FROM SHIFT WHISTLE TO NIGHTFALL.

A city can be understood by following one ordinary day: waking, commuting, working, shopping, eating, reading the paper, listening to radio, going out, and returning home.

Girls and men coming out of the Highland Park Chrysler plant — REAL DETROIT SOURCE · Workers leaving the Highland Park Chrysler plant in Detroit, spring 1942.
Source: Arthur S. Siegel / source record · Public domain — FSA/OWI

DEEP DETROIT CONTEXT

Following an ordinary day.

Morning newspapers and the commute.

Factory shifts, offices, stores, schools, and municipal work.

Afternoon shopping, errands, street activity, and transportation.

Evening restaurants, taverns, theaters, radio, sports, police calls, and night work.

SOURCE METHOD

Newspapers, transit information, advertisements, directories, prices, and photographs reconstruct routine without inventing a particular person’s day.

← EVERYDAY DETROIT DAILY LIFE IN THE PRESS

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