Before Detroit was known as Motown or the Motor City, it was called the Paris of the West. Its Parisian landscapes and architecture made it a cultural hub and a vibrant place to live in the early 1920s.
Besides cars, the other big boom for Detroit in those days was the theater and entertainment industry. Detroit had over 100 movie houses and theaters by the 1930s and some of the most opulent theaters, ballrooms and halls in the entire world. Many of these rivaled those in New York City or Chicago.
Big names like The Adams
The Michigan
The United Artist Theatre
and the fabulous The Fox, the crown jewel of Detroit’s theaters, dominated the first-run movie business in Detroit.
Other notable theaters of the day like the The Eastown,
The National
and the Grand Riviera
were also big players in the local theater and film industry.
These theaters were but a handful of the sixty some that existed at one time in the downtown Detroit area. There were others in the outlying areas surrounding metropolitan Detroit, most of which no longer stand.
Detroit was known as the Paris of the West for more than its Parisian landscapes and architecture. It had more to do with its founding, its earliest settlers and its location. This early influence can still be seen in the Detroit city flag.
For more, read on:
https://michiganmoviemagazine.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/detroit-the-founding-of-the-city/
Michigan Movie Magazine 