The Grande Ballroom

Information

The Grande Ballroom is a two-story music venue built in 1921 on Grand River Street in Detroit. Much like the Vanity Ballroom, the Grande had a retail space on the first floor, with the ballroom being on the second floor. Music acts that played at the Grande in the late 60's and early 70's included Pink Floyd, John Coltrane Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, The MC5, Sun Ra and The Stooges.

I actually ended up spending the night in the Grande on my first trip there. Due to circumstances which will remain unsaid, I was wandering around Detroit at about 2 in the morning with no place to stay. So I stayed at the Grande. It was dark, icy, slippery, and my flashlight was dead. By the feeble light of my blackberry I was unable to find a stairway up to the ballroom, so I cleared a spot in the first-floor debris, and slept until sunrise.

And oh, what a sight.

2010 Update:

I've revisited the Grande, this time during the middle of the day. The pictures have been updated to reflect the natural colors of the ballroom and it's current condition, which is declining quickly. In the short time that we were there, small pieces of the ceiling cracked and fell, while the floor has become quite a bit more unstable.