Here’s an interesting and very short video showing employees walking and biking during a fire drill at the Parke-Davis factory complex on the Detroit River in June 29th, 1899. (We’re not sure why the film says 1903.)

It’s quite the tweed-filled traffic jam. Bicycling was at near its peak and Detroit had not yet gotten the nickname “Motor City.”

While many of the original Parke-Davis building still exist (though re-purposed) we’re not sure the ones in the video remain today.

UPDATE: According to Detroit Free Press article “Biograph in Detroit,” the American Biograph Company shot the film with a “remarkable instrument.” They made a 2-minute film of Detroit Fire Department companies 1, 3, and 5 , which does not seem to be on-line. From the Free Press:

The biograph experts also went out to Parke, Davis & Co.’s works and at noon views were taken of the employes leaving the building. There are over 400 bicycles used by the employes. Nearly 1,000 persons were moving lively while the biograph was in operation. Manager McCutcheon says that all the pictures were first-class and will soon be placed before the public at Wonderland.

The Wonderland Music and Theatre building was located on Monroe Street at Campus Martius.

The film was shown to the public according to another Free Press article on August 20th.

Wonderland’s announcements promise a very good vaudeville show for this week, addition to a lot of new and interesting biograph pictures. Of the latter, no doubt the most attractive will be the view of a fire drill at Parke, Davis & Co.’s big laboratory.

We stumbled across this video by the Detroit band Fireworks, which features plenty of biking around town including on Belle Isle.

If you’re into that Black Friday aggressive shopping mode, this might provide some additional motivation.

Sorry, the video can’t be embedded. You have to watch it on YouTube.

We wrote about Franciscan friar Brother Al Mascia last March. The Detroit Free Press had just written an article and made a video of his program of distributing food and supplies by bike.

Brother Al is still doing his good work and now the Detroit News has published an article with a video.

After losing the brick-and-mortar headquarters for his Detroit-based charitable operations earlier this month, the brown-robed Franciscan friar has kept serving the homeless, the elderly and others in Detroit.

Mascia anticipated the closing of the building more than a year ago and raised $4,000 to buy two specially designed tricycles with vendor carts in front and storage trailers in the back so he wouldn’t miss a beat in serving his clientele.

One interesting but not surprising outcome is that switching from a $200K/month storefront to a bicycle has increased the opportunity to serve the community. And they’re expanding.

The tricycle-based Canticle Cafe provides service six times a week at the public bus terminal on Cass Avenue just north of Michigan Avenue. Father Tod Laverty from St. Aloysius Catholic Church on Washington Boulevard and other volunteers operate the mobile help center on the days when Mascia is out raising money. He has already found a benefactor to buy another tricycle.

They do need volunteers if you are interested in helping during the winter months. They can be contacted via email.

And rather than fight the mall crowds tomorrow, why not plan on ordering gifts such as coffee and candles from Brother Al.

The Detroit By Bike web site’s tag line is “Random adventures around Detroit on bicycle” — and the site has the photos to prove it.

Last May I had an idea with a friend that we should ride bikes around Detroit all summer and take pictures. I’ve been taking pictures of Detroit for a long time and I have about every burnt down, decayed building there is. But I feel like those pictures are capitalizing on Detroit’s series of misfortunate events. So when I set out on this adventure, I decided to only photograph positive things. My idea evolved and eventually had a new twist. I decided I wanted to photograph all the urban gardens/farms in Detroit over the summer and watch them grow and evolve. Then I found out there are over 500. Too many to hit in one summer. So the concept is this: I ride around on my bike and look for gardens. When I find one, I ask for permission and if the people are ok with it I photograph it. Most of the time I leave it to random chance, but sometimes they are suggested to me by friends. Along the way, as I find interesting things I photograph them too. I can’t say there won’t be any abandoned buildings on the blog because it would be pretty hard to keep them out of the pictures. Overall though, ruined buildings are not the purpose of my adventure. Riding around and discovering unique, interesting, positive things about Detroit is.

It looks like some of the photos can be purchased on Etsy as well.

The Free Press special report Living with murder: Complete coverage contains some positive coverage of Detroit residents building community. One story highlights bicycling’s role in the community fabric.

The brothers have lived for 40 years in a run-down house on the corner of Bessemore and Georgia. They’re members of The East Side Riders, a custom-bicycle club that gathers for casual rides. They hold workshops for neighborhood kids to show them simple things such as how to change a flat tire, to more difficult tasks such as customizing — or tricking out — their bikes. What started as fun has become a crime-fighting tool.

When the bodies of women were being found scattered on the east side inside abandoned houses and lots in the summer of 2009, the brothers rode around, handing out flyers and warning women not to walk alone. On Angels’ Night, the eve before Halloween, they’ve patrolled the neighborhood. They even ride along with children as they walk to and from school.

“We just want to keep it safe where we live,” said David Jarrell, 47.

This article also shows the great value places like the Hub of Detroit bring to the community. It’s great that we can find millions to build walking and biking facilities, but it’s challenging to find those same kinds of dollars for this bicycling support network. Both need to be supported if we’re to be successful in getting more Detroiters choosing bicycles.

Sharrows on Gratiot and Fort Street

Recently the East Side Riders asked for bike lanes on Gratiot, a route they often ride to get Downtown and to the RiverWalk. That request was passed along to MDOT. Years ago MDOT had discussed adding bike lanes to Gratiot but that would have removed the on-street parking – a non-starter for the city.

Now MDOT is looking to simply add sharrows, shared lane markings that remind motorists to share the road while providing guidance to cyclists on where to position themselves on the road. MDOT hopes to have them installed next year from Conner Avenue/Conner Creek Greenway to the Dequindre Cut. These may be a forerunner to some eventual bike lanes.

We recently spoke with Tim Springer from Springer Consulting in Minneapolis. He visited Detroit to share his experience with their Midtown Greenway and look at opportunities in Detroit.

One of his thoughts was to add separated two-way cyclepaths to our major spoke roads such as Gratiot and Grand River. Yes, it would take away some vehicle travel lanes, but those roads have extra capacity. While surveys find many Detroit residents would feel comfortable riding in bike lanes on major roads, other cities are finding that many more would feel comfortable on physically-separated bike lanes. And as Springer noted, the spoke roads are often the fastest routes to get across the city so we should prioritize investing in them for better bicycling.

As for sharrows, MDOT is also looking to add them on Fort Street in Southwest Detroit, a route used by the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.