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Grande Spanish Tile Magic
Beverly Court Spanish Tile outer roof. Recently during inspections of the Grande Ballroom, our team discovered some of remnants of the Grande’s famous Spanish or “barrel” tile roof. Upon close...
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Russ Gibb Passes at age 87
Russ Gibb June 15,1931 – April 30,2019 It is with great sadness that I announce that the Grande Ballroom’s Russ Gibb has passed away at the age of 87. Russ had been in declining health for some...
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Russ Gibb Remembered
Russell James Gibb June 15,1931 – April 30,2019 Tuesday 09:00 P.M. I am sitting here writing this obituary of sorts in the middle of a spring evening thunderstorm. “It was a dark and rainy night”, I...
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Jim Dunbar – Gibb friend and California radio great passes
We’ve learned today that Jim Dunbar, California radio great and lifelong friend of Russ Gibb passed away, age 89 on April 22. Jim and his younger brother Bill grew up on Hartwell street in Dearborn,...
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Russ Gibb Grande Flash Mob 5.5.19
Who: Friends, Students. Colleagues and Compatriots of Russell J. Gibb – “Uncle Russ” What: A “Flash Mob” gathering as an unofficial, impromptu remembrance of Russ Gibb featuring an eco-friendly...
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Russ Gibb Memorial May 17 – Gibb Scholarship fund.
The public memorial for Russ has been set for May 17 from 4-7pm at the Dearborn Community and Performing Arts Center on Michigan Avenue and Greenfield. It will be held in Studio A. Peanut M&Ms...
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Moonshot Grande
The following story was removed from The Grande Ballroom Detroit’s Rock n Roll Palace during the editing phase when we needed to reduce word count. I am sharing it here today on the 50th Anniversary...
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Grande Ballroom Emergency Roof Fund Crowdfunding
For Immediate release: Detroit’s Friends of the Grande are partnering with the Grande Ballroom’s current owners, Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church in a $20,000 Crowdfunding campaign. Necessitated...
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Strategic Stabilization at the Grande
This month, thanks to the generous donors of our fall GoFundMe campaign, the Friends of The Grande and Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church were finally able to engage contractors for roof...
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Elizabeth Sulflow-Willoughby – Grande Ballroom Diorama
Recently I had reached out to the brilliant artist Elizabeth Sulflow-Willoughby regarding her fantastic scale building dioramas. Elizabeth had posted on social media stunningly accurate 3-d depictions...
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Russ Gibb – Cadillac Memorial Gardens West
For those that would like to pay their respects, Russ Gibb’s final resting place is located at Cadillac Memorial Gardens West in Westland, Michigan. The legendary Grande promoter, educator and radio...
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Grande Spanish Tile Magic
Beverly Court Spanish Tile outer roof. Recently during inspections of the Grande Ballroom, our team discovered some of remnants of the Grande’s famous Spanish or “barrel” tile roof. Upon close...
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Grande Ballroom – Bogle Family Collection
Since starting to write about the Grande Ballroom in 2003 I have spent countless hours in libraries poring over microfilm and archives. Many nights crawling the InterGoogle for scraps of data and...
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Grande Vase “Holy Grail” Auction
Grande Planter Vase auction begins During the Grande Ballroom’s rock heyday, there remained in the building furnishings from its 1920’s movie palace inspired past. Amongst these items were carved...
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Grande Ballroom Russ Gibb vase finds a home
In December 2021 an auction was held for the “Holy Grail” of all Grande memorabilia, Russ Gibb’s Grande Ballroom Italian Planter Vase. (see its story in the original blog post) All proceeds going to...
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Grande in the Rearview
In 2003 when I started thegrandeballroom.com to write about this old historic building, I never imagined I would still be writing about it nearly 20 years later. Nor would have imagined all the great...
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