PART ONE

1928-1930
The Black Bottom

We have the biggest of nearly everything: the tallest building, the biggest electric sign, the longest bridge, the most money …

Detroit City Directory, 1925-26 edition

The “blind pig” conditions are worse in every way than in any other town visited, and the liquor sold is of a ruinous quality.

—Ernest W. Mandeville,

“Detroit Sets a Bad Example,”

Outlook, April 1925