[ He tells us his name is Freddy Smith, but I don't think it is. He adds, “but people
around call me Gilligan”. We all laugh at his likeness to the famous character.
He slurs through stories of Detroit, watching us carefully for our reactions. It’s a bad
neighborhood but we dismiss that for the time being. My enthusiasm sparks a long
talk about the city’s odd vacancies. Behind him is an 18 story abandoned train depot. This relic from his youth hangs hollowed in the sky behind him.
I give him a dollar because he's dying for a beer, and hand him a t-shirt. There is a
lot of discussion in Michigan right now about whether to tear down the old station.
It's shocking to see a huge skyscaper gutted to the brim of collapse in a city that used to run the world. Part of me wants monumental architecture like this to stay
standing. He sleeps on the same streets that are falling apart and is adamant about
tearing it all down. "You make moves for the new. It's always gonna change," he says. "That's the D baby. It ain't nowhere else, so they might as well fix the fucker." ]
‘Detroit Project’
Produced & Written by: Ashley Eberbach
Photography by: Kayvon Esmaili
5% of our proceeds from Burn One Detroit Clothing will go toURBAN FARMING, a non-profit organization that plants food on unused land and space and gives it to the
needy. Their headquarters is in Detroit, Michigan.
