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00:00:12,346 --> 00:00:14,982
(soft tinkling music)

6
00:00:21,489 --> 00:00:23,757
- [SS Columbia] This
river is my home.

7
00:00:27,295 --> 00:00:30,998
I can tell you the names
of every current and eddy

8
00:00:31,031 --> 00:00:33,834
that flows along the
shores of Boblo Island.

9
00:00:36,003 --> 00:00:38,472
People call me Columbia.

10
00:00:38,506 --> 00:00:43,377
And yes, I do have
a sister, Claire.

11
00:00:45,679 --> 00:00:49,683
We used to race this
old river every summer.

12
00:00:49,717 --> 00:00:53,487
(people cheering)

13
00:00:55,123 --> 00:00:59,260
If you're from southeast
Michigan or the tip of Ontario,

14
00:00:59,293 --> 00:01:02,396
you may have caught
a piece of our story,

15
00:01:02,430 --> 00:01:06,066
a memory glinting in
your mother's eyes.

16
00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:11,004
An old sign by the river
fading, but not forgotten.

17
00:01:12,673 --> 00:01:14,442
Some say we're now haunted

18
00:01:14,475 --> 00:01:18,078
by the spirits of passengers
long since departed.

19
00:01:19,513 --> 00:01:22,716
Others less romantic
claim we've been torn up

20
00:01:22,750 --> 00:01:24,218
and sold for scrap.

21
00:01:25,353 --> 00:01:27,621
But Claire and I know the truth.

22
00:01:28,922 --> 00:01:31,425
I want to tell you a story.

23
00:01:31,459 --> 00:01:35,396
You might say it's a
Detroit ferrytale starring

24
00:01:35,429 --> 00:01:40,368
the oldest, surviving,
passenger steamboats in America.

25
00:01:41,535 --> 00:01:44,071
The sister ships
of Boblo Island.

26
00:01:44,104 --> 00:01:46,807
(upbeat music)

27
00:01:58,319 --> 00:02:01,655
Once upon a time,
they called our city,

28
00:02:01,689 --> 00:02:04,057
the Paris of the Midwest.

29
00:02:05,526 --> 00:02:07,261
It seemed like all
eyes were on us.

30
00:02:09,062 --> 00:02:11,532
Our cars could take you
wherever you wanted to go,

31
00:02:13,033 --> 00:02:15,703
and our music made the
ride that much better.

32
00:02:17,538 --> 00:02:19,907
But the most magical
ride each year

33
00:02:19,940 --> 00:02:23,744
was the summer voyage
to Boblo Island.

34
00:02:23,777 --> 00:02:26,480
(playful music)
(amusement park sounds)

35
00:02:27,681 --> 00:02:29,317
- Boblo had the Boblo bear.

36
00:02:29,350 --> 00:02:31,118
(child growling)

37
00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:32,686
Ride the train, remember riding
the train around the island?

38
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,489
- Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
- I just would run.

39
00:02:37,291 --> 00:02:39,692
- I remember the first time
I was truly scared to death

40
00:02:39,727 --> 00:02:41,362
was on their rollercoaster.

41
00:02:41,395 --> 00:02:42,863
And looking back,
it wasn't that big,

42
00:02:42,896 --> 00:02:45,165
but back then it was
like, it was a monster.

43
00:02:46,667 --> 00:02:49,237
- The Boblo experience
was the boat ride there.

44
00:02:49,270 --> 00:02:52,440
- Getting on the boat, giving
the man your little ticket

45
00:02:52,473 --> 00:02:55,709
and you on the boat, you
having fun, you partying.

46
00:02:55,743 --> 00:02:58,912
- There was actually
a Supreme Court ruling

47
00:02:58,946 --> 00:03:01,081
about integration
on the Boblo boat

48
00:03:01,114 --> 00:03:04,151
that really did start to
change history in America.

49
00:03:04,184 --> 00:03:06,887
- Boblo Island is
a Canadian island.

50
00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:08,589
- This is how you know
he's telling the truth.

51
00:03:08,622 --> 00:03:10,491
- You know, you left
the country, you know,

52
00:03:10,524 --> 00:03:12,293
'cause you got on the boat,
you traveled across the river.

53
00:03:12,326 --> 00:03:13,961
It was really magical.

54
00:03:13,994 --> 00:03:15,529
- [SS Columbia] For 80 years,

55
00:03:15,563 --> 00:03:18,599
we were on a dedicated
hour-and-a-half tour

56
00:03:18,632 --> 00:03:22,503
between downtown Detroit
and Boblo Island.

57
00:03:22,536 --> 00:03:27,541
Although the park closed down
in 1993, the memories live on.

58
00:03:28,942 --> 00:03:30,411
- 50 Cub Scouts running
around on the boat.

59
00:03:30,444 --> 00:03:32,313
And we'd run up to
Captain Boblo and say,

60
00:03:32,346 --> 00:03:34,180
"Can we have a coloring book?
Can we have a coloring book?"

61
00:03:34,214 --> 00:03:37,918
- Captain Boblo, you
know, he was maybe 4'4".

62
00:03:37,951 --> 00:03:40,087
I wanna say his
name was Joe Short.

63
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,790
Don't quote me on that, I
think that was his name, yeah.

64
00:03:42,823 --> 00:03:46,527
- He was like kid size, so
that made him not scary.

65
00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,430
- My favorite thing ever was
the third floor dance floor.

66
00:03:50,464 --> 00:03:52,031
Those were my jams.

67
00:03:52,065 --> 00:03:54,602
I'll go into a pub now
and I go to the jukebox.

68
00:03:54,635 --> 00:03:55,969
My girlfriend's saying,
"You're not doing

69
00:03:56,003 --> 00:03:57,571
the Boblo Boat music, are you?"

70
00:03:57,605 --> 00:03:59,540
And I'm like, "Oh, yes,
yes, it's gonna happen."

71
00:03:59,573 --> 00:04:02,175
- I always wanted to
hover near an exit,

72
00:04:02,209 --> 00:04:05,212
so that if we didn't
have enough life jackets,

73
00:04:05,245 --> 00:04:08,181
I could get off the
boat and tread water.

74
00:04:08,215 --> 00:04:12,553
- We were skiing around
the Boblo boat naked,

75
00:04:12,586 --> 00:04:15,989
watching people running
from one side of the boat

76
00:04:16,023 --> 00:04:19,593
to the other, to the point
where the boat was listing.

77
00:04:19,627 --> 00:04:21,462
Sorry, mom.

78
00:04:21,495 --> 00:04:23,297
- The best part though, was
taking the moonlight cruises.

79
00:04:24,898 --> 00:04:26,467
The boat would be full,

80
00:04:26,500 --> 00:04:28,201
but you could always
find that one nook,

81
00:04:28,235 --> 00:04:30,371
that one little corner
somewhere where you could sit

82
00:04:30,404 --> 00:04:32,406
and put your arm
around your girl and...

83
00:04:34,107 --> 00:04:37,511
- Her name was Serena Artiago.
And we hugged and stuff.

84
00:04:39,246 --> 00:04:41,449
- Were you on there as a young
teenager kissing the boys

85
00:04:41,482 --> 00:04:43,216
in a hidden section of the boat?

86
00:04:43,250 --> 00:04:45,018
- I may have, at one
time I'm sure I was.

87
00:04:45,052 --> 00:04:46,887
- [Al] You only get to
spend a few hours with them

88
00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:47,888
then you never see 'em again.

89
00:04:47,921 --> 00:04:49,256
- Never see 'em again.

90
00:04:49,289 --> 00:04:50,824
(man laughs)

91
00:04:50,858 --> 00:04:52,760
That was one good
thing, you know.

92
00:04:52,793 --> 00:04:54,995
- It was a part of summer, it
was a changing of the season.

93
00:04:55,028 --> 00:04:57,465
Some people watched for
the robins to come back,

94
00:04:57,498 --> 00:05:00,668
all the kids waited to hear
the Boblo boat whistle.

95
00:05:00,701 --> 00:05:05,639
(horn blares)
(kids cheer)

96
00:05:07,741 --> 00:05:11,144
- [SS Columbia] They hardly
let our boilers cool overnight,

97
00:05:11,178 --> 00:05:12,846
and that's the way I liked it.

98
00:05:18,819 --> 00:05:20,187
But we should have known

99
00:05:20,220 --> 00:05:23,123
that the spell
wouldn't last forever.

100
00:05:24,392 --> 00:05:27,595
(soft tinkling music)

101
00:05:29,597 --> 00:05:32,900
(loud hiss from factory)

102
00:05:39,072 --> 00:05:42,376
- All right, well, welcome
to the Boblo Ste. Claire.

103
00:05:42,409 --> 00:05:45,312
This is Kevin Mayer,
Tony Laginess, and
let's go take a walk

104
00:05:45,345 --> 00:05:48,782
and show you the different
things on the Ste. Claire.

105
00:05:48,816 --> 00:05:50,518
What is it, 105 years old now?

106
00:05:50,551 --> 00:05:52,052
It's 105-year-old engine,

107
00:05:52,085 --> 00:05:54,522
so, it's actually
older than Titanic.

108
00:05:54,555 --> 00:05:56,424
This is the mechanism that
used to take the anchors

109
00:05:56,457 --> 00:05:58,459
down or up, it was
steam operated.

110
00:05:58,492 --> 00:05:59,993
But it was our backup plan,

111
00:06:00,027 --> 00:06:01,862
so in case we ever
started drifting away,

112
00:06:01,895 --> 00:06:04,498
we would just unlock it
and let the anchors drop.

113
00:06:06,299 --> 00:06:08,636
And this is the part of the
ship that everyone remembers,

114
00:06:08,669 --> 00:06:10,471
especially when you were a kid.

115
00:06:10,504 --> 00:06:13,106
Everybody remembers going
up the grand staircase,

116
00:06:13,140 --> 00:06:15,042
a nice brass railing.

117
00:06:15,075 --> 00:06:17,411
You can see how
beautiful this was.

118
00:06:17,445 --> 00:06:18,912
All right, let's go upstairs.

119
00:06:21,715 --> 00:06:24,017
So here's the team.

120
00:06:24,051 --> 00:06:27,888
I own the boat, I'm
the primary finance

121
00:06:27,921 --> 00:06:29,757
behind the project, okay?

122
00:06:29,790 --> 00:06:32,560
So, Mike Lewinski, actually
has been with the boat project

123
00:06:32,593 --> 00:06:34,428
longer than anybody.

124
00:06:34,462 --> 00:06:35,963
If I come on the ship and
say, "Ski, is there anyplace

125
00:06:35,996 --> 00:06:37,364
that's weak right now?"

126
00:06:37,397 --> 00:06:39,099
He'll tell me exactly
what's changed

127
00:06:39,132 --> 00:06:41,334
from when I was out previously,
maybe three days ago.

128
00:06:41,368 --> 00:06:43,370
He knows that structure.

129
00:06:43,403 --> 00:06:47,107
Tony, first of all, knows
a lot of people down river.

130
00:06:47,140 --> 00:06:48,842
Best trait that he
has is he's not afraid

131
00:06:48,876 --> 00:06:50,511
to ask for something.

132
00:06:50,544 --> 00:06:52,580
Kevin does all the
marketing and the publicity.

133
00:06:52,613 --> 00:06:54,081
When he gets in front
of the camera, you know,

134
00:06:54,114 --> 00:06:56,283
he's got a good
smile, he likes it.

135
00:06:56,316 --> 00:06:58,318
I think Kevin more
than anybody, I mean,

136
00:06:59,787 --> 00:07:01,188
whoever's gonna watch
this is gonna hear,

137
00:07:01,221 --> 00:07:03,090
"Oh yeah, I love
Boblo. I miss Boblo."

138
00:07:03,123 --> 00:07:07,360
But Kevin would have to be
at the top of that list.

139
00:07:07,394 --> 00:07:10,163
(playful music)

140
00:07:12,533 --> 00:07:16,403
- I've been building this
and collecting it since 1989.

141
00:07:16,436 --> 00:07:19,607
It's not the exact
layout of Boblo Island,

142
00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,174
that's probably because I got

143
00:07:21,207 --> 00:07:22,910
probably twice as many
rides as Boblo Island.

144
00:07:22,943 --> 00:07:25,613
So, I call it my future Boblo.

145
00:07:25,646 --> 00:07:28,782
(playful music)

146
00:07:28,816 --> 00:07:30,784
Yeah, I found a picture
of me and my mom

147
00:07:30,818 --> 00:07:32,620
on one of the boats.

148
00:07:32,653 --> 00:07:36,056
I was about six months
old wearing a Boblo cap.

149
00:07:37,825 --> 00:07:39,693
And then when I turned
18, the first thing I did

150
00:07:39,727 --> 00:07:41,228
was go down to the boat
dock and apply for a job.

151
00:07:41,261 --> 00:07:43,396
There's my uniform right there.

152
00:07:43,430 --> 00:07:45,533
This is the uniform
that we had to wear

153
00:07:45,566 --> 00:07:46,933
while working on the boat.

154
00:07:48,936 --> 00:07:50,571
I worked in the concession stand

155
00:07:50,604 --> 00:07:54,007
right across from the
bandstand area or the DJ booth.

156
00:07:54,041 --> 00:07:56,544
We worked 18 hour
days every other day.

157
00:07:56,577 --> 00:07:58,411
We got there first
thing in the morning.

158
00:07:58,445 --> 00:08:01,549
We had to get the hotdogs
going, the popcorn,

159
00:08:01,582 --> 00:08:03,951
things like that, but it
didn't feel like work.

160
00:08:05,385 --> 00:08:08,155
Even now, when you
go on that ship,

161
00:08:08,188 --> 00:08:10,423
all your problems seem
to go away, you know.

162
00:08:10,457 --> 00:08:12,359
It's the riding of the boat,

163
00:08:12,392 --> 00:08:15,028
the uniqueness of being on
an island amusement park.

164
00:08:15,062 --> 00:08:16,730
It's like you're a kid again.

165
00:08:16,764 --> 00:08:19,533
So, that's why if I
can't have the island,

166
00:08:19,567 --> 00:08:21,569
I wanna make the island here.

167
00:08:21,602 --> 00:08:24,371
(playful music)

168
00:08:28,809 --> 00:08:33,113
This was an actual ride back
in the late '60s, early '70s.

169
00:08:34,715 --> 00:08:36,650
I mean, this thing
looks cool at night.

170
00:08:39,986 --> 00:08:44,457
Boblo called it The Bug, so
that's what we call it, The Bug.

171
00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:46,827
Get that dirt outta there.

172
00:08:50,230 --> 00:08:53,033
You're not gonna get scared
or sick on me, are you?

173
00:08:56,570 --> 00:08:57,404
Ah!

174
00:08:59,873 --> 00:09:02,610
(playful music)

175
00:09:06,079 --> 00:09:08,181
- Genevieve, we have to
figure out lunch tomorrow.

176
00:09:08,215 --> 00:09:09,883
Careful, careful.

177
00:09:09,917 --> 00:09:13,286
You know, like it's been
such a long road for us.

178
00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,189
Like, going back to when he
told me he bought the boat.

179
00:09:16,223 --> 00:09:17,357
You know, so he
comes home he's like,

180
00:09:17,390 --> 00:09:18,358
"Hey babe." I'm like, "Hey."

181
00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:19,893
You know, whatever.

182
00:09:19,927 --> 00:09:21,629
He's like, "Remember
the Boblo Boats?"

183
00:09:21,662 --> 00:09:23,163
I'm like, "Yeah, totally."

184
00:09:23,196 --> 00:09:24,632
I'm like, "We had the
best time on that.

185
00:09:24,665 --> 00:09:26,433
Like all us cousins
would go this and that."

186
00:09:26,466 --> 00:09:28,368
He's like, "I just bought one."

187
00:09:28,401 --> 00:09:32,005
I'm like, "What?
Excuse me, great."

188
00:09:32,039 --> 00:09:33,974
I'm thinking and then I saw
a picture of it and I'm like,

189
00:09:34,007 --> 00:09:35,108
"You bought what?
You bought this?"

190
00:09:35,142 --> 00:09:36,443
I'm like, "Are you crazy?"

191
00:09:36,476 --> 00:09:38,011
I'm like, "Oh my gosh."

192
00:09:38,045 --> 00:09:39,913
I'm like, "What
are we gonna do?"

193
00:09:39,947 --> 00:09:42,482
- Okay, nice deep breath in
and out through your mouth.

194
00:09:42,515 --> 00:09:45,518
Never as a child did
I ever think about

195
00:09:45,552 --> 00:09:47,454
or dream about owning the boat.

196
00:09:49,222 --> 00:09:52,092
It's my own nostalgia
that I have for the boat.

197
00:09:52,125 --> 00:09:55,162
My kids, you know, I wanna
pass this on to them.

198
00:09:56,563 --> 00:09:59,099
- [Danielle] Ron works
every single day.

199
00:09:59,132 --> 00:10:01,034
He'll come home at seven,

200
00:10:01,068 --> 00:10:04,037
totally hangs out with the
kids and plays with them.

201
00:10:04,071 --> 00:10:06,206
There they are, hiding as usual.

202
00:10:06,239 --> 00:10:08,341
Yeah, we don't go
out much anymore.

203
00:10:08,375 --> 00:10:10,911
Have date night anymore,
whatever, so to say.

204
00:10:10,944 --> 00:10:12,279
- Where's Jonathan?

205
00:10:12,312 --> 00:10:13,814
- [Danielle]
Non-stop phone calls.

206
00:10:13,847 --> 00:10:15,649
He gets phone calls
all night long.

207
00:10:15,683 --> 00:10:17,550
I don't think he's had a full
night sleep in over a year.

208
00:10:17,584 --> 00:10:18,719
(child meows)

209
00:10:18,752 --> 00:10:19,552
- Is that a cat in the house?

210
00:10:19,586 --> 00:10:21,488
(child meows)

211
00:10:21,521 --> 00:10:22,956
- [Danielle] I mean,
it's tiring, it's a lot.

212
00:10:22,990 --> 00:10:24,825
Like, the average
person could not handle

213
00:10:24,858 --> 00:10:28,428
what he handles, 100%.

214
00:10:28,461 --> 00:10:30,931
- [Girl] Do me, do me.

215
00:10:30,964 --> 00:10:32,099
(girl laughing)

216
00:10:32,132 --> 00:10:33,633
- There was definitely times

217
00:10:33,667 --> 00:10:35,468
where the boat was
more of a burden

218
00:10:35,502 --> 00:10:36,636
than a good thing, you know.

219
00:10:36,670 --> 00:10:38,706
It was financially stressful.

220
00:10:38,739 --> 00:10:42,542
But he doesn't let
obstacles get him down.

221
00:10:42,575 --> 00:10:45,679
Even like, a few summers
ago he had a brain tumor

222
00:10:45,713 --> 00:10:47,314
and that just came
out of nowhere

223
00:10:47,347 --> 00:10:51,384
and totally just like a
crazy experience for us.

224
00:10:51,418 --> 00:10:55,055
I mean, he would sit there
and write the alphabet

225
00:10:55,088 --> 00:10:57,490
over and over and over to
get his penmanship back

226
00:10:57,524 --> 00:11:01,194
and his handwriting and you
know, he's just very determined

227
00:11:01,228 --> 00:11:04,331
and like, when he puts his
mind to something, that's it.

228
00:11:04,364 --> 00:11:05,933
He does it.

229
00:11:05,966 --> 00:11:07,467
- Cancer survivors don't
always talk about that,

230
00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:09,602
don't always wanna
talk about that.

231
00:11:09,636 --> 00:11:11,371
You know, I too am
a cancer survivor,

232
00:11:11,404 --> 00:11:14,307
so, not everybody
knows it, so, you know.

233
00:11:14,341 --> 00:11:18,345
But there was a time when he
wasn't too sure about things.

234
00:11:18,378 --> 00:11:21,414
You know, Ron called me
and you know, you know,

235
00:11:21,448 --> 00:11:23,150
he told me he wasn't doing good.

236
00:11:23,183 --> 00:11:25,218
He's got all kinds of
tubes coming off him

237
00:11:25,252 --> 00:11:27,988
and tons of IVs going into
him and it's like, you know,

238
00:11:28,021 --> 00:11:30,891
this ain't the same person
I'm used to talking to.

239
00:11:30,924 --> 00:11:32,926
And it was like 4:30 in
the morning and he's like,

240
00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,895
"You awake?" And I'm like,
"Yeah, I'm awake, I'm at work."

241
00:11:34,928 --> 00:11:36,764
He's like, "Yeah,
I got bad news.

242
00:11:36,797 --> 00:11:38,732
I think we're gonna
have to scrap the boat."

243
00:11:40,167 --> 00:11:42,002
He's like, "My health
isn't the greatest

244
00:11:42,035 --> 00:11:45,906
and you can't own this boat by
yourself." I'm like, "True."

245
00:11:45,939 --> 00:11:47,407
So he's like, "At
this time I'm thinking

246
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,009
we're gonna scrap the project."

247
00:11:50,410 --> 00:11:51,578
After about a week, he's like,

248
00:11:51,611 --> 00:11:53,713
"No, we're not gonna scrap it."

249
00:11:53,747 --> 00:11:55,448
He was like, "Did you
cut anything off yet?"

250
00:11:55,482 --> 00:11:57,350
"Nope, I didn't cut anything
off, just measured."

251
00:11:57,384 --> 00:11:59,619
He's like, "Yeah, that's fine.
We're gonna keep the boat."

252
00:11:59,652 --> 00:12:02,555
"Okay." And that was the
end of that conversation.

253
00:12:04,357 --> 00:12:07,394
- I'm a very hands on, I like
to do everything on my own,

254
00:12:07,427 --> 00:12:09,429
which it's good you're involved,

255
00:12:09,462 --> 00:12:13,400
but a negative side to that is
that you can get overwhelmed.

256
00:12:13,433 --> 00:12:16,136
So, I've been giving
Kevin more and more tasks

257
00:12:16,169 --> 00:12:18,305
that he's very
comfortable with doing

258
00:12:18,338 --> 00:12:20,607
and that I'm comfortable
with him doing.

259
00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,510
He can literally devote
all his time to this.

260
00:12:23,543 --> 00:12:25,045
If we had a hundred
people like Kevin,

261
00:12:25,078 --> 00:12:27,014
this would've been done
probably 10 years ago.

262
00:12:29,549 --> 00:12:31,819
- [Kevin] After the work is
completed on the Ste. Claire,

263
00:12:31,852 --> 00:12:34,221
this is one of the places
that we're thinking

264
00:12:34,254 --> 00:12:36,389
of having her as a
dockside attraction.

265
00:12:36,423 --> 00:12:39,759
- [Ron] Utilizing the
ship for public events,

266
00:12:39,793 --> 00:12:42,863
weddings and proms
and graduations and
corporate parties.

267
00:12:42,896 --> 00:12:47,801
You know, food, dining, Boblo
gift shop, the museum itself.

268
00:12:47,835 --> 00:12:49,669
- And we'd also
like to, you know,

269
00:12:49,702 --> 00:12:52,039
reach out to a lot of the
senior homes in the area

270
00:12:52,072 --> 00:12:54,975
and stuff like that and bring
them on along down here.

271
00:12:55,008 --> 00:12:57,344
You know, they could be on
the second deck playing bingo,

272
00:12:57,377 --> 00:13:00,447
listening to the
oldies, Steve Miller,

273
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,051
maybe some polkas, things
like that that they remember.

274
00:13:04,084 --> 00:13:05,552
- We're at that point, you know,

275
00:13:05,585 --> 00:13:07,387
we don't wanna give
up on the boat,

276
00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:08,421
just like people don't
wanna give up on the city.

277
00:13:08,455 --> 00:13:09,823
And it's small changes.

278
00:13:11,291 --> 00:13:13,193
Clearly, if you're
going, you know,

279
00:13:13,226 --> 00:13:15,062
for those who haven't been
in Detroit in a long time,

280
00:13:15,095 --> 00:13:16,864
if you go down there now, I
mean, there new buildings,

281
00:13:16,897 --> 00:13:18,398
new stadium, you know, they're
bring the railway system.

282
00:13:18,431 --> 00:13:19,566
We know a lot's going
down in the city.

283
00:13:19,599 --> 00:13:21,168
I mean, same thing for us.

284
00:13:21,201 --> 00:13:23,003
- It's a humongous job.

285
00:13:23,036 --> 00:13:25,372
Well, I'll be the
first to admit,

286
00:13:25,405 --> 00:13:29,509
do I want this boat back like
three weeks ago? Heck yeah.

287
00:13:29,542 --> 00:13:31,211
But I know that's not a reality.

288
00:13:31,244 --> 00:13:33,080
- Everybody wants
to have a comment.

289
00:13:33,113 --> 00:13:35,048
They don't take a look at the
people individually and say,

290
00:13:35,082 --> 00:13:36,917
"Well, what's really going
on? Why did this happen?"

291
00:13:36,950 --> 00:13:38,685
It's all about, well, the boat
should have been done by now.

292
00:13:38,718 --> 00:13:40,287
Okay, well great.

293
00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:41,922
Let's see what you can
do that I couldn't do

294
00:13:41,955 --> 00:13:44,257
with all the obstacles I've had.

295
00:13:44,290 --> 00:13:48,328
- But if anybody's
gonna do it, we are.

296
00:13:48,361 --> 00:13:49,629
- That's right.
- Right.

297
00:13:56,469 --> 00:13:58,138
- Hey, oh.

298
00:13:58,171 --> 00:13:59,372
- Well, there goes that.

299
00:14:00,473 --> 00:14:01,909
- It isn't because I'm heavy.

300
00:14:04,644 --> 00:14:05,478
Whoa!

301
00:14:06,980 --> 00:14:09,950
We met in 1988 at
a nightclub called

302
00:14:09,983 --> 00:14:11,751
Nectarine Ballroom in Ann Arbor.

303
00:14:11,784 --> 00:14:14,554
We went dancing and then
I got his phone number

304
00:14:14,587 --> 00:14:19,126
and we started dating and
just went on from there.

305
00:14:23,363 --> 00:14:25,098
(Jeff whistles)

306
00:14:25,132 --> 00:14:26,566
We're opposites but we're not.

307
00:14:26,599 --> 00:14:28,835
You know, we love
each other to a point

308
00:14:28,868 --> 00:14:30,503
where we know our differences

309
00:14:30,537 --> 00:14:32,139
and we know where
we start, we end,

310
00:14:32,172 --> 00:14:35,943
and I think we both
have that fire for life.

311
00:14:35,976 --> 00:14:39,412
And I think that's what
brings us, keeps us together.

312
00:14:43,883 --> 00:14:46,886
I never went to Boblo Island,
only once or twice as a child,

313
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,322
but he brought me
into that world.

314
00:14:49,356 --> 00:14:52,559
And he got an invitation
to go to a Boblo reunion

315
00:14:52,592 --> 00:14:54,294
and he wasn't gonna
go, and I said,

316
00:14:54,327 --> 00:14:57,264
"You better go because
you love Boblo Island,

317
00:14:57,297 --> 00:14:58,798
you better be there."

318
00:14:58,831 --> 00:15:01,668
He just was so upset
when the boat closed

319
00:15:01,701 --> 00:15:04,104
and reliving those memories.

320
00:15:04,137 --> 00:15:05,872
But I'm glad we
went to the reunion.

321
00:15:05,905 --> 00:15:08,141
We had a lot of fun.
Had a lot of fun.

322
00:15:08,175 --> 00:15:10,510
Met the owner of the
boat, Ron Kattoo,

323
00:15:10,543 --> 00:15:13,013
and we started
volunteering on the boat.

324
00:15:13,046 --> 00:15:14,481
- I became a volunteer,

325
00:15:14,514 --> 00:15:16,383
started working on the the boat

326
00:15:16,416 --> 00:15:19,219
and Ron asked me if I'd be
the volunteer coordinator.

327
00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:21,554
I would email 'em, "Hey,
we're gonna work at the boat

328
00:15:21,588 --> 00:15:23,490
on this day from this
time to this time,

329
00:15:23,523 --> 00:15:24,992
and this is what
we're gonna do."

330
00:15:25,025 --> 00:15:26,593
I also became the
general manager,

331
00:15:26,626 --> 00:15:28,595
designing a lot of the
souvenirs that we sold

332
00:15:28,628 --> 00:15:31,331
at different events
and shows and whatnot

333
00:15:31,364 --> 00:15:34,968
to raise money to
help the project out.

334
00:15:35,002 --> 00:15:37,170
Seriously, when the island
went under and stuff like that

335
00:15:37,204 --> 00:15:38,371
I was devastated.

336
00:15:40,173 --> 00:15:42,009
Like I said, that whole thing

337
00:15:42,042 --> 00:15:44,611
it's just like losing
a family member.

338
00:15:44,644 --> 00:15:46,213
A lotta people think I'm crazy,

339
00:15:47,614 --> 00:15:52,585
but I never wanna see
that island again.

340
00:15:52,619 --> 00:15:54,154
(foreboding string music)

341
00:15:54,187 --> 00:15:57,024
From what I hear, where
the amusement park was

342
00:15:57,057 --> 00:15:59,426
they've let it go, the
buildings are falling down,

343
00:15:59,459 --> 00:16:00,960
they've been vandalized.

344
00:16:02,429 --> 00:16:03,963
You know, the Space
Needle is still there.

345
00:16:03,997 --> 00:16:05,532
That's the only ride
that's still there.

346
00:16:05,565 --> 00:16:08,735
But I wanna remember
it the way it was.

347
00:16:08,768 --> 00:16:10,970
I don't wanna see it
the way it looks now.

348
00:16:14,207 --> 00:16:16,676
(birds tweet)

349
00:16:27,254 --> 00:16:29,989
(distant organ music)

350
00:16:32,792 --> 00:16:34,561
- [SS Columbia]
This dock is where

351
00:16:34,594 --> 00:16:39,099
my work as a ferry boat stopped
and the island took over.

352
00:16:52,045 --> 00:16:53,480
- That is huge.

353
00:16:53,513 --> 00:16:55,548
That is absolutely huge.

354
00:16:55,582 --> 00:17:00,587
In 1600, in the very early
days, the French came over

355
00:17:01,988 --> 00:17:03,456
and started trading
with the native peoples.

356
00:17:03,490 --> 00:17:06,292
The coureur des bois
or the French woodsman,

357
00:17:06,326 --> 00:17:09,628
they named Boblo based
upon the white wood

358
00:17:09,662 --> 00:17:13,300
of the basswood tree,
Tilia Americana.

359
00:17:13,333 --> 00:17:16,669
So sure enough, Boblo
Island, bois blanc,

360
00:17:16,703 --> 00:17:19,672
is probably just a
mispronunciation of the French

361
00:17:19,705 --> 00:17:22,575
because it is difficult for
English-speaking people,

362
00:17:22,608 --> 00:17:24,743
for that French
pronunciation of bois blanc,

363
00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:27,880
pronounced it Boblo.

364
00:17:27,914 --> 00:17:30,150
But it's based on
the basswood tree.

365
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,254
And it does not
take long for nature

366
00:17:34,287 --> 00:17:38,458
to actually take this back from
a mowed and manicured state.

367
00:17:39,859 --> 00:17:43,463
That is an amenity
to those who now live

368
00:17:43,496 --> 00:17:44,997
in this wonderful residential

369
00:17:45,031 --> 00:17:47,134
development on the
north end of the island.

370
00:17:56,109 --> 00:17:57,644
(foreboding string music)

371
00:17:57,677 --> 00:17:59,479
- I heard that
they built mansions

372
00:17:59,512 --> 00:18:02,482
over where Boblo used to
be, and that's unfortunate.

373
00:18:02,515 --> 00:18:04,117
I really wish we
still had Boblo.

374
00:18:04,151 --> 00:18:06,719
It gives Detroiters
something to do

375
00:18:06,753 --> 00:18:09,021
instead of just hanging
out in the streets.

376
00:18:09,055 --> 00:18:11,291
- Kids' first experiences
going on a boat

377
00:18:11,324 --> 00:18:13,960
was very likely the
Columbia and the Ste. Claire

378
00:18:13,993 --> 00:18:15,895
for people living in this area.

379
00:18:15,928 --> 00:18:18,931
- Boblo, was in the inner city.

380
00:18:18,965 --> 00:18:20,767
You know what I'm saying?

381
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,101
From the inner city kids
like, oh, we going to Boblo.

382
00:18:22,135 --> 00:18:24,437
You know, this a
part of history.

383
00:18:24,471 --> 00:18:26,306
(soft piano music)

384
00:18:26,339 --> 00:18:29,776
- [SS Columbia] When Boblo
Island closed down in 1993,

385
00:18:29,809 --> 00:18:34,614
no one had any use for two
old amusement park steamboats.

386
00:18:36,082 --> 00:18:38,285
Claire and I fell
into a deep slumber.

387
00:18:40,086 --> 00:18:44,657
It seemed like even the Motor
City itself was fast asleep.

388
00:18:44,691 --> 00:18:49,196
Shops closed their doors,
the streets were deserted,

389
00:18:49,229 --> 00:18:52,932
the fires of the factory
furnaces grew cold.

390
00:18:52,965 --> 00:18:56,102
The river slowed even
down to the fish.

391
00:18:57,804 --> 00:19:01,908
And there we were, the
oldest passenger steamboats

392
00:19:01,941 --> 00:19:04,811
in America, slumbering away.

393
00:19:06,213 --> 00:19:08,915
- You look at at
something like that

394
00:19:08,948 --> 00:19:10,383
sitting and moldering away,

395
00:19:10,417 --> 00:19:12,118
and it's a little like seeing

396
00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:14,487
Aunt Sadie in the
hospital dying of cancer.

397
00:19:15,888 --> 00:19:17,690
- I used to get the
feeling from her

398
00:19:17,724 --> 00:19:21,928
she was so lonely, she
just hated sitting there.

399
00:19:23,696 --> 00:19:26,366
- Detroiters as a whole
feel really sad. I feel sad.

400
00:19:26,399 --> 00:19:30,136
Anybody that I knew in the
family and friends are sad

401
00:19:30,169 --> 00:19:32,705
that we don't have this
in our life anymore.

402
00:19:34,507 --> 00:19:35,975
- [SS Columbia] There's not
so many folks still around

403
00:19:36,008 --> 00:19:38,845
who remember a
different side to Boblo.

404
00:19:40,613 --> 00:19:42,782
All these good times have
a way of washing away

405
00:19:42,815 --> 00:19:45,585
the things people
just assume to forget.

406
00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:50,490
- It has a place in
civil rights history.

407
00:19:50,523 --> 00:19:52,225
I did not know that.

408
00:19:52,259 --> 00:19:54,327
I don't think your average
person who attended Boblo Island

409
00:19:54,361 --> 00:19:56,162
or rode on the boats
ever knew that.

410
00:19:57,797 --> 00:19:59,932
- [SS Columbia] But I was there,

411
00:19:59,966 --> 00:20:03,135
and I'll never forget, Sarah.

412
00:20:04,604 --> 00:20:06,406
- Sarah Elizabeth
Ray was working

413
00:20:06,439 --> 00:20:08,708
in a city ordinance department

414
00:20:08,741 --> 00:20:10,977
and that department
had a special program

415
00:20:11,010 --> 00:20:12,912
where people could
get extra training

416
00:20:12,945 --> 00:20:16,115
and she was the only African
American in the group.

417
00:20:16,148 --> 00:20:18,150
So for their graduation,

418
00:20:18,184 --> 00:20:21,087
they decided they were
gonna ride the Boblo boat.

419
00:20:22,889 --> 00:20:24,991
I assume everything had been
segregated at some point,

420
00:20:25,024 --> 00:20:28,295
so, I wasn't shocked
that it was segregated.

421
00:20:29,762 --> 00:20:33,633
What's a little shocking
to me is how quickly

422
00:20:33,666 --> 00:20:36,068
the Detroit community
was willing to forget

423
00:20:36,102 --> 00:20:40,640
and forgive the racist
history of the Boblo company.

424
00:20:43,576 --> 00:20:46,012
- You're making people
uncomfortable Miss.

425
00:20:46,045 --> 00:20:47,914
- Well, that's their problem.

426
00:20:49,616 --> 00:20:52,619
- Now is when you're
supposed to get off my boat.

427
00:20:52,652 --> 00:20:53,486
(snaps fingers)

428
00:20:59,292 --> 00:21:03,996
- That was a very deep cut
both to her as a human being,

429
00:21:04,030 --> 00:21:06,466
but also as a woman who
had had accomplished

430
00:21:06,499 --> 00:21:09,902
probably more than anybody
in her family at that time.

431
00:21:12,672 --> 00:21:15,808
It's hard to imagine the
shame and embarrassment

432
00:21:15,842 --> 00:21:18,077
that she must have
undergone in that moment.

433
00:21:19,912 --> 00:21:22,915
And there are people who kind
of skulk away and don't fight.

434
00:21:22,949 --> 00:21:25,885
But for her that
was like, "Oh no,

435
00:21:27,687 --> 00:21:31,090
I've come too far and they're
not getting away with this."

436
00:21:31,123 --> 00:21:33,393
She went straight to the NAACP

437
00:21:33,426 --> 00:21:37,029
and reported what happened
and they took the case.

438
00:21:37,063 --> 00:21:38,631
One thing that people don't know

439
00:21:38,665 --> 00:21:41,033
is that once the
NAACP got involved,

440
00:21:41,067 --> 00:21:43,870
Thurgood Marshall
actually got on the case.

441
00:21:43,903 --> 00:21:46,072
So, according to the
Michigan Civil Rights Act,

442
00:21:46,105 --> 00:21:48,240
you could not discriminate
on the basis of race

443
00:21:48,274 --> 00:21:52,912
in public accommodations,
but Boblo kept appealing.

444
00:21:52,945 --> 00:21:56,849
What the courts found is that
it was a public accommodation

445
00:21:56,883 --> 00:21:59,419
and they could not discriminate
on the basis of race.

446
00:21:59,452 --> 00:22:02,522
So, woo hoo! Sarah won.

447
00:22:02,555 --> 00:22:04,857
(uplifting music)
(amusement park rides)

448
00:22:04,891 --> 00:22:08,861
And that was sort of the end
of that fight in that moment.

449
00:22:08,895 --> 00:22:12,665
But it had given Thurgood
Marshall yet one more test

450
00:22:12,699 --> 00:22:16,068
of what was the Supreme
Court's appetite

451
00:22:16,102 --> 00:22:20,339
for ruling that separate but
equal in public accommodations

452
00:22:20,373 --> 00:22:23,175
and public spaces would
be unconstitutional?

453
00:22:23,209 --> 00:22:25,745
And so his next trip
to the Supreme Court

454
00:22:25,778 --> 00:22:28,247
was Brown versus
Board of Education.

455
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:32,819
So, for real, Sarah Elizabeth
Ray did pave the way

456
00:22:32,852 --> 00:22:35,955
for the change of law
in the United States.

457
00:22:35,988 --> 00:22:38,057
- [SS Columbia] Sarah
spent the rest of her life

458
00:22:38,090 --> 00:22:42,562
fighting for racial justice
in her east side neighborhood.

459
00:22:42,595 --> 00:22:47,467
In 2006, she passed
away, 88 years old,

460
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:49,469
impoverished and alone.

461
00:22:50,937 --> 00:22:54,641
15 years later, her
home still stands

462
00:22:54,674 --> 00:22:58,945
and inside the traces
of Sarah's life remain,

463
00:22:58,978 --> 00:23:02,715
scattered in debris and
refuse across the floor.

464
00:23:04,917 --> 00:23:07,820
(melancholy music)

465
00:23:20,733 --> 00:23:23,770
- My main concern right now
is getting these decks clear.

466
00:23:23,803 --> 00:23:25,672
And like, see that...

467
00:23:25,705 --> 00:23:26,673
So, this is Stephen Faraj,
he's my brother-in-law,

468
00:23:26,706 --> 00:23:28,475
he's my wife's brother.

469
00:23:28,508 --> 00:23:32,979
Stephen will be taking over
the day-to-day responsibilities

470
00:23:33,012 --> 00:23:35,482
in terms of doing
cleanup, maintenance.

471
00:23:35,515 --> 00:23:37,216
He'll be taking care
of the scheduling.

472
00:23:37,249 --> 00:23:39,018
So, essentially I'll go
down there to the ship,

473
00:23:39,051 --> 00:23:40,787
make sure everything's
going well.

474
00:23:42,154 --> 00:23:43,790
(loud metal bang)

475
00:23:43,823 --> 00:23:45,892
Really what I wanna do
with those metal plates,

476
00:23:45,925 --> 00:23:49,496
just make a a row, that way
it's somewhat protected here.

477
00:23:49,529 --> 00:23:52,832
And then this room should be
empty when it's done. Okay?

478
00:23:52,865 --> 00:23:54,767
- Right now we wanna
preserve the boat.

479
00:23:54,801 --> 00:23:57,236
If you look at the boat now,
compared to eight years ago,

480
00:23:57,269 --> 00:23:59,839
there's been some
big steps backwards.

481
00:23:59,872 --> 00:24:01,340
I'm here to stop that

482
00:24:01,373 --> 00:24:03,142
and make sure that we're
progressing forward.

483
00:24:04,577 --> 00:24:06,445
My brother-in-law
got this big project

484
00:24:06,479 --> 00:24:08,515
and frankly, I don't think
he really knew, you know,

485
00:24:08,548 --> 00:24:10,182
what was going on here.

486
00:24:10,216 --> 00:24:13,820
Slowly but surely, you
know, we will get there.

487
00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:25,765
- So, I have a folder
all about Sugar Island.

488
00:24:26,633 --> 00:24:28,668
I found what I think

489
00:24:28,701 --> 00:24:33,205
is going to be very
pertinent, it's Sugar Island,

490
00:24:33,239 --> 00:24:38,210
the African American
amusement park that never was.

491
00:24:39,912 --> 00:24:42,348
(tinkling music)

492
00:24:42,381 --> 00:24:46,686
In 1944, Black Detroiters
bought Sugar Island

493
00:24:46,719 --> 00:24:50,857
to develop a recreation
site on 29 acres.

494
00:24:52,291 --> 00:24:54,627
They bought a ferry
boat, Sea Breeze,

495
00:24:54,661 --> 00:24:57,229
and picked up
passengers in Wyandotte.

496
00:24:57,263 --> 00:25:00,032
(tinkling music)

497
00:25:00,066 --> 00:25:02,635
They wouldn't be
discriminated against

498
00:25:02,669 --> 00:25:05,838
and it would be for
their own people.

499
00:25:07,306 --> 00:25:11,077
They were going to bring
bands like Cab Calloway

500
00:25:11,110 --> 00:25:15,081
and Duke Ellington down
to play for entertainment.

501
00:25:16,315 --> 00:25:18,050
But it didn't happen.

502
00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:23,590
It was said they were
thwarted in their efforts.

503
00:25:23,623 --> 00:25:28,628
The power lines were
cut and the boat sunk.

504
00:25:29,361 --> 00:25:31,530
(music swells)

505
00:25:31,564 --> 00:25:35,334
As far as the cause
of the ship sinking,

506
00:25:35,367 --> 00:25:39,606
that remains a
mystery to this day.

507
00:25:39,639 --> 00:25:44,143
Although there is consensus
among downriver natives

508
00:25:44,176 --> 00:25:49,115
that the Sea Breeze was
intentionally sunk to thwart

509
00:25:49,148 --> 00:25:53,152
the efforts of the Sugar
Island Amusement Corporation,

510
00:25:54,921 --> 00:25:58,424
there is no hard evidence
supporting the story.

511
00:26:00,126 --> 00:26:02,328
- [SS Columbia] Why does
history have a tendency

512
00:26:02,361 --> 00:26:07,366
to remember some things while
conveniently omitting others?

513
00:26:14,573 --> 00:26:15,441
- Hey

514
00:26:16,943 --> 00:26:18,410
- On that corner right there,

515
00:26:18,444 --> 00:26:22,081
there used to be a very
vibrant barbershop.

516
00:26:22,114 --> 00:26:23,449
- Across the street?
- Across there where you

517
00:26:23,482 --> 00:26:25,251
see all those trees.

518
00:26:25,284 --> 00:26:28,621
- We had apartment buildings,
apartment buildings

519
00:26:28,655 --> 00:26:30,289
and what have you.

520
00:26:30,322 --> 00:26:32,524
- There's nobody here anymore.

521
00:26:32,558 --> 00:26:34,927
You know, my mother-in-law
is one of the last

522
00:26:34,961 --> 00:26:36,696
of the Mohicans around here.

523
00:26:36,729 --> 00:26:39,598
You know, she is the monarch
in this neighborhood.

524
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,870
- Even though the houses are
boarded up and burned out,

525
00:26:43,903 --> 00:26:46,138
this is where I live.

526
00:26:50,977 --> 00:26:52,511
- Did you see this
picture right here?

527
00:26:52,544 --> 00:26:54,146
That's all the people
standing in line

528
00:26:54,180 --> 00:26:55,682
trying to get on the Boblo Boat.

529
00:26:55,715 --> 00:26:59,185
I met my husband over
on the Boblo Boat.

530
00:26:59,218 --> 00:27:02,922
Now he's my husband,
now he's my husband.

531
00:27:04,791 --> 00:27:09,495
We need Detroit fixed first
before you can go fix a boat.

532
00:27:09,528 --> 00:27:13,265
I'm not against any, the Boblo
Boat, don't get me wrong,

533
00:27:13,299 --> 00:27:15,101
I would love to see that.

534
00:27:15,134 --> 00:27:17,937
But before I see $10 million
go into the Boblo Boat,

535
00:27:17,970 --> 00:27:21,207
I would like to see $10 million
put into our neighborhoods.

536
00:27:26,245 --> 00:27:30,149
- [SS Columbia] Not everyone
who left this city wanted to.

537
00:27:30,182 --> 00:27:33,019
Some stayed as
long as they could

538
00:27:33,052 --> 00:27:35,521
until there was no other option.

539
00:27:37,223 --> 00:27:41,093
Claire and I waited for decades
hoping a prince would come

540
00:27:41,127 --> 00:27:43,796
to save us with his kiss.

541
00:27:43,830 --> 00:27:46,933
Praying our luck
might finally change

542
00:27:46,966 --> 00:27:50,369
and we could witness
Detroit's resurgence.

543
00:27:50,402 --> 00:27:54,106
(soft piano music)
(boat engine running)

544
00:27:54,140 --> 00:27:57,343
The kiss came, but
not without a price.

545
00:27:58,778 --> 00:28:01,781
I was bought by some
folks out of New York.

546
00:28:01,814 --> 00:28:04,683
They seemed determined to
breathe new life into me

547
00:28:06,452 --> 00:28:09,388
and in exchange they wanted
me to meet a new river,

548
00:28:09,421 --> 00:28:10,456
the Hudson.

549
00:28:11,858 --> 00:28:13,559
In order to have a new life,

550
00:28:13,592 --> 00:28:16,796
I was forced to leave
all that I love behind

551
00:28:16,829 --> 00:28:19,766
and sail into uncharted waters.

552
00:28:19,799 --> 00:28:22,802
(soft piano music)

553
00:28:26,605 --> 00:28:29,341
- You could not
build this boat now.

554
00:28:29,375 --> 00:28:31,643
You couldn't do it
sort of skill-wise.

555
00:28:31,677 --> 00:28:34,413
You couldn't do it from
a regulatory standpoint.

556
00:28:34,446 --> 00:28:36,682
People's comfort
and the experience

557
00:28:36,715 --> 00:28:39,251
was very much in the
minds of the designers.

558
00:28:40,686 --> 00:28:42,554
The way the chairs,
I mean, the seats,

559
00:28:42,588 --> 00:28:44,423
you picked the seats up and
you moved them around, right?

560
00:28:44,456 --> 00:28:46,458
You get on a modern boat,
the seats are all lined up.

561
00:28:46,492 --> 00:28:50,196
Like, who goes through the
world like that by choice.

562
00:28:50,229 --> 00:28:52,498
It matters that she's
had all those people

563
00:28:52,531 --> 00:28:54,100
treading upon her decks.

564
00:28:54,133 --> 00:28:56,168
It matters that she's
made all those trips.

565
00:28:56,202 --> 00:28:57,603
That's why we're passionate.

566
00:29:02,008 --> 00:29:04,610
We plan to take Columbia
to New York City

567
00:29:04,643 --> 00:29:06,612
and the Hudson River Valley.

568
00:29:06,645 --> 00:29:08,480
Steam started there.

569
00:29:08,514 --> 00:29:11,517
Steam essentially ended there
with the Alexander Hamilton.

570
00:29:11,550 --> 00:29:14,220
So, we wanna bring steam
back to the valley.

571
00:29:16,889 --> 00:29:19,325
Throughout her life
she was evolving

572
00:29:19,358 --> 00:29:22,561
and it's only appropriate that
we then continue that path,

573
00:29:22,594 --> 00:29:25,431
especially if she's the people's
boat, like people change,

574
00:29:25,464 --> 00:29:27,433
and she's gonna
change along with 'em.

575
00:29:29,335 --> 00:29:32,004
- [SS Columbia] My days
in Detroit are numbered

576
00:29:32,038 --> 00:29:33,405
but not over yet.

577
00:29:34,740 --> 00:29:37,810
They still have to
finish patching my hull.

578
00:29:37,844 --> 00:29:40,947
Perhaps someday I'll
be sailing again.

579
00:29:42,748 --> 00:29:45,852
- In New York, people will
be able to get on board

580
00:29:45,885 --> 00:29:49,621
and experience long
ago in the present.

581
00:29:49,655 --> 00:29:53,092
So, she'll be like a floating
time machine in a sense.

582
00:29:54,226 --> 00:29:56,362
(soft piano music)

583
00:29:57,864 --> 00:29:59,899
My dad took me on board
when I was six years old

584
00:29:59,932 --> 00:30:00,933
for the first time.

585
00:30:02,434 --> 00:30:05,537
And the first place he
took me was to the place

586
00:30:05,571 --> 00:30:07,840
where you can look down
and watch the engine.

587
00:30:09,575 --> 00:30:13,345
The metal railing, the brass
railing on the grand staircase,

588
00:30:14,847 --> 00:30:19,518
if you hold that and
you open your palms

589
00:30:21,287 --> 00:30:24,957
and close your eyes and
listen, you can hear people,

590
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,097
you can hear footsteps
going up and down.

591
00:30:31,130 --> 00:30:35,534
You can hear the
babble of people.

592
00:30:35,567 --> 00:30:37,703
First time I did that,
somebody was there

593
00:30:37,736 --> 00:30:40,139
that didn't understand
what I was doing.

594
00:30:40,172 --> 00:30:42,074
She said, "Are you all right?"

595
00:30:42,108 --> 00:30:45,777
I said, "Yeah, just let
me be, I'm listening."

596
00:30:45,811 --> 00:30:46,812
"Listening to what?"

597
00:30:48,114 --> 00:30:50,016
"I'm listening to history."

598
00:30:56,288 --> 00:30:59,992
When I had the
mastoidectomy, I nearly died.

599
00:31:00,026 --> 00:31:02,794
I almost didn't come out of it.

600
00:31:02,828 --> 00:31:04,863
If you felt the
bone behind my ear,

601
00:31:04,897 --> 00:31:08,534
you'd feel a depression
where there was bone removed.

602
00:31:09,969 --> 00:31:12,004
And after that, I
couldn't figure out

603
00:31:12,038 --> 00:31:13,572
what was happening to me

604
00:31:13,605 --> 00:31:17,576
because I was picking
up everybody's feelings.

605
00:31:19,011 --> 00:31:21,413
I'd be feeling fine,
walk down the street,

606
00:31:21,447 --> 00:31:24,516
pass somebody who had a
headache or a stomachache,

607
00:31:24,550 --> 00:31:27,954
or they were angry, and
I would experience that.

608
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:35,427
I don't know what it is,

609
00:31:37,263 --> 00:31:42,234
but the Columbia, she does
talk to me from time to time.

610
00:31:46,438 --> 00:31:51,443
One time she said, "Restore
my boilers, restore me."

611
00:31:52,945 --> 00:31:54,580
- [SS Columbia] Restore
my boilers, restore me.

612
00:31:55,481 --> 00:31:57,083
Get my engine going.

613
00:31:58,850 --> 00:32:01,187
Put me in New York and
I'll show those youngsters

614
00:32:01,220 --> 00:32:02,821
a thing or two.

615
00:32:02,854 --> 00:32:05,657
(Gloria chuckles)

616
00:32:05,691 --> 00:32:08,327
- She says these
funny little things.

617
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:13,065
She told me after they scraped
all those zebra mussels

618
00:32:13,099 --> 00:32:16,435
off her hull, that her
bottom was the cleanest

619
00:32:16,468 --> 00:32:20,272
it had been in years.
(Gloria chuckles)

620
00:32:21,773 --> 00:32:24,910
But I've never had the
Ste. Claire talk to me

621
00:32:27,779 --> 00:32:29,648
and I'm not sure
I would want that.

622
00:32:34,420 --> 00:32:37,856
- [SS Columbia] Were her masts
raised under a dark star?

623
00:32:39,591 --> 00:32:42,861
Her hull forged
with sinister iron?

624
00:32:44,630 --> 00:32:47,566
If my sister isn't cursed,
then why is she always

625
00:32:47,599 --> 00:32:50,269
caught between the devil
and the deep blue sea?

626
00:32:52,038 --> 00:32:53,939
- I think it was in the
'20s that the boat stopped

627
00:32:53,972 --> 00:32:56,275
and picked up three
bodies out of the river.

628
00:32:56,308 --> 00:32:58,644
And they brought 'em and
put 'em in a certain room

629
00:32:58,677 --> 00:33:01,847
on the boat and for years and
years and years and years,

630
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,216
everybody would tell you
you'd see three light orbs,

631
00:33:04,250 --> 00:33:06,785
shoom, shoom, in and
out of that room.

632
00:33:06,818 --> 00:33:09,021
We had that door nailed shut.

633
00:33:09,055 --> 00:33:11,823
We won't let anybody go in
that room. It was that creepy.

634
00:33:13,625 --> 00:33:15,594
- A lot of people even would
say they wouldn't ride on her.

635
00:33:15,627 --> 00:33:17,263
They would wait for the Columbia

636
00:33:17,296 --> 00:33:18,964
and not ride on the Ste. Claire.

637
00:33:18,997 --> 00:33:20,799
(playful music)

638
00:33:20,832 --> 00:33:24,370
With ships there's a
lot of superstitions.

639
00:33:24,403 --> 00:33:27,439
When the Edmund
Fitzgerald was launched,

640
00:33:27,473 --> 00:33:30,409
a huge wave crashed
up against the dock

641
00:33:30,442 --> 00:33:32,544
and a guy had a heart
attack even and died.

642
00:33:34,413 --> 00:33:38,016
When the Ste. Claire was
launched, she listed, you know.

643
00:33:38,050 --> 00:33:41,120
And thy all say
these are bad omens.

644
00:33:41,153 --> 00:33:43,855
Ships do have souls,
they do have heart.

645
00:33:43,889 --> 00:33:45,324
And they're like
any kind of sisters,

646
00:33:45,357 --> 00:33:47,326
they both have a
different personality.

647
00:33:49,128 --> 00:33:53,132
Columbia is a little more
the stately older sister,

648
00:33:53,165 --> 00:33:58,170
and Ste. Claire has
always been more of the

649
00:33:59,305 --> 00:34:01,140
party girl, younger sister.

650
00:34:01,173 --> 00:34:04,410
I am a historian and when
I see something historic,

651
00:34:04,443 --> 00:34:07,045
I'd like to see it
retain the history.

652
00:34:07,079 --> 00:34:10,482
And unfortunately, that doesn't
exist for the Ste. Claire

653
00:34:10,516 --> 00:34:12,384
where it does for the Columbia.

654
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,922
They have taken off most of
the historic parts of the ship.

655
00:34:17,956 --> 00:34:20,926
The pilot house was
not in good shape

656
00:34:20,958 --> 00:34:22,960
and they immediately
took that off.

657
00:34:22,994 --> 00:34:27,933
So she kinda has lost
her top, which is sad.

658
00:34:27,966 --> 00:34:31,036
Maybe 'cause she's the younger
sister it won't be so bad.

659
00:34:31,069 --> 00:34:34,139
(Lori chuckles)

660
00:34:34,172 --> 00:34:35,974
- There's only one
man in my life,

661
00:34:36,007 --> 00:34:37,543
and many people
will tell you that,

662
00:34:37,576 --> 00:34:39,077
that wanted this boat
and coulda got it going

663
00:34:39,110 --> 00:34:40,112
is John Belko.

664
00:34:41,547 --> 00:34:42,981
To this day he's
still the only man,

665
00:34:43,014 --> 00:34:44,882
he would do it again
in a heartbeat.

666
00:34:44,916 --> 00:34:48,154
- I think that if John
and Diane still had her,

667
00:34:48,187 --> 00:34:50,688
she'd be up and running.

668
00:34:50,722 --> 00:34:51,922
- Okay.

669
00:34:54,126 --> 00:34:56,695
This shot here is one
of my favorite shots.

670
00:34:56,728 --> 00:35:01,733
It's very first day that
I saw the Ste. Claire.

671
00:35:02,801 --> 00:35:04,270
Everything was in disarray.

672
00:35:04,303 --> 00:35:06,172
It just looked like
she was like, forgotten

673
00:35:06,205 --> 00:35:09,541
- When John told me he first
wanted to do a haunted ship,

674
00:35:10,609 --> 00:35:12,344
I said, "Okay, go find a boat."

675
00:35:12,378 --> 00:35:14,513
Not thinking he would.
(Diane chuckles)

676
00:35:14,546 --> 00:35:15,781
- [Announcer] Two
new bloody floors

677
00:35:15,814 --> 00:35:17,916
with 35-foot slides to hell.

678
00:35:17,949 --> 00:35:19,418
The nightmare is open.

679
00:35:19,451 --> 00:35:21,187
- [Diane] Building
the Nautical Nightmare

680
00:35:21,220 --> 00:35:23,322
and bringing that to a reality
was really a lotta fun.

681
00:35:24,756 --> 00:35:27,359
The folks that we
hired were very good.

682
00:35:27,393 --> 00:35:29,161
- [Al] We would literally have

683
00:35:29,195 --> 00:35:33,365
hundreds of people lined up
prior to the opening each night.

684
00:35:33,399 --> 00:35:35,534
- Scared someone so
much on a drop portrait

685
00:35:35,567 --> 00:35:36,635
that they vomited.

686
00:35:38,003 --> 00:35:39,538
And I pulled 50 bucks
outta my pocket,

687
00:35:39,571 --> 00:35:42,508
I said, "Here, I want
you to do it again."

688
00:35:42,541 --> 00:35:46,111
- It was a ship that was
essentially left for dead.

689
00:35:46,144 --> 00:35:48,980
So, by making the
ship even more dead,

690
00:35:49,014 --> 00:35:53,319
we were able to raise funding
to work on the restorations.

691
00:35:53,352 --> 00:35:55,721
- We had an
incredible first year.

692
00:35:55,754 --> 00:35:57,323
- I think this
was taken probably

693
00:35:57,356 --> 00:35:59,458
two years into the project.

694
00:35:59,491 --> 00:36:00,692
Now it looked like this.

695
00:36:02,494 --> 00:36:07,499
The Ste. Claire ran through
my veins every single day.

696
00:36:09,601 --> 00:36:14,273
And I had the utmost
interest in her success.

697
00:36:16,208 --> 00:36:18,310
- [Diane] He became
very emotionally
attached to that boat.

698
00:36:18,344 --> 00:36:19,845
(tense music)

699
00:36:19,878 --> 00:36:24,550
As he moved forward to
do much more restoration

700
00:36:24,583 --> 00:36:28,220
than we ever agreed upon,
and the bills started

701
00:36:28,254 --> 00:36:30,756
coming back to Cleveland
where I was living,

702
00:36:30,789 --> 00:36:32,691
you know, I was
looking at bankruptcy.

703
00:36:34,393 --> 00:36:38,330
The decisions just weren't
financially prudent

704
00:36:38,364 --> 00:36:40,165
and hadn't been for
quite some time.

705
00:36:41,967 --> 00:36:44,636
Yeah, and we were estranged,
make no mistake about it.

706
00:36:46,004 --> 00:36:48,206
- I fell in love with that boat

707
00:36:49,641 --> 00:36:54,212
and made a lot of
things happen with it.

708
00:36:56,047 --> 00:36:59,318
And on the other side of it is
that I ended up losing a lot.

709
00:37:03,389 --> 00:37:05,891
She got the boat, she got
the boat in the divorce,

710
00:37:07,626 --> 00:37:10,061
I got eliminated and
knocked out of everything.

711
00:37:13,265 --> 00:37:18,236
- So, my high point, and I
say this partially in jest,

712
00:37:20,038 --> 00:37:21,239
was when Ron said, "Yes,
I'd like to buy the boat."

713
00:37:21,273 --> 00:37:23,875
(Diane laughs)

714
00:37:24,810 --> 00:37:27,078
(loud hiss from factory)

715
00:37:37,623 --> 00:37:39,024
- Yeah, obviously we sit
right next to Praxair,

716
00:37:39,057 --> 00:37:41,259
it's an oxygen
manufacturing plant.

717
00:37:42,328 --> 00:37:44,062
So, I can't do any work here.

718
00:37:45,631 --> 00:37:48,266
We've been looking
for a place to move to

719
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:50,802
for almost eight months.

720
00:37:50,836 --> 00:37:55,106
And it's hard to find a spot
that's at least 16 feet deep,

721
00:37:55,140 --> 00:37:57,976
200 feet long to put her.

722
00:37:59,778 --> 00:38:03,048
The easy part, which is
moving the boat somewhere,

723
00:38:03,081 --> 00:38:04,716
that's become my hard part.

724
00:38:04,750 --> 00:38:05,717
That's the problem.

725
00:38:12,558 --> 00:38:15,427
Unfortunately, you know, the
way we're going about this

726
00:38:15,461 --> 00:38:18,730
I mean, it's just so hard
because every spot that we find

727
00:38:18,764 --> 00:38:20,832
falls under the Department
of Natural Resources,

728
00:38:20,866 --> 00:38:23,369
or it's industrial or
it's Homeland Security.

729
00:38:23,402 --> 00:38:24,970
Let's reach out to the media

730
00:38:25,003 --> 00:38:27,072
and also focus on
the Canadian side.

731
00:38:27,105 --> 00:38:29,575
All right, I'll give you a
call in a little bit, okay?

732
00:38:31,810 --> 00:38:33,278
Here we go, News-Herald.

733
00:38:33,311 --> 00:38:34,145
Let's see.

734
00:38:41,186 --> 00:38:43,655
Hey Jim, sorry, this
is Ron Kattoo again.

735
00:38:43,689 --> 00:38:45,557
How are you?

736
00:38:45,591 --> 00:38:47,092
The Ste. Claire, where we're
sitting, she's right next to

737
00:38:47,125 --> 00:38:49,728
the Praxair oxygen
manufacturing plant.

738
00:38:49,761 --> 00:38:52,097
Guess that entire
canal shoreline,

739
00:38:52,130 --> 00:38:53,965
they're gonna be redoing.

740
00:38:53,999 --> 00:38:57,335
My biggest worry would be
if we can't find a spot

741
00:38:57,369 --> 00:39:00,171
and they wanna start that
work on the shoreline,

742
00:39:00,205 --> 00:39:03,442
I mean, I may have no
option except to scrap her.

743
00:39:04,610 --> 00:39:05,611
Thanks Jim, bye-bye.

744
00:39:08,547 --> 00:39:10,348
Well, let's see what happens.

745
00:39:10,382 --> 00:39:14,185
Hopefully we'll
get some response

746
00:39:14,219 --> 00:39:17,055
and find a place to put her.

747
00:39:18,957 --> 00:39:21,993
(pensive string music)

748
00:39:23,061 --> 00:39:24,195
- [Gloria] Boy that's busy.

749
00:39:27,232 --> 00:39:28,534
I like that rollercoaster.

750
00:39:31,770 --> 00:39:34,606
- You know, sometimes I think
even though he's a doctor,

751
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:36,875
I think he got a
little overwhelmed.

752
00:39:38,644 --> 00:39:40,345
You have everybody and their
grandmother telling you

753
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:42,714
and giving you advice
and I don't think

754
00:39:42,748 --> 00:39:44,416
he knew which way to turn.

755
00:39:44,450 --> 00:39:46,317
- Well, that could be too,

756
00:39:46,351 --> 00:39:49,354
but you also have to look at
the fact that he's a surgeon.

757
00:39:49,387 --> 00:39:52,758
He holds people's lives
in his hands every day.

758
00:39:52,791 --> 00:39:56,795
- Right?
- And he may have,

759
00:39:56,828 --> 00:40:00,632
you know, along the way
inherited a God complex.

760
00:40:00,666 --> 00:40:02,434
- I mean, in the beginning,
you know, I had my doubts too

761
00:40:02,468 --> 00:40:03,401
and still wonder.

762
00:40:05,236 --> 00:40:08,507
You know, in all reality,
he's had people say that,

763
00:40:08,540 --> 00:40:11,910
you know, ask him if he wanted
to sell the boat or whatever,

764
00:40:11,943 --> 00:40:13,411
and he doesn't.

765
00:40:13,445 --> 00:40:15,046
- I would like to
live long enough

766
00:40:16,548 --> 00:40:18,249
to come on board the Ste. Claire

767
00:40:20,051 --> 00:40:22,854
and feel like I feel when
I go on board the Columbia.

768
00:40:22,888 --> 00:40:24,923
- Right, yeah.

769
00:40:24,956 --> 00:40:26,925
- Like she's a happy ship.

770
00:40:26,958 --> 00:40:29,260
- If everything goes well.
- Yeah.

771
00:40:29,294 --> 00:40:32,397
- That's why I'm
hoping that, you know,

772
00:40:32,430 --> 00:40:35,233
Ron does make me a partner
because I already told him,

773
00:40:35,266 --> 00:40:38,203
you know, basically I'll
be living on that boat.

774
00:40:38,236 --> 00:40:39,771
You know, I'll make
sure everything...

775
00:40:39,805 --> 00:40:41,807
I know what the people
like, what they remember

776
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,408
and all that stuff.

777
00:40:43,441 --> 00:40:46,512
And you know, I
can get 'em going.

778
00:40:50,081 --> 00:40:53,719
(magical music plays)

779
00:40:57,889 --> 00:41:01,827
- The situation with the Ste.
Claire is beginning to go

780
00:41:01,860 --> 00:41:03,194
in a different direction.

781
00:41:05,831 --> 00:41:09,034
The seven of cups would indicate

782
00:41:09,067 --> 00:41:10,869
she will go in a
different direction

783
00:41:10,902 --> 00:41:15,807
and the barrier will be removed
if the right choice is made.

784
00:41:17,509 --> 00:41:21,747
I don't see scrapping,
I see an intervention.

785
00:41:24,015 --> 00:41:24,883
That's what I see.

786
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:36,394
- You know, looking
in this room,

787
00:41:36,427 --> 00:41:38,530
actually the majority of you
have actually been on the boats

788
00:41:38,564 --> 00:41:40,098
longer than I have.

789
00:41:40,131 --> 00:41:42,233
This has not been
an easy course.

790
00:41:42,267 --> 00:41:44,302
I had such a hard time
just trying to get people

791
00:41:44,335 --> 00:41:48,239
to believe into the
project and we got nowhere.

792
00:41:48,273 --> 00:41:51,843
And you know, I have my
wife here and my two kids,

793
00:41:51,877 --> 00:41:54,012
you know, they have to suffer
watching me all the time

794
00:41:54,045 --> 00:41:57,515
just driving down to the
boat, working on the boat.

795
00:41:57,549 --> 00:42:00,085
You know, nobody wants to
give up on the Boblo Boat.

796
00:42:00,118 --> 00:42:01,920
We're not going to
give up on the boat.

797
00:42:01,953 --> 00:42:04,455
Jim was the one who actually
got the word out for us.

798
00:42:04,489 --> 00:42:07,693
After we got that word out,
The Free Press picked it up,

799
00:42:07,726 --> 00:42:10,028
the stations picked
it up, and then now,

800
00:42:10,061 --> 00:42:11,830
we went from having
no place to go

801
00:42:11,863 --> 00:42:13,832
to about 15 different offers
that we got out there.

802
00:42:13,865 --> 00:42:16,134
We're getting calls
from mayors of cities,

803
00:42:16,167 --> 00:42:17,569
(applause)
(inspiration string music)

804
00:42:17,603 --> 00:42:20,271
private landowners,
corporations.

805
00:42:20,305 --> 00:42:22,107
I mean, one guy
made us an offer.

806
00:42:22,140 --> 00:42:23,642
He has 800 feet of dock space.

807
00:42:23,675 --> 00:42:25,376
He's gonna let us
know on Tuesday.

808
00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:27,245
But he said, "Listen, if
everything goes well on Tuesday,

809
00:42:27,278 --> 00:42:29,514
you guys can have that
spot for $10 a month."

810
00:42:31,549 --> 00:42:32,984
- This is basically
where we're gonna be

811
00:42:33,018 --> 00:42:34,552
parking the boat now.

812
00:42:34,586 --> 00:42:36,454
This is the Rouge River.

813
00:42:36,487 --> 00:42:39,324
That's Dick Street right behind
us, the Dick Street Bridge.

814
00:42:39,357 --> 00:42:41,727
And like I said, we got
a 200-some-foot boat

815
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,462
and we got a little over 200
feet to work with right here.

816
00:42:44,495 --> 00:42:45,831
But we got plenty of water.

817
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,603
- So, this move, finally
getting here this day,

818
00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:55,206
I mean, that's just another
step in the whole big process.

819
00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:57,275
You know, there's a thousand
steps before she's done.

820
00:42:57,308 --> 00:42:59,811
This is step number,
I don't know, 800.

821
00:42:59,845 --> 00:43:00,912
Yeah, we're getting there.

822
00:43:02,380 --> 00:43:05,016
(rousing music)

823
00:43:05,050 --> 00:43:07,252
(scraping metal cables)

824
00:43:10,355 --> 00:43:13,892
(rousing music continues)

825
00:43:22,033 --> 00:43:25,536
- [SS Columbia] My Claire,
so filled with pride.

826
00:43:25,570 --> 00:43:28,439
If only your story
could end here.

827
00:43:30,776 --> 00:43:34,012
You just take it one
league at a time.

828
00:43:37,348 --> 00:43:40,118
Just moving again feels
like you should be

829
00:43:40,151 --> 00:43:42,520
on the way to Boblo, doesn't it?

830
00:43:44,255 --> 00:43:48,760
We're not there yet, old
gal, but this is a sunny day

831
00:43:48,794 --> 00:43:49,795
and we can pretend.

832
00:43:57,836 --> 00:44:01,606
(inspiring orchestral music)

833
00:44:12,050 --> 00:44:15,353
(playful music)

834
00:44:15,386 --> 00:44:17,188
- Here we go, buddy.

835
00:44:17,222 --> 00:44:18,656
You don't wanna scratch me,
you don't wanna bite me.

836
00:44:18,690 --> 00:44:20,258
You don't wanna do any of that.

837
00:44:20,291 --> 00:44:21,592
You wanna keep your
rabies to yourself.

838
00:44:22,861 --> 00:44:23,695
Come on, buddy.

839
00:44:26,064 --> 00:44:27,565
Come on, over here, come on.

840
00:44:27,598 --> 00:44:29,634
Go on, go on.

841
00:44:29,667 --> 00:44:30,501
There you go.

842
00:44:32,270 --> 00:44:34,005
Raccoon number three.

843
00:44:36,074 --> 00:44:38,443
No, all the public knows
that we catch and release.

844
00:44:38,476 --> 00:44:39,644
We don't catch and kill.

845
00:44:41,079 --> 00:44:42,547
- Well, there's
been a lotta changes

846
00:44:42,580 --> 00:44:44,182
since we moved here
to River Rouge.

847
00:44:44,215 --> 00:44:47,819
Ski, Mike Lewinski, is
no longer with project.

848
00:44:47,853 --> 00:44:51,156
It was kind of a mutual thing,
we both just parted ways.

849
00:44:51,189 --> 00:44:54,826
And since then, Ron
came to me in February

850
00:44:54,860 --> 00:44:57,062
and offered me a partnership.

851
00:44:57,095 --> 00:45:01,166
So, I am one of the partners
now of the Ste. Claire.

852
00:45:01,199 --> 00:45:03,301
We now have an awesome crew.

853
00:45:03,334 --> 00:45:06,304
We got Rita, Samantha,

854
00:45:06,337 --> 00:45:09,307
the welders, and Stephen
here, Stephen is the best man.

855
00:45:09,340 --> 00:45:11,676
He is running
everything on this ship.

856
00:45:11,709 --> 00:45:13,578
He's in charge of everybody.

857
00:45:13,611 --> 00:45:15,781
And not only is he boss,
but he takes the guys out

858
00:45:15,814 --> 00:45:17,415
for field trips and
everything else.

859
00:45:17,448 --> 00:45:19,885
So, you know, everybody
just loves him.

860
00:45:19,918 --> 00:45:22,888
- Well, we did like
Heidelberg project once.

861
00:45:22,921 --> 00:45:25,090
We did Kevin's pool once.

862
00:45:26,524 --> 00:45:28,093
We got the Renaissance
Festival coming up.

863
00:45:30,495 --> 00:45:32,998
You know, it's important
that when you, you know,

864
00:45:33,031 --> 00:45:35,066
work together that
you play together too.

865
00:45:38,169 --> 00:45:40,405
We decided this will
be a great opportunity

866
00:45:40,438 --> 00:45:42,607
for us to hear what the
public has been saying

867
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,343
and that's that they wanna
see some work on the outside.

868
00:45:49,514 --> 00:45:51,416
In a minute here or
two, we're gonna be

869
00:45:51,449 --> 00:45:54,085
loading up this steel and
getting all the scrap steel

870
00:45:54,119 --> 00:45:55,620
that you see.

871
00:45:55,653 --> 00:45:57,622
These are pieces
of the Ste. Claire

872
00:45:57,655 --> 00:45:59,825
that we've had to cut out
that were too deteriorated

873
00:45:59,858 --> 00:46:02,493
and we put in fresh metal
and we're gonna send them off

874
00:46:02,527 --> 00:46:05,496
to be recycled and turned
into something else.

875
00:46:05,530 --> 00:46:07,065
This boat has deteriorated

876
00:46:07,098 --> 00:46:09,868
because steps like
this weren't taken.

877
00:46:09,901 --> 00:46:12,670
(electric spray painter)

878
00:46:15,306 --> 00:46:17,075
(demolition noise)

879
00:46:18,877 --> 00:46:21,679
- [SS Columbia] If Claire's
steel and wood are replaced,

880
00:46:21,712 --> 00:46:25,450
plank after rotten plank
until not a single,

881
00:46:25,483 --> 00:46:29,955
original beam remains,
is she still my sister?

882
00:46:35,827 --> 00:46:38,997
(soft tinkling music)

883
00:46:44,169 --> 00:46:46,704
- When I got aboard, I
thought she was probably

884
00:46:46,737 --> 00:46:49,507
gonna say something smart
like, "It's about time."

885
00:46:51,542 --> 00:46:53,111
And she moved me to tears.

886
00:46:53,144 --> 00:46:55,480
She said, "Welcome
aboard, dear friend."

887
00:46:56,614 --> 00:46:59,784
(soft tinkling music)

888
00:47:11,729 --> 00:47:14,499
She's telling me I have to
be around to get to New York

889
00:47:14,532 --> 00:47:16,001
when she's on the river there.

890
00:47:20,371 --> 00:47:24,943
And I'm telling her, unlike
her, I keep getting older,

891
00:47:24,976 --> 00:47:28,646
she's getting younger.
(Gloria chuckles)

892
00:47:30,015 --> 00:47:30,848
Yep.

893
00:47:32,583 --> 00:47:35,186
I'm sad to see her go,

894
00:47:37,055 --> 00:47:39,224
but happy that she'll
have a new life.

895
00:47:43,661 --> 00:47:46,197
- [SS Columbia] The time
has come for me to leave.

896
00:47:49,867 --> 00:47:52,770
It's the beginning
of a new life for me.

897
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,409
- The old Taurus
herself, the grand dame,

898
00:47:58,443 --> 00:48:03,381
she is not about to give
up as long as there's hope

899
00:48:03,414 --> 00:48:05,650
for her to get back to work.

900
00:48:07,818 --> 00:48:10,989
(soft relaxing music)

901
00:48:14,659 --> 00:48:16,261
- [SS Columbia] It
wasn't but a few months

902
00:48:16,294 --> 00:48:17,963
from when I left Michigan

903
00:48:17,996 --> 00:48:20,698
that I learned of
Gloria's own departure.

904
00:48:23,101 --> 00:48:25,303
Bon voyage, old friend.

905
00:48:27,905 --> 00:48:31,076
From time to time
I like to imagine

906
00:48:31,109 --> 00:48:33,244
I can still hear her voice,

907
00:48:34,712 --> 00:48:39,717
only she sounds
different now. Closer.

908
00:48:41,286 --> 00:48:44,222
(melancholy music)

909
00:48:57,402 --> 00:48:59,937
(gulls squawk)

910
00:49:02,907 --> 00:49:05,510
(drill buzzes)

911
00:49:08,279 --> 00:49:11,882
- So, as it turns out, we do
have to move the ship again.

912
00:49:13,551 --> 00:49:17,422
We don't have a new
location set as of right now

913
00:49:17,455 --> 00:49:18,423
to share with you.

914
00:49:20,125 --> 00:49:22,427
But we do know that we
are going to have to move.

915
00:49:23,861 --> 00:49:25,496
The reason we're
getting kicked out

916
00:49:25,530 --> 00:49:27,032
is 'cause there's a
larger company out there

917
00:49:27,065 --> 00:49:28,833
that wants the property.

918
00:49:28,866 --> 00:49:33,404
They're willing to pay $100,000
a month, in that range,

919
00:49:33,438 --> 00:49:35,073
which obviously, you
know, we can't do that.

920
00:49:35,106 --> 00:49:36,941
And we can't compete with that.

921
00:49:36,974 --> 00:49:38,809
I mean, you know, hey, if
somebody came and offered me

922
00:49:38,843 --> 00:49:40,945
a hundred grand a month,
I'd be like, "See you boat.

923
00:49:40,978 --> 00:49:43,348
You know, you're
really cool, but."

924
00:49:43,381 --> 00:49:47,085
And I get that, you know, that
just is what it is, you know.

925
00:49:47,118 --> 00:49:48,686
So, we're gonna figure it out.

926
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:50,921
We're gonna truck on
like we always have.

927
00:49:50,955 --> 00:49:52,590
I mean, I know
that's how I feel.

928
00:49:59,064 --> 00:50:02,733
- I wanted to believe so bad
that this boat was coming back.

929
00:50:04,135 --> 00:50:07,305
How many people do
you think back in 1910

930
00:50:07,338 --> 00:50:09,607
that they had to
build this ship?

931
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:11,442
It's gonna take a
hell of a lot more,

932
00:50:11,476 --> 00:50:13,078
I know he wants to save money.

933
00:50:13,111 --> 00:50:14,945
I mean, who wouldn't?

934
00:50:14,979 --> 00:50:17,014
But it's gonna take a hell of
a lot more than three people

935
00:50:17,048 --> 00:50:18,883
to rebuild this ship.

936
00:50:18,916 --> 00:50:21,519
I mean, if you think about
it, if they do this section,

937
00:50:21,552 --> 00:50:23,754
get that part done and
move on to the next,

938
00:50:23,788 --> 00:50:25,756
by the time they're
done with the next,

939
00:50:25,790 --> 00:50:28,959
this section's gonna need
rebuilding again, you know.

940
00:50:28,993 --> 00:50:31,862
I mean, he is the kinda person
that he can make you believe

941
00:50:31,896 --> 00:50:33,464
the sky is purple.

942
00:50:39,337 --> 00:50:41,506
- Boblo Island here we come.
- Yeah, right.

943
00:50:42,807 --> 00:50:45,476
- Just teasing.
- That's one place, no.

944
00:50:45,510 --> 00:50:47,878
You'd have to pull over and
let me out. (Jeff laughing)

945
00:50:47,912 --> 00:50:49,914
(boat engine revs)

946
00:51:01,359 --> 00:51:03,861
See, this is the
same route we took.

947
00:51:03,894 --> 00:51:05,363
Brings back memories.

948
00:51:11,769 --> 00:51:13,738
We are at Sugar Island.

949
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:18,509
We think that might have
been the dock right there.

950
00:51:24,182 --> 00:51:25,750
- [Jeff] Is that this
side of the island?

951
00:51:25,783 --> 00:51:29,120
- Yeah, that's Boblo,
that's the Space Needle.

952
00:51:35,226 --> 00:51:37,462
(boat engine revs)

953
00:51:52,277 --> 00:51:53,211
- You okay?

954
00:51:56,947 --> 00:52:00,050
- Well, it's just sad memories,

955
00:52:00,084 --> 00:52:03,321
you know, I mean, I
remember what the island was

956
00:52:03,354 --> 00:52:05,623
and seeing all the rides
laying all over the ground,

957
00:52:05,656 --> 00:52:07,692
I just, you know, I
don't wanna see that.

958
00:52:10,060 --> 00:52:12,663
Those houses should not have
been put on that island.

959
00:52:13,998 --> 00:52:15,900
It should have remained
for the public.

960
00:52:17,668 --> 00:52:18,936
- What's the difference?
- I don't wanna see it now.

961
00:52:18,969 --> 00:52:20,238
- Oh.
- You know what?

962
00:52:22,006 --> 00:52:23,674
Never mind, in a minute,
you're going in that river.

963
00:52:23,708 --> 00:52:25,543
Then you're gonna get
something really good to watch.

964
00:52:25,576 --> 00:52:29,280
- If the Boblo Park reopened,
would you go see the park?

965
00:52:29,314 --> 00:52:30,881
- Oh yeah, if it reopened.

966
00:52:30,915 --> 00:52:33,651
- Okay, so that's
not off the table.

967
00:52:40,725 --> 00:52:43,894
(soft tinkling music)

968
00:52:46,597 --> 00:52:50,235
- [SS Columbia] I've been
dragging my rudders up to now.

969
00:52:50,268 --> 00:52:54,872
But you must hear the story
about the end of Boblo Island.

970
00:52:58,209 --> 00:53:00,010
- So many of these
trolley parks,

971
00:53:00,044 --> 00:53:04,782
these older amusement
parks by say, 1974, 1975,

972
00:53:04,815 --> 00:53:07,084
the majority of them
had already closed.

973
00:53:08,319 --> 00:53:10,221
There's theme parks.

974
00:53:10,255 --> 00:53:12,623
Those theme parks work
on an economic model

975
00:53:12,657 --> 00:53:15,526
that's much more
effective and profitable.

976
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:17,728
You are cutting
off city dwellers,

977
00:53:17,762 --> 00:53:19,630
who don't have access
to private cars,

978
00:53:19,664 --> 00:53:22,533
so, you're ensuring a kind
of population in those parks

979
00:53:22,567 --> 00:53:24,902
that has some money to spend.

980
00:53:24,935 --> 00:53:28,673
They're also kind of created
without the kinds of spaces

981
00:53:28,706 --> 00:53:30,475
that cause tension.

982
00:53:30,508 --> 00:53:33,978
So, Walt Disney had no swimming
pools, no bathing beaches,

983
00:53:34,011 --> 00:53:36,414
no roller skating
rinks, and no ballrooms

984
00:53:36,447 --> 00:53:38,249
in any of his theme parks.

985
00:53:38,283 --> 00:53:40,518
These were places
where blacks and whites

986
00:53:40,551 --> 00:53:42,287
would come into conflict.

987
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,589
So, the older, more
traditional amusement park

988
00:53:44,622 --> 00:53:46,491
already had a lot of
strikes against it

989
00:53:46,524 --> 00:53:49,494
with this history of
segregation and desegregation,

990
00:53:49,527 --> 00:53:51,529
but now they had
this competition.

991
00:53:53,030 --> 00:53:55,132
What many of these park
owners began to realize

992
00:53:55,165 --> 00:53:58,135
is that this land was
actually quite valuable.

993
00:53:58,168 --> 00:54:00,505
It was near the city,
and often park owners

994
00:54:00,538 --> 00:54:03,908
could sell the land
to developers at
quite a big profit.

995
00:54:03,941 --> 00:54:06,076
So, city after city after city

996
00:54:06,110 --> 00:54:08,346
lost their urban
amusement parks.

997
00:54:09,947 --> 00:54:12,683
(melancholy music)
(structure crashing)

998
00:54:12,717 --> 00:54:14,752
All the people in those cities

999
00:54:14,785 --> 00:54:18,088
lost access to this
relatively inexpensive,

1000
00:54:18,122 --> 00:54:21,459
incredibly pleasurable
form of recreation.

1001
00:54:25,496 --> 00:54:26,931
- [SS Columbia]
That does sound like

1002
00:54:26,964 --> 00:54:29,867
what happened to our Boblo.

1003
00:54:29,900 --> 00:54:34,238
Some claim gangs cruising the
park scared away the patrons,

1004
00:54:34,271 --> 00:54:36,240
others blamed Claire and me,

1005
00:54:36,273 --> 00:54:40,545
saying we were just a luxury
too costly to maintain.

1006
00:54:40,578 --> 00:54:43,681
(pensive piano music)

1007
00:54:43,714 --> 00:54:47,017
But Claire and I
know the real story.

1008
00:54:52,222 --> 00:54:54,325
- When we closed
the deal for Boblo,

1009
00:54:54,359 --> 00:54:56,794
we only had 45 days
to get it open.

1010
00:54:56,827 --> 00:54:59,564
They had not intended
to operate that year.

1011
00:54:59,597 --> 00:55:00,631
They'd mothballed it.

1012
00:55:02,299 --> 00:55:04,602
This park, Wild Waves,
where we're at today

1013
00:55:04,635 --> 00:55:07,972
is a piece a cake compared
to operating on an island.

1014
00:55:08,005 --> 00:55:11,976
Everything you did had to be
brought in by barge or by ship.

1015
00:55:12,009 --> 00:55:14,412
And to do that in 45
days can't be done.

1016
00:55:14,445 --> 00:55:15,980
I don't know how we did it.

1017
00:55:16,013 --> 00:55:17,915
Like, today I'd say no.

1018
00:55:17,948 --> 00:55:20,418
But we were too stupid to
know better so we did it.

1019
00:55:20,451 --> 00:55:22,219
(water slide splashes)

1020
00:55:22,252 --> 00:55:24,088
In the business community,
yes, everybody knew

1021
00:55:24,121 --> 00:55:28,593
who the Benaroyas were because
of Benaroya Symphony Hall

1022
00:55:28,626 --> 00:55:32,162
and a lot of philanthropic
work that they did.

1023
00:55:32,196 --> 00:55:34,765
They agreed to make
the investment,

1024
00:55:34,799 --> 00:55:37,034
but wanted to also be a partner.

1025
00:55:37,067 --> 00:55:39,136
You know, at that time I didn't
have any problems with that.

1026
00:55:39,169 --> 00:55:41,105
There's money and
then there's money.

1027
00:55:41,138 --> 00:55:43,441
(pensive string music)
(amusement park ambience)

1028
00:55:43,474 --> 00:55:46,377
I always wore just a pirate
shirt and pair of shorts

1029
00:55:46,411 --> 00:55:49,046
and nobody knew who I was.

1030
00:55:49,079 --> 00:55:50,781
And I'd start asking 'em
questions about like,

1031
00:55:50,815 --> 00:55:52,717
"Hey, the park's looking good."

1032
00:55:52,750 --> 00:55:54,819
And they'd give you a whole,
"We heard it got cleaned up

1033
00:55:54,852 --> 00:55:56,353
and boy it sure is.

1034
00:55:56,387 --> 00:55:57,855
It looks the best
we've seen it."

1035
00:55:57,888 --> 00:55:59,724
And once you start
hearing that every day

1036
00:55:59,757 --> 00:56:01,959
and the word got out, the
crowds started getting bigger.

1037
00:56:01,992 --> 00:56:05,262
And by about August, Boblo
has finally turned the corner

1038
00:56:05,295 --> 00:56:06,764
and the locals that hadn't come

1039
00:56:06,797 --> 00:56:08,399
were all of a
sudden coming back.

1040
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:12,269
I think they were used to when
the Benaroyas said, "Jump,"

1041
00:56:12,302 --> 00:56:15,272
you were just supposed to
say, "How high?" And I didn't.

1042
00:56:17,041 --> 00:56:20,244
Larry was a good business guy,
but he's never run a park.

1043
00:56:20,277 --> 00:56:22,480
He wasn't a hands-on,
he'd never been a builder.

1044
00:56:22,513 --> 00:56:24,482
He and I just started
not getting along.

1045
00:56:24,515 --> 00:56:26,551
(tense string music)

1046
00:56:26,584 --> 00:56:28,385
The Benaroyas tried to stop me

1047
00:56:28,419 --> 00:56:32,022
from having the extended season
because they wanted me out.

1048
00:56:32,056 --> 00:56:34,224
It takes time to bring
in new investors,

1049
00:56:34,258 --> 00:56:37,094
but I had a pool of
investors that I had lined up

1050
00:56:37,127 --> 00:56:39,830
and I was actually
supposed to meet with them

1051
00:56:40,931 --> 00:56:42,533
the morning that I got hurt.

1052
00:56:46,203 --> 00:56:48,372
September 24th, '93, I think.

1053
00:56:48,405 --> 00:56:52,677
I was in the car crash
that basically almost,

1054
00:56:52,710 --> 00:56:53,844
should have killed me.

1055
00:56:53,878 --> 00:56:54,979
They didn't think I'd survive.

1056
00:56:55,012 --> 00:56:57,848
(melancholy music)

1057
00:56:57,882 --> 00:57:00,818
When I woke up from the coma,
I was ready to move forward.

1058
00:57:00,851 --> 00:57:03,988
And then I found out
a lot of the stuff

1059
00:57:04,021 --> 00:57:06,023
that had happened to the park

1060
00:57:06,056 --> 00:57:08,459
and that Benaroyas had
taken control of it

1061
00:57:08,493 --> 00:57:13,397
and put it into bankruptcy
and that they'd laid off,

1062
00:57:15,533 --> 00:57:17,067
I think everybody at that point.

1063
00:57:17,101 --> 00:57:21,138
They'd fired everybody
and shut the park down.

1064
00:57:25,943 --> 00:57:28,613
They'd sold off all the
rides, all the equipment.

1065
00:57:28,646 --> 00:57:31,315
The only thing that
was left was the land.

1066
00:57:31,348 --> 00:57:33,651
And they sold it to
a gentleman that,

1067
00:57:33,684 --> 00:57:36,020
he got a steal on the land

1068
00:57:36,053 --> 00:57:38,989
because if the Benaroyas
sold it for more than that

1069
00:57:39,023 --> 00:57:42,627
they'd have to give my family
a share of the profits.

1070
00:57:46,330 --> 00:57:51,335
It's unfortunate, just one
accident and one bad partner

1071
00:57:52,436 --> 00:57:53,504
and Boblo paid the price.

1072
00:57:54,505 --> 00:57:57,675
(soft tinkling music)

1073
00:58:07,284 --> 00:58:09,620
- You know, my hope and
prayer is that one day

1074
00:58:09,654 --> 00:58:12,690
we find a spot, whether it's
the city that gives it to us

1075
00:58:12,723 --> 00:58:15,225
or a person, but just a
long-term relationship.

1076
00:58:15,259 --> 00:58:16,894
Somewhere we can put the boat

1077
00:58:16,927 --> 00:58:19,196
and have what we need
to complete the project.

1078
00:58:23,601 --> 00:58:26,070
Push comes to shove,
we've got no options,

1079
00:58:26,103 --> 00:58:28,839
and they want us out and
we got nowhere to go.

1080
00:58:28,873 --> 00:58:31,942
I mean, this is like
the equivalent of like,

1081
00:58:31,976 --> 00:58:33,944
towing someone a
mile on the road.

1082
00:58:33,978 --> 00:58:35,846
You know what I mean?

1083
00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:37,347
It's like right up from
where we're at right now.

1084
00:58:37,381 --> 00:58:38,683
- So, where, have
you made a decision

1085
00:58:38,716 --> 00:58:40,084
where you're gonna park it at?

1086
00:58:40,117 --> 00:58:41,586
- No, we're still looking.

1087
00:58:41,619 --> 00:58:42,953
We're still kinda
figuring things out.

1088
00:58:46,724 --> 00:58:47,558
- Good morning.

1089
00:58:50,160 --> 00:58:51,028
Want some coffee?

1090
00:58:53,330 --> 00:58:54,198
What's the matter?

1091
00:58:56,233 --> 00:58:58,168
Come on.

1092
00:58:58,202 --> 00:59:01,906
Wee!
(bird squawks)

1093
00:59:01,939 --> 00:59:05,142
Wee!
(bird squawks)

1094
00:59:05,175 --> 00:59:06,010
Wee!

1095
00:59:08,245 --> 00:59:11,515
(video game music)

1096
00:59:13,250 --> 00:59:17,554
Off to sell Spectrum cable
and talk about the Boblo Boat.

1097
00:59:17,588 --> 00:59:20,524
Even though every time I bring
it up, Kevin wants to hit me.

1098
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:23,594
Right, Kevin?

1099
00:59:27,865 --> 00:59:30,735
Anyway, we still have
the passion for the boat,

1100
00:59:30,768 --> 00:59:34,238
we just lost our trust with,
unfortunately with Ron,

1101
00:59:34,271 --> 00:59:36,040
I really liked him
in the beginning.

1102
00:59:36,073 --> 00:59:38,442
Just, I saw the
writing on the wall.

1103
00:59:40,778 --> 00:59:43,648
- It's a lot of broken
promises and everything else

1104
00:59:43,681 --> 00:59:46,383
that enough is enough, you know.

1105
00:59:48,085 --> 00:59:49,987
Ron has been like a brother
to me this whole time.

1106
00:59:50,020 --> 00:59:53,090
You know, not just a best
friend, he's part of the family.

1107
00:59:55,793 --> 00:59:57,962
It's been eight
years of nothing but

1108
00:59:57,995 --> 01:00:00,064
a total rollercoaster
ride, you know,

1109
01:00:00,097 --> 01:00:03,634
and I'm starting to think that
maybe it's time to get off.

1110
01:00:03,668 --> 01:00:06,871
- I just need to get
200 feet of space

1111
01:00:06,904 --> 01:00:08,806
that's all I'm looking for.

1112
01:00:08,839 --> 01:00:12,209
I know that sounds crazy.
It's almost like saying, well,

1113
01:00:12,242 --> 01:00:14,144
you know, it's
almost like begging,

1114
01:00:14,178 --> 01:00:16,413
but without that 200 feet
of space, we can't go on.

1115
01:00:20,584 --> 01:00:23,587
(soft piano music)

1116
01:00:30,394 --> 01:00:32,963
- Today, we gather here
to bless the Ste. Claire

1117
01:00:32,997 --> 01:00:35,399
more than 100 years
after she first sailed

1118
01:00:35,432 --> 01:00:36,500
the Great Lakes.

1119
01:00:38,669 --> 01:00:41,305
I'm gonna ask that you
all close your eyes

1120
01:00:42,773 --> 01:00:46,977
and envision first
a new home for her,

1121
01:00:47,011 --> 01:00:49,847
someplace welcoming and safe.

1122
01:00:52,016 --> 01:00:55,585
I ask you to envision her
not too many years from now,

1123
01:00:55,619 --> 01:00:58,555
her white paint bright
in the sunshine,

1124
01:00:58,588 --> 01:01:00,490
her flags blowing in the breeze

1125
01:01:00,524 --> 01:01:02,292
and her decks filled with people

1126
01:01:02,326 --> 01:01:05,195
enjoying an afternoon
on the water.

1127
01:01:05,229 --> 01:01:07,765
Maybe you can even hear
the seagulls crying

1128
01:01:07,798 --> 01:01:10,100
as they dive to catch
pieces of popcorn

1129
01:01:10,134 --> 01:01:12,803
that children toss to them
from the side of the boat.

1130
01:01:15,605 --> 01:01:17,674
This can be the
Ste. Claire's future

1131
01:01:17,708 --> 01:01:20,344
and tonight we will it to be so.

1132
01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:27,084
A blessing on the Ste. Claire
and a blessing on you all.

1133
01:01:30,687 --> 01:01:32,456
- I don't know what
more we could do.

1134
01:01:32,489 --> 01:01:35,192
I mean, we've been in the
papers, we've been in, you know,

1135
01:01:35,225 --> 01:01:36,693
every media outlet there is.

1136
01:01:36,727 --> 01:01:40,697
So, it just needs
somebody to step up.

1137
01:01:40,731 --> 01:01:42,800
- How can people get
in touch with you?

1138
01:01:42,833 --> 01:01:44,401
If somebody's watching this

1139
01:01:44,434 --> 01:01:45,736
and they've actually got
some kind of dock space,

1140
01:01:45,770 --> 01:01:46,904
what do they do?

1141
01:01:46,937 --> 01:01:48,739
- They can go to our website...

1142
01:01:48,773 --> 01:01:50,307
I mean, we're down to the wire,

1143
01:01:50,340 --> 01:01:51,842
but we're getting
calls every day

1144
01:01:51,876 --> 01:01:54,044
from the people that
own that property,

1145
01:01:54,078 --> 01:01:57,681
you know, and they were generous
enough to donate it to us.

1146
01:01:57,714 --> 01:02:00,317
So, we really have
to honor their wishes

1147
01:02:00,350 --> 01:02:01,919
in getting out of there in time.

1148
01:02:04,288 --> 01:02:07,291
- [SS Columbia] At the 11th
hour, a marina stepped forward

1149
01:02:07,324 --> 01:02:09,559
and offered us space for Claire.

1150
01:02:10,961 --> 01:02:13,497
(hopeful string music)

1151
01:02:13,530 --> 01:02:15,699
For the first time in decades,

1152
01:02:15,732 --> 01:02:19,369
she sailed back to
her home in Detroit.

1153
01:02:19,403 --> 01:02:22,840
And with a view of the
city skyline behind her,

1154
01:02:22,873 --> 01:02:25,209
her crew got back to work.

1155
01:02:27,812 --> 01:02:30,915
If this was your
classic bedtime story,

1156
01:02:30,948 --> 01:02:33,750
we'd be heading
toward a happy ending.

1157
01:02:35,552 --> 01:02:39,056
A wizard or even a fairy
godmother might arrive

1158
01:02:39,089 --> 01:02:40,690
from some far away land.

1159
01:02:42,526 --> 01:02:47,131
She would step on Claire's
decks, wave her magic wand

1160
01:02:48,532 --> 01:02:50,234
and poof, the curse
would be lifted.

1161
01:02:51,735 --> 01:02:53,804
But this isn't that
kind of fairy tale.

1162
01:02:56,506 --> 01:02:59,776
(explosion)

1163
01:03:04,614 --> 01:03:07,818
(flames crackle)

1164
01:03:08,919 --> 01:03:11,922
(soft orchestral music)

1165
01:03:18,963 --> 01:03:21,866
(seagulls squawking)

1166
01:03:29,573 --> 01:03:32,676
- [Ron] All the work we
had put into her just gone.

1167
01:03:34,845 --> 01:03:36,246
I didn't know what to do.

1168
01:03:37,948 --> 01:03:42,786
I was emotionally just wrecked.

1169
01:03:44,354 --> 01:03:46,556
- [Kevin] I kinda feel
the boat relied on me

1170
01:03:48,292 --> 01:03:50,394
and I couldn't save her.

1171
01:03:53,463 --> 01:03:54,264
- All right?

1172
01:03:58,602 --> 01:04:00,170
It's just the saddest thing,

1173
01:04:00,204 --> 01:04:04,441
knowing that a boat
that we love so much

1174
01:04:04,474 --> 01:04:08,378
and worked on for so many
years is no longer here.

1175
01:04:08,412 --> 01:04:11,581
You know, it's
there, but I'm just-

1176
01:04:11,615 --> 01:04:13,450
- It was dead a long time ago.

1177
01:04:13,483 --> 01:04:16,053
You could feel the spirit
when you walked on the boat.

1178
01:04:17,554 --> 01:04:19,023
The last few times
there was none.

1179
01:04:19,056 --> 01:04:21,458
It was like she already
gave up, she was dead,

1180
01:04:22,893 --> 01:04:25,029
or she knew she was
dying or whatever.

1181
01:04:25,062 --> 01:04:27,664
It just did not have
that feeling anymore.

1182
01:04:27,697 --> 01:04:29,533
- I think it started when
the Columbia left too.

1183
01:04:29,566 --> 01:04:30,800
- Right around that time.

1184
01:04:32,602 --> 01:04:35,672
The one thing I do want
is I want them to find out

1185
01:04:35,705 --> 01:04:36,974
what caused it.

1186
01:04:38,442 --> 01:04:41,811
And if it was arson, I
want that person to pay

1187
01:04:44,448 --> 01:04:47,884
because this boat
was all we had left.

1188
01:04:47,918 --> 01:04:50,587
- Of course, the
arson inspectors came
in and, you know,

1189
01:04:50,620 --> 01:04:53,457
like, you know, just
detailed grilling us

1190
01:04:53,490 --> 01:04:55,359
about what happened.

1191
01:04:55,392 --> 01:04:57,227
I'm like, "I don't know what
happened, I wasn't there."

1192
01:04:57,261 --> 01:04:58,762
I mean there's the guy, he's
telling you what happened.

1193
01:04:58,795 --> 01:05:01,198
He was welding, you
know, the fire started

1194
01:05:01,231 --> 01:05:02,732
and it got outta control.

1195
01:05:04,601 --> 01:05:08,772
People don't understand, the
wood was not insured, okay?

1196
01:05:08,805 --> 01:05:11,808
Because I couldn't get
insurance for wood that old.

1197
01:05:11,841 --> 01:05:16,846
The hull was, and the
engine, that was all insured.

1198
01:05:18,282 --> 01:05:18,815
But there was no
damage to the hull.

1199
01:05:20,484 --> 01:05:22,319
What I lost was all the wood.

1200
01:05:22,352 --> 01:05:25,222
I mean, there are a lot
of people, you know, who,

1201
01:05:25,255 --> 01:05:27,457
they may have not
said it to my face,

1202
01:05:27,491 --> 01:05:30,995
but I'm, you know,
I'm not stupid.

1203
01:05:31,028 --> 01:05:35,632
I know the people who
gave up and that's fine.

1204
01:05:37,434 --> 01:05:39,236
- I'm just thinking maybe, I'm
just hope, I'm an optimist,

1205
01:05:39,269 --> 01:05:42,572
and I'm thinking maybe
we can rebuild the boat.

1206
01:05:44,074 --> 01:05:45,709
Not this boat, but
build a new boat.

1207
01:05:45,742 --> 01:05:47,244
- He's a dreamer.

1208
01:05:47,277 --> 01:05:49,946
- 1902, they were
able to build a boat.

1209
01:05:51,715 --> 01:05:53,250
- It's a great idea. I
think it's, you know what?

1210
01:05:53,283 --> 01:05:56,653
At this point in
my life, I'm 55,

1211
01:05:57,721 --> 01:06:00,357
I need to start enjoying life

1212
01:06:00,390 --> 01:06:02,726
and I think it's
time to move on.

1213
01:06:04,294 --> 01:06:05,895
I want it to be done.

1214
01:06:07,564 --> 01:06:09,933
The rollercoaster has finally
come into the station.

1215
01:06:13,003 --> 01:06:15,939
(melancholy music)

1216
01:06:20,910 --> 01:06:25,482
(amusement park rides)

1217
01:06:25,515 --> 01:06:28,052
- [SS Columbia]
Intoxicated with nostalgia,

1218
01:06:28,085 --> 01:06:31,188
even our memory tends to forget.

1219
01:06:31,221 --> 01:06:35,792
* Back in the day we used to
go and catch a boat to Boblo *

1220
01:06:35,825 --> 01:06:37,327
* And steam the river...

1221
01:06:37,361 --> 01:06:39,463
- [SS Columbia] This
past belongs to us all,

1222
01:06:39,496 --> 01:06:42,299
buried and yet still breathing.

1223
01:06:42,332 --> 01:06:44,568
- [Reporter] The city
filing for bankruptcy.

1224
01:06:44,601 --> 01:06:48,705
* And you could ride up high
or low on the way to Boblo *

1225
01:06:48,738 --> 01:06:51,808
* Hot dogs and funnel cakes
better on that Boblo *

1226
01:06:51,841 --> 01:06:54,878
* Giddy feelings when you
hear that ferry horn blow *

1227
01:06:54,911 --> 01:06:57,947
* It was a fantasy
on the other side of
history * (crowd yelling)

1228
01:06:57,981 --> 01:06:59,149
* The land of milk and honey

1229
01:06:59,183 --> 01:07:01,585
* Flowing with the mystery

1230
01:07:01,618 --> 01:07:03,687
* Ferris wheels and popcorn
meals would give every
kid * (crowd yelling)

1231
01:07:03,720 --> 01:07:06,856
* a big smile

1232
01:07:08,258 --> 01:07:11,528
- [SS Columbia] We
must remember it all,

1233
01:07:11,561 --> 01:07:13,630
even though it hurts.

1234
01:07:16,933 --> 01:07:20,770
Claire, how about a
race for old-times sake?

1235
01:07:23,907 --> 01:07:27,111
(melancholy music)

1236
01:07:27,144 --> 01:07:30,547
(crowd cheering)

1237
01:07:32,182 --> 01:07:35,952
(melancholy music continues)

1238
01:07:42,126 --> 01:07:45,862
(slow piano music)

1239
01:07:53,537 --> 01:07:56,806
Humankind preserves
and restores history

1240
01:07:56,840 --> 01:07:58,575
in an attempt to freeze time.

1241
01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:06,883
(electronic whirring)

1242
01:08:08,418 --> 01:08:10,120
They hope against
the laws of nature

1243
01:08:10,154 --> 01:08:12,456
that if my decks
gleam like they did

1244
01:08:12,489 --> 01:08:15,959
when they were children, that
their past is still alive.

1245
01:08:20,496 --> 01:08:24,000
I am a vessel made
from the memories

1246
01:08:24,032 --> 01:08:27,937
of everyone who boarded
the Boblo Boats.

1247
01:08:27,970 --> 01:08:31,608
(bitter-sweet music)
(birds chirping)

1248
01:08:31,640 --> 01:08:35,011
It's hard to go on after
what happened to Claire.

1249
01:08:36,813 --> 01:08:39,716
(melancholy music)

1250
01:08:44,987 --> 01:08:48,692
- Not a day goes by that I
don't think about what we lost,

1251
01:08:48,725 --> 01:08:51,161
the foyer and the staircase
and all that beautiful brass

1252
01:08:51,194 --> 01:08:52,094
that was on there.

1253
01:08:53,197 --> 01:08:54,997
But you know, what can I do?

1254
01:08:55,031 --> 01:08:56,800
You know, it is what it is,
I can't go back in time.

1255
01:08:56,833 --> 01:09:00,603
All I can do is push
forward and just, you know,

1256
01:09:00,637 --> 01:09:01,905
do the best I can do.

1257
01:09:03,639 --> 01:09:05,575
Yeah, I mean, I beat
stage four bladder cancer.

1258
01:09:05,609 --> 01:09:06,910
I beat a brain tumor.

1259
01:09:08,312 --> 01:09:10,647
You know, I had my
left kidney taken out,

1260
01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:15,684
chemotherapy for six months,
you know, I mean, you know,

1261
01:09:17,321 --> 01:09:18,688
what's fixing a boat compared
to all that? Nothing.

1262
01:09:18,721 --> 01:09:20,523
(playing guitar)

1263
01:09:20,557 --> 01:09:22,658
I have my wife, I
got my two kids,

1264
01:09:24,428 --> 01:09:26,663
I have the people who still
support me in the project.

1265
01:09:26,696 --> 01:09:28,932
That's it, that's all I need.

1266
01:09:33,503 --> 01:09:37,005
- Well, after the boat
burned on July 6th,

1267
01:09:37,040 --> 01:09:41,144
Wendy Sutton kept writing
to me on our Facebook group

1268
01:09:41,176 --> 01:09:42,879
'cause she was asking
who had the bear costume

1269
01:09:42,912 --> 01:09:44,814
and I told her I had one of 'em,

1270
01:09:44,848 --> 01:09:46,350
but I wasn't willing to come
to the island and all that.

1271
01:09:46,383 --> 01:09:48,117
That's when she
started telling me

1272
01:09:48,151 --> 01:09:52,356
about their plans for
the future and you know,

1273
01:09:52,389 --> 01:09:55,725
bringing people back over
and starting events on there

1274
01:09:55,759 --> 01:09:57,160
and stuff like that.

1275
01:09:57,193 --> 01:09:59,896
So who knows, this
could be a new chapter.

1276
01:09:59,929 --> 01:10:01,665
It might not look the
same, but who knows,

1277
01:10:01,698 --> 01:10:02,898
it could be even better.

1278
01:10:08,805 --> 01:10:10,139
- Oh, shit, there it is.

1279
01:10:16,480 --> 01:10:17,581
(Kevin groans)

1280
01:10:17,614 --> 01:10:20,148
- Huh, you doing okay?

1281
01:10:20,183 --> 01:10:22,286
Kevin? It's fine.

1282
01:10:23,219 --> 01:10:25,822
(Kevin groans)

1283
01:10:30,927 --> 01:10:32,929
- [Jeff] You'll be fine.

1284
01:10:34,097 --> 01:10:35,599
- Why am I here?
- Gimme the bag.

1285
01:10:36,700 --> 01:10:38,502
Gimme that. I got it.

1286
01:10:40,169 --> 01:10:41,737
Whose that, Wendy?
- Hey, Wendy,

1287
01:10:41,771 --> 01:10:43,373
we just got into
the parking lot.

1288
01:10:45,642 --> 01:10:48,678
Okay, where do you want
us to go from here?

1289
01:10:49,779 --> 01:10:51,548
- Hi.

1290
01:10:51,581 --> 01:10:53,116
- Hello, nice to meet you.
- Hi, how you doing?

1291
01:10:53,148 --> 01:10:54,918
- It was an
interesting ride over.

1292
01:10:54,951 --> 01:10:56,452
- Yes.
- I wanted to give you

1293
01:10:56,486 --> 01:11:00,357
all of this. This is the
souvenirs I developed

1294
01:11:00,389 --> 01:11:03,660
and then had made
and stuff like that.

1295
01:11:03,693 --> 01:11:05,728
Here's all the
interviews that we did.

1296
01:11:07,297 --> 01:11:10,300
Here's a DVD for you.
- Wow, okay.

1297
01:11:10,334 --> 01:11:11,768
- There.
- Thank you.

1298
01:11:11,800 --> 01:11:13,303
- You're welcome.
- Oh, nice.

1299
01:11:13,337 --> 01:11:16,505
- What you said helped
me out a great deal.

1300
01:11:16,540 --> 01:11:18,775
That you know, you
want people here.

1301
01:11:18,808 --> 01:11:19,776
- Yes.
- We do.

1302
01:11:19,809 --> 01:11:21,678
- This is a public park.

1303
01:11:21,710 --> 01:11:23,347
We wanna bring it back and
bring people back here.

1304
01:11:23,380 --> 01:11:24,948
- And you know what?
- And so many people want it.

1305
01:11:24,981 --> 01:11:26,516
- A really great idea
for an event next year

1306
01:11:26,550 --> 01:11:28,084
to bring Carter Shows here.

1307
01:11:28,117 --> 01:11:29,353
- You know what?
If you were to put

1308
01:11:29,386 --> 01:11:30,920
a carnival on this island

1309
01:11:30,954 --> 01:11:33,490
and do a commercial,
come relive Boblo.

1310
01:11:33,523 --> 01:11:35,291
Oh my God.
- Wouldn't that be-

1311
01:11:35,325 --> 01:11:37,327
- You would have to
turn people away.

1312
01:11:37,361 --> 01:11:39,596
(distant music) [Kevin]
And if you remember,
this was a commercial

1313
01:11:39,629 --> 01:11:41,764
about Boblo. How many
of you remember that?

1314
01:11:43,166 --> 01:11:47,404
Come on, everybody clap.
Here he comes, yay!

1315
01:11:49,237 --> 01:11:52,376
It's a new era so this is
the son of the Boblo Bear.

1316
01:11:54,878 --> 01:11:59,883
* Come on let's twist again
like we did last year *

1317
01:12:01,050 --> 01:12:05,455
(upbeat music)
(people clap)

1318
01:12:14,030 --> 01:12:16,332
(romantic music)

1319
01:12:16,366 --> 01:12:20,269
- [SS Columbia] There is
an anchor within each of us

1320
01:12:20,303 --> 01:12:24,073
buried deep waiting
to be lifted.

1321
01:12:25,875 --> 01:12:28,678
- [Jeff] Are you glad you
came or are you still upset?

1322
01:12:28,712 --> 01:12:31,481
- [Kevin] I don't
know yet, we'll see.

1323
01:12:35,084 --> 01:12:37,921
- [Ron] Events like
the fire change people.

1324
01:12:39,989 --> 01:12:42,125
I mean, that was the
death of Boblo for him.

1325
01:12:43,893 --> 01:12:45,429
The fact that we're not
working on the boat anymore,

1326
01:12:45,462 --> 01:12:47,464
you know, I don't hold
anything against him.

1327
01:12:47,496 --> 01:12:49,466
There was a lot
of good, you know,

1328
01:12:49,499 --> 01:12:51,968
so all I can do is
say thank you to him.

1329
01:12:52,001 --> 01:12:55,472
(relaxing clarinet music)

1330
01:13:02,712 --> 01:13:04,112
I've got a place.

1331
01:13:04,147 --> 01:13:06,049
(generator running)
I've got time.

1332
01:13:06,082 --> 01:13:08,718
It'll be done faster if I
had $3 million right now.

1333
01:13:08,752 --> 01:13:10,787
(crane beeping)

1334
01:13:10,820 --> 01:13:13,657
The real question is,
do I really think I
can get this done?

1335
01:13:14,724 --> 01:13:15,959
Unequivocally, yes.

1336
01:13:20,096 --> 01:13:22,932
(dramatic music)

1337
01:13:24,634 --> 01:13:26,469
The only thing I
ask for is patience.

1338
01:13:26,503 --> 01:13:29,639
Look how long it's taken for
the city of Detroit to rebound

1339
01:13:29,673 --> 01:13:33,076
after a fire, and a
riot, and this and that,

1340
01:13:33,109 --> 01:13:34,844
and you know, bad
politicians or whatever.

1341
01:13:34,878 --> 01:13:37,112
I mean, do we all
just pick up and leave

1342
01:13:37,146 --> 01:13:38,380
and say the hell with it?

1343
01:13:39,849 --> 01:13:41,618
- I've been saying
for the last 28 years

1344
01:13:41,651 --> 01:13:44,287
that we're on the front
lines of the greatest urban

1345
01:13:44,320 --> 01:13:46,289
comeback story in
this nation's history.

1346
01:13:46,322 --> 01:13:47,857
We're seeing people move back in

1347
01:13:47,891 --> 01:13:50,359
for the first time
in a long time.

1348
01:13:50,393 --> 01:13:53,096
- No, I think that Detroit
is having a resurgence.

1349
01:13:53,129 --> 01:13:54,831
It's having a
resurgence in parts

1350
01:13:54,864 --> 01:13:57,032
and I think that
there are other parts

1351
01:13:57,066 --> 01:13:58,702
that are really struggling.

1352
01:14:00,169 --> 01:14:02,138
- Resurgence suggests
that it's returning

1353
01:14:02,171 --> 01:14:03,940
to something that it was.

1354
01:14:03,973 --> 01:14:05,441
(torch ignites)

1355
01:14:05,475 --> 01:14:07,376
Detroit is finding
a new identity

1356
01:14:07,410 --> 01:14:12,281
that is important to where
we are right now, right here.

1357
01:14:12,315 --> 01:14:14,150
- There's a lot of money
in this town certainly,

1358
01:14:14,183 --> 01:14:16,152
and people are
coming from all over

1359
01:14:16,184 --> 01:14:19,055
to experience the
city and its comeback.

1360
01:14:19,088 --> 01:14:22,091
Who knows? Maybe somehow,
hopefully it can get restored.

1361
01:14:23,559 --> 01:14:25,094
- It ain't all about
the money sometime,

1362
01:14:25,128 --> 01:14:26,496
it's about people
getting together

1363
01:14:26,530 --> 01:14:28,764
and you know, making it happen.

1364
01:14:28,798 --> 01:14:31,434
- The Detroit Lions may
never win a Super Bowl,

1365
01:14:31,467 --> 01:14:34,103
never been in one, but I think
one of the two Boblo Boats

1366
01:14:34,137 --> 01:14:35,505
is coming back really soon.

1367
01:14:37,473 --> 01:14:39,342
- You know, it's funny,
the slogan of Detroit

1368
01:14:39,375 --> 01:14:41,010
is Rise from the Ashes.

1369
01:14:42,411 --> 01:14:44,714
(music swells)

1370
01:14:46,616 --> 01:14:48,952
(soft tinkling music)

1371
01:14:48,985 --> 01:14:51,320
- [SS Columbia] If we
gather enough courage

1372
01:14:51,353 --> 01:14:55,892
to raise our masts and weigh
anchor with all our might

1373
01:14:56,960 --> 01:15:00,530
one day our ships will sail.

1374
01:15:13,910 --> 01:15:16,546
(playful music)

1375
01:15:22,852 --> 01:15:26,355
(playful music continues)

1376
01:15:30,994 --> 01:15:34,463
(playful music continues)

1377
01:15:43,272 --> 01:15:46,776
(playful music continues)

1378
01:15:54,416 --> 01:15:56,119
- Going on a boat
dancing all night long

1379
01:15:56,152 --> 01:15:58,021
with my sister and cousins,

1380
01:15:58,054 --> 01:16:00,156
with their coolers full of
like, all our Arabic food

1381
01:16:00,189 --> 01:16:03,259
and this and that and like,
it's like a whole day event.

1382
01:16:03,291 --> 01:16:06,162
- You had $7, $8,
you went to Boblo.

1383
01:16:06,195 --> 01:16:08,364
You know, your mom
knew where you was at.

1384
01:16:08,397 --> 01:16:10,266
You was at Boblo and
what kind of trouble

1385
01:16:10,299 --> 01:16:11,868
could you get in at Boblo?

1386
01:16:11,901 --> 01:16:13,603
You gonna not eat your hot dog

1387
01:16:13,637 --> 01:16:16,172
or your elephant ear
or something like that.

1388
01:16:16,205 --> 01:16:18,141
- My family's family reunions,

1389
01:16:18,174 --> 01:16:22,679
we'd all get on the
Boblo boat, 20, 30 of us.

1390
01:16:22,712 --> 01:16:25,380
- There was a flock of
seagulls that followed the boat

1391
01:16:25,414 --> 01:16:26,782
as it went up and
down the river.

1392
01:16:26,816 --> 01:16:28,351
But you could make bread balls

1393
01:16:28,384 --> 01:16:30,286
and you could literally
throw them in the air

1394
01:16:30,318 --> 01:16:32,355
like a hard ball,
throw 'em that way,

1395
01:16:32,388 --> 01:16:34,090
and they would catch
them and you'd see it

1396
01:16:34,123 --> 01:16:35,892
knock 'em backwards, you know?

1397
01:16:35,925 --> 01:16:38,695
Or they'd fight in
mid-air for them.

1398
01:16:38,728 --> 01:16:40,563
- So you knew everybody
who worked at Boblo.

1399
01:16:40,596 --> 01:16:42,264
- Yeah, you could see them
when they went back to school,

1400
01:16:42,298 --> 01:16:43,967
you could tell everybody
that worked at Boblo.

1401
01:16:44,000 --> 01:16:45,300
They had a Boblo tan.

1402
01:16:47,036 --> 01:16:50,974
- It had great music,
lemonade, Coca-Colas, Faygo.

1403
01:16:51,007 --> 01:16:55,978
I'm sorry, forget I
said Coca-Cola, it
was all about Faygo.

1404
01:16:56,012 --> 01:16:58,081
- You would smell the
oil from the engine room.

1405
01:16:58,114 --> 01:16:59,983
You could feel the heat.

1406
01:17:00,016 --> 01:17:02,418
You felt like you were going
on some faraway adventure,

1407
01:17:02,451 --> 01:17:04,387
maybe on the ocean or something.

1408
01:17:04,420 --> 01:17:07,255
- The boat ride back
was always magical.

1409
01:17:07,290 --> 01:17:09,458
- Instead of, "Oh, we
have to go home now,"

1410
01:17:09,492 --> 01:17:11,427
it was like, "Now we get
to get back on the boat."

1411
01:17:11,460 --> 01:17:14,831
- It was just amazing seeing
them come down the river.

1412
01:17:14,864 --> 01:17:16,432
They never made a noise.

1413
01:17:16,465 --> 01:17:18,434
They're quiet except
for the DJ on there.

1414
01:17:19,903 --> 01:17:22,005
And you can hear the
thump of the music.

1415
01:17:22,038 --> 01:17:24,540
I thought that they were
driven by funk, if you ask me.

1416
01:17:24,573 --> 01:17:28,011
- My wife and I took our
kids one of the last times

1417
01:17:28,044 --> 01:17:29,846
that Boblo Island was open.

1418
01:17:29,879 --> 01:17:33,249
We rode every single ride
probably four or five times.

1419
01:17:33,282 --> 01:17:35,885
And I remember my
daughter and I got sick

1420
01:17:35,919 --> 01:17:38,254
on one of the rides
'cause we rode it so much.

1421
01:17:43,425 --> 01:17:46,262
- Hi, I am Kevin Mayer
from Livonia, Michigan.

1422
01:17:46,295 --> 01:17:48,732
I know this is somewhat
unconventional,

1423
01:17:48,764 --> 01:17:52,902
but I wanted to submit a
video along with my resume

1424
01:17:52,936 --> 01:17:56,539
to help you understand
just how much

1425
01:17:56,572 --> 01:18:00,476
working at one of the Disney
theme parks means to me

1426
01:18:00,509 --> 01:18:02,912
and what I can
bring to the table.

1427
01:18:02,946 --> 01:18:05,481
(lighthearted music)
Watch your step.

1428
01:18:05,514 --> 01:18:07,916
Keep hands and arms
inside the car at all time

1429
01:18:07,951 --> 01:18:09,152
and enjoy your ride.

1430
01:18:09,184 --> 01:18:10,519
- Thank you very much.

1431
01:18:11,587 --> 01:18:13,356
- I like making people happy.

1432
01:18:13,389 --> 01:18:14,924
Of course, you have to make sure

1433
01:18:14,958 --> 01:18:16,925
that all the rules are
followed and you know,

1434
01:18:16,960 --> 01:18:19,162
things like that,
safety precautions.

1435
01:18:19,195 --> 01:18:21,731
But you have to do
it in a fun way.

1436
01:18:21,764 --> 01:18:23,699
You know, I would
have people laughing

1437
01:18:23,733 --> 01:18:26,068
and having fun even in line.

1438
01:18:26,102 --> 01:18:27,702
I know you might be
thinking to yourself

1439
01:18:27,737 --> 01:18:31,741
that I'm overqualified
to be a ride attendant.

1440
01:18:31,775 --> 01:18:34,677
I wouldn't mind doing
something in the office.

1441
01:18:34,710 --> 01:18:39,282
If it's at all possible
one or two days a week

1442
01:18:39,315 --> 01:18:41,450
that I can actually get
out there in the park,

1443
01:18:41,484 --> 01:18:44,153
be with the people,
be by the rides,

1444
01:18:44,187 --> 01:18:46,621
you know, that's what
means a lot to me.

1445
01:18:47,991 --> 01:18:49,692
Except for the
Hall of Presidents.

1446
01:18:50,760 --> 01:18:52,395
(Kevin chuckles)

1447
01:18:52,428 --> 01:18:53,996
You can cut that out, but I had-