"The Nightlife Is Calling You" in Flint Michigan

[trick29420]

$25? Inflation much?

[krammit69]

no way that blond is from Flint... no offense Flint girls just sayin'

[broncodrew]

Ha ha what a fucking joke! I grew up in Flint, that whole commerical definately was shot in the Hyatt. Doesn't matter if was shot in 1988 or now, once you step outside they would have been dodging bullets and panhandlers. Glad I moved to Dallas. Fuck Flint and fuck Michael Moore! I said it as a child and I say it now: We should drop an A-bomb on Flint and start over from scratch!

[JohnsonSlanger]

@broncodrew we should drop an A bomb on ur bitch ass! FUCK YOU FAGGET! and fuck gay ass dallas! FLint is my home and i love it no matter how shity it is...u just love cock

[broncodrew]

@JohnsonSlanger Nice retort there buddy, using low-brow gay bashing on my “bitch-ass”. You're definitely a product of a Flint education (Beecher or Central?). If you spend less time getting upset with people who make joking pot-shots at their hometown and more time concentrating on self improvement (I stress “self improvement” and not saving for 20” Dubs for your '83 Caprice...aaight!) you might find yourself in a better place as well!

[JohnsonSlanger]

@broncodrew if u spent less time sucking dick, maybe u could get some pussy...u prob got beat up n picked on everyday, so u moved. happens all the time w pussys like u. stay gay, fag!

[krammit69]

@broncodrew I grew up in Flint too. I wish we could put Flint in a time machine and send it back to 1960 it was nice then before GM and the UAW ruined it.

[panthervoodoo]

makes me so sick they sold that place to a fcking church. Just what Flint DIDN'T need. I moved there in 97 and was outta there in 03. It used to be a cool, edgy place when businesses like Metropolis were opened. I missed AutoWOrld by a cpl of years. But this is a prime example of the "Nothing" (like the never-ending story) spreading in the wake of the failed auto industry. I hope places like Flint,Pontiac and Detroit can make a come back. So sad to see such potential just rot on the vine...

[FilminDetroit]

Where can we go now for nightlife?

[cgasucks]

$24.99 a night??? Gotta dig up my time machine...

[johnh23]

Looks like a nice hotel. The food looks great ! I might drive down and stay there.

[Crimmyboy]

i like how ppl say stuff about Flint withou never being here.

[LIAmediaGROUP]

wow.. How 80s!

[IFlick]

Smoking old heaps roll through the cold, desolate streets of abandoned cars and the jagged ruins of collapsed buildings. Here and there shabby, desolate figures dart from corner to corner, trying to avoid any and all manner of sudden and certain death which is a close and constant threat. Hungry, frightened and alone, they search desperately for the simple sustenance of life. Those few, those desperate few. This is much of life in Flint, Michigan.

[shellystonespoop]

@IFlick Did you write that? It's a really good piece of poetry. I'm serious.

[sterkfontaine]

Haven't watched this in a year or so... was at work and this shit popped in my head. Could not get it the fuck out until know, after six view.

[unsupercat]

everyone goes there and asks so wheres the hookers and cocaine

[IFlick]

There are no prostitutes, there is no cocaine. No one in Flint, Michigan has money for products like those. There are people their that are working on eating everyday.

[bobsanford]

the only lights you will see in flint is muzzel flash....come to the hyatt and get shoot

[IFlick]

There have been seven homicides in the last ten days! Nearly fifty so far and the year isn't over. Without question, this is the most dangerous city in the United States.

[IFlick]

The former Hyatt Regency is now a dormitory. For the price of a single semester in a bunk bed in this dorm, a student can purchase a three bedroom, fully furnished home within a ten minute walk of the campus! They are also completely disposable. When it's no longer needed, simply walk away or burn it to the ground!

[IFlick]

This city will soon close entire neighborhoods, vast segments of the city running dozens of blocks in all direction. These areas are completely uninhabited! Power and sewage lines in parts of these communities have been inoperable for years! The entire population of the city is no longer capable of generating the tax revenue to maintain operations. The only City in The United States that can fiscally justify simply walking away!

[StockBoiRecordz]

lol, man im so tired of people talking down of flint. It aint even that bad, as long as you just mind your own business. And IFlick you bring up some good points tho, like when you said its alot of vacant lots and dangerous people. But the way I feel about this city, it made me into a stronger man today. And i feel like that if i can survive in this environment. I can survive anywere..............

[linainverse5]

same here

you just gotta learn how to handle the environment

and learn to live with it

i was born in flint

and i love it here

[IFlick]

There is an ugly analogy. If you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put the frog in the pot and slowly turn up the heat, it will boil alive. You must get out to see where you've been!

[zenobiareid]

sooooooooooooooo true

[IFlick]

There is a neighborhood in Flint, just North of the cities only hospital. A child in that neighborhood has a better chance of reaching its sixth birthday had it been born in Jakarta, Indonesia! This is called "infant mortality". Flint's is the highest in the nation, one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Living in Flint doesn't make these babies stronger at all, it kills them! Indeed, they could have "survived" anywhere but Flint.

[zenobiareid]

maybe its a higher infant mortality rate because flint also has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rate.... most teens that get pregnant go with out proper care here and then lose the baby.....

[zenobiareid]

yeah sorta like boot camp ... i say the same thing about flint

[tarathetarantula]

this is paaaaaainfully tacky

[IFlick]

I never thought I would take the side of Rush Limbough on anything. But he's probably right on leveling Flint. Now, for the safety of nearby communities. This city has to come down. There is not that much left and the remaining population could simply be evacuated. A working Fire and Police department is virtually non existent. Vast segments of the city no longer have utilities, water, power and sewage systems have been completely destroyed . This places the nearby populations in grave danger.

[65JPKing]

Wow, i loved the 70s.

[MrDerekwg810]

80s

[IFlick]

The Red Cross estimates there are hundreds living in the cellars of the abandoned ruins of the city. These are only estimates. The Police and Fema workers consider it to dangerous to venture far enough to give hard numbers. There is no power, water or sewage sytems left. They are squaters, living "off the grid" so to speak. Their food sorce isn't clear but they dispence their own justice. Bodies are left out on the few passable streets that are left as an example to others who would dare go in.

[IFlick]

Flint, Michigan is the only City in the nation literaly considering it's own closer .  Not simply a block or two but vast segments of the city. Uninhabited ruins that span miles in all directions. Entire districts of vacant lots and rubble populated by some of the most violent dangerous people this country has to offer. Beside death, what possible reason would anyone want to come to this cruel, savage community where only misery and you own violent end could await you.

[wmichswingers]

Snake Pliskin in "Escape from Flint"...

[sk8forlife90]

detroit is like flint, only way worse

[istofe21]

LOL weekend getaway 24.99 HAHAHAHAHA thats so flint!

[IFlick]

There are no existing hotels in Flint. The only overnight guests are in the county jail.

[flintmi]

That's 1984 dollars. But hey, you're right, the cost of living there, even today, is very, very low.

[istofe21]

lol itd probably still be 24.99 but then again who makes a weekend getaway to flint anymore? we'll never know

[shellystonespoop]

@istofe21 I would. Places like Flint fascinate me. I think that People that live in and come from places like ESTL, Detroit, Flint, and other decaying midwestern cities are full of interesting stories and sights, not to mention people that have a lot of heart.

[PatchWorkHeaD]

This is HILARIOUS!

[IFlick]

There is word now that this structure maybe turned into student houseing! Unfortunatly, this will spell the end for the old Durant Hotel, which was also slated for housing. With new dorms now in place, they have no use for both.

[flintmi]

The Durant is already being converted to dorms for students. The Crim Foundation owns the hotel now. So all is well for the time being. A little good news is welcomed!

[IFlick]

This is certainly the largest city of its size without some of the real basics. It has no movie theater! The city operates a bus line. But with few places left to stop it's only destination is a string of strip malls on a highway outside the city. Oppsite the empty hotel is a pavilion for a commuter campus of the University Of Michigan. Like almost every building on the entire street, it's empty. Beyond this is nothing but vacant lots and abandoned homes for mile after mile.

[flintmi]

You could have said "largely deserted" a few years ago but in the past 5 they have built it out pretty good. Certainly comparisons to decades ago is futile, but there are more occupied spaces than unoccupied ones. It's no mecca, but it is not "desolate" either. I say this, however, with a grain of salt. I was in Flint last Fall and was the only one walking around downtown around 10PM on a Thursday night. It was pretty eerie.

[IFlick]

The city has an operational airport however passenger service is sporatic and uncertain. There is no passenger train service. The city is still accessable from two instate highways and can be clearly seen from one of these, an abandoned building marks the tallest structure in the skyline and the city appears uninhabited from this point. On entering the city there are rusting old heaps rolling along the streets here and there. But sidewalks are empty.

[warszawianka]

@IFlick Wrong. There is daily Amtrak service to Chicago and Port Huron via East Lansing. The Flint airport serves over a million passengers a year has regular scheduled service to Atlanta, Milwaukee, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland via AirTran, Delta, American Eagle, Midwest Connect, and Continental, and is becoming popular in the northern Detroit suburbs as an alternative to DTW.

[flintmi]

If I didn't know any better, I think, and I mean I *think* the guy at the end eating the salad *might* be Larry Elliot from TV12 WJRT. He looks like a newscaster I remember from back in 1984. I'm sure the WJRT TV12 50th anniversary show would have footage of him from this period, I wonder if its him.

[Dobber1234]

The guy at the beginning is Jim Zembo, the "Come on Girl" is Sherry Wyatt, the salad guy at the end is Dave Barclay owner of Dukes Car Stereo.

[IFlick]

I wonder if Jim Zembo is still working a piano bar somewhere

[Dobber1234]

I wrote that jingle and filmed that commercial. Jim is my cousin and is selling Golf Equipment.

[flintmi]

Jeff Lamb! You are one of most talented people to ever come out of Flint Michigan. Your voice talent and production is amazing! Mel Blanc has nothing on you.

The lighting on this commercial is fantastic. You did an amazing job. Of course, we poke a little fun at it due to its kitsch value, but I'm sure of all people you understand.

BTW Sherry is absolutely beautiful - those eyes! Great casting choice. She's immortal with that line.

[Dobber1234]

Flintmi,

Thanks for the nice comments. Sherry still rocks. I found her about a year ago online and she is still beautiful.

[happyjoe4ever]

Man I bet that city has seen some happy times. I'm interested in Flint. I can't think of another city that was once proud and well off only to transform into oblivion. I say this because I saw a Michael Moore documentary called Roger And Me. I wonder if it ever recovered since then. Let me know if you could please.

[ChicagoJoe57]

Gary Indiana is one such city!

[IFlick]

I've heard About Gary, Indiana. Also East St. Louis, Mo. Flint, Michigan has gone beyond cities like those. East St. Louis and Gary still have a chance, even a future. Flint, has no chance and no hope. Measerable life expectancy is going down! A young, Black male between the ages of 14 and 36 is safer in jail than on the streets of that city.

[ChicagoJoe57]

I was born in Flint Michigan. My parents could not find a house in the city because there was a shortage due to G.M. hiring so many people. My father was in the grocery business and could not keep employees because G.M. was hiring everyone away at higher wages. You could not go down Saginaw Street at 5:00 because of the traffic. By the way, Flint Public Schools were the best in the nation at that time. Flint use to produce corporate leaders.

[eiugrad2006]

East St. Louis, IL. not MO!

[IFlick]

There you go, trying to let facts get in the way of a good story!

[shellystonespoop]

@eiugrad2006 I hate it when people say it's in MO, too...lol.

[shellystonespoop]

@IFlick I live right outside of ESTL, Illinois. Even as an outsider, I've had some really interesting times there. I've seen the more personal side of the city when I hung out in the clubs and bars of the area. The people in cities like these are interesting in that they overcome strugle and have to fight to survive every day.

[flintmi]

It's a mixed bag in Flint. Some minor glimmers of hope, dashed by the realities of extreme poverty and violence. A handful of civic-minded people try to do the impossible: make the city livable. The same corrupt leaders, however, have been in charge for decades and it never occurs to people that electing new, fresh blood is the right path. Barack Obama visited Flint twice, perhaps the winds of change are in the air finally for this once great American city.

[IFlick]

What's to be done? The tallest structure on the city skyline is an abandoned building. Genesee Tower is not only an eyesore, it's a threat to public safty. The city no longer has a operating hotel or movie theater! You mentioned "shinning jewels" (plural) What other shinning jewels do you mean flintmi? Perhaps its the acusticly perfect Whiting or the Art Fair or the FIA? You'll note, things used and appreciated by those "outside" of Flint.

[SoulnSensual]

What street is that even on?

[flintmi]

That's downtown Flint, S. Saginaw at the Flint River.

[SoulnSensual]

I Thought So.

[sunrise242]

Wow...I don't even recognize that skyline at all. My how things have changed for the worst.

I agree with what others have said, Flint is only like this because people don't have jobs. There's no opportunity...and until there is, Flint will never change.

There is nothing scarier then desperate people...and that's what the people in this city are. If they don't have it, they'll take if from you. They will blow your head off for a doller...and the killers are getting even younger.

[thedolginone22]

we watched a documentary about the flint plants closing.. that's pretty sad that everything there failed. Still like that there today, I think. I would never go up there to check. Probably never will..

[IFlick]

This hotel hasn't been a Hyatt Regency for about thirty years. It only lasted 14 months. It had number of lives after that, but all failed. Now, the Crim Road Race actually own the building! But they don't know very much about the hotel business and of course the structure sits empty. You really can't moth ball a building like this. They don't fare well empty. Without constant maintanance, vadalism and neglect will see this come down. In three years, this building will be condemned.

[flintmi]

The Crim is one of the shining jewels of Flint, and the State of Michigan for that matter. Well run and well attended, so long as they make smart decisions and keep it running as well as they have for the past 30 years, they should be able to keep the Hyatt building running and occupied. The trick is to scale things in small stages, not try to conquer the world all at once. I think the Crim management "gets it."

[IFlick]

flintmi, the Crim is a running event on the third tear of running events. They are not in the hotel business. The structure we're refereing to remains an abandoned building. If there is an albatross hanging around the neck of that race, it's that building. On January 2, following a burst pipe - the city declared the structure "uninhabitable". It will be far more difficult to sell than purchase. In March, the first property tax assesment will be due, it will be a big one!

[IFlick]

All that's left in Flint, Michigan are the poor, the elderly and the anamals that pray on one another. Read some of the comments on these pages. They are laced with challenges for gun fights and murder. What's even more terrable, they mean it! If you are near this place, don't stop! There is nothing to see and nothing of value. There is only poverty, misery and violent death. Do yourself a giant favor and stay away from this place and these people. The life you save may be yours.

[JanarioW]

i sorry but i think your wrong, The city of flint, has a lot of good people in it, Of course all you hear is the negitive crap from the news. But half the poeple getting into trouble in flint, are doing so because there's no jobs in the area. If people had jobs, they wouldn't be getting into trouble,instead they would be at work. Take the economy from any area, and the crime rates will rise! I live in near cincy,ohio now, and guess what.....There just as much crime here!

[IFlick]

You are overlooking something unique to Flint. The city is in a free fall. It's not just jobs. There is a neighborhood in the city that has a higher infant mortality rate than Jakarta Indonisia. Homicides under the age of twenty one the highest perhaps anywhere. The number of abandoned homes can only be estimated. The largest structure in the city's skyline, Genesee Towers, an abandoned building. Vast areas of the city are in ruins. You may have been in Ohio for some time.

[SoulnSensual]

There is a lot of poverty, but a lot of my family is still in Flint mi, I go up there everytime I get a chance, maybe because they are in the nicer part of Flint, but I never bad talk my home city.....its still some hope left.

[whenithappens14]

I live outside of Flint. It's a crap hole. Don Williamson is no better than Detroit's thug mayor - he's just an old white version of the same thing. We need leadership. Instead we got a 2nd rate Hitler.

[cadmium06]

Flint is on the upward swing. 310 students are moving in downtown in a month, and several businesses are popping up to serve them. More dorms are inevitably on the way, and the "Hyatt" building was just purchased by the internationally recognized "Crim Fitness Foundation" Say what you want about Flint, we are a population who is willing to work to improve ourselves. This video is just evidence of an old attempt that didn't work out.

[IFlick]

Too little, too late.

[modestdub]

lol Flint - "Never Look Back"

[joeytrimble]

they got some reaaally good people to shoot the film haha

[IFlick]

The hotel in this video is yet another abandonded building in downtown Flint. As a Hyatt Regency, it lasted aboout 14 months, that was many years ago. The building has had a number of lives and now sits empty. Within five years it will face demolition.

[cuiqueiro]

Thanks for the infos.

[eridaniblack]

What are you talking about? Compared to the rest of Flint, Downtown looks amazing. And in a year, when they've finished more of the work they're doing, it'll look even better. It's directly OUTSIDE of downtown that's a shithole.

[flintmi]

Agreed.

[kbarber26]

downtown flint was really filled with people in the 80's

[zombie2012]

Holy crap look at that hair! People still have hair like that in FLINT!

[patmix]

sound like

beverly hills cop 2 soundtrax

[nexljr]

Downtown was full of crack in the 80s...word to Juice Williams.

This commrecial got flint lookin like the place to be..

[tupacthedog]

*ack* ----  sorry joeytrimble i just threw up a little in my mouth.

[joeytrimble]

bwahahaha they didnt show the actual gangs waiting around the corner to sell everyone crack

[JeffN727]

80's!

[beastumfan]

I like this ad

[flintmi]

Seeing Genesee Towers lit up. Wow. Downtown Flint was hopin' back in the day. Copa, Churchill's, Metropolis.

[FlintWoman56]

Gosh I feel really old now watching that video! See its very sad to see so much life downtown even in this video, compared to today!

[joeytrimble]

itss getting alot better though ..mr williams is really doing good

[drunkatnoon]

FUCKING IDIOT

[joeytrimble]

who are you calling an idiot?

[drunkatnoon]

calling you an idiot ya fucking douche bag

[joeytrimble]

shouldn't call people that you don't know idiots ...it's bad for your health

[drunkatnoon]

i live in flint douche bag, lets get together tough guy

[joeytrimble]

tough guy mistake number 1 ... don't ever call someone out on the internet ..you look like a cock sucker ..

i'm the only Joey Trimble in flint...look me up bone head if you feel so strong

[drunkatnoon]

will do