COMMUNITY

JEWFRO

Crossing The Threshold
With Al Taubman

o better get to know the man
as he lived — beyond the obits,
eulogies, shouts and murmurs
— Al Taubman and I spent the day
after his funeral together.

T

9 a.m., my kitchen. For $3.99,
I'm downloading A. Alfred Taub-
man's 2007 autobiogra-
phy Threshold Resistance:
The Extraordinary Career
of a Luxury Retailing
Pioneer (the source of his
quotations to follow).
I've never used Kindle
before, though I've always
admired the pink case
on my wife's. Threshold
resistance, for Taubman,
describes "the physical
and psychological barri-
ers that stand between
your shoppers and your
merchandise' Far be it for
me to resist...

9:30 a.m., Twelve Oaks Mall.

Empowered by my pink Kindle,
I take a full lap around the ring
road, one of which surrounds every
Taubman center. I've never been to
Twelve Oaks, which appears to be
breaking one of Taubman's rules:
"There is a very distinctive sound
to shopping: heels clicking, people
in conversation, shopping bags in
motion. Music is not necessary to
set the mood!' Maybe they turn the
music off (or down) when the stores
open.
I drink coffee I brewed at home
next to Starbucks and wonder if
Taubman and I were fundamentally
different, or just products of differ-
ent eras.
I have lowered threshold resis-
tance for people who want to get
involved in Detroit. Still, my autobi-
ography would be called Never Pay
Retail: Nobody Goes There Anymore,
It's Too Crowded. As promised, I can
gaze at the stores upstairs through
"clear handrails on the upper level
that preserve unobstructed sight
lines!'
When I leave shortly before 10:45,
a group is gathered in front of the
Cheesecake Factory 15 minutes
before it opens:"Attractive sit-down
or'tablecloth' restaurants hold the
customer longer in the mall and
increase the number of monthly
visits."

Noon, Riverfront Towers. I bike
from my office in Southwest Detroit
to Riverfront Towers. I'm riding

along the Riverwalk because I can't
reach Downtown by street without
detouring around Joe Louis Arena.
The tangle of skywalks, overpasses,
gates and fences would no doubt
give heartburn to the students at
U-M's A. Alfred Taubman College of
Architecture and Urban Studies.
The first tower was
started in 1982, and the
third was completed in
1992. Riverfront Towers
came from the combina-
tion of the crippling re-
cession, Mayor Coleman
Young's desire to catalyze
residential development
in Detroit, and his trust
in Taubman and Max
Fisher's close relationship
with Ronald Reagan.
Architect Abe Kadushin
recalls the project fondly.
Taubman was very hands-
on, insisting on upgrades that
"drove the FHA crazy" and meeting
Abe in New York to pick out Persian
rugs from Sotheby's for the lobbies.
Steve Yzerman and Sergei
Federov were two of the first ten-
ants. Later tenants included Young
himself, Aretha Franklin — and
Rosa Parks, whose rent was paid by
Taubman and Fisher. The project
lost more than $50 million.

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4 p.m., Detroit Institute of
Arts. Just past the Detroit Medical

Center (where a Taubman-funded
lab developed AZT, the first drug
approved by the FDA for the treat-
ment of HIV infection and AIDS), I
arrive at the DIA. Visitors have him
to thank for pieces he donated and
for overseeing the $170 million
renovation:
"I've helped plan the new internal
circulation patterns at the DIA. (You
could say we are breaking down
threshold resistance!)"
I'm also here to see "Diego Rivera
and Frida Kahlo in Detroit," a special
exhibit about the couple's tumultu-
ous time in the city.
At a glance, Communist Rivera
and Capitalist Taubman couldn't be
more different. Guess which said,
"Our consumer society, not driven
by the satisfaction of basic needs,
is fueled by the fantasy, flight and
excitement of a possible purchase.
People will buy — on impulse —
products and services they feel will
make them happier!'
Yet both responded with opti-
mism to (albeit anticipating differ-
ent ends from) mass production

Taubman on page 42

267 S Lightner Rd.
Port Clinton, Ohio 43452
419.732.3606

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