Sad news indeed. While I was working in Detroit area during the summer 
of 2010, I tried to arrange to get into the old auditorium to take some 
photos, but ran into the usual bureaucratic snafu (I don't think the 
authorities wanted people to see what poor condition the building was in).

While still living in the Detroit area in the late '60's and early 
'70's, I was fortunate enough to have recorded some performances there. 
This was a fabulous venue-you would have to work really hard to make a 
bad recording in this house.

I really don't know what else is left now besides Orchestra Hall. The 
only other venue in the city I have recorded at recently was the Opera 
House, which was rather a disappointment, for a variety of reasons.

Scott D. Smith CAS

On 3/29/2012 1:01 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
> The late great Cass Technical High School in Detroit was apparently 
> demolished last year. This YouTube shows the husk of the auditorium 
> falling to rubble:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4qKBOeKGc
>
> Here's a neat website that chronicles the school's history, its state 
> of abandonment (note all the expensive and durable furniture and 
> school fixtures abandoned and left to rot, while the city went 
> bankrupt), and photos of its demolition.
> http://detroiturbex.com/content/schools/cass/index.html
>
> Cass Technical's superb auditorium was used for the later-era Mercury 
> Living Presence recordings of the Detroit Symphony under Paul Paray, 
> including all the recordings made to 35mm magnetic film. Cass was 
> recommended by members of the orchestra because Old Orchestra Hall 
> (the Paradise Theatre) was falling apart and in a bad part of town. 
> The orchestra's performance venue, Edsel Ford Auditorium, had poor 
> acoustics and proved unsuitable as a recording venue; in other words, 
> it was an Edsel.
>
> Note that Diana Ross was a Cass Technical alum!