Detroit Techno Tourist: Packard Plant

Detroit Techno Tourist: Packard Plant

23 May, 2008 | 12.58PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Movement 2008
• Written by: lizwarner

It’s not everyone’s idea of a good time to visit or even to set your eyes upon an abandoned building.

But this particular abandoned building, known as the Packard plant, has done a thing or two in the formation of the techno scene in Detroit.

The Packard automotive plant, the first concrete building designed by architect Albert Kahn in 1907, is no place to take your grandparents — unless they’re from Detroit and know of the automotive origins of the place.

Believe it or not, for many who’ve both formed and participated in techno’s roots, the place feels like home.

Except that today, you’ll hear no 808 reverberating from its empty walls.

It represents a virtual who’s-who of techno elite (one key example is Richie Hawtin’s Spastik event), and was host to several late-night parties at a time that the music was barely bubbling up from the underground during the 1990s.

The Packard Plant also represents the spirit of the Detroit artistic ethic of taking what others have abandoned and turning it into something completely new.

In other words, it was home to the true believers.

Check out this recent article (with photo link) on the Packard Plant, and check out photos of the famous landmark.

Location: E. Grand Boulevard & Concord (east of Mt. Elliot and south of I-94)

Supplies: A car and daylight

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