Intro to Heidelberg, Detroit
“Shoes blossomed from trees, abandoned cars flashed bright toothy grins”
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I grew up in Greater Detroit during the 80s and 90s; the city seemed just as normal as any other. I didn't know any different. I simply thought that all cities were abandoned, eerie, depressed and forgotten. Detroit was the only cityscape I knew or understood.
It was the riots of the late 60s that first turned the once thriving city into a post-war zone. After the riots, Detroit became a hotbed of social and economic decay, an urban museum inventorying all that had gone wrong with rust belt cities, following their peak in the 50s. The Motor City had become the Murder City, and the population steeply declined from 1.85 million to 700,000, leaving 70,000 buildings abandoned.
Oblivious to the danger of this place, I was fearless. Venturing from suburbia, I explored its ins and outs. Morning hikes with walking sticks through the Grand Central Train Station and other abandoned relics, acid trips on Belle Isle with albino deer, 40 ounces of malt liquor on the Detroit River. Daytime in Detroit was so beautiful to me. The colors of what once thrived popped against the broken cement landscapes. The trees still changed in Autumn and they still bloomed in Spring. This was enough.
It was 1993 and I was exploring the back roads of the inner eastside. I happened upon Heidelberg Street. I rolled up to a block of houses, one bedecked in brightly colored dots, another covered in stuffed animals and dolls, one fully cloaked in pennies from around the world. Shoes blossomed from trees, abandoned cars flashed bright toothy grins, empty lots were filled with ‘trash’ arranged by the hand of a skilled curator.
I had never seen anything like this before. I had stepped into a Detroit Oz, its roads laden with spirals. Heidelberg Street was different from the surrounding neighborhood, touched with magic and spirit. Although I didn't embrace the darkness of the city's depression, Heidelberg had shown a light I didn't know existed.
So, who was behind it all?
In 1986, Tyree Guyton, a resident of this eastside neighborhood had a vision. He brought hope to the depressed landscapes and began reclaiming his childhood neighborhood. Day after day, he worked with the community's children to create an “open-air art environment.” This transformation became known as the Heidelberg Project. The Heidelberg Project’s mission was, and is, to “inspire people to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and to improve the social and economic health of the greater community."
There was a time however, when the City of Detroit did not see the validity of the Heidelberg Project's mission. For the first decade of its existence, the project battled the demolition of several of its creations. Fortunately, the city eventually came around, seeing the value of turning empty dilapidated lots to “lots of art.”
The project has since flourished, and nearly 270,000 visitors each year come to see this magical wonderland with their own eyes. The children of this community, who once walked streets beset with violent crime, now play in a landscape of hope and inspiration. No serious crimes have been reported on Heidelberg Street for 25 years.
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Shenyah Klaras conducted an interview with Heidelberg artist, Phillip Simpson, for Nailed Magazine. Read the full INTERVIEW HERE.
Mike Boening created a photo essay of the Heidelberg project. View the full PHOTO ESSAY HERE.
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