For the residents of Oakland County, Michigan there are a few places the people would consider to be landmarks. The Oakland Press mural is one of those buildings and I grew up passing by it on a weekly basis. The beautiful painting was done on the side of a building that was purchased in the 80's to have more room for the Oakland Press' circulation department. Now it will be removed to make way for a luxury and exotic car dealership according to Crain's Detroit.

The mural itself was painted on the large blank wall facing Wide Track Drive by the son of a former Oakland Press employee who worked in the credit/accounting department. The building was previously owned by The Detroit Edison Company (aka DTE Energy) and used as a retail store where customers could exchange their light bulbs for free. When the Detroit Free Light Bulb Exchange Program ended in 1978, the building became vacant.

Many consider the mural to be iconic to the area of Pontiac. Monica Drake, whose father Michael worked for the Pontiac Press in the mailroom and circulation office in the late 1950s, works for the State of Michigan in Lansing is also a freelance writer for the OP and expressed her sorrow for the news that this mural will be removed to make way for the new dealership:

I was devastated when I learned The Oakland Press was moving out of its location on Huron Street. Those buildings hold so much history for my family, and, now I can no longer visit the place where both my dad and grandma worked and the place where I had my first after-college job. When I worked at The Oakland Press, whenever my friends and I would drive by the mural, I would proudly point and say, ‘I work there!

The new dealership will be home to about 10 to 20 cars at any given time with price ranges starting anywhere from $20,000 to $3 Million. Customers can expect to see pre and post-war sports cars, cars from the 50's,60's and modern exotics as well.


 

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