Algiers Motel

During the early hours of Wednesday morning July 25, 1967, at the height of the Detroit riots, police and National Guard troops seized the Algiers Motel. Three black teenagers were shot to death in the annex of the Algiers Motel off Woodward Avenue and Virginia Park. Their deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day.

The Algiers had gained a dubious reputation. By the time of the riot, Detroit police referred to the Algiers as “flypaper for dope dealers, prostitutes and petty hoods.” By the time of the riot the Algiers had become primarily a home for transients with no place else to go.