Yesterday and today, I documented the forced eviction of the condemned Hotel Yorba in southwest Detroit. The 99-year-old hotel, visible from the Fisher Freeway, was immortalized in the White Stripes’ 2001 song, Hotel Yorba. Frontman, Jack White, grew up not far from the property.
In the 1920s, the Yorba thrived as a residential hotel for workers building the Ambassador Bridge. Gerry Jankowski purchased it in 1984, housing primarily low-income tenants and welfare recipients.
To align with government subsidies, he twice lowered rents in a single year, charging $204 per month for one of the 300 rooms, while subsidies covered only $174. Jankowski suggested residents make up the $30 gap by collecting ten bottles a day at ten cents apiece — “a little skin in the game."
With no profit to sustain operations, critical repairs and upgrades went undone. In 2020, Jankowski listed the property for $2.95M.
Monday, the City of Detroit carried out the eviction. Officials arranged U-Hauls, transportation, and placements in other low-cost hotels. A few residents were allowed back briefly to gather belongings. I watched tenants scurry through the single unboarded door, hauling as much as they could in the narrow window of time.
I met several residents as well as Jankowski himself. When I returned today, three men were living out of their cars in the parking lot. The vehicles, immobilized and in total disrepair but serving as shelter from last night's heavy rain, are tagged for towing on Saturday.
The fate of these residents remains uncertain at best, heartbreakingly predictable at worst.
I'm left with questions, notably :
1. What responsibility does the City of Detroit bear for a privately-owned facility, beyond its condemnation?
2. Were decades of deferred maintenance, low rents, and lack of reinvestment a worthy tradeoff for the hotel’s eventual demise?
3. What happens to the residents — whose cars are about to be towed, with nowhere to go— and how does this eviction reflect broader patterns of poverty and housing insecurity in Detroit?
The Hotel Yorba was built in 1926. In the early 21st century, it housed those constructing the Ambassador Bridge.
EXTENDED STAY - HOTEL YORBA
Rayford Mann Jr., 55, paid $420 a month to live at the Hotel Yorba. His room had a private sink. He shared a bathroom - a shower and toilet - with residents on a different floor.
A hallway leading up to the guest rooms at Hotel Yorba.
Rayford Mann helped Manager, Candy, move her personal effects out of Hotel Yorba.
Rayford Mann carries a load of personal effect out of the single open door at Hotel Yorba.
Hotel Manager, Candy, collects her personal effects from the main office at the front desk.
The Detroit Police on hand to facilitate the forced evacuation. "You can photograph me as long as you don't show our face."
A woman - one of the last remaining residents - emerges through the single open door for the last time.
Rayford Mann thinks about where he will spend the night after leaving the Hotel Yorba. He spent the night in his 2005 Acura immobilized by a flat tire in the parking lot. A garbage bag shields the driver's side rear window.
Rayford Mann dusts off a jewelry chest which is filled with dirt and rat droppings.
Candy, Manager of Hotel Yorba, is the last to leave the building.
The Hotel Yorba front entrance.
Rayford Mann and loads his personal belonging into a UHaul rented for the tenants.
A payphone near the hallway leading to the resident rooms.
Manager, Candy, clears out the front office in near darkness. Most power was cut the day before.
Building Owner, Jerry Jankowski, escorts Manager, Candy, as the last two to exit Hotel Yorba. City of Detroit workers (who did not want to be photographed) waited on hand to board up the last remaining open door.
Owner, Jerry Jankowski,rented a UHaul to help facilitate residents' move.
Jerry Jankowski purchased it in 1984, housing primarily low-income tenants and welfare recipients.
To align with government subsidies, he twice lowered rents in a single year, charging $204 per month for one of the 300 rooms, while subsidies covered only $174. Jankowski suggested residents make up the $30 gap by collecting ten bottles a day at ten cents apiece — “a little skin in the game."
Candy's personal effects, Boost nutritional supplement and a cane packed into a US Mail bin.
Harold Saunders fishes through his jam-packed car, where he slept the previous night.
Harold Saunders closes the car door and tidies up for a photo.
Rayford Mann, Jr. spent the night after Hotel Yorba closed in his 2005 Acura, immobilized by a flat tire in the parking lot. A garbage bag shields the driver's side rear window.
Harold Saunders lived at Hotel Yorba for nine months. When I asked if he worked, he told me he lost his job a few months back. When I asked how he paid for his room at the hotel, he said the owner "let it slide."
Reflection of a car in the gravel parking lot of the Hotel Yorba.
