New book divulges 5,000 things to know about Detroit
Windsor couple’s tome looks at era just after Second World War to the 1980s
We thought it was a great story that needed to be told and preserved.
Elaine Weeks and Chris Edwards know a thing or two about Detroit — in fact, they know 5,000 things.
The partners in life and business, who founded Walkerville Publishing, just released their latest historic tome: 5000 Ways You Know You’re From Detroit.
The colourful, picture-filled book frolics through the Motor City’s baby boomer years, and offers a wide range of trivia, memories and images that pay homage to the D.
“It’s almost six pounds of fun reading,” Weeks said with a chuckle. “It looks at a little before and after but the meat of the book is the baby boomer years from postWorld War 2 up to the ’80s. All the things that baby boomers grew up with and remember.”
Weeks considers Detroit special for many reasons, in particular music.
“It’s where Motown was born,” said the writer and researcher, noting that both R&B and hippie culture blossomed in the D. “It was about the birth of rock ’n’ roll, and the counter-culture elements of flower power and so forth. The Haight-Ashbury of Detroit was Plum Street.”
From concerts and sports to cars and Rosie the Riveter — the cultural icon based on female factory workers during the war — 5000 Ways takes a peek at a golden era.
Weeks thinks the book holds significance for Windsorites, too, and not simply because they often ventured across the Detroit River when the border was easier to cross. But also because it mentions such things as the Big 8 and the Elmwood and other Windsor offerings that Detroiters enjoyed.
“It’s a romp,” said Edwards, who pitched in with writing, research and doing most of the layout. “It looks at a time before franchises and strip malls.
“We thought it was a great story that needed to be told and preserved.”
Born and raised in Windsor, Edwards and Weeks have published a number of books, including the 2012 success 500 Ways You Know You’re From Windsor.
So why Detroit? The Motor City is simply part of their upbringing.
As a young man, Edwards visited Detroit about every other weekend. The first date he and Weeks went on was in Detroit.
Though the 480-page coffeetable book with more than 1,400 images — including ads, postcards, and promotional material — focuses on good times, it also addresses some serious issues. It reminds readers about the city’s role as the arsenal of democracy, and proclaims that Detroit won the war and saved the world from fascism — by building the machinery used to defeat the enemy.
The book also offers a chapter called Panic in Detroit, about the 1967 riots/uprising. And it touches on the city’s ups and downs.
“Detroit is a great American story,” Edwards said. “You have this great success, then it’s all taken away. And now they’re trying to get it back.
“It’s in Detroit’s DNA. They never give up.”
WAYS TO GET BOOK
5000 Ways You Know You’re From Detroit, by Elaine Weeks and Chris Edwards, costs $49.95 and is available through most bookstores in Windsor and a few select shops in Detroit, or by calling Walkerville Publishing at 519-255-9527.