Better off than 4 years ago: Detroit's 106-year-old Belle Isle Aquarium reopens to public

[LuckyTheDog]

Thousands lined up outside Detroit's Belle Isle Aquarium on Saturday, all smiles and waxing nostalgic as they waited to be among the first to celebrate the official reopening of the historic landmark.

Shuttered since 2005 because of budget cuts, the green-tiled building reopened with tanks holding everything from turtles and eels to fish with stripes and colorful bodies.

"He looks like a leopard," exclaimed 7-year-old Todd Priestly of Hamtramck, staring at an eel whose head poked out from under a rock.

The curly-haired youngster and his mother, Tammie Skursha, waited about half an hour to see the dozen or so operational tanks. While they waited, volunteers made balloon animals, and handed out chalk for kids to draw on the sidewalk.

More: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012309160185

Photos here: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20120915&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=209150804&Ref=PH/Belle-Isle-Aquarium-reopens?odyssey=mod|defcon|img|FRONTPAGE

[WorseBeforeBetter]

1. Greetings from Raleigh, Detroit -- I'm rootin' for ya! (n/t)

[kestrel91316]

2. Yayyyyy! Part of a true renaissance for the motor city, I hope!!

[Skittles]

3. nice to see good news coming out of Detroit

I would so, so love to see a Detroit comeback

[longship]

4. I went there in the fifties.

They had an incredible alligator snapping turtle and an electric eel. You could tell just by looking at it that the turtle was utterly evil. That beak could snap off fingers with ease, hence its name.

However, the fucking eel lit up actual electric lights when the aquarium person, gloved in rubber, would attach electrodes to the poor eel. (Maybe he liked it -- I am ignorant of electric eel psychology.) Next electric eel show at 3PM.

Not one kid would ever want to stick their fingers into either of those tanks. I remember that I loved the aquarium every time I visited, even as an adult.

The best part was that it was a short drive to the Belle Isle Conservatory, a huge greenhouse full of tropical wonders. One could spend hours in there amongst the beauty and the quietude. I think a good book would be a great companion, or somebody you love. Happily, I have done both there.They don't call it Belle Isle for nothing.

Oh! Almost forgot, they also had a children's zoo there when I was very young, in the very early fifties. Alas, my memories of that is in the foggy past. I remember the pictures of the affair more than the affair.

Pshaw! Oh, to be four years old again and experience such adventures afresh. Don't get me started about shopping at downtown Hudson's Department Store -- 24 stories of shopping with absolutely terrifyingly fast elevators operated by masochists.

Thanks for the post and a reminder of early 1950's Detroit.