CDI J.L. Hudson department store implosion

[SuperDetroit9]

@Hotters70604sl That's because it WAS"controlled also!!

[HAPKAH]

why was it blown up? looked like a perfectly normal building

[NikkoCharger]

@HAPKAH Like many older Detroit building it was vandalized and had parts stolen off of it till it was just an empty shell

[anythingbutcommon]

@HAPKAH It had been sitting vacant for years, and was in total disrepair inside. Plus the city of Detroit seems to enjoy destroying history.

[leapingoutofwater]

wow! I thought our Wannamakers here in Philly, or the Strawbridge building, were big department stores. This one looks even bigger!! Can't believe they tore that down, but honestly from this view it doesn't look like a very appealing building architecturally. Just my opinion.

and brick-schmick!! when Strawbridge closed I bought all of the dining chairs from the 6th-floor 'Corinthian Room'!! ha! :)

[krakenwave]

@leapingoutofwater

Compared to the architecture and tacky fashion-features that were stores built in the 80s (when this was pulled down) - with that "lets tart up the unavoidable-but-hated modernism with some plastic gables and fake-balconies and kiddy-bricks all in primary colours" shit, Hudson's was a gem all round.

[cool45010]

@leapingoutofwater I'm a Philly man as well; we thought our Sears implosion was big!

[zeebianco]

TRAGIC!!!

[zeebianco]

Truly one of the worst decisions to demolish since the destruction of New York's original Penn Station. The people responsible should hang their heads in shame ....

This was an important part of American retail history now gone for good. If you look at archive photos of the store's interior during its heyday it was truly magical.

[sirlordwhitman]

This was the store that the MC5 rebelled against in the 60s for not stocking their album. I bet they were somewhat tickled to see this happen.

[neilnurisso]

Fucking Detroit going into the toliet

[SuperFerndale]

This was one of the most magnificent stores in the world, and look what they did to it. Shame!

[SuperDetroit9]

@SuperFerndale While I was placing the"C-4"on the support beams(after jack-hammering all the CEMENT out of them)I'd heard,that the cement was set,into the beams,SPECIFICALLY,so that it would withstand an AIR RAID!! But by REMOVING,this"muscle"from the I-beams,and placing explosives onTO,each beam,the tower was "done"!! All 420 feet of falling tower totally"MISSED"the People Mover track(a mere 20 FEET away)Only debris,intermittently falling from,the (tall)rubble pile closed the"PM"for a while...

[1DanielChristensen]

no way you stole this off the site! lol

[pater429]

Nice one.

one second delay:D for each explosion, is it posseble for a zero second delay for each explosion?

[MrGH3Man4]

The Nice of a DEMLITION!!!!

[LEMMlNGSmaster]

Mark Loizeaux and his crew did a fantastic job imploding the building without it hitting even the nearest building less than 50 feet away. He's my favorite professional. He even helped bring down the Aladdin in Las Vegas. He also helped implode 3 identical hotels in Chicago, each less than 5 seconds apart each.

[SuperDetroit9]

@LEMMlNGSmaster Aw,man,I got to meet Mark personally during this project...He's a REALLY cool dude!!

[spidergawd]

Thanks for posting this. I was there and it was one of the saddest and, well, coolest things I've ever seen.

[trnolte21]

That's art

[oc5nsli341nforce4]

This also set a record for the amount of explosives used in all 4400pounds!

[modelchic99]

Wow, that building was huge.

[boazrg]

It's a metaphor for the destruction of civilized Detroit.

[LARC0]

Great footage!, I have some footage from being caught in the giant dust cloud, there was no escape.

[shelliebill]

My parents met working at the restaurant in 1966, got engaged, married then my father went off to Vietnam.

The day after the implosion, my husband and I went down to check things out. The guard let us take 2 Hudson's bricks from the rubble.

When we built our home we had the brick layers strategically add them in.

A lot of great memories happened there. :)

[RichmanJ93]

wow. cool!

[dustinwifey3456]

@shelliebill just hours after the implosion,as our crew was hauling away debris,dozens of people were coming close,and offering us $20 bucks,just to hand them a brick with"JLH"inscribed on it!! But the boss warned us,that anyone caught selling bricks would be immediately fired!! :(

[shelliebill]

@dustinwifey3456 Wow! I bet that was quite a scene! I'd have begged and pleaded for a brick too.

Could you just give away the bricks to people without accepting any cash?

I had completely forgotten about the JLH imprint on it!.

I will take a picture of where we placed them within our own brick work and post a link later... that is if it it is and up load it and link it (if it's allowed)

Did you manage to obtain any for your self? :D

[worktosser]

@shelliebill Awesome story. Glad you got that little piece of history. Such a massive looking building - Shame to see it go.

[SuperDetroit9]

@shelliebill Hey,then we likely saw each other,as I was right there(being apart of the"crew"placing the"C-4" in the columns)checking the site after implosion,and"warned"not to give/"sell"any bricks to those asking!! Folk were going:"Psssst,hey buddy,I got $30 bucks that says that brick right THERE,is coming home with ME!!" Do yours have:"JLH"on them?!? Most don't realize just how MASSIVE this building was......It had MORE square footage than all FOUR of the Ren Cens' 39-floor towers COMBINED!!

[maxesuncle330]

I moved out of Detroit 9 months before this building was imploded. It sickens me to see this video. I have only fond memories of Husdons from its brass drinking fountains to the elevator man who let us sit in his seat as he brought us to the floor we wanted. Also my mother worked there and she met my father in the cafeteria. Detroit has so maybe beautiful buildings that are now in disrepair and in crime ridden streets. Now nearly 10 years since its implosion, i do not think anything replaced it!

[jcgm97]

Compuware's world headquarters (which houses the Detroit Hard Rock Cafe) occupies the area now.

[sojoyful]

Just like dominoes.

bing bing bing

[spasmaticgonads]

Have you ever even BEEN to Detroit?

[mierezuur]

@ Bittercycle: that´s called capitalism...

[southern2716]

Capitalism built it too, I would remind you.

[cqyuesefu]

holy shit that looked like an awesome building. they don't make em like they used too!

Detroits full of those places isn't it?

[Blaze1071]

That was such a huge building. It is a shame to see great structures like that and Book-Cadillac and many others become dilapidated and essentially raped by blight and neglect. I guess since nobody needed it except homeless bums, and nobody wanted to pay to fix/maintain it and use it, it had to go. A real shame. I've never been to Detroit but wish I could've seen it in its hetday.

[SuperDetroit9]

@Blaze1071 Right about now,I fee like a real"heel"because,I actually"pulled the switch"on this"execution",as I,being alaborer on this job,peronally"placed"the tubes of C-4/dynamite into the support columns of this building!! Personally,though all FOUR basement levels were totally flooded,the structure itself seemed to be pretty solid!! I had a BALL,just"roaming"throughout the building,while nostalgia took me for a ride!! I still believe that this GREAT building could've/should've been"saved"!!

[superbruce]

J.L Hudsons was one of the countries leadinga nd most chis department stores. Its a terrible shame that the store was not only de-railed 80's and 90's by the whole retail shake-up ,but that they had to tear down this magnificent structure- it could have been renovated for multiple use... a true loss...

[TVnostalgia]

It was an amazing achievement, although a single girder from the building fell on the monorail line. The lawyers took full adavantage of that.

[dustinwifey3456]

@TVnostalgia thats a bunch of milarkey,because I was a mere 50 feet away when it"sollapsed"and not a single BRICK made contact with the PM rail at that time!! Although,every now and then,something would tumble off of the tall debris pile,onto the PM rail!! I think I lost around $10 bucks,betting one of the Demo company guys that the building would totally demolish the People Mover,when it fell!!

[MGlBlaze]

Such a huge waste of resources....

Whatever the reason for the demolition was, it should have been avoided.

[keepthapinit]

I agree with you 100%

[metromonthly]

It just makes me sad.

[BitterCycle]

This still pisses me off. That building could have been redeveloped.

[myspace2000]

i new the people who owned that buliding and it was a rat and bum hotel befor we did a walk in thw whole buliding the cop came and got about 50 bums out

[keepthapinit]

It sure could've...I remember when I used to come up here (to Michigan), and they had a toy store upstairs, and they had the restaurent on the 1st floor.

I was about at least 6 or 7 at the time. I remember this