A Trip to the Motor City: Downtown

On the map below, the downtown area is generally thought of as the area between the Fisher Freeway (I-75) and the Detroit River, and bounded on the west side by the Lodge Freeway (state highway 10), and on the east side by the Chrysler Freeway (I-375).

For reference on this page, here are a few major points:

1. Renaissance Center
2. Cobo Convention Center/Cobo Arena
3. Joe Louis Arena (Detroit Red Wings)
4. Lafayette and American Coney Islands
5. Compuware Building
6. Greektown
7. Hart Plaza
8. Joe Louis Memorial ("The Fist")
9. Detroit Police Headquarters (for fans of "Detroit 187" and "Low Winter Sun")
10. Fox Theater and Hockeytown Cafe
11. Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)
12. Ford Field (Detroit Lions) 

Below is an aerial view (which I stole from the web) taken from above the Detroit River.  The big set of towers in the foreground is the Renaissance Center, which was built in 1973.  The building in the center (with the blue square at the top that says "GM") is a hotel, and the 4 tall buildings around it are mostly GM World Headquarters.   The round building at the far left is part of the Cobo Convention Center (Albert Cobo was mayor of Detroit in the 1950's).  Above that, the building facing diagonally along the river is Joe Louis Arena.

Although it looks good from the air, there are more than a few downtown buildings in various states of abandonment.  On the positive side, the downtown decay is beginning to reverse and there is a lot more activity than there was a few years ago. 

In the picture below, we are looking south toward the river, with the Renaissance Center at the top center along the river.  In the foreground is Comerica Park, and Ford Field (a covered stadium) is to the left.  Across the river is Windsor, Ontario.

Below is a view of downtown taken from the southwest, from Canada.  The Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit and Windsor, is in the foreground.
 

Driving along the Jefferson Avenue, which parallels the river, we encounter the memorial to Joe Louis, who was from Detroit.

On the riverfront is Hart Plaza, where concerts and other social gatherings take place.  Over a million people come down to the river to see the 4th of July (and Canada Day) fireworks.

Next to Hart Plaza is City Hall and the Spirit of Detroit statue.   The Spirit has been known to sport a Tigers or Red Wings jersey on occasion.

Joe Louis Arena, home of the Red Wings.  Yes, we see the irony of having a hockey arena named after a fighter.

Possibly the two most famous restaurants in Detroit.  Coney Island hot dogs are the National Food of Detroit (there are literally hundreds of Coney places in the Detroit area), and these are the two that started it all.  Detroit is divided into Lafayette people and American people.  The Kalts are Lafayette people.  If you go to Detroit, you will have a Coney.

The MGM Grand Casino, one of 3 casino/hotels in Detroit.  This one is on the west side of downtown.

The Compuware World Headquarters (below) was one of the first major new buildings in downtown Detroit in recent years, and has sparked a lot of activity and brought a lot of jobs downtown. 

Below is Greektown, which is one of the major restaurant and entertainment areas downtown.  The tall modern building is the Greektown Casino and hotel.

For those of you expecting to see lots of pictures of abandoned skyscrapers in downtown Detroit, I actually had a hard time finding one.  I even did a Google search for "abandoned buildings in downtown Detroit" and almost every hit I got was for a building that had since been renovated or torn down.  The building below (Metropolitan Building) is one of the few still-abandoned buildings downtown.  Don't worry, we'll see lots of abandoned buildings as we move away from downtown.

A detour to Belle Isle.....

Belle Isle is the largest urban island park in the United States, and is located in the Detroit River, just off the lower right corner of the map at the top of the page.  At one time it was one of the nicest parks in the country, but the city can't afford to maintain it, and it has fallen into some disrepair.  Currently, the state of Michigan is trying to take it over and administer it as a state park, which I think would be a good thing.

Below are a few notable buildings on Belle Isle.

Belle Isle Conservatory, a botanical garden and greenhouse

Belle Isle Fountain

Belle Isle Casino, which was a dance hall, not a gambling casino

Back to downtown....

At the north end of downtown is an area called "Foxtown", named for the Fox Theater.  This area has become an entertainment destination, with attractions such as the Fillmore Theater, Comerica Park, Ford Field, and the Detroit Opera House.

Fox Theater and Hockeytown Cafe by Day

Fox Theater at night, viewed from Comerica Park

Comerica Park, viewed from the Fox Theater

Inside Comerica Park

Ford Field--Comerica Park is across the street on the right

The building in the foreground below is the Detroit Opera House, as seen from Comerica Park.

So, there you have downtown Detroit.  I know you're disappointed that you haven't seen the crumbling empty hulks of buildings that you associate with Detroit, but they've actually done a good job of getting rid of them from the downtown area.  There are still a lot of empty storefronts, and I wouldn't walk around downtown at 3:00 AM, but it's not what you think it is.

Next: Midtown

A Trip to the Motor City: Intro

As most of you know, I'm from the Detroit area, and I travel back there 2-3 times a year.  <Insert obligatory Detroit joke here>.  It seems like I spend most of my time defending Detroit and explaining to people that the Detroit area is not (totally) like the image they have of it. 

So, one of my friends said, "you do a blog about every place you go, why don't you do one about your trips to Detroit?"  So, here it is--most of the pictures are from my most recent trip to the Detroit area, in October of 2013.  I have supplemented it with pictures from previous trips, as well as a few pictures I stole off the web.

Unlike my previous blog posts, this is not going to be a day-by-day summary of where I went.  Instead, I am going to have 4 postings that cover:

• Downtown Detroit
• The Midtown area, surrounding downtown
• The rest of the city of Detroit, mostly residential
• The rest of metropolitan Detroit, outside the city limits

But, first an overview of America's Favorite City.....

A Geographical Introduction to Detroit

Detroit is in the Southeastern part of Michigan, at about the lower joint of the Michigan "thumb".  (You did know that Michigan looks like a mitten, didn't you?)  The city of Detroit is within the red outline on the map.  Here are a few facts that will help you follow the rest of the blog entries:

• Detroit is part of Wayne County.  The rest of the county consists of the Grosse Pointes, east of Detroit, and a bunch of suburbs (Dearborn, Westland, Redford, and others) to the west. 
• On the northwest border of Wayne County is Oakland County (Farmington Hills, Southfield, Royal Oak, etc.), which is one of the wealthiest counties in the country. 
• Northeast of Wayne County is Macomb County (Warren, Eastpointe, St. Clair Shores, etc.), which is mostly middle-class.
• Detroit is separated from Windsor, Ontario, by the Detroit River, and you actually travel south to get from Detroit to Canada.  If you win any bar bets with this information, please send 15% of the proceeds to me. 
• Woodward Avenue, (state highway 1), is the "main drag", bisects the city into the east side and the west side, and extends northwest through the suburbs. You are either an East Sider or a West Sider--you can't be both.  I am a West Sider. 
• The northern border of the city is the (in)famous 8 Mile Road, which shows up as state highway 102 on the map above.   According to the Web, In Detroit, “8 Mile is more than just a street name. It separates Wayne County from its more affluent counties to the north and is the understood divide between the City of Detroit and its white suburbs."
• On the eastern border of Detroit are Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Park, etc.  This is where the old money is.
• North of the top of the map are Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, in Oakland County.  This is where the new money is.
• There are actually a couple of towns within the boundaries of the city of Detroit.  They are Highland Park (purple rectangle) and Hamtramck (orange rectangle). 
• Here are a few other famous locations:

1. Metropolitan Airport--if you have to change planes in Detroit, don't freak out--it's a really nice airport.
    
2. Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield village, IMHO the best museum in the United States outside of the Smithsonian.
3. The house  (in Detroit) I lived in until I was 8 years old.
4. American Jewelry and Pawn (from the show "Hardcore Pawn").
5. The house (in the suburb of Southfield) I lived in from when I was 8 years old until I was 21 years old.
6. Comerica Park and Ford Field (for you sports fans)

OK, here we go......

Next: Downtown

Romania

Friday, 13SEP

This morning we disembarked at Oltenita, Romania, and traveled inland to Bucharest.

Our first view of Romania

Abandoned factory outside Bucharest

On the road outside Bucharest

Based on our trip to Bucharest, Romania seemed to be in better economical and physical shape than Bulgaria, but significantly worse than Hungary.  Most of the communist-era housing seemed to be renovated, although there was still a lot of stuff in disrepair.

Housing in the suburbs of Bucharest

Another apartment building

Street on the outskirts of Bucharest

The city of Bucharest itself was in fairly good shape.  It has a lot of wide boulevards, and a lot of the pre-communist buildings have been renovated.  The main site in the city is the Palace of the Parliament, which was built in the 1980's by the Communist leader Nicolae Ceaucescu.  It's the second largest building the world (after the Pentagon), and building it and the surrounding buildings caused a large part the city to be leveled, at a time when a large part of the population was starving and freezing.  Did I mention that people in Eastern Europe don't care for the Communists?

Parliament (center right).  Picture taken from about 3/4 mile away

University building

On the streets of Bucharest

Early 20th century building, half renovated

Part of our tour included a visit to the Parliament building.  The building is not completely finished, and Ceacescu was overthrown and killed before he could occupy it.

Parliament building, from about 1/4 mile away

Hallway inside the Parliament

Inside the Chamber of Deputies

Another hallway in the Parliament building

Chandelier in the Parliament building

Meeting room in the Parliament building

Ceaucescu also built a mile-long wide boulevard (originally named Victory of Socialism Boulevard, now Unirii Boulevard) that ended at the Parliament, and constructed large buildings on either side of the boulevard.

View down Unirii Boulevard from Parliament

Another view of Unirii Boulevard

Buildings facing the Parliament

Driving down Unirii Boulevard--Bucharest has a bit of a traffic problem.

Central Bucharest

Arcul de Triumf, based on you know what.

 

Another boulevard in Bucharest

Central University Library

Old Parliament Building

Strada Lipscani, a pedestrian street in the old part of Bucharest

Another view of Strada Lipscani

Coltea Hospital

Flea Market in the courtyard of the Bulgarian Church

Romanian Atheneum, home of the Romanian Philharmonic

Athenee Plaza Hotel, where we spent our night in Bucharest

My chance to smoke a Cuban cigar in the hotel bar, which I didn't do

Artwork which was probably not on display 25 years ago

Saturday, 14 SEP

Up bright and early to our drive to the Bucharest airport.  From there, it was on to London, then JFK, then RDU.  Nothing worthy of pictures.