Detroit Architecture

Detroit has amazing architecture. Some of it is in ruins, some of it is restored and used daily.

Bill and I were in Detroit for the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show, or Auto show for short). As we left Cobo and headed to lunch, I was keen on taking photos from the car of some of the amazing buildings the Motor City has to offer.

I snapped these while we waited at stop lights.

 I cleverly snapped a picture of the name over the door.

 Again, I captured the name of the building. I'm so clever.

 This is the Guardian Building. 

It supposedly has an amazing lobby. "Supposedly" because I've not seen it and am told about it by everyone; mostly my husband every time we pass the building, or cross the county line into Detroit.

 Buhl Building (see, I did that so if you asked, I would know)

 The County Courthouse, behind the man walking, almost out of view. It is not currently in use.

 I was actually taking a picture of the red brick/stone building in the middle of this photograph but then I noticed the skyscraper behind it. Bonus!

This is the Presbyterian Church (?) See? I didn't take a photo of the sign and now I don't remember. 

It is a church for sure. Let's just stick with Presbyterian.

And this, this is downtown from the top of Cobo Hall. This is a photo from last year. It was gray, more gray and more shades of gray this year. 

 This is from the RenCen c. August 2013, when we were in Detroit for our anniversary. You cannot see the roof of Cobo Hall (I was hoping you could).

This is looking down from our room. You can see the line of traffic into the tunnel (to Canada), at the top of the photograph.

There are also many abandoned buildings that people flock to and refer to as "ruined porn". There are books and blogs full of photos of these buildings. 

Slowly, very slowly, it seems as though life is being breathed back into the city. There are sections of the city that are full of life and bursting with energy. Then you pass through blocks of unending blocks of burned out shells of buildings. Stately homes and neighborhoods, empty and lonely. A ghost town of the present. It's eerie and beautiful all at the same time. It feels like you're in another country, a country torn apart from war. 

Detroit has a lot to offer but it continues to be the ugly step-child. Architecture buffs, historians, and hard-working citizens don't know what to make of it. It's a good example of too much sprawl. Everyone moved to the suburbs and left the city to rot. A few stayed behind and stood their ground. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have Detroit. She's making a come-back. 

And while I won't ever make the mistake of taking the Grand River exit off of 696 where I called Bill when I got to 7-mile and he was heard throughout the Barnes & Noble screaming, "LOCK YOUR DOORS & TURN AROUND!!!" I will go to the Motor City any chance I get. I will go to Tigers games, the Auto show, and other events. I will go for delicious dinners, to visit friends, and to fly out of DTW. I will take pictures to share, to show you and everyone else that Detroit is not the ugly step-child, but the prodigal son. Returning to the former glory to celebrate the best thing that it's known for… 

Cars.

If the shoe fits...

I am thankful for fried chicken, it was so yummy, but I'm going to write about what we did yesterday.

Our town may not be big enough for The Body Shop, but it's just the right size for me. We have hockey, we have baseball, we have a symphony, ballet and an opera house. We have multiple theaters (as in the theatre, not cinema but we have those too), musical stages, free art events throughout the year, ArtPrize, and an amazing sculpture garden. We have an art museum, public museum, a children's museum and a presidential museum.

We may not ever be able to host the Olympics, but we get to see professionals play sports (Bill almost got hit by a foul ball thanks to Omar Infante when he was back from an injury playing for the Whitecaps) and we don't have to take out a loan to pay for tickets.

Rush hour traffic means you'll be stuck an extra ten minutes. Trust me, after driving in Memorial weekend traffic on the Jersey shore, rush hour anywhere is laughable.

Okay, depending on where you're going in Grand Rapids, and what happened it could take an extra twenty minutes. But that only happened once. And it was a double whammy, road construction and an accident.

What I'm trying to say is, this is a great place to live. There's a reason we've made so many different top ten lists.

Last night we went out for our annual hockey game with friends, Amy and Adam. We had great seats and at $16/ticket, it's a cheap date.

But don't count dinner. We always go to our favorite restaurant, San Chez. They specialize in Mediterranean tapas. We always get carried away and order way more food than we really need. It's easy to do since we're all sharing the plates of food.

I'm thankful that we can have a fun night out with good friends watching hockey for fairly cheap. And, remember that rush hour drive time, everything is close enough that we were home by 10:15pm. In other cities it would have taken an hour or longer to get home from a venue like a hockey arena.

Grand Rapids is just the right size.