Brewster-Douglass Towers: Bilal Berreni's Murder, Ruin Imagery and Bedrock

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The Brewster-Douglass site began on Hastings Street, a district that shifted from Detroit's Jewish center to the heart of Black life in the city, celebrated in John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillen. Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground in 1935 on the Brewster project, the nation's first federally funded public housing for African Americans, with low-rises by Harley, Ellington and Day open only to employed working-poor families. The Frederick Douglass section later added six 14-story towers, and at its peak the complex held 8,000 to 10,000 residents and its own schools.

This episode traces how the towers failed: once employment rules were dropped, rent revenue fell, maintenance budgets were cut, elevators broke and stairwells turned dangerous. The low-rises were razed by 1991, two towers were imploded in 2003, and by 2008 the last 280 families were moved out. On July 29, 2013, French street artist Bilal Berreni, 23, was found shot dead on the abandoned property and lay unidentified for seven months. Meanwhile the ruins drew filmmakers and musicians, which the hosts examine as ruin porn.

Residents included Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, Smokey Robinson, Loni Love and the DeBarge family.
Elzhi shot the cover of his 2011 album Elmatic on the site's basketball courts.
Ryan Gosling filmed copper-scavenging scenes there for Lost River, and the towers inspired the animated series The PJs.
Mayor Dave Bing sought demolition funds in March 2012, and the last towers came down by the end of August 2014.
Dan Gilbert's Bedrock bought the 22-acre site for $23 million, and a November 14, 2025, groundbreaking launched a mixed-income plan with 211 affordable units.

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