5001 Chene Street
LIPAN TV, LIP-PAN TV
I’ve admired this building for as long as I’ve known of its existence; however, I hadn’t shot it using a digital camera until yesterday. Better late than never, huh?
I haven’t determined the architect, but I believe it was constructed around 1920. The first reference I’ve found is in the Detroit Free Press in the late 1920s for a florist in the storefront on the corner.
The structure is attached to a residential dwelling. I’m unsure if it’s just one unit or several flats.
In 1948, Louis Kulma opened LIPAN TV at the corner of Chene and Warren. Although spelled slightly differently, the most recent tenant shared that same name. Kulma grew up on McDougall and was featured in an article in the Detroit Free Press in 1985, talking about the neighborhood’s deterioration for the sake of building the GM Poletown Plant.
The first mention of the shop I found was for an Admiral Personal Portable TV, which was available at LIPAN. In 1958, there was an advertisement for reconditioned 17” televisions for $39.00, or roughly $400 in 2023. There were various adverts through the 1960s, but after that, they went silent.
Two years after Louis Kulma spoke with the Detroit Free Press about the neighborhood, he sold his business to his employee, Russell Reynolds. Kulma retired to Lake Forest, Florida, a community between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and passed away on October 3, 2019, at 94.
Shortly after purchasing the shop, Reynolds told Freep that the city “chased the people out [with the new factory]. I’d like it if they brought some people back in.” He also commented on how much vacant property there was in the neighborhood—I can only imagine what he’d think of it today.
Throughout the 1980s, there were numerous articles in East Poletown. To summarize their content, the city put tax money over the welfare of Detroiters and their neighborhoods, and businesses failed because of it. Chene Street was once one of the city’s finest commercial corridors, but it was capped on one end with the plant’s construction. Hamtramck’s Polish population couldn’t easily access East Poletown anymore, which was detrimental to many livelihoods.
I’ve found similar articles about Delray—and the comparison is striking. Both were eastern-European enclaves forced to become industrial-wasteland meccas full of pollution, partially cut off from the rest of the city. The articles cite rallying cries by business associations, community groups, and churches to bring back the neighborhood—however, both areas lacked a similar essential ingredient for success; city funding.
Of businesses that remained intact in the 1980s in both Delray and East Poletown, very few would reach the year 2000. However, LIP-PAN TV did.
The electronics repair shop was open until around 2013. Over the years, the operation had adapted to offer VCR and DVD players, and it’s shocking that the shop lasted until it did. I’ve seen many folks talk about their experiences at LIP-PAN back in the day; they had a tube testing machine in-house, so you could bring in a TV tube to see if that was why your set wasn’t working. If that was the problem, you could buy a new one, return home, pop it in, and catch the evening news or big game.
While shooting these photographs, two old timers were waiting for the bus, and I chatted with them for a while. They, too, took tubes here back in the day to fix their TVs, which they were shocked that I understood, considering my age. One of the men lived within shouting distance away, and I asked him about the structure’s health because I had seen a bundle of bricks had fallen off a few years back.
He told me that a man nearby owned and cared for it. For the most part, he was right. The bricks had been repaired well, and the structure was sound, at least from the exterior. For the most part, most of what’s left on Chene street is in okay shape. The structures aren’t move-in ready; however, most of the buildings that were in danger of collapsing into the street have already been demolished.
If I’m honest, I don’t know what’s next for 5001 Chene Street, East Poletown, or Detroit. One thing is for sure; considering how long this structure has stood at the corner of Chene and Warren, it’d be a shame for it not to be saved.
