| STORIES I'll always remember 2006. And not
for many positive things. New Year's Eve, 2005�if I would have known
then what I know now, I would have taken a 12-month nap. And we still
have 3 more months to go.
The first time we met Seth was August 21st, 2004. He had shown up
on ForgottenMichigan (Chad's site) introducing himself, though we
already knew him from the early-Deggi5 days. He was the only explorer
that I know of who actually hailed from Gary, Indiana. Sure, you may
say he lived in Hobart which is a suburb of Gary, but I can tell you
that he had a relationship with the city of Gary closer than 99.9% of
us can even understand. When you're going through tough times and
don't have anywhere to stay, the lines between mere explorer and
"resident" blur. Gary was a part of him, and he was a part of Gary.
Northwest Indiana was Seth's home and he was a product of that
environment in the fullest sense. He was the guru. The go-to guy. The
gatekeeper. As the city's self-appointed renegade urban-archaeologist
and only tour-guide, he was probably the only good thing that has
happened to Gary in the past several decades, and it owes a debt to
him. In fact, the city should probably erect a bronze statue in his
memory, heh heh heh�!
Seth was also the first explorer who had ever come to visit us in
Detroit. Pretty much everyone else in "the exploring community"
(whatever that is) has always been afraid of Detroit�and for good
reason. Most were content to admire from a distance. Only to a guy
from Gary would the ghetto of Detroit feel like home sweet home! And
only for a guy like that would we welcome him as warmly, knowing that
he was from similar circumstances as ourselves. He had posted a
picture of himself with long hair, drinking a brew on the roof of the
Ambassador Hotel in Gary. Right away we could tell he was our kinda
people. I remember he showed up wearing a yellow t-shirt that said
"I'M FROM GARY" and had a picture of a gun on it. This was not your
usual over-sheltered, yuppie computer-programmer photo/art-snob type
of explorer�he was one of us. We clicked right from the get-go. Like
us, he was from the rusty Great Lakes region, so it was like we were
all on the same page�he was as down to earth as it gets, not some
na�ve weirdo into overanalyzing everything like a lot of explorer kids
do nowadays.
He was also the only person who ever had the decency to do research
beforehand�which shows that he was the real deal�a true explorer is
not in the game to be chauffeured around like a tourist; he idealized
the concept of what this is all about by taking time to educate
himself on some Detroit history and by studying maps. He was a
do-it-yourselfer, and an independent, self-sufficient human being
which�in today's world, sadly enough�is rare. That, more than anything
is what earned him my respect. I was amazed by how knowledgeable he
was in Detroit architecture and history, and simply that he already
sort-of knew his way around. The typical guest will ask a question
like, "What building is this," or "What's the history of this
building?" Seth instead asked questions like "The Donovan Blg was
another one designed by Albert Kahn, right?" Or, "That's Woodward over
there, right? And that does go to the Davison, right?" I could see
that he was asking me these things not because he didn't know, but in
order to quiz himself so he could hone that which he had already begun
studying up on�because he was actually interested in learning and
remembering it. He was hungry for knowledge in his favorite field; it
was not merely a passing fancy of his to go take "cool looking
pictures of urban decay"�Seth truly was dedicated to educating himself
in, and documenting the history of industry.
I was even more amazed at his fascination with the "Northville
Tunnels"�which was of course the place that brought Syd, R3d, Chad,
and myself into the whole "urban exploring online community thing"
when we started our website dedicated to it. The name "Northville
Tunnels" was our nickname for the Wayne County Training School�the
local abandoned "asylum" that us Detroit explorers grew up with in the
days before the internet. Seth's interest in helping us discover the
lost history of the place impressed me immensely because I would never
have expected an out-of-stater to care about such in-depth things as
that. What I mean to say is I personally couldn't foresee myself
having any kind of vested interest in the in-depth history of a
long-demolished institution in another state, so for him to have done
so showed a true passion on his part for knowledge and wanting to
immerse himself in the culture of Michigan. It was like he was
starting to do with Detroit that which he had already done in Gary�to
engross himself in its culture and history. Seth came back to the D as
much as he could, often catching a ride with Syd or whoever was coming
this way. A couple of those times were for our annual Northville-Tunnels.com
meetings, where those of us who used to explore the old Northville got
together to trade stories, show-off artifacts & photos, and discuss
its history. Though Seth was completely the odd-man-out in the room,
being from a different state, and never even having seen the old
Northville, he was able to take an educated part in conversations and
relate nonetheless to anyone else in the room, most of whom just
assumed that he too was an old Northville explorer.
We spent all of August 21st, 2004 exploring in downtown Detroit
with Seth, and took him to the former Motown Records home offices in
the Donovan Blg, the Fort Shelby Hotel, and finished the evening off
on top of the 35-story Broderick Tower watching the fireworks display
after the Tigers game at Comerica Park. After that was over, we
decided to go down to the third floor and see if we could sneak into
the illegal rave that usually was held there on Saturday nights. Our
group crept down from the barricaded stairwell onto the third floor,
and we noticed that it hadn't started yet; the place was deserted. We
wandered around checking out the party rooms for a minute before a
couple bouncers showed up to set up the sound equipment. They saw us
and there was a moment of awkward stares, followed by drunken
scrambling as we all tried to quickly run back up the barricaded
stairs to the "exit" on the 7th floor. My heart was racing, and I
remember I made a point of looking at Seth's face to see if he was
going to panic at the sudden pinch. Nope, not a sign; this guy was
cool so I wasn't worried. We got out fine and it was a fun night to be
remembered.
Remembered, yes, but I had no idea that it would be remembered the
way it has. You'll recall earlier this year the tragic death of Alex
Kaber, another Detroit explorer who was present with us and Seth that
night. At his funeral, the eulogy recalled how Alex always told his
other friends that watching the fireworks and exploring the Broderick
for the first time that night was the best time of his life. Now here
we are again. It's a bit eerie that Seth's last post on Northville-Tunnels.com
was about Alex, and remembering that same night.
The Packard Plant was Seth's true love of Detroit buildings; for
him it held the most historical and architectural significance, seeing
as he was into architecture/engineering, classic cars, industry, and
the early underground techno raves. Fans in any of these areas would
find the Packard Plant to be their Mecca, so I think that is what
attracted Seth to it. He found time to visit it at least twice in his
trips to the D, and in fact it was the very last building he explored
here, and that was the last time I saw him. Other places that we
explored with him were the rarely infiltrated American Hotel, the
Continental Motors Plant, Michigan Central Station, Lee Plaza, Fisher
Body Plant 21, and many others, but I remember a certain warehouse on
the East Side in particular�as soon as we all got in we heard an
alarm, and when we all ran out of there, but Seth's bootlace got
caught on a nail in the window and since we were all nearly panicked
he said "just kick it!" So I kicked his foot until the bootlace broke.
I think I was the last one out. Then we ran out of there and had
dinner at Armando's down in Mexicantown. I'll probably keep recalling
little scraps of memory like these unexpectedly over the years, most
likely while wandering through the Packard Plant where he left his
mark in quite a few places.
It has become trendy in the media today for many celebrities to
say, "Oh, I love Detroit!" when the topic comes up as if they hang out
here all the time, when in reality they probably don't give a shit and
wouldn't condescend to be seen, much less spend any time here unless
they had to. Seth was the opposite of that attitude. He loved Detroit
for what it is; he understood it, respected it�instead of just
treating it as a place to take "cool pictures of urban decay" as if it
were a wax museum that you drive through with your car doors locked.
But more than anything, I think he loved his hometown of Gary.
Seth lived more in his 23 short years on this planet than most
people will experience in 60. At least he died doing what he loved.
How many of us will be able to say that?
--Nailhed, of the Survival Crackas crew
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