Aug 01 2008
This Month’s Venue – – Harpos Theatre
Welcome to the Motor City!
The city of Detroit was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Originally called Port Pontchartrain, it’s name was changed to Fort Detroit in 1751, named after the river whose northern banks the growing settlement rested. It was later shortened to just “Detroit” when it passed into British control at the close of the French and Indian War. In 1904 Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company with competitors GM, Dodge, and Chrysler following soon after. It wasn’t long before Detroit was regarded as the automotive capital of the world.
Detroit’s Harpos Theatre was originally called Harper Theatre, named for its location on Harper Avenue. It boasted an 80-foot towering marquee that could be seen blocks away. Designed by architect Charles N.Agree for the Wisper and Wetsman theater chain of Michigan, the Harper Theatre could hold almost 2,000 people and featured an art deco exterior plus large murals in the lobby and auditorium by local Detroit artist, Thomas di Lorenzo. (*note: Lorenzo also did murals and sculptures for other Wisper and Wetsman theaters such as the Royall Theater, and did the famous mural of the apostles at Detroit’s Central United Methodist Church.) In the 1970’s the theatre was converted into a nightclub/discotheque and it’s name was changed to Harpo’s.
Share on Facebook“From movie theater to disco, then biker bar to heavy metal venue – Harpo’s has pretty much seen it all. One of the few big local venues that has kept its doors open without the help of mammoth promoters Clear Channel, the folks over at Harpo’s have much of which they should be proud, not least of which is their (sometimes unpopular) dedication to long-hair rawk and hard-core music” — Eve Doster, Metro Times
