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Joel Landy's Detroit
Date selected
8
The long-awaited renaissance is under way
By Jack Lessenberry
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 8, 2012
Showing events
from Aug. 8.
Click for more.
The first time I saw Joel Landy I wondered if he had
any trouble getting admitted to the restaurant he was
sitting in. This was at Atlas, a swanky bistro on
Woodward Avenue, where booming Midtown meets the
Cass Corridor. Landy was Corridor, to the max.
His hair was rumpled. His eyes were bleary. He was
wearing a black T-shirt and some wrinkled pants that had
seen better days, and he needed a shave.
Landy at the former Burton International School, one of his
many redevelopment projects.
He was there with my friend, the multitalented Bob
Baldoni, a lawyer, gourmet cook and be-bop pianist, who
just directed the best little movie you never heard of,
Boogie Stomp!, a film that could make a stone troll fall in
love with Bob Seeley and boogie-woogie.
Landy rambled on about this and that, and would only
eat dessert, and not much. I decided the least I could do
was treat him, when the bill came. But it never came.
Landy shrugged. "Hey, I own this building. They owe me free food for a lifetime based on the break I gave them on the
rent." I looked stunned.
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"Actually, I own all these buildings, three square blocks," he told me. It was clear he was telling the truth. He offered me a
tour.
How could I refuse? We saw his home, a magnificent 1882 mansion, partly restored, partly gleaming, partly still in ruins.
We saw his unbelievable collection of model trains, including one that is big enough to sit on and ride around his
compound. (I was past being surprised when he told me he laid the track himself.)
We saw his roundhouse and his many workshops and a dazzling collection of head shop and underground posters from the
1960s, when Landy, then still a teenager, ran a business printing them.
Then we went to the former Burton School on Cass, which he also bought a few years ago. It was full of dozens of preschoolers, all colors, all races, half of whom were hard at work at my best subject, naptime. Elsewhere in the same building,
he owns and operates the two-theater Cass Avenue Cinema, which just happened to be showing Eight Mile. My eyes were
virtually bugging out.
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This was someone whose thoughts on Detroit were worth hearing. Here was a man who had deliberately chosen to live
where nobody once wanted to live, who is single-handedly creating a new form of community.
Not the failed Detroit of the last decades. Not some imitation gentrified Detroit that some suburban young "urban pioneers"
say they are creating, in lofts they live in until the girls get pregnant and they scoot for the suburbs.
Landy's world is something different, and if you think he is a soft touch or a silly ancient hippie, notice the surveillance
cameras, discreetly planted razor wire and alarm systems. He has proudly sent 17 (by his count) rip-off artists to jail for
intruding on his turf.
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What's more, he came by his money the old-fashioned way; he earned it and invested it. He grew up in Oak Park, dropped
out of high school and moved to Chicago to be part of the counterculture scene. Sometime in his early 20s, he landed back
in Detroit.
He had one talent befitting a true son of Motown: he could fix cars — foreign cars — when few other people could. He
opened J&L Foreign Auto Center on Gratiot and Conner, and made some money.
Made it, and sunk it into real estate. He renovated the crumbling old Addison Hotel on Peterboro, the building Atlas is now
in, into a beautifully restored apartment building. He bought the old Jefferson School that the city was about to demolish
and made it home to a thriving charter school operation that makes him money.
Landy has put studios for urban artists and facilities for movie producers in another part of what is now called the Burton
Center for the Arts. He believed in the Corridor when nobody else could, or did.
"I would always say, 'Where are the smart, aware people? Isn't anyone awake? Can't anyone see what is here?'
"Thirty years ago, I was buying a 23-room mansion filled with antiques and with two Packards in the garage for $4,500, and
I thought, where is the rest of the world?"
http://metrotimes.com/columns/joel-landy-s-detroit-1.1355615
8/8/2012
Joel Landy's Detroit - Columns - Detroit Metro Times
Page 2 of 4
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Landy's friends laughed at him. He and his girlfriend, Linda Miller, hunkered down and waited for the world to catch up.
Meanwhile, they just kept investing in, and fixing up, property.
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Today, it may be that fewer people than ever believe in Detroit, which politically is hovering close to bankruptcy, rule by
emergency manager, or perhaps worse. But Landy sees something very different.
MECHANIC
Joel Landy thinks that Detroit's much-predicted renaissance is here at long last. "I'm seeing it. This time it's real. Every day,
MOVIE EXT
20 or 30 people are moving here and looking for housing downtown.
BLACKFIN
"What is that? Every week I see 10 or more people inquiring about starting a new business downtown, and what I see is only
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a small sample," Landy told me. During the real estate boom that ended with the crash of 2008, the developer himself
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gradually renovated "more than 100 quality dwelling units in Midtown and downtown.
"Now, for the first time, there is NO VACANCY in any of them," he said. "That's been happening for almost a year now.
1
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> Email Jack Lessenberry
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JL, "What's more, he came by his money the old-fashioned way; he earned it and
invested it."
Whoa!!!! Jack seems to be off message here. Someone alert the White House Press
Office.
According to Obama, Landy didn't earn it, nobody does. His money is just another
benefit made possible by the loving graces of mother government.
Never mind. Jack redeems himself with, "Detroit is coming back, or being reborn."
and "Not in a way necessarily envisioned by the governor, or the nostalgic old whites
in the suburbs who left in 1970."
Vic Doucette
The best guitarist in Detroit. I spent many joyous hours
listening to him. He didn't try to blow you away with
volume or flash; he just knew what to play and when to
play it. This is a huge loss...
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012) · 1 hour ago
Allen Salyer
Johnnie Bassett seemed to play anywhere and
everywhere. I caught his act many times at Memphis
Smoke but I have to say the best show I ever saw
Johnnie Bassett was in August, 2009 when he
performed...
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012) · 8 hours ago
Christie Hawkins
Dude, where the heck are you even coming from with
this article? O-yeah, from behind a desk with a
computer. Did you even realize that the cd "Crossroads"
is a CONCEPT album? Heck, did you even...
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup · 10 hours
ago
Later
JL, "What's more, he came by his money the oldfashioned way; he earned it and invested it." Whoa!!!!
Jack seems to be off message here. Someone alert the
White House Press Office. According to...
Joel Landys Detroit · 11 hours ago
Dennis Dale
What do you mean "us", black man/woman? Yes, those
awful "Americans" are always f---ing up the program,
wherever you find them! But seriously, you'll throw your
country as a whole under the bus...
A day in the life · 13 hours ago
On another note, Landy was on American Pickers last year and he has some cool
stuff. If you get a chance, watch it.
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012)
2 comments · 1 hour ago
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Joel Landys Detroit
1 comment · 11 hours ago
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A day in the life DPD's daily crime report shines a light on
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gives them their 15 minutes of fame | 7/3/2012
Joel Landy's Detroit The long-awaited renaissance is under
way | 8/8/2012
The ballad of Kenny T He put aside crippling demons to
create a stunning solo debut. It's a new beginning. | 8/1/2012
Letters to the Editor White rapper story brings caustic
response | 8/1/2012
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neighborhood under siege | 7/18/2012
Putting DEA on the defensive Court case puts marijuana
prohibition on the stand | 8/8/2012
http://metrotimes.com/columns/joel-landy-s-detroit-1.1355615
8/8/2012
Joel Landy's Detroit - Columns - Detroit Metro Times
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Joel Landy's Detroit
JUL | AUG | SEP ▶
The long-awaited renaissance is under way
8
By Jack Lessenberry
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 8, 2012
Showing events
from Aug. 8.
Click for more.
Lots of local film aficionados are excited about the
opening of the much-ballyhooed film Detropia. Landy
isn't one. He's not impressed at all, in fact, and he's a
man at home with gritty.
"The producer-directors lived in my building for the year
they were here. Their film [turned out to be] a very
depressing look at Detroit." Not surprisingly, he told me
the film uses the rotting hulk of Matty Moroun's
Michigan Central Station as a symbol of Detroit.
Landy at the former Burton International School, one of his
many redevelopment projects.
Date selected
"That's not a monument to anyone except one greedy
businessman." Landy paused on his front porch, which
might be a better metaphor for the city. Once great,
better than it was, still in need of more work. Around his
feet are architectural wonders — and empty cans of cat
food Linda sets out for the half-feral native critters.
The filmmakers got overwhelmed by the devastation and
decay, he told me. And there's no denying it's there; just wander a few blocks in from Joy Road and Southfield, for example.
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"But a reality that brings hope is the thousands of people, young and old, who are moving here to work, live, invest and have
that special vision to see through the grit and find the good."
My guess is that Joel Landy, eccentric as he is, is on to something. Detroit is coming back, or being reborn. Not in a way the
hopeless clown politicians in city government can imagine.
Not in a way necessarily envisioned by the governor, or the nostalgic old whites in the suburbs who left in 1970. No, it will
Type
be something incredibly different, tough, vibrant and alive.
Bar/Club Name
Landy and I may not live to fully see it; we both hit the big six-oh this year. But I think those cute kids in his Montessori
school will.
William Butler Yeats has been dead since 1939, and never came to Detroit. But his poem "The Second Coming" asked the
right question for our times. "What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
My guess is that when it comes to prophets, I'd trust Joel Landy to recognize that beast more than I would Dave Bing.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Write to [email protected].
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Landy at the former Burton International School, one of his many redevelopment projects.
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> Email Jack Lessenberry
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http://metrotimes.com/columns/joel-landy-s-detroit-1.1355615?pgno=1
Get $64 Worth of Introductory Iyengar
Yoga Classes for Only $25 at The Yoga
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61%
$25 .00
8/8/2012
Joel Landy's Detroit - Columns - Detroit Metro Times
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Latest Comments
JL, "What's more, he came by his money the old-fashioned way; he earned it and
invested it."
Whoa!!!! Jack seems to be off message here. Someone alert the White House Press
Office.
According to Obama, Landy didn't earn it, nobody does. His money is just another
benefit made possible by the loving graces of mother government.
Never mind. Jack redeems himself with, "Detroit is coming back, or being reborn."
and "Not in a way necessarily envisioned by the governor, or the nostalgic old whites
in the suburbs who left in 1970."
On another note, Landy was on American Pickers last year and he has some cool
stuff. If you get a chance, watch it.
Popular Threads
Most Read
Vic Doucette
The best guitarist in Detroit. I spent many joyous hours
listening to him. He didn't try to blow you away with
volume or flash; he just knew what to play and when to
play it. This is a huge loss...
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012) · 50 minutes ago
Allen Salyer
Johnnie Bassett seemed to play anywhere and
everywhere. I caught his act many times at Memphis
Smoke but I have to say the best show I ever saw
Johnnie Bassett was in August, 2009 when he
performed...
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012) · 8 hours ago
Christie Hawkins
Dude, where the heck are you even coming from with
this article? O-yeah, from behind a desk with a
computer. Did you even realize that the cd "Crossroads"
is a CONCEPT album? Heck, did you even...
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup · 10 hours
ago
Later
JL, "What's more, he came by his money the oldfashioned way; he earned it and invested it." Whoa!!!!
Jack seems to be off message here. Someone alert the
White House Press Office. According to...
Joel Landys Detroit · 10 hours ago
Dennis Dale
What do you mean "us", black man/woman? Yes, those
awful "Americans" are always f---ing up the program,
wherever you find them! But seriously, you'll throw your
country as a whole under the bus...
A day in the life · 12 hours ago
Johnnie Bassett (1935-2012)
2 comments · 48 minutes ago
Joel Landys Detroit
1 comment · 10 hours ago
Electric Corpses dark shadows
27 comments · 2 days ago
Conyers last stand?
14 comments · 1 day ago
A day in the life
10 comments · 3 days ago
A real corporate choice for VP
17 comments · 1 week ago
6th Annual Hamtramck Hustle - Veteran's Memorial
Park - Metro Times
1 comment · 1 day ago
A day in the life DPD's daily crime report shines a light on
the city's violent side | 8/1/2012
Girls on film How one man takes the city's prostitutes and
gives them their 15 minutes of fame | 7/3/2012
Joel Landy's Detroit The long-awaited renaissance is under
way | 8/8/2012
The ballad of Kenny T He put aside crippling demons to
create a stunning solo debut. It's a new beginning. | 8/1/2012
Letters to the Editor White rapper story brings caustic
response | 8/1/2012
Sign of the times A Detroiter signals distress from a
neighborhood under siege | 7/18/2012
Putting DEA on the defensive Court case puts marijuana
prohibition on the stand | 8/8/2012
http://metrotimes.com/columns/joel-landy-s-detroit-1.1355615?pgno=1
8/8/2012