Chinatown Detroit. (Troy, Mason, Clifford: 2014, mover, construction)

[Coldjensens]

Some friends are visiting from Tennessee, so I took them downtown to show them the city. Riding ont he people mover, my friend and I were discussing various vacant buildings and recently renovated buildings and he suddenly said, "Oh look there are several being renovated right there." I looked closely and noted the scaffolding seemed to be made of bamboo (??). We turned a bit and saw a handful of businesses with Chinese signs. I was thinking what? Detroit has a Chinatown area and I did not even know it? That seems odd. Then we turned a bit more and there was a pile of smashed up cars sitting on top of a smashed up truck and more Chinatown things. Eventually we discovered they are filming some scenes for transformers 4 this week or next week and have converted a few blocks of Downtown into Hong Kong for a coupe of weeks. It was neat to see, several blocks have been turned into a movie set. The bamboo scaffolding is holding up green screens so they can edit some other building in behind the bamboo.

Just goes to prove you can learn something new even about places yo already know. How many of you knew Detroit had a Chinatown?

[animatedmartian]

I know Detroit had a Chinatown on Cass behind the Masonic Temple, but it's not really a 'town' so much as it's just two buildings with Chinese writing on them.

[Coldjensens]

Most of it is on Bagley I think. More than two buildings, maybe 5-10. Some just have a Chinese billboard sign and bamboo scaffolding with greenscreen over the buildings. There are Chinese lights, street signs, even a mass transit train car that confusingly says both "Harlem" and something like Bangkok or something on it. The pile of wrecked cars on top of the wrecked truck is on Bagly I think. There is also a big round thing that we did not see the front of. It is a full set that takes up a couple of streets.

[Coldjensens]

Here is some information on it.

DETROIT- The set for “Transformers 4” is continuing to expand in downtown Detroit.
The set of the Michael Bay-directed film started being constructed around Memorial Day between Washington Boulevard and Grand River Avenue and Bagley Avenue, and has since expanded to some adjacent blocks.
Crews recently started setting up bamboo and green tarps/backgrounds on abandon buildings and businesses on Times Square, south of the original set, and Clifford and Bagley avenues. A large amount of semi-destructed trucks and cars has also appeared about two blocks northwest of the initial set.
The main set appears to be a large, somewhat demolished Chinatown surrounding downtown Detroit's abandoned “Care” building, which Detroit rocker Kid Rock used for
a recent music video with the same title.
“Transformers 4” was awarded an incentive of $20 million on the nearly $82 million of projected in-state expenditures. The project is expected to hire 368 Michigan workers with a full time equivalent of 339 jobs.
“Transformers 4,” which IMDB says remains "untitled," is the third film in the series to use Detroit as a backdrop. The first “Transformers,” released in 2007, and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” released in 2011, also filmed in Metro Detroit.
The film is scheduled for a June 27, 2014 release and has an impressive cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, who paid a visit to the University of Michigan recently.
Earlier this month, crews from “Need for Speed” also were filming at numerous locations in downtown Detroit, including about a block away from the current “Transformers” set.
Here's a look at the set construction from earlier this month:

[us66]

There was a Chinatown of sorts previously mentioned in this thread, somewhere by WSU, can't remember where. Only thing I remember about it is that there was a pet store next to the Chinese restaurant...very noteworthy...

[Tekkie]

I saw the same thing not that long ago. It's for the Transformer's movie. Maybe the production crew will keep it up and they can use it as the platform for a new Chinatown?

[snoopygirlmi]

The more authentic Chinese businesses I know are in Troy.

One of my husband's friend is a bit of a snob and has a Chinese girlfriend. Apparently the best "Chinatowns" around this area (according to this person) are in Toronto and New York.

[Tekkie]

Originally Posted by snoopygirlmi

The more authentic Chinese businesses I know are in Troy.

One of my husband's friend is a bit of a snob and has a Chinese girlfriend. Apparently the best "Chinatowns" around this area (according to this person) are in Toronto and New York.

Toronto definitely has a good one from what I could tell. Never been to NYC though.

[Coldjensens]

Detroit's Chinatown id definitely better than NY or Toronto. Those places do nto have a giant robot walking around destroying buildings.

[animatedmartian]

Recent pictures via MLive.




More pictures on Curbed.
Detroit's Hong Kong is Ready to Begin Shooting Transformers - Made in Detroit - Curbed Detroit