Vanity Fair digs Detroit's salvaged treasures

VF.com correspondent and Detroit native Brett Burk (who colorfully describes himself as "a cheerful bitch...writing gaily about culture, politics and cars"), wanted to report on something different while attending the North American International Auto Show this week. So he journeyed around the city studying what we Detroiters stockpile and salvage from the past, from piles of Christmas trees and tires to antique toilets at the Architectural Salvage Warehouse.

Excerpt:

What to do with all the broken mirrors, bedsprings, saw blades, girders, roofing tin, and rusty paint cans you have lying around the house? Lie them around the house--on the outside, that is--like at the crazy compound/sculpture "garden" created by these clever folks at the African Bead Museum on Grand River.

View the slideshow here.
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.