’02-’05
Wonderful shots!
g
Detroit is an interesting case
for years they have been supported by govts indirect largess like taxing imported cars etc
– monsters esp GM and Chrysler producing cars that people dont want to buy
They have to go bankrupt! because no one wants to accept cutbacks or restructuring
Its an unholy mix of political patronage and protectionism, big pay ceos and hard bargaining UAW.
Chrysler is already declaring bankruptcy , and tying up with the giant fiat. Whats ur opinion?
BTW these are lovely pictures
Thanks! I don’t think Detroit is going to survive, in any real sense. And I doubt if there will be any takers for GM. GM China, GM India yes, maybe, but GM US has no value to offer, me thinks.
What’s with the numbers? Didn’t get it.
Yup, this one had lots of memorabilia as well, cool atmosphere, good food, and great bar menu.
Apart from short trips, I’ve had two long stints at Detroit and in the Bay Area…
They’re really massive up close. You really feel them with you, behind you, anywhere you are in downtown Detroit.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked them.
Restaurant — yes, just an experiment that hasn’t gone too well so far. http://skeptic.skepticgeek.com/2007/09/09/inside-and-outside-a-restaurant/
Check this post for a little background: http://skeptic.skepticgeek.com/2007/09/18/birthday-and-feedback-time/
Shefaly, jobs are the only reason GM is being bailed out. Jobs are the only value they currently possess and the Govt can’t afford to have so many unemployed on its hands.
But I’m skeptical of how much cleaning up GM is going to be able to do. A bankruptcy doesn’t seem unlikely.
Mahendra
Knowing the realpolitik of jobs, it is worth asking if there will be a Hoover Dam equivalent in the car industry (minus the nasties).
Don’t think so. Rather than a mega-project requiring lots of manual labor, auto industry seems to be moving in the ‘Nano’ direction!
Hmm…small world. While most of my team was in Madison Heights/Auburn Hills/Troy, I was the sole iconoclast staying in downtown, right opposite RenCen! From mid-04 to mid-06.
Since you were there, you would understand how RenCen dominates downtown Detroit…
Prax, no opinions at present. Just feelings, since life at GM was a personal experience for me.…
Happy that you enjoyed the pictures!