The Leland finally died.

[Scary Guy]

It's finally happened!  In December, when it's fucking cold, with few days notice!  I feel sorry for everyone who was living there, but even a shithole is better than being out on the street.

Anyway I've been posting this image for almost twenty years and it's finally come to pass.

 

Doing it with a few days notice seems very on brand.  I've not been a fan of how things ran there for a very long time, but nobody listens to Zatharas.
 

They should have thrown a party to raise money, and instead they told no one.  They should have done those repairs that they were supposed to do when Mike got all that money YEARS ago now, but they did jack with it.
 

They fucked around, and found out.  Unfortunately the people living there and the place we liked to party for so many years is gone.
 

It just annoys me that in the end Small's wins (not that I care much these days as that's hurting pretty hard now that Kat's gone, and I feel kinda sorry for them too.  A friend said it felt like walking into a tomb there), but City has been on its last legs for twenty years with rumors constantly surrounding it's closing.  The writing has been on the wall for a long time with all the repairs and whatnot too (see this gallery I posted of that.) I remember me and Todd getting into the basement there, and then the mezzanine, and then getting kicked out.  Those areas that were "off limits" were even worse than that.  There is (as in it's still there) exposed asbestos pipe wrap overhead in the club too, which is fine if you don't really disturb it.  That bass knocking the dust off of everything is pretty disturbing.

I wonder if the city finally stopped accepting the bribes, or they just forgot to pay them.

Anyway I have a bunch of people to notify who are going to want to know now.

[Scary Guy]

I was thinking some more and wanted to post some dates and other memories.

 

The club has been there since Sterling and Higgins opened it back in 1983.  I was three when it opened and I've been going since 2001 when I was 21.

The building itself opened in 1927 and it's only three years from being a centennial building.  It's possible someone paid a crapload of money to just get that land before then, even though it's been on the NHRP since 2005.

Many years ago Higgins got a bunch of money to fix the building that anyone who knew him and The Leland knew he was going to embezzle.  It made the news and was posted about by Troy here.

Here's some news on the issue from sources I don't actively hate:
https://www.metrotimes.com/news/years-of-neglect-catch-up-to-historic-leland-house-in-detroit-as-residents-forced-to-move-out/

 

https://www.dailydetroit.com/the-future-of-the-packard-plant-looks-bright-as-the-leland-darkens/

I have so many memories I will try to list them all in no particular order.  The fortune telling booth, the fake fireplace, when they ripped out the ceiling after that fire in NYC which scared every fire martial in the country into actually doing their jobs, the old DJ booth, the old stage, coat check, security patdowns with two lines, the stopping of everyone for a minute while Sybil took the money from the bar to the office between two rows of secity, DRINK UP and security dragging trash cans to take everyone's drinks at 2:30.  GET THE FUCK OUT at the end of the night from security, Johnny in his chair in the hallway, the door that actually worked in the hallway, John Coffee in his chair at the entrance to the dancefloor, the last call lights, the shitty rope lights on the ceiling, no heat or A/C, When they painted the floor black with that grippy shit.  @Bishop_The_Bartender at the bar, Becca whom I went to school with on security, Anita at the bar, the old graffiti art, the graffiti art that was even older than that, when the soda guns worked and the soda didn't taste like ass, the beer closet, hiding in the heating closet to get warm (that was mostly just a me thing,) doing music videos with @pleasurekatzen and getting told by Sybil to stop in the middle of my set for whatever dumbfuck reason, the parking structure across the street, partying in that parking structure after close, City Bites, that E-tard that worked at City Bites that never got our orders right, Labyrinth after City Club, @ChrisAllen running that, partying with him and a few others until 5AM that one night and coming out to sunlight, Blackie running that, Robbie who looked like Jay doing security, @Xaina who was unfortunately better known as "naked chick," the wall next to the stairs slowly crumbling and you could see into the bomb shelter, the small CRT televisions set to just display static at the bottom of those stairs, the smoking area they had inside City Club after the ban in 2007 and the sketchy staircase leading down to that, the tourists we hated, the friends we liked, the regulars I hated, the rumors about Higgins and his trainset, when it was actually a Ramada franchise before they lost that for over charging when the Super Bowl came to Detroit (and the dumbfuck football bridges they built on I-75 for that,) the discount they'd give you for those rooms if you said you were at the club, those rooms being gross (seriously it's probably good people are getting kicked out for that reason alone.  Go look up the old reviews,) the parking lot that had potholes which could swallow your car, my hearse getting blocked in and me having to wait in the diner until 6AM for someone to wake up and move a car so I could actually leave, @Troy Spiral doing DGN night on Saturdays there, making out with that one chick, making out with that other chi... moving on, the hot dog carousel that they had to get around the law when they tried to make them shut down early, Noire's wedding back when we didn't hate eachother, Tara acting like a drunken mess and getting banned, Greg getting kicked out and me also since he was my ride.  Hanging at Jim's before the club and when he dated Courtney, Ed's parties in Howell, Sal's parties that I never went to, Don's parties in Chesterfield, Steph's parties, @Serxera's parties in Royal Oak, Guy's parties in Southfield, Owen's parties at his loft, Nivek's "party" were we confronted and traumatized that one guy for three timing his girlfriend, people being told to mop up their own puke or get kicked out, when the front desk wasn't also a bar and the actual bar was in operation, the parties we threw in the ballroom as The Collective, trying to reduce the fucking echo at those parties, taking my casket up the stairs to DJ out of and those people working front desk turning white as ghosts with shock, annoying those people to unlock the door to get to the elevator bank (which how that was not a fire code violation I'll never know,) the night everyone got towed when they were in Labyrinth, the night everyone parked across the street and finally got actual tickets, driving Jay home, driving @Graphite home, driving them both home, @Riku Namako leaving completely shitfaced (I have video of that one somewhere,) hanging out with Alexis in the parking lot in the back of her hearse, Rob taking the girl I was hanging out with and dating her and that ending badly (seriously, thanks for jumping on that handgrenade bro,) someone stealing Holly's bag with the $50 necklace she'd just bought from Noire and me buying her another one to make things right, actual booths to sit on and the structural degradation of those, that other forum filled with assholes that was run by @SkunkBoy...

I've seriously forgotten more than I can remember, but that's a lot of it.  City is... or was a shithole, and we deserved better than to party in a shithole.  It wasn't always a shithole though, and over time we've grown to love our shithole, and now we will miss our shithole.

I've posted this before, but just as a reminder:
https://youtu.be/4Mjlj_OVPb8

[Scary Guy]

Here, have some shit most people here might actually remember:

 

[TronRP]

Seriously, thank you for this.

[kat (1)]

RIP.

[Soulrev]

On 12/2/2025 at 3:58 PM, Scary Guy said:

I was thinking some more and wanted to post some dates and other memories.

 

The club has been there since Sterling and Higgins opened it back in 1983.  I was three when it opened and I've been going since 2001 when I was 21.

The building itself opened in 1927 and it's only three years from being a centennial building.  It's possible someone paid a crapload of money to just get that land before then, even though it's been on the NHRP since 2005.

Many years ago Higgins got a bunch of money to fix the building that anyone who knew him and The Leland knew he was going to embezzle.  It made the news and was posted about by Troy here.

Here's some news on the issue from sources I don't actively hate:
https://www.metrotimes.com/news/years-of-neglect-catch-up-to-historic-leland-house-in-detroit-as-residents-forced-to-move-out/

 

https://www.dailydetroit.com/the-future-of-the-packard-plant-looks-bright-as-the-leland-darkens/

I have so many memories I will try to list them all in no particular order.  The fortune telling booth, the fake fireplace, when they ripped out the ceiling after that fire in NYC which scared every fire martial in the country into actually doing their jobs, the old DJ booth, the old stage, coat check, security patdowns with two lines, the stopping of everyone for a minute while Sybil took the money from the bar to the office between two rows of secity, DRINK UP and security dragging trash cans to take everyone's drinks at 2:30.  GET THE FUCK OUT at the end of the night from security, Johnny in his chair in the hallway, the door that actually worked in the hallway, John Coffee in his chair at the entrance to the dancefloor, the last call lights, the shitty rope lights on the ceiling, no heat or A/C, When they painted the floor black with that grippy shit.  @Bishop_The_Bartender at the bar, Becca whom I went to school with on security, Anita at the bar, the old graffiti art, the graffiti art that was even older than that, when the soda guns worked and the soda didn't taste like ass, the beer closet, hiding in the heating closet to get warm (that was mostly just a me thing,) doing music videos with @pleasurekatzen and getting told by Sybil to stop in the middle of my set for whatever dumbfuck reason, the parking structure across the street, partying in that parking structure after close, City Bites, that E-tard that worked at City Bites that never got our orders right, Labyrinth after City Club, @ChrisAllen running that, partying with him and a few others until 5AM that one night and coming out to sunlight, Blackie running that, Robbie who looked like Jay doing security, @Xaina who was unfortunately better known as "naked chick," the wall next to the stairs slowly crumbling and you could see into the bomb shelter, the small CRT televisions set to just display static at the bottom of those stairs, the smoking area they had inside City Club after the ban in 2007 and the sketchy staircase leading down to that, the tourists we hated, the friends we liked, the regulars I hated, the rumors about Higgins and his trainset, when it was actually a Ramada franchise before they lost that for over charging when the Super Bowl came to Detroit (and the dumbfuck football bridges they built on I-75 for that,) the discount they'd give you for those rooms if you said you were at the club, those rooms being gross (seriously it's probably good people are getting kicked out for that reason alone.  Go look up the old reviews,) the parking lot that had potholes which could swallow your car, my hearse getting blocked in and me having to wait in the diner until 6AM for someone to wake up and move a car so I could actually leave, @Troy Spiral doing DGN night on Saturdays there, making out with that one chick, making out with that other chi... moving on, the hot dog carousel that they had to get around the law when they tried to make them shut down early, Noire's wedding back when we didn't hate eachother, Tara acting like a drunken mess and getting banned, Greg getting kicked out and me also since he was my ride.  Hanging at Jim's before the club and when he dated Courtney, Ed's parties in Howell, Sal's parties that I never went to, Don's parties in Chesterfield, Steph's parties, @Serxera's parties in Royal Oak, Guy's parties in Southfield, Owen's parties at his loft, Nivek's "party" were we confronted and traumatized that one guy for three timing his girlfriend, people being told to mop up their own puke or get kicked out, when the front desk wasn't also a bar and the actual bar was in operation, the parties we threw in the ballroom as The Collective, trying to reduce the fucking echo at those parties, taking my casket up the stairs to DJ out of and those people working front desk turning white as ghosts with shock, annoying those people to unlock the door to get to the elevator bank (which how that was not a fire code violation I'll never know,) the night everyone got towed when they were in Labyrinth, the night everyone parked across the street and finally got actual tickets, driving Jay home, driving @Graphite home, driving them both home, @Riku Namako leaving completely shitfaced (I have video of that one somewhere,) hanging out with Alexis in the parking lot in the back of her hearse, Rob taking the girl I was hanging out with and dating her and that ending badly (seriously, thanks for jumping on that handgrenade bro,) someone stealing Holly's bag with the $50 necklace she'd just bought from Noire and me buying her another one to make things right, actual booths to sit on and the structural degradation of those, that other forum filled with assholes that was run by @SkunkBoy...

I've seriously forgotten more than I can remember, but that's a lot of it.  City is... or was a shithole, and we deserved better than to party in a shithole.  It wasn't always a shithole though, and over time we've grown to love our shithole, and now we will miss our shithole.

I've posted this before, but just as a reminder:
https://youtu.be/4Mjlj_OVPb8

 

 

Holy shit bro your memory is spot on this just brought a TON of memories back, thank you for sharing I totally forgot about most of that stuff.

 

And the "other forum" wasn't that the one "Angelbeast" started and tried to get everybody to leave here, to go there? Those were trying times for the community as a whole, I think. There was quite a bit of turbulence back then.

[Scary Guy]

19 minutes ago, Soulrev said:

 

 

Holy shit bro your memory is spot on this just brought a TON of memories back, thank you for sharing I totally forgot about most of that stuff.

 

And the "other forum" wasn't that the one "Angelbeast" started and tried to get everybody to leave here, to go there? Those were trying times for the community as a whole, I think. There was quite a bit of turbulence back then.

I don't remember that, but I do know that this still exists (in a way) and that one died long ago.  Actually this one has been pretty dead too in terms of activity.  There  was a huge spike after Troy's passing, and now with the shuttering of The Leland there's a minispike.  I think being forced to move to a new domain didn't do us any favors either.  But at least people can come here and visit if they want.  The other one they have to go to archive.org if they want to visit.

Also I wanted to add from that list above, the time that @Chris Rohn got fired for playing "too much techno" (which was bullshit because that's what everyone was playing mostly.) I'm not sure if that's related to playing that remix of New Order's "Confusion" off the blade soundtrack looped into itself back to back until it cleared everyone off the floor, I'm pretty sure that was him though.  Everyone was requesting it and all the DJs were sick of it.  Whoever did that was a fucking hero.

Anyway to reply to your thing in the other thread.  City was not that bad, though the music did tend to swing more toward the younger crowd.  Like all venues they had to go with what sells.  They had an "Emo Night" which I avoided.  They should have done it like Necto and done older music up front by the bar for us crusty old fucks, and put the trash in the back (or in the case of Necto, the basement) where it belongs.  I'd say that Necto should put it on the main floor to make it look less empty when going in, but most of those kids probably can't even drink so you don't really want them by the main bar.

Back on topic though, if you got to city early/late enough one of the DJs might throw you a bone and play some oldschool tracks.  There are multiple reasons I stopped going as often as I did though.  All the shit I did for that place over the years and they want to charge ME cover?  Okay, well if I'm demoted to customer then I'll go patronize a place that plays what I actually want to hear.  Shit I'll go hang out at Chadd's and eat excellent food while playing bullshit butt-rock all night.  Or just stay in, spend zero money, listen to what I want, and work on projects I need to do anyway.

I will give Glodich credit though, he kept it running and for a while better than Sybil did.  They seemed to just give up and stop caring about the place.  Joe made a lot of actual improvements and implemented some of my suggestions.  I think after a while he got tired of my bitching though.  Fixing the stairway, tearing out the coat check+beer closet, moving the entrance, putting in better sound, lighting, and actual HEAT.  All that shit was a good move.  He may have thrown his hands up and ran away from some issues going "I'm not dealing with this" when they happened, but he got shit done.  Should have hired me more though and let me play whateverthefuck.  I think the last time I DJed was that memorial benefit for Charles English, and that was probably only because he knew I'd donate my cut without question.

Hey Joe, I got this for you: 

He loves this song.  If you see him you should play it for him on your phone :P

[kat (1)]

On 12/2/2025 at 5:58 PM, Scary Guy said:

I was thinking some more and wanted to post some dates and other memories.

 

The club has been there since Sterling and Higgins opened it back in 1983.  I was three when it opened and I've been going since 2001 when I was 21.

The building itself opened in 1927 and it's only three years from being a centennial building.  It's possible someone paid a crapload of money to just get that land before then, even though it's been on the NHRP since 2005.

Many years ago Higgins got a bunch of money to fix the building that anyone who knew him and The Leland knew he was going to embezzle.  It made the news and was posted about by Troy here.

Here's some news on the issue from sources I don't actively hate:
https://www.metrotimes.com/news/years-of-neglect-catch-up-to-historic-leland-house-in-detroit-as-residents-forced-to-move-out/

 

https://www.dailydetroit.com/the-future-of-the-packard-plant-looks-bright-as-the-leland-darkens/

I have so many memories I will try to list them all in no particular order.  The fortune telling booth, the fake fireplace, when they ripped out the ceiling after that fire in NYC which scared every fire martial in the country into actually doing their jobs, the old DJ booth, the old stage, coat check, security patdowns with two lines, the stopping of everyone for a minute while Sybil took the money from the bar to the office between two rows of secity, DRINK UP and security dragging trash cans to take everyone's drinks at 2:30.  GET THE FUCK OUT at the end of the night from security, Johnny in his chair in the hallway, the door that actually worked in the hallway, John Coffee in his chair at the entrance to the dancefloor, the last call lights, the shitty rope lights on the ceiling, no heat or A/C, When they painted the floor black with that grippy shit.  @Bishop_The_Bartender at the bar, Becca whom I went to school with on security, Anita at the bar, the old graffiti art, the graffiti art that was even older than that, when the soda guns worked and the soda didn't taste like ass, the beer closet, hiding in the heating closet to get warm (that was mostly just a me thing,) doing music videos with @pleasurekatzen and getting told by Sybil to stop in the middle of my set for whatever dumbfuck reason, the parking structure across the street, partying in that parking structure after close, City Bites, that E-tard that worked at City Bites that never got our orders right, Labyrinth after City Club, @ChrisAllen running that, partying with him and a few others until 5AM that one night and coming out to sunlight, Blackie running that, Robbie who looked like Jay doing security, @Xaina who was unfortunately better known as "naked chick," the wall next to the stairs slowly crumbling and you could see into the bomb shelter, the small CRT televisions set to just display static at the bottom of those stairs, the smoking area they had inside City Club after the ban in 2007 and the sketchy staircase leading down to that, the tourists we hated, the friends we liked, the regulars I hated, the rumors about Higgins and his trainset, when it was actually a Ramada franchise before they lost that for over charging when the Super Bowl came to Detroit (and the dumbfuck football bridges they built on I-75 for that,) the discount they'd give you for those rooms if you said you were at the club, those rooms being gross (seriously it's probably good people are getting kicked out for that reason alone.  Go look up the old reviews,) the parking lot that had potholes which could swallow your car, my hearse getting blocked in and me having to wait in the diner until 6AM for someone to wake up and move a car so I could actually leave, @Troy Spiral doing DGN night on Saturdays there, making out with that one chick, making out with that other chi... moving on, the hot dog carousel that they had to get around the law when they tried to make them shut down early, Noire's wedding back when we didn't hate eachother, Tara acting like a drunken mess and getting banned, Greg getting kicked out and me also since he was my ride.  Hanging at Jim's before the club and when he dated Courtney, Ed's parties in Howell, Sal's parties that I never went to, Don's parties in Chesterfield, Steph's parties, @Serxera's parties in Royal Oak, Guy's parties in Southfield, Owen's parties at his loft, Nivek's "party" were we confronted and traumatized that one guy for three timing his girlfriend, people being told to mop up their own puke or get kicked out, when the front desk wasn't also a bar and the actual bar was in operation, the parties we threw in the ballroom as The Collective, trying to reduce the fucking echo at those parties, taking my casket up the stairs to DJ out of and those people working front desk turning white as ghosts with shock, annoying those people to unlock the door to get to the elevator bank (which how that was not a fire code violation I'll never know,) the night everyone got towed when they were in Labyrinth, the night everyone parked across the street and finally got actual tickets, driving Jay home, driving @Graphite home, driving them both home, @Riku Namako leaving completely shitfaced (I have video of that one somewhere,) hanging out with Alexis in the parking lot in the back of her hearse, Rob taking the girl I was hanging out with and dating her and that ending badly (seriously, thanks for jumping on that handgrenade bro,) someone stealing Holly's bag with the $50 necklace she'd just bought from Noire and me buying her another one to make things right, actual booths to sit on and the structural degradation of those, that other forum filled with assholes that was run by @SkunkBoy...

I've seriously forgotten more than I can remember, but that's a lot of it.  City is... or was a shithole, and we deserved better than to party in a shithole.  It wasn't always a shithole though, and over time we've grown to love our shithole, and now we will miss our shithole.

I've posted this before, but just as a reminder:
https://youtu.be/4Mjlj_OVPb8

I love Xaina. 

I think I knocked a tray of shots over with my big butt once when Bishop was bringing them to the dance floor. This was in like 2000 before I knew you guys.  

[Slogo]

On 12/15/2025 at 9:17 PM, kat said:

I love Xaina. 

I think I knocked a tray of shots over with my big butt once when Bishop was bringing them to the dance floor. This was in like 2000 before I knew you guys.  

I was going through old videos recently and remembered she was holding the camera for a lot of our jam sessions 

[kat (1)]

4 hours ago, Slogo said:

I was going through old videos recently and remembered she was holding the camera for a lot of our jam sessions 

Yea she had old footage on her YouTube of us. It was fun to see.

[Slogo]

On 12/17/2025 at 7:44 PM, kat said:

Yea she had old footage on her YouTube of us. It was fun to see.

On that note I sent Chris an old screenshot of one of them and he asked me if they were ever uploaded. I told him no, but became open to the idea. Are you cool with it

[gwen]

ya well. my kids were still going. I always said

bare wires wet basement just a matter of time before there is a goth stampede trying to get up that one long stairway in the dark. ya'll are gonna burn to death. at least they were too cheap to put sparklers in the drinks eh? 40 ppl gone last week.