The abandoned homes of Detroit's NW Goldberg neighborhood

Roughly halfway between downtown Detroit and the exclave suburb of Highland Park is Northwest Goldberg neighborhood, which is almost always referred to as NW Goldberg.

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There are so many beaten-own big old homes in Detroit that were probably once packed with screaming kids, kind of like the scene portrayed in the song "Our House" by Madness.

This one is covered by asphalt brick--on the left is the one of the most common trees in post-prosperity Detroit, a mulberry.

NW Goldberg is part of the original Detroit street grid that runs from southeast to northwest. According to Google Maps its boundaries are Grand Boulevard on the northwest, Grand River on the southwest, the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks on the southeast (lots of "Grand" going on here), and the Lodge Freeway on the northeast.

NW Goldberg's pride and joy is the Motown Museum on Grand Boulevard, which is housed in the original studios that produced so many hits in the 1960s when the label proudly declared itself "the Sound of Young America."

This photograph was taken in 2015.All others were snapped in mid-November of this year.

This burnt-out brick home reminds me of the type of farmhouse you'd find in Normandy after D-Day.

Two rundown American Foursquares. Note the "Detroit sidewalk" on the right.

From a Detroit sidewalk we move on to a Detroit street, formally 16th Street between Marquette and McGraw, where a crab apple tree rests. It sits there--and no one does anything.

Does anyone care?

Which is followed by a Detroit alley. As I noted in a post made last month, most alleyways in Detroit are impassable. Alley garbage pick-up ended there in the 1970s.

NW Goldberg's other claim to fame is King Solomon Baptist Church. Prior to the all-black congregation owning it the Tudor Revival structure at 14th and Marquette was the home of Temple Baptist Church--an all-white congregation. I covered the sometimes troubling yet fascinating story of these two churches two years ago. In 1963 Malcolm X gave one of his best-known speeches at King Solomon, his "Message to the Grass Roots." Was that address given here?

Or here, in the King Solomon Church Main Auditorium across the street? Records are unclear. As this building holds 5,000 people, I'm going with the latter.

The beautiful church building has been vacant for years.

Martin Luther King also spoke at King Solomon.

Abandoned or not, you don't see as many apartment buildings in Detroit compared to other large, or formerly large, cities. I suspect it's because Detroit grew rapidly in the early 20th century, when single-home ownership became more desirable and affordable.

Http, that is hypertext protocol, and the World Wide Web have bypassed this vacated classic gas station, save for a graffiti tagging.

Another forsaken  home--and the ubiquitous-in-Detroit discarded tires on the front lawn.

Here's what you will find at 16th and McGraw--some interesting clapboard work.

Scenes of desolation such as this one are very common in Detroit. In 1940 the Motor City was America's fourth-largest city. Not it's in 23rd place.

According to Statistical Atlas, only 2,100 people in NW Goldberg now.

Illegal dumping in Detroit just doesn't include tires and other man-made debris. Brush and yard waste also is indiscriminately disposed of.

Here's yet another Detroit home that you can just walk right into.

Metal thieves stripped much of the aluminum siding off of this home.

A fixed up version of this home will go for over $1 million in San Francisco. This one probably isn't worth $1,000 in the Motor City.

Because NW Goldberg is quite close to three freeways--the Lodge, Jeffries, and Edsel Ford, in my opinion it's future is bright. Hipsters and millennials have moved into Corktown, Boston-Edison, and Virginia Park. NW Goldberg could be next.

Guests of Marathon Pundit in Detroit stay at the luxurious Pink-Inn Motel.