What began as an inner city art fair in 1977 evolved into a performing arts festival when it was moved to its present alley and renamed in 1982 to “DALLY IN THE ALLEY”, the title of a medieval drinking song. Great musical talent, good beer and a remarkable string of fabulous September weather has indelibly marked the alley at Second and Forest in Detroit ’s Cass Corridor as the site of the best music festival in the Midwest .
Gary Grimshaw designed the first Dally poster in 1982, featuring Brian Taylor’s dancing cats, replicas of which grace a garage wall at Third and Forest . Gary also created the 1986 and 1997 posters. Other recent Dally poster artists include Steven Goodfellow (1996), Glen Barr (1998), Kevin Stanislowski (1999), Mary Iverson (2000), Jerome Ferretti (2001), and Shades (2002). The 2005 Dally Poster was designed by Mark Heggie.
The Dally expanded beyond its original alley to include Forest Avenue in 1997 and added the Urban Electronica stage on Second Avenue in 1999. The skateboard ramps of 1999 were subsequently banned by the police department, but new and weird events are added every year.
Both the quality and quantity of the food and art vendors has significantly improved since our 1977 beginnings, and more than 100 participants sell food, beer and things one can only find in the Cass Corridor.
ALLEY HISTORY
In 1866, Lewis Cass, Michigan Governor, first subdivided his enormous farm and gave a portion to William A. Butler, which was bordered by Putnam on the north side, Prentis on the south, and Second and Third. Butler farmed the land until he died in 1890. Butler ’s heirs began selling off lot size portions of the property in 1891 and sold off the farm lot by lot over the next 25 years. It was during this subdivision that the alleys were laid out as a home for horses and carriages.
As the streets of Detroit were paved, starting downtown and moving outward, trolley lines extended and utilities installed, home building followed the city services. The first homeowner on this block was Phillip Van Zile, an attorney and later circuit court judge who built his home on Forest in 1891 and lived there until his death in 1919.
Second and Third Avenues were paved with cedar at the turn of the century, and Forest Avenue was paved with brick west of Woodward to Third. Luxury apartment buildings sprang up along both Second and Third starting downtown and northward during this period. By 1904, Renaud Fiats and Forest Arms were full of tenants, but the block surrounded by Forest , Hancock, Second and Third remained sparsely developed.
On this block in 1899 there were only five houses – four on Forest and one on Second. Nothing was built on Third or Hancock until 1912. In 1904, Horace Dodge purchased one of the Forest houses.
More significantly, he constructed the famous garage in the rear, and here it is believed that he developed his own motor car, working for Henry Ford by day and with his brother by night.
By 1910, the Winthrop had been built on Second. It was the first and only apartment building on the block until 1912 when the Hollender went up on the corner of Second and Forest . In 1913, the Hyesta and Netherland opened. Third Avenue had nine residences including a boarding house occupied by five unrelated persons. Many of the apartment buildings were built by neighborhood residents. In 1913, LaBelle and Blanche Altman built the LaBelle apartment building on Second and made two of the six apartments their home.
In 1914, the new Wellesley on Hancock was then the largest and most luxurious apartment building. The Sherbrooke opened the same year, owner occupied by Roselee Ginsberg. In 1917, the Goldberg brothers (Jacob lived at 70 Prentis) borrowed $75,000 to build the Hancock Court Apartments; this, the last of the Dally blocks’ apartment buildings, opened in 1918 next door to the Wellesley . The Goldbergs leased the corner store at Forest and Third to the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company in 1925. Kroger later moved to Second and Prentis (now Parker’s) and the Yono family, many of whom were born in the townhouses at Third and Hancock, now operate their drug store on this site.
These beautiful buildings are still used very much as they were intended. They provide comfortable homes and a sense of community in an urban development. New houses and lofts are surrounding the alley, further evidence of the viability of the city in general and North Cass in particular. And the alley which they surround is perfect for the community fair that we’ve all come to know as the Dally in the Alley.