'Hour Detroit' Editor Takes Nostalgic Journey into Detroit's Golden Years

Many fans of Hour Detroit magazine like to "begin at the ending" for a feature on the back page called "The Way It Was." There, readers will find a nugget of Detroit history accompanied by a memorable photograph.

It’s almost instinctive to flip to the back of the magazine first, said George Bulanda, 54, managing editor of Hour Detroit and Detroit Home magazines. The photos allow readers to experience people and places that sometimes exist only in fond memories.

From the offices of in downtown Royal Oak, the Grosse Pointe resident muses over his boyhood with vivid details. He grew up around Palmer Park on Detroit’s north side. Just a block and a half off Woodward, he was within walking distance of the Michigan State Fairgrounds and bus stops that could take him on adventures in Highland Park or downtown Detroit, to places such as the Six Mile Theater, McGregor Library or the Guardian Building.

“No expense was spared on the Guardian Building — or on the Fisher Building,” Bulanda said of the Detroit landmarks.

The graduate of in Royal Oak credits his parents for fueling his love of history. Instead of taking him to amusement parks as a child, Bulanda's mother and father took him to historic sites such as Mount Vernon, Springfield, IL, and Gettysburg.

In his youth, Bulanda was preoccupied places and dates. “I can name all the state capitals and all the world capitals. I got a globe one year, and my parents couldn’t pull me away from it.”

Bulanda said he reached a point when it wasn’t about memorizing places and dates anymore, he started asking, “Why?”

'The Way It Was'

Many of the images used in The Way It Was are pulled from the Walter P. Reuther Image Gallery or Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. The historical photographs are thoroughly researched.

“A lot of interest comes from young people,” Bulanda said. They may not have the background or perspective to understand the significance of a photograph’s time and place, he said, so they need context.

For example, a photograph showing a tall, handsome man in a suit — with great hair — standing alongside three beautiful women could easily be mistaken for Mitt Romney. The man in the photo, however, is then-Michigan Gov. George Romney, Mitt's father; the dazzling young women are The Supremes. The photo was taken at the Michigan State Fair band shell in 1965.

That photograph is one of Bulanda’s favorites. He says it brings back memories of walking to the state fair as a child in 1966 to see the another legendary Motown act, the Temptations, perform on that same stage.

'The Way It Was, Part 2'

If you interested in taking a stroll down memory lane and learning a thing or two in the process, pick up a copy of The Way It Was, Part 2. The book is a compilation of The Way It Was features published in Hour Detroit magazine from 2005-11.

In the book, you’ll find many local landmarks and Detroit figures, such as:

• Old City Hall
• Guardian and Penobscot buildings
• Awrey's
• Tiger Stadium
• Olympia Stadium
• Grande Ballroom
• Belle Isle Aquarium
• Mercury, Eastown, Madison, Shubert and Punch and Judy theaters
• Berry Gordy Jr.
• George Romney
• Coleman A. Young
• Edsel Ford
• Hank Greenberg
• Charles Lindbergh

You can purchase The Way It Was, Part 2 and its companion, The Way It Was: Glimpses Of Detroit’s History Through The Pages Of Hour Detroit Magazine (published in 2004), at momentumbooks.com, Amazon.com or at .