- [Host] Coming up on "One Detroit," a historic building in Detroit's Chinatown is torn down even as advocates were attempting to save it.

Plus we'll tell you about a benefit rock concert to help cure childhood cancer.

Also ahead, hundreds of volunteers are taking part in community improvement projects for a Rise Detroit Neighborhoods Day.

And there's a lot happening on the arts and culture scene in metro Detroit this weekend.

We'll have a list of things to do.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit".

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(upbeat synth music) - [Host] Just ahead on this week's "One Detroit."

We'll tell you about a local band's special performance to raise money for childhood cancer research and support.

Plus, Detroit residents are coming together to show pride in their community on the annual Arise Detroit Neighborhoods Day.

And Cecilia Sharp and Peter Wharf of 90.9 WRCJ have some great ideas on how to spend this weekend in metro Detroit.

But first up, a building that was once the center of Detroit's Chinatown was demolished last weekend, despite requests by city council and local Asian American groups to preserve a part of its history.

The property at 3143 Cass Avenue, just west of downtown, had been there for 140 years.

City officials say the building was a public safety hazard and its current owners, Olympia Development Management, obtained a permit for the demolition.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota has the story of the historic neighborhoods past and what some want to see in its future.

(upbeat electronic music) - [Bill] Detroit City Council had requested the decrepit building be temporarily spared from demolition.

3143 Cass Avenue considered the heart of what was once Chinatown.

Asian American groups called a press conference last week for this Monday to try to save it.

Too late, had been smashed down over the weekend.

- I'm an immigrant.

I deeply understand the importance of knowing our history so that we don't repeat the wrongs of our past.

And quite frankly, I did not expect the administration in Olympia to play hardball with history.

I expected us to slow down a little.

- Arrogance is not a good trait in politics.

Neither is greed.

Neither is cynicism.

And all three were at play here, unfortunately at the expense of part of the history of the city.

- [Bill] History, things that happened not that long ago.

- [Nicole] This is the lower corridor, part of the larger Cass corridor.

- [Bill] Filmmaker Nicole McDonald told some of the story in her 2018 documentary, "Last Days of Chinatown" an examination of human displacement.

- [Nicole] They run along Cass Street, in the center of the lower corridor.

- [Bill] Olympia Development of Michigan.

an Illitch Company, owns this property.

The city has wished it torn down for years.

- Many might say, why make a fuss over an old crumbly building?

The fuss is not so much over a building, but over the spiritual loss of a once alive and vibrant community.

Our feelings of loss is not unlike that with the African American brothers and sisters who felt when Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, Detroit's cultural musical hub were urbanized.

- [Bill] I-375 took out those Black neighborhoods in the early 1960s, around the time Detroit's first Chinatown was displaced by the city too, making way for the lodge Freeway.

- [Nicole] Chinatown had had markets and schools set up, a clinic, there were 53 restaurants, and over 3000 Chinese people living there.

- [Bill] So then the business district moved to Cass Avenue south of Mack.

- [Nicole] They set up markets and restaurants again and had festivals in the new spot.

But the new Chinatown, it never became what the original place had been, and a lot of Chinese felt their neighborhood had been destroyed in the move.

- I think basically during the eighties it was shutting down.

Chinatown was dissolving.

- [Bill] Here's Chinatown then.

As seen in the 1987 film "Who Killed Benton Chin."

- My grandfather came here in the thirties and think about just the race relations at the time.

So getting a job was difficult.

So they did what they knew, which was cook.

They cooked.

- [Bill] Carolyn Chin Watson's family owned the Shanghai Cafe in the 3143 building.

- Actually, it was James's family that sold the restaurant to my family.

Long story short is that they were able to live and grow a family, and that's just one of the many family stories that come from Detroit's Chinatown.

- There's no disputing the progress has been made in this area, but there's a cost to that progress.

But you compare Detroit to other cities like Chicago.

They have a respect for their history.

It's obvious when you walk through the city.

And I think one of the underlying problems in this metro Detroit area is the fact that we don't have a connection to the past.

We don't have agreement, understanding with each other about our past, our shared past.

And consequently, we are ripe to misinformation and misunderstanding.

- [Bill] Roland Wong leads ACJ, the American Citizens for Justice.

- And it was actually at 3143, the Chinese Merchant Association building at the time that had its inaugural meeting where ACJ got its name.

There are so many memories that are just rekindled by what's happened over the last few days.

- Justice for Vincent Chin!

- [Bill] ACJ emerged after Vincent Chin was killed in 1982, as anger was directed at Japanese whose imports hurt domestic car sales.

Asian Americans joined together, found a voice in the protests.

- This is a ground that is historic, because it actually was key to a movement that's centered around Vincent Chin, but then spread nationwide.

Seeing the demolition on Saturday was devastating for many of us, but I really believe that the city and Olympia have an opportunity, if they choose to take it, to work hand in hand with the Asian American community, with descendants of Detroit's Chinatown, to actually celebrate history and to recognize the importance of the community.

- [Bill] What's left, the long closed Chung's restaurant, a couple more buildings, and a few reminders of the Chinatown that was.

- I'm dedicated and committed to ensuring that we do designate Chinatown as historic.

It is not yet, and we need to it.

It is a must.

We have to do that moving forward.

- [Host] Members of the Metro Detroit Band "Almost Famous" came together in 2022 to put on a benefit concert for the nonprofit organization, Cure Childhood Cancer.

The idea for the fundraiser came after the drummer, Eric McDonald, went through his own battle with the disease.

This year, the longtime musicians have gotten back together to keep the benefit rock concert going in the Oakland County village of Wolverine Lake.

"One Detroit" contributor Sarah Zintarsky has the story.

(band playing) (singing singing) - Start with music and people will come.

- We're doing this because we love it.

But to be able to do this to help other people, I don't know that I have the word.

It's incredible to be able to do that.

Tommy and I were business partners in our band years ago and lost touch with each other for a long time.

- Years and years go by and where I live out here in Wolverine Lake, there's a little watering hole that some very dear friends of ours own called the Glengary Inn.

Great place.

It's "Cheers!"

I was walking in the door and I just saw this guy turn around sitting at the bar and he looked at me and I looked at him and I'm like, "oh my God.

What are you doing here?"

And it was just, you know divine in some sense of the word.

- I forgot he even lived out here.

And it all just, ah, just happened, you know?

And bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

All of a sudden we got everybody back.

We got who we got.

And it's clicking, you know.

Almost Famous.

- Almost Famous.

Almost Famous.

- He says, "hey, I talked to Don, he's in."

And I was like, "you've gotta be kidding me."

For us to get as lucky as we got and to land Randy Peeler who, you know, he's just another guy that you just wouldn't figure that you'd be able to land.

And the rest, you know, is history.

So that's how Almost Famous kind of began.

(rock music plays) And this, you know, was before Eric knew that he was sick.

- I got married right up the road on the lake also.

And three weeks after that, I got diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer all in here.

And I had to figure out how to go home and tell my wife that I just married three weeks earlier.

And of course she was a champ and we kind of got thrust into things pretty quick because it was far along and didn't know what was gonna happen.

You know, the Wolverine Lake community helped me immediately after I found out.

That was immediate.

We had benefits of raising us money back up, giving me rides to my treatments, 'cause I had to be out in Brighton at the U of M hospital out in Brighton every day of the week.

- The Wolverine Lake community is magical.

And for Eric to land here, I don't think it was happenstance.

I think Eric needed the Wolverine Lake community in his life.

- The love.

Again, words elude me for that.

But it was massive.

It was all encompassing.

A big giant hug.

I wanted to play for the people in this community as a way of saying thank you.

I mean, how can I thank them, but I want to play for them.

And so I got with Tommy and that's where we put it together.

The Almost Famous Cancer Benefit concert benefiting Cure Childhood Cancer.

- And I went and talked to a gentleman named Mike Knish.

And Mike Knish is one of our Wolverine villagers who is an incredible person.

And Mike helped us secure Mallow Beach, which is a park that is right on the water on Wolverine Lake.

And it is perfect for what we want to do, because it's not just about having a space, it's about creating an atmosphere.

It's camping, it's coolers, it's really good friends and people.

(rock band plays) - And we have a big giant barge that we pull up and that is our stage.

We pull it right up to the land, so people can come and watch us from the land.

And we also have people on the lake come out on boats.

And it's a beautiful thing.

Everybody just rocks out with us and has a good time.

We're asking for a $10 donation, so we're not charging anything.

If you don't have anything and you wanna come and enjoy it with us, absolutely welcome.

But we are asking for donations just to help out.

You know, it's all going to the charity Cure Childhood Cancer they help children with cancer and their families, support, financial support, and other kinds of support for the kids when they're in the hospital.

They try and make it affordable and easy so it doesn't wreck people financially and otherwise.

Not to mention emotionally.

Having gone what I went through, I can't imagine a child going through that not knowing why or what.

That just, it blows me away.

There are two other acts before us on the bill and both of them are wonderful.

You know, a guy named Rob, or Kenny and Rob, a guy plays acoustic and a guy has a beatbox he plays on, they're pretty cool, local.

And then some friends of ours they're called Wax Radio.

They're doing cover band thing out of Detroit.

And then Almost Famous, we're gonna come out, and wrap the night up.

And I have a surprise or two on onboard.

And it's a labor of love.

It really is.

And it's a beautiful thing.

I'm hoping to be able to donate even more than we did last year and to help children.

- You're gonna be fulfilled.

If you come out, you're gonna have a great time.

More importantly, you're gonna be fulfilled by the fact that you're doing something incredible for people that need you.

- I hope people will come out and celebrate with us.

And this is a celebration also.

I like that word.

Of music and love and care and hope and all of that yummy stuff.

We're gonna rock and roll and just be together.

I'm aware of what could happen, but it ain't happening today and I'm pretty sure it's not gonna happen tomorrow.

And I'm gonna see that stage again with my family and my friends.

And I'm gonna express myself and my love the way I know how to best.

(rock band playing) - [Host] And the Almost Famous Benefit Concert for Cured Childhood Cancer is on Saturday, August 5th at Wolverine Lake's Mallow Beach.

Let's turn now to a Rise Detroit's 17th Annual Neighborhoods Day, also taking place on Saturday, August 5th.

There's more than 150 events organized by churches, block clubs, and community groups occurring across the city on this massive community service day.

There will be cleanups, school supply giveaways, art festivals, health fairs, and much more.

American Black Journal host and "One Detroit" contributor Steven Henderson got the details from Arise Detroit Executive Director Luther Keith.

(upbeat synth music) - So let's talk about, for people who maybe don't know, what Neighborhoods Day is and why it's become so important.

- Well, Neighborhood Day is a community-wide, city-wide community service day, like any in the nation.

What's unique about it is that it involves literally more than 100 events, churches, Black clubs, having events in their own neighborhoods.

Not at Billow, not at Heart Plaza, not at a big golf tournament, nothing wrong with that, But this day was created strictly to appreciate the people in the neighborhood so they can feel appreciated and respected.

And so this day we asked all the churches and black clubs and community groups, which this day it'll be August the fifth, to have their own event to show how they're making a difference in their neighborhood.

Some people do clean up, some people have festivals, some people have school supply giveaways, resource fairs, job fairs, concerts, things for kids and activities for kids, old-fashioned block parties, meet and greets.

So each group does its own thing.

One unique things about when we started Neighborhood Day, when you hear about, the first thing that he says, "where is it?"

Well, it's where you want it to be.

- It's everywhere.

- What do you wanna do?

How long should we do it?

How long you wanna do it?

So it's a totally day where the neighborhood people are empowered.

It's not coming down on high from some executive's office or some foundation or some corporation, people in the neighborhoods, the little black clubs all over the city of Detroit and churches, and we have many churches involved and businesses as well.

So that's what's unique about us.

So you live (cuts out) in your car, drive as I do every Neighborhood Day all over the city.

You see all these incredible events.

The thing in that I see wherever I go, people are smiling and they're happy.

And there's so much other type of news with that this is a day to take a break.

But I want to emphasize Neighborhood's Day is not about one day, because this day, people do this work all year long, but on this day, and I think I've used this with you, Steve, and it's a good one, so I'll use it again.

Your parents love you every day, but on your birthday you get the chocolate cake.

And Neighborhood Day is a chocolate cake for all the people in the neighborhoods of Detroit who do all this work.

This day, we put the spotlight and you and media play a very important part because this media coverage, again, inspired to get involved and we have hundreds and hundreds of volunteers involved in these little neighborhood groups all over the city.

And so somebody do something, they'll say, "oh, why aren't we doing that?

Why can't we do that?

How can we get involved?"

And so the whole idea is to motivate people to not just sit on the sidelines, but to get involved.

And I think I've said this, I've used this in analogy a lot, you know, Jesus coming, but he's probably not coming tonight.

Okay, that means we have to be the calvary.

So one of the things that I think is really important, the message that's really important about Neighborhoods Day is when we're organized in Detroit when we organized with each other, when we decide for ourselves what our neighborhood is gonna be like and how they're gonna function, things go much better than when we're not doing that.

Absolutely.

Or when we let other people do that.

And Neighborhoods Day is really a celebration of that, I feel like, almost more than anything else.

- Yes, absolutely.

People ask me, well, Luther, what's a good neighborhood?

Nine times out of 10, it's an organized neighborhood.

There's somebody there driving that car.

It doesn't have to be a big neighborhood association, somebody's a small little neighborhood, one little block, but somebody has to say, "this is our block and we're gonna love it and we're gonna form a committee."

We're gonna have to people open some coffee and figure out what we need to about the garbage pile up here or a car driving too fast through the neighborhood or public safety issues.

And one of the things we like is that we got a lot of cooperation from the city of Detroit.

They arrange Ron Bronbich, who's head of the city department of Public Works, he arranges for special pickups after the people who are doing beautification and cleaning up projects, they arrange for special pickups to drive through and pick up.

Some people think we're the city of Detroit, I have to remind them, we're not the city of Detroit.

We don't have trucks to do that.

But we have a good relationship with the city of Detroit and very helpful with us in terms of making this state possible.

But you're absolutely right, it's about taking kind of control of your destiny and not just saying "why don't they."

You listen to the radio sometimes "why don't they, why don't they, why don't they?"

Well why don't you?

And so you don't have to do a big huge project.

You can do something small.

Our of our board members, Tony McLeown, who for years was in Dale community Detroit has an expression I think is very true.

He says, "most people are waiting to be led."

"Most people are waiting to be led."

So if you get up and start doing something, somebody else will start doing something.

And the whole idea is to be actively involved and engaged, and that's the most important thing we want to happen on Neighborhoods Day.

People say we are going to take control of this.

Now, we can't do everything, but we can do a lot.

You know, the mayor's not coming to my block.

The governor's not coming.

The president's not coming.

My congressman is not coming in most cases.

So we're there.

So we had to had take some ownership of that.

And the most inspiring thing is Steve, to see these people.

And I made so many great friends all over the city and you never know how you're touching people.

I could be in a grocery market and somebody comes say, "you're that community guy, what's that thing you do?"

And so really, people are paying attention.

So it's, for me, it's very heartfelt and rewarding for me just to know that in some small way with all these other people out here, 'cause it's really not on me, and Rise Detroit, you know, we are a very small organization and we had the NAACP or Focus Up.

So we've got a paid staff of two people and some volunteers and the board of directors.

But strategically we have put together this formula where we are motivating other people.

We are not trying to reinvent the wheel.

We don't have to create a literacy program, because there's literacy programs all over Detroit that we can support and help.

You know, we don't have to create a gardening program, 'cause there are gardening program.

If we could give more visibility, more volunteers and through exposure like this with you, then it helps raise all boats.

So we really are all in this together, and our thing is just, you know, you want a better Detroit, I want a better Detroit.

How can we work together to make it happen?

- [Host] There's a lot of other events that you may want to check out in Metro Detroit this weekend, Cecilia Sharpe and Peter Whorf of 90.9 WRCJ have some suggestions in today's "One Detroit" weekend.

- Hey Peter, it's great to be with you tonight to talk about what's going on in and around Detroit this weekend.

- It's going to be a lovely weekend for Michiganders to get out and enjoy all the arts and culture scene has to offer.

Let's start with the Dearborn Homecoming.

It's the 42nd year for the festival, and they're bringing in some fantastic musical performances from Natasha Bedingfield to the Kielbasa Kings.

- [Cecilia] For sure, that sounds like a ton of fun.

And of course there's always great food, carnival rides, and that incredible fireworks show.

Another festival happening just to the north is the Frankenmuth Flower Festival at Grandpa Tiny's Farm.

Festival-goers will get the chance to pick their own sunflowers, have dinner among the sunflowers, and enjoy a craft and artisan showcase featuring home decor, jewelry, artwork, and more.

- Dinner among the sunflowers?

Kind of sounds like a dream.

On August 5th and sixth, people can head on over to Bell Isle for the art fair.

It'll be such talented artists featured, plus good food, and this is very interesting.

You can visit the Motor City mermaids who will discuss the importance of clean waterways.

- [Cecilia] You can go to Motown Museum's Rocket Plaza from noon to 4:00 PM to hustle in your favorite way or learn a brand new way by the one and only Chevy of RCI studios.

- [Peter] It'll be a great way for Detroiters to get out and show off their moves in front of such an historic building.

Then on August 9th, the beloved author Anne Patchett will be at Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater at 7:00 PM to discuss her latest novel "Tom Lake."

- So many options for people to enjoy.

And now let's take a look at some other happenings in the next week.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

(upbeat synth music) - [Host] That will do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media, and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

- [Announcer] From Delta Faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco.

Serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia and Esso Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

- [Announcer 2] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit dtefoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation.

And viewers like you.

(upbeat synth music) (upbeat piano music)