Where is South Detroit?
Question for the folks out there:
Where is "South Detroit?"
I was born in Detroit and raised in the suburbs. I have never lived more than 30 miles from the Detroit border yet I have never wandered into this elusive part of Detroit. I can easily identify the east side, west side, and the southwest corner of the city. One would suppose from the way thousands of Detroit area fanatics belt out the lyrics from the classic rawk hit that the region is famous or populated or exists.
I hope someone can fill this gap for me. If not, well, I will forever endure the apprehensive shudder that courses through my soul each time the first note of the Journey song pierces the gameday sanctity of Michigan Stadium.
It is mostly considered to be downriver (Allen Park, Wyandotte, Lincoln Park).
Taylor, Southfield, Trenton.....
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Southfield is Oakland County buddy!
I think our brother means 'Southgate'.
from Taylor. I guess that would be considered South Detroit.
My opinion South Detroit is South Gate.
Holly, Davidsburg
All the folks I've met from downriver say they are from "downriver." I've never heard anyone refer to the area as South Detroit.
There is no South Detroit. One of the members of Journey admitted that they got it wrong in the song.
Yeah, those guys are from San Francisco. They don't know anything about Detroit geography.
August 6th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
Carry on. :-)
August 6th, 2011 at 11:44 PM ^
they meant born and raised in those downriver communities, however for purposes of songwriting, south detroit sounds a lot better and really isnt THAT much of a stretch geographically or culturally
Back when the song was released and it was in the top 40, kasey Kasem had a weekly rundown and would sometimes in between songs give us tidbits about the song.
Well I guess the story goes that one of the guys from Journey met some chick and she was from Southfield, since most of the country wouldn't know where that is and South Detroit sounds cooler, that is why they say that in the song.
I'm not making this up, I remember Kasem telling that story.
(and someone who fucking hates that song) I researched this a few years back and found out that Steve Perry just liked the sound of it and had no clue of the geography of the city. Fuck him for me having to put up with that song when I go back to that shithole.
August 7th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
to The Joe.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Joe is a palace in my eyes, especially with all of the banners that are hanging unlike San Jose and Anaheim.
The Joe is a shithole, but it's OUR shithole.
It's hard to find. You have to take a midnight train going anywhere.
Dude that is extemely funny!
August 6th, 2011 at 10:31 PM ^
In what small town plausibly near "South Detroit" is there a "midnight train"?
windsor
August 7th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
South Detroit can only be Windsor, geographically speaking.
Windsor.
Oh, Canada..
Toledo
It exists in here, man.
(pointing to heart)
In all of us.
OK, really. People call the Delray area and various other neighborhoods "southwest Detroit" because it's west of Woodward and therefore technically on the "west side," but look on a map: it's smack in the middle from east to west. Like, where Fort and Livernois meet, that is literally midway between the eastern tip and the western edge. Why that can't be the "south Detroit" of the song, I dunno.
Bingo.
Yes, true, I just looked on a map and West Fort Street becomes South Fort Street as you get west of the Rouge River and head into Southwest Detroit. Where Fort and Livernois meet is pretty close to both Southwestern HS and Western HS, leaving no room for a South High School.
All in all I suppose sections of the city are named due to their proximity to the oldest part of the city which happens to be the present day downtown area. Everything south of downtown puts you in Canada, hence no South Detroit. People south of the border in Windsor certainly have a different accent than us Americans.
It's kinda weird, my nephews grew up in Windsor and have the Canadian way of saying certain words such as ''Dohlar" instead of the the correct way dollar.
How much is a looney worth? One Dohlar
You should tell your nephews you're sorr-e for making fun of their Windsor accent.
August 7th, 2011 at 12:27 AM ^
You make fun of a Canadian accent? It's hilarious how funny it is to hear an American say sah-dah paap (soda pop) or hah-key (hockey) to name a few.
August 7th, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^
"sah-dah paap" and "hah-key" are examples of the midwestern accent. You don't really hear that in other parts of the country.
Wrong! We say pop and only pop....wtf is soda. And for sure not "soda pop".
They sell soda in the south, pop in the midwest. I haven't spent enough time out west to know what they sell there and I certainly don't know who sells freaking "soda pop."
they sell soda in the east/new england area. in the south, including oklahoma and texass, they sell coke. it took me by suprise when I was at OU, and the waitress asked me:
what kind of coke would i like?
if you ask for a pop, youre likely to get a blank stare.
Is this freshman orientation?
Walk through the fountain, my pretties...
I know "pop" is the regular term in the midwest and people rarely say "soda pop." My point is that the accent with the "ah" sound replacing the short O and some long O sounds is a midwest thing.
1. it's either soda or pop, rarely do people say soda pop.
2. no one over here talks about hockey.
August 7th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
There's no W in "hockey," no matter how many Canadians try to put it there. Come to think of it, there's no such place as "Detroyit," either.
Ouellette Avenue will get you there
Bisect the city horizontally and you'll find the lower half to be south.
I've always assumed that Journey knew nothing of Detroit and since the "Southside" is rough and ghetto in places like Chicago, they figured South Detroit must be the baddest-of-all-ass places to come from.
People try to claim it's Down River, but it's Windsor.
All I know for sure is that I'll be happy if I never hear that song or "Sweet Caroline" in the Big House again. For some reason, Thunderstruck never got old for me. No idea why ...
Is the song they open games with at Comisky-cellular field in Chicago. Never ever need to hear that.
It's not Downriver, it's Windsor. Which is the only geographical location where Canada is due south of the United States.
It occurred to me that Journey probably played at Cobo Hall quite a bit, basically the heart (Hart) of downtown. So if they looked due south they would have seen nothing but water and Canada.
It's not Windsor because
Search 'South Detroit' on Wikipedia and it returns 'Downriver.' I believe Wolverine318 to be correct.
Alternatively, it could be the Detroit in Oregon. Per Wikipedia (again), all the Journey dudes seem to be northern Californians / San Franciscans with no connection to the midwest (save one guy who was born in Chicago and moved west later). Detroit, OR is closer to San Fran that Detroit, MI, so maybe that's what they meant.
Finally, there is a borough of Quezon City in the Philippines called Detroit. Several of the members of Journey are of Philippino descent, so that, too, could be it.