Thunderbird Motel

03 / The story of this place

What was here?

The 31-room Thunderbird opened on West Fort Street in 1957 as a cheap, no-frills alternative to downtown's aging grand hotels, selling air-conditioning, phones, carpeting, free TV and free parking, minutes from Cobo Hall and down Trumbull from Tiger Stadium. Operators Bob and Ruth Ryan kept Jimmy the Parrot in the window to greet guests for 11 years, and when he died in 1967 the Free Press ran the news. In 1960 the motel was one of six hit in a robbery spree, along with the Harlan House, the Fontaine, the Downtown and the Del Prado. By the 1970s it billed itself as an “adult motel,” and on October 25, 1991, federal agents seized it through civil forfeiture over alleged drug dealing and prostitution. It was torn down soon after.

• 31 rooms, opened 1957
• Jimmy the Parrot greeted guests 11 years
• Seized by federal agents in 1991

What’s there now?

A parking lot for the main post office across the street (per Historic Detroit).