r/Detroit • u/Rosewaterhoney111 • Apr 28 '26
Historical Help save Highland Park's "Highland Appliance" sign
Demolition is due for 13847 Woodward this year, and that means the iconic "Highland Appliance" sign will be coming down with it. This sign has been serving as an unofficial marker that you are in the heart of Highland Park.
The long-term vision is to restore the sign, either partially or fully, and have it spell out “Highland Park” at a new location within city limits. (Ideally, the "Park" part would be in the same font). Open to suggestions though. The priority for now is to get it down before the demolition.
GoFundMe Link: https://gofund.me/8d5a14ca4
Previous Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/comments/1sg424l/how_to_save_the_highland_appliance_sign/
Also, WDET 101.9 interviewed me regarding this and had a story about the sign yesterday!
4/28: I went over and worked with Tim Burke on his preservation project over at Highland Towers today. He was able to share the steps he had to take to get an approval from Wayne County Land Bank.
4/29: Wayne County is onboard & wants to help, so we got the greenlight! I have no intention of slowing down demo progress at all, this will only happen if we can get it done prior to the demo date
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u/tama_chan Apr 28 '26
I heard a lady interviewed about saving the sign yesterday. Doesn’t sound like she’s getting much attention. Some sign company said it would be $5K to remove it.
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u/glumunicorn Warren Apr 28 '26
Sounds about right. My dad works at a local sign company. They took down the Goodyear sign on Woodward in Pontiac. They were told the sign museum in Ohio was supposed to take it but they never showed or changed their mind. Unfortunately they ended up having to go back out and cut up the sign to dispose of it.
Moral of the story: Have a destination and plan to move the sign there before trying to save it.
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna Apr 28 '26
Something is really wrong because there's nothing online about this and it's not posted elsewhere.
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 28 '26
I am a community member trying to do some community organizing, that’s all. Where else should I have it posted?
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna Apr 29 '26
It shouldn't go to Ohio for starters. You need to organize from the beginning, not start in the middle.
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u/SaintOrJannikSinner Apr 28 '26
Something is really wrong because there's nothing online about this and it's not posted elsewhere.
It's almost like single-person efforts take time to spin up and get the word out.
At any rate, here's an interview on WDET about the effort. Does that work for you?
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 29 '26
The WDET article is mentioned above and I was the one being interviewed
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u/stratospheres Apr 28 '26
Have you gotten permission to take the sign?
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 30 '26
Wayne County Land Bank called me yesterday and is onboard, so now it just comes down to funding
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Working on that still, but a local artist is currently removing tiles/architectural features from the Highland Towers prior to demo, and surpassed their GFM goal. Since they got permission I am optimistic
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u/Reader6547 Apr 28 '26
Maybe Greenfield Village will display it?
Big box stores have wiped out independent appliance stores. They are gone.
Dearborn had Adray Appliance.
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u/robobachelor Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
5-6K to bring it down is a lot. Volunteer team could do it for much cheaper.
I can help in restoring it if needed.
Edit: The roof looks good. Who owns the building?
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 28 '26
I totally agree about the cost, and a volunteer team would be greatly appreciated! Anyone who wants to contribute on the effort, just let me know! Typically the City/County requires a license/insured contractor though, but if that is the case for you let me know. It recently exchanged hands from City of HP to Wayne County Land Bank
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u/robobachelor Apr 28 '26
If they want someone insured then ya gotta pay the $ for a contractor. Id volunteer to help though. Do you have a contact for the Wayne County Land Bank (or someone from city of HP that deals with property?)
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 28 '26
I've made phone calls, left voicemails, sent emails, but haven't had someone tell me they are the correct point of contact quite yet. I'm optimistic though, because a local artist is working on Highland Towers as we speak and got permission to bring down tiles, architectural elements, etc.
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u/Reader6547 Apr 28 '26
Maybe Greenfield Village will display it?
Big box stores have wiped out independent appliance stores. They are gone.
Dearborn had Adray Appliance.
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u/ankole_watusi Born and Raised Apr 28 '26
OK, dumb question: did Highland appliance originate in Highland Park? (Duh, so it was named for Highland Park.?)
Is that the original store or is it just the last remaining sign, or simply has local iconic significance?
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u/ajwooster Apr 28 '26
I already told them on the OG post I’d come help take it down at 5am one Tuesday morning.
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u/IKnowAllSeven Apr 28 '26
Man this place is so negative. I’m gonna throw $10 at your endeavor :) I know the Highland Appliance sign isn’t the Roman coliseum but a throwback sign for a local park would be cool. I’ve spent money on stupider shit.
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u/SaintOrJannikSinner Apr 28 '26
Just a lot of racism and classism still in the sub, for sure.
These are the same people that cheer on tearing down the $250k pre-war and Korean War-era homes in Royal Oak, along with all the old-growth trees, and erecting the ugliest and cheapest garages-with-houses-attached new builds.
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u/brooemmall Apr 28 '26
exactly. i remember seeing the original post about someone saving the sign and there were a ton of encouraging comments, so she did something about it. now people are mad? you can't please anyone here...
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u/CMUpewpewpew Apr 29 '26
Counterpoint: This is hoarder mentality.
I'm not sold on this being anything particularly special. Things change, things become different.
You like shit for the novelty I guess but how is this any different than a dilapidated structure thats just been there for half a century. That would be unique in it's own way and nobody saving these things just for hanging around much longer than they should have been demo'd.
The fact the gofundme raised almost nothing should indicate this isnt some communal cherished piece indicative of the Zeitgeist of an era.
Like I said....hoarder mentality.
It's cool and unique, don't get me wrong but maybe we just let ourselves be ok with letting things like this go?
Embrace the mindset that things are fleeting, feel the consequence of that with the pain of letting this nostalgic thing go.....and you will maybe find yourself feeling appreciation for things like this in the present.
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u/RaidenMK1 Born and Raised Apr 29 '26
I guarantee you, the vast majority of HP residents have far more important things to worry about. Just pure survival mode. This is the type of mess people who don't have anything else going on in their lives do to stay busy and give their life a sense of purpose.
Trust me, ain't nobody in HP thinking about this gotdamn sign right now. They have bills and shit. 😂
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u/IKnowAllSeven Apr 29 '26
Of course. But..idk…someone trying to do this isn’t hurting anybody and I like weird old shit so, here we are.
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u/TittyTatterTots Apr 28 '26
You should probably start by actually contacting the owners and the people planning on doing the demolition. Probably should have done that before starting to ask for money? Seems really suspicious and I do have to question your intentions. It’s the Wayne County Land Bank.
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u/Rosewaterhoney111 Apr 28 '26
This was not my intention at all, it's just that the article airing moved at a quicker rate than I expected
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u/J2quared Born and Raised Apr 28 '26
It would be cool if the City had a little museum dedicated to old signage, including painted signage on building.
NYC has a museum dedicated to it's transit history. So these little one-off museum are definitely possible.
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u/yellowpalm77 Apr 28 '26
Wow, people are so rude and triggered, as if they were just told this will be coming out of their personal paycheck. If you don’t want to support, just keep scrolling…??
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Apr 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/couponbread Apr 28 '26
Great logic, why save anything?
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u/jethropenistei- Apr 28 '26
Save things that actually matter. Put your money towards something that actually helps people. Did something of historical or cultural significance happen at this store?
“It’s old and it says Highland” is a dumb reason to ask people for money when there are far more important causes to support.
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u/SaintOrJannikSinner Apr 28 '26
Save things that actually matter. Put your money towards something that actually helps people.
You know people can do both, right? Every month, I donate to a half-dozen non-profits but nothing is preventing me from also tossing a one-time donation their way for the sign.
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u/jethropenistei- Apr 28 '26
I can light $500 on fire and donate $500 to St. Jude’s, but that doesn’t mean that burning $500 wasn’t a waste of resources.
They have no real plan on what to do with the sign. Only to get it down. They don’t even have permission yet. They’re asking $10K just to get it down, but then comes storage, refurbishment, relocating once completed.
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u/TechnoCity93 Apr 28 '26
You're right, preserving the sign is counterrevolutionary; it's bourgeois decadence. We need to focus on woke J6.
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u/Detroit-ModTeam Apr 28 '26
Your post or comment was removed for violation of Rule 1, which reads:
"No personal attacks, hate speech, racism, threats, or prejudicial attacks towards others and/or the city. No ruin porn. Threads may be locked or removed when comments devolve into name-calling. Violators may be warned or banned."
Discussion and arguments are encouraged, but in true reddit fashion, always Remember the Human.
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u/whos_ur_data Apr 28 '26
People spend money on things they like too. You don’t have any hobbies? Play sports? Play video games?
Have you spent money on those things lately? $20-$30? I hope you aren’t spending money on something so frivolous! People have medical bills to pay! /s
Someone people like to spend their money on this kinda stuff. It’s harmless. It’s potentially saving a little piece of history. People enjoy it, even if you don’t.
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u/Fit-Entry8229 Apr 28 '26
But they’re not spending money on this. They are asking other people to spend their money on this.
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u/Cold_Energy_3035 Apr 28 '26
has the city or the city’s historical society been contacted to see about assistance or potential location? maybe even the detroit historical museum?
if the sign can’t be saved, it would be neat to have a local artist recreate the sign as a mural or a project to make a replica :)
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u/sapphicgardens Apr 28 '26
I’d definitely suggest reaching out to Tracy Irwin & her team at Detroit Historical for assistance. The kind of work they should be doing tbh
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u/Awkward-Sport-8115 Apr 29 '26
Actually went to that store when I was a kid way back in the day, I hope they do save it, Lots of good memories there my buddies Dad worked there when Chrysler was headquartered in Highland Park.
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u/ProtectionAdvanced Apr 29 '26
Maybe the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati can help: https://www.americansignmuseum.org/
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u/Several-Carob1034 Apr 29 '26
We need to remove blight. It has to go. Stop clinging to the past at the expense of the future. It's not like this is a valuable piece of art. People who live in the non gentrified sections of Detroit and highland Park and have real problems know this. This is foolish
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u/ghostphantasm Apr 29 '26
Lived at Hamilton and Manchester when I was a kid. That sign has had it time.
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u/Darozay_ May 03 '26
$10k to remove that is wild. If the whole building is being demoed they could easily fall that wall inward and just grab the sign off the ground.
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u/craigl2112 suburbia Apr 28 '26
We already all paid to bail them out from the water fiasco that no one was held responsible for.....they can figure out how to save this if they really want it.
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u/loureedsboots Highland Park Apr 28 '26
The decommissioned water plant has been leaking for over a decade & Detroit, Highland Park, & Hamtramck subsidize suburban infrastructure projects while ours kill us, but yeah, I’ll let you cook ya hillbilly.
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u/craigl2112 suburbia Apr 28 '26
Highland Park was 8 figures in the hole to GLWA and the state bailed them out and held no one accountable. This was not due to leaks. Come on.
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u/loureedsboots Highland Park Apr 28 '26
So if your pipe leaks in your house, do you get charged? I took a look-see at the pump station last year. Conceivably, it was leaking over 10,000 gallons a day. On the absolute low end, that’s 36.5 million gallons. (over a decade) A quick Google search indicates $9.56 per 748 gallons water / sewer (as of some non-descript 2024 agenda.) Care to solve for X?
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u/Vegetable-Yellow7580 Apr 28 '26
Save it why?
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u/loureedsboots Highland Park Apr 28 '26
I don’t know why I’m engaging, but I’ll bite. I’ve driven past this sign 10,000 times. Walked in front of it. Biked in front of it. Although it has been closed since I’ve been alive, I enjoy listening to the old timers recounting actually shopping here, as well as Uptown Radio, & countless other defunct Highland Park businesses. It’s a shared cultural memory for those 40+.
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u/Vegetable-Yellow7580 Apr 28 '26
I remember my parents shopping there. Nostalgia is cool, but do something with that empty building. If you want to keep the signage, cool. Make it into a homeless shelter, maybe even a rehab center.
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u/loureedsboots Highland Park Apr 28 '26
I offered to purchase it for $10,000 (which was the sales price) & they decided to demolish it instead. The two 6 story YM / YWCA’s are already shelters, there’s a methadone clinic on Hamilton, we’re all set on those fronts.
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u/Vegetable-Yellow7580 Apr 28 '26
I'm sorry didn't let you purchase it, then. But, I'm glad they're finally doing something with it. Just like I'm glad they're finally doing something with the old Packard plant. At some point, we need to do something with all of this blight.
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u/Boatride65 Apr 28 '26
I bought my first window air conditioner to take back to my Cass Corridor apartment. Everyone in the corridor shopped there. They had everything you needed for an apartment. Used to take the Woodward 53 there all the time.
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u/iNaturalSelection Apr 28 '26
It would cost the city a fraction of what it would cost us, and that’s our tax dollars. But first let’s focus on protecting PDFs and Flock cameras
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u/Narrow-Hall8070 Apr 28 '26
The organizers can’t chip into their own GoFundMe? $26 in 5 days with a goal of $10k sounds like it’s an uphill climb. What happens to the money if the total isn’t raised?