Eastside Golf opens first store at Detroit Metro
The big picture: From its humble start nearly a decade ago, Eastside Golf has ascended to an international brand, boasting partnerships with the PGA Tour, NBA, Nordstrom, Dick's Sporting Goods and others.
Zoom in: Eastside is selling sweatshirts, polos, bucket hats and other items adorned with the brand's Swingman logo inside the 300-square-foot DTW store near Gate 34 in the McNamara Terminal.
Hoodies retail online for up to $145 and polos cost up to $85.
Catch up quick: Co-founder Olajuwon Ajanaku created Eastside's logo about eight years ago while living in the since-rebranded Jeffersonian Apartments, while working in finance.
He felt unfulfilled in banking and applied to more than 50 golf-related jobs, but was rejected every time.
What they're saying: Those rejections helped shape the brand's logo — a Black man wearing a sweatshirt, jeans and a gold chain while swinging a golf club.
"I was tired of trying to fit into a mold. Why not come into the sport as I am," Ajanaku tells Axios Detroit.
Flashback: Ajanaku grew up in Atlanta (where the Eastside name originated) and played golf at Morehouse College with Flint native and Eastside co-founder Earl Cooper.
"To be able to open our first store in a city that has so much meaning for both Olajuwon and me feels like a full circle moment for our brand," Cooper said in a statement.
The company's other store is in Tokyo.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Expert debunks city official's misleading claims about controversial energy project: 'Keep spreading the truth and educating'
Expert debunks city official's misleading claims about controversial energy project: 'Keep spreading the truth and educating' The TikTok account Tigers Against Pollution (@ brings together diverse student voices from the University of Memphis all united under one banner: creating a more environmentally friendly Memphis, Tennessee. In a recent video, one member of the group debunks Memphis Mayor Paul Young's guest column in local newspaper The Commercial Appeal about the Memphis xAI project. The Memphis xAI project is run by a company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. This supercomputing facility has recently come under fire for operating gas-powered turbines without proper permitting and for releasing pollution beyond limits, the Southern Environmental Law Center reported. According to the Tennessee Lookout, "The supercomputer facility is located in a poor, predominantly Black Memphis community with historically high rates of pollution-related illness and disproportionate rates of industrial pollutants." The video from Tigers Against Pollution sets out to "debunk [Mayor Young's] debunks," demonstrating that the Memphis xAI project is harmful and that the mayor is not unbiased. The first point of contention is around the number of turbines allowed for the supercomputing center. The speaker notes that the mayor's point about the number of permitted turbines cannot be correct because, at the time of the video, the public hearing for the permit had not even been completed. In the second point of the guest column, the number of turbines that the facility is operating legally is presented as 21, when the mayor said that the permit allowed 15 in the prior point. The speaker calls attention to this discrepancy and shows an image from the Southern Environmental Law Center that shows 32 operational turbines. The turbines are important because they burn dirty energy, releasing pollutants into the atmosphere that are harmful both for the climate and for the local population, as the Union of Concerned Scientists explained. The third and fourth claims related to the mayor's potential signing of an NDA and reasons for his support for the project, which cannot ultimately be proven or denied. The fifth claim involves the city's financial gain from the project. According to the mayor, the city stands to gain $12 million in tax revenue in just the first year. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The speaker for Tigers Against Pollution notes that the city's budget for this year is $900 million, according to Action News 5, which makes the $12 million seem inconsequential in light of the environmental concerns it raises. Those in the comments seemed to respect the work that the organization was doing. One wrote, "Keep spreading the truth and educating." Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Chicago residents call Obama Presidential Center a 'monstrosity,' fear they'll be displaced: report
Chicago community leaders and longtime residents say the Obama Presidential Center risks washing away the neighborhood's fabric, warning that proposed luxury developments tied to the project could price out families who have long called the South Side home, according to a report. They also say the sprawling 19.3-acre site in historic Jackson Park, with its 225-foot-tall concrete museum, has become an eyesore that disrupts the natural landscape and all locals are getting in return for the unsightly structure is soaring rents and higher tax bills. "This is a monument to one man's ego," Steve Cortes, a longtime Chicagoan and former adviser to President Trump, told the Daily Mail. "Look at the Reagan Library. It's beautiful. This? There are almost no windows. What are they hiding? And this Brutalist cement look in a city known for its incredible architecture." The Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease for the public parcel for $10 in 2018 and promised to revitalize the area. Obama said at the time that the project did not intend to displace residents, adding that its overseers are trying to balance boosting jobs and economic development in the area while maintaining and protecting existing affordable housing. Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, who represents much of the working-class neighborhood surrounding the site, fears that locals are being priced out. "Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for. This was no different, and we're living what is actually happening," Taylor told the outlet. "We're going to see rents go higher and we're going to see families displaced." She has pushed for protections such as affordable housing requirements around the site, tenant purchase rights and rental assistance to shield residents from displacement. She won some concessions in the 2020 agreement – whereby 30% of new units on city-owned land were to be affordable -- but many of her broader demands, including a full Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), were not adopted. A CBA is a binding deal that requires developers to deliver protections such as affordable housing, local hiring, or other safeguards to ensure big projects don't push out existing residents. "The city of Chicago should have done a Community Benefits Agreement before the first shovel went into the ground, but they didn't," Taylor said. "We're going to see small landlords having to raise the rent. Their property taxes are going up and we're going to see development that is not inclusive to our community." Residents point to a proposed 250-room luxury hotel as a symbol and a driver of economic pressures far beyond the scale of existing neighborhood development. Once a major luxury project is approved, surrounding property values typically spike and so its presence signals to investors and developers that the area is shifting toward wealthier clientele and away from its historically working-class, majority-Black base. The hotel's approval is still under review, and residents have held demonstrations calling for its rejection. The investment firm behind the project is headed by Allison Davis, a veteran real estate developer and lawyer who was Obama's first boss out of Harvard Law School. "When you got people's rent going from $850 to $1,300 you're telling people you don't want them in the neighborhood," said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, told NBC Chicago at a demonstration in April. Since ground was broken, construction has progressed at a snail's pace while costs have ballooned from an original estimate of $330 million to a 2021 foundation projection of $830 million -- with no updates since then. The center, which aims to honor former President Barack Obama's political career, will also consist of a digital library, conference facilities, a gymnasium, and a regulation-sized NBA court. It will also house the nonprofit Obama Foundation, which is overseeing the center's development. The scale of the project and the aesthetics of its centerpiece library have come in for criticism. Ken Woodard, an attorney and father of six who grew up in the area, called it a "monstrosity." "It looks like this big piece of rock that just landed here out of nowhere in what used to be a really nice landscape of trees and flowers," Woodward told the Daily Mail. "It's over budget, it's taking way too long to finish and it's going to drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here. It feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here." Kyana Butler, an activist with Southside Together who campaigned for a CBA around the Obama Center, shared similar sentiments with the outlet. "It's pretty huge and monstrous," Butler said. "It could have been smaller in scale and cost a lot less money. We're all worried about the impact on the community." Tyrone Muhammad, director of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, said, "It's truly the Tower of Babel." "Property taxes are going up so much that the owner of my building is saying she might just walk away.. I don't blame President Obama for all of this, but the people on his team may not have the best intentions for people in this area," Muhammed, 2026 Illinois Senate candidate, told the outlet. "It's disingenuous and hypocritical to take park space away from people and then not involve them in what takes its place. The move violates common decency." Fox News Digital has reached out to the Obama Center for comment. In May, President Donald Trump offered to help out with the development of the center and linked DEI to the construction problems. The project set out "ambitious goals" for certain construction diversity quotas, with its contracts to be allocated to "diverse suppliers," 35% of which were required to be minority-based enterprises (MBEs). "Look, President Obama, if he wanted help, I'd give him help because I'm a really good builder and I build on time, on budget. He's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster," Trump said, adding that Obama was paying for prioritizing DEI over meritocracy. "And he wanted to be very politically correct and he didn't use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love Marco," Trump said, while addressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A $40.75 million racially charged lawsuit filed earlier this year by a minority contractor against the project's structural engineer shined a spotlight on the DEI-driven aspect of the project. The structural engineers claimed the minority contractor lacked sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, resulting in delays.
San Francisco Chronicle
15 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Ronn Owens' financial troubles deepen with $2.3M in debt, court records show
Former Bay Area radio personalities Ronn Owens and Jan Black have filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy despite spending the past eight months promoting a $140,000 fundraising campaign to support their mounting financial troubles. Owens, who worked as a KGO radio host for more than 40 years, and his wife, a former KCBS host, submitted the paperwork in Arizona Federal court on Thursday, Aug. 14, according to public legal documents reviewed by the Chronicle. Owens and Black moved to Scottsdale, where they purchased a $1.5 million home, after he retired from the San Francisco station during the pandemic. Their daughter Laura Owens, who is currently involved in an unrelated high-profile paternity case, lives with them. They now have $2.3 million in liabilities and owe $511,327 to more than 40 banks, credit card companies and other creditors, according to the documents. Black is referred to by her legal name, Elizabeth Ann Naylor, in the bankruptcy petition. More than $400,00 of their debt was incurred this year, despite Owens' friends and family launching a GoFundMe campaign for him on New Year's Eve, intended to support his 'overwhelming' financial strain amid an ongoing struggle with Parkinson's disease and other 'health battles.' As of Monday, Aug. 18, he has raised more than $131,000 of the $140,000 goal. He and his wife's bankruptcy paperwork notes that they pay $150 a month for medical and dental care, plus $225 for another type of health insurance and $1,500 for life insurance. Owens previously revealed that Medicare and his supplemental health insurance doesn't cover 'residual' medical expenses that sprung from his several ailments. Owens and Black report a combined monthly income of $21,083, which comes from their pensions and unemployment compensations, and a total of $6,640 in monthly expenses — not including $14,188 mortgage payments. Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows individuals with regular income to keep their assets and develop a plan to pay back their debts over a period of three to five years. In June, Owens shut down speculation that some of the funds have been supporting their daughter, who is facing several felony charges, including fraud and perjury. 'Let me make it clear that I stand with Laura 100% and am disheartened by the online efforts to discredit us both,' Owens posted to Facebook earlier this summer. Laura claimed in 2023 that she had become pregnant with twins after meeting Clayton Echard from Season 26 of 'The Bachelor.' Echard denied the allegations, stating that their sexual interactions didn't involve intercourse. Though Laura later said that she had a miscarriage, officials learned that she had fabricated evidence, including altering an ultrasound image.
