Detroit Gets Some Well-Deserved Lovin’
Pink reader Natalie gave me the head’s up that the Washington Post published a great little write-up on Detroit, MI in yesterday’s Travel section of their newspaper. Rather than following the herd that seems to love bashing Detroit Rock City (many times without even bothering to pay the city a visit), the Washington Post instead writes up a charming little review of the town I love so, painting a picture of the city that is so dead-on that I can’t wait to share it with all y’all:
I saw it first by night. A metropolis unveiled in viewfinder snapshots through the smudged windows of an elevated train. Gothic towers crowded close, proud detail etched on gray stone. A beaming stadium full of red-capped baseball fans, its front side left open as if to console the devoted others it couldn’t quite hold. A neon neighborhood of revelers, trying their luck with the cards and with each other. A river that bounced fractured glints of the city back toward the heavens. It was beguilingly authentic — gritty and romantic — and it was decided: I would side with Mary. Mary, the smiling lady of the hotel lobby, not Alexandro, the cab driver who brought me to her. “Is this your first time in Detroit?” Mary inquired. “You’re going to love it! It’s just like Paris.” Minutes earlier Alexandro laughed incredulously when I told him what I’d come here to find. “Happiness?” he scoffed. “I can’t really see it. Everybody’s just so miserable.” Which is what Forbes magazine said, too; the Most Miserable City in America, it claimed in a report earlier this year. “Imagine living in a city with the country’s highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate,” the article proposes, by way of introduction. But after riding the looping downtown train — slickly named the People Mover — and stepping into the Greektown section of the city, where I was met by saxophones singing from opposite corners and a scene that looked like the quaint, Hollywood version of a 1940s gambling town, it was over … I could be happy here. I already was.
You simply must read the rest of Ellen McCarthy’s 5-page piece on Detroit … she talks at length about the places she visited and the people she met while in Detroit. She really does Detroit very proud, which is a nice change of pace. It gets very frustrating when people continue to bash the city I love so much. Of course there are problems in Detroit but there are problems everywhere. Detroit is my home and I love it. And I love Ms. McCarthy for writing such a lovely piece on my city :)
I should also note that Pink reader Natalie also sends along the Washington Post piece on Hamburg, Germany — her home town — which is featured in the same Travel section of yesterday’s paper (she sent in both because she was born in Hamburg and her son was born in Detroit). After reading that piece, I’m reading to get my buns to Germany for a great vacay as well ;)
[Source]
Tags: 'The Washington Post'
RSS
Feedburner
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Trent
U will love germany so i have been gone 11 months and i miss it so berlin is the place to be it is the bomb! Guten tag!
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Hell yes! Detroit pride!
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Yo Trent,
THANK YOU for posting this amazing piece about our shared hometown. I’m so sick of the endless barrage of gloom and doom around the Big D, and always love to see when people appreciate it for the incredible place that it’s always been.
While outsiders may never understand, Detroit is one of the most awesome cities in the world. You just have to know where to look.
Keep up the great work–the new site looks great!
Onward and upward,
Scott T Sterling/Metromix Los Angeles
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I am not from Detroit, but i am from Windsor and i love Dertroit just as much as you guys.. Everytime i hear someone bash the Moter City I ask them have they even been there??? Most reply no.. well they are missing out. All my years of living away from Windsor i have made a point of always visiting Detroit while i was home .
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I went to grad school at Wayne State U located right in the heart of Detroit’s cultural center. I chose to live on Cass Ave. in the Cass Corridor while I attended, instead of getting a place in the “safe” burbs. And i’m so glad that I chose to live in the city. I’m originally a Chicago girl, now living in New York – and the D is every bit as special to me as anywhere I’ve ever lived. Every single person I went to school with in Detroit, holds a very special love for Detroit. There is something about this city that gets under your skin, and into your heart. It has charm, elegance, grace and grittiness. I think it’s a lot like life that way. It reflects our inner selves. To know Detroit, and spend time in Detroit is to love Detroit. Here’s to the D!!
June 24th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I work in Detroit and live in White Lake. I love the city. But I am not a city liver. I love living out in the country but partying in the city. I have not felt unsafe walking to the ball park or Ford field or Hockey town or anywhere for that matter. I always park in the little lot almost accross from the stadium and you pay the guy an extra 5 bucks and he will watch your car for ya. Nice guy! Like any other city or suburb for taht matter…be aware of your surroundings…nowaday anywhere can be unsafe.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I love that you have Detroit pride. I live in Michigan and live about 30 minutes outside of Detroit. I agree that Detroit has come a long way from what it used to be years ago and I’m proud to say that I live in the Detroit area. I love your site and thanks for all the good press you send to the Detroit area!
June 24th, 2008 at 10:27 am
THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU!!!!
As a Detroiter I totally appreciate things like this. The media always has something negative to say about Detroit but in reality, it’s a special place. Do you ever notice how most of the people that rip on the city have never even been there?
Detroit, and its surrounding suburbs, have such amazing quirks. First of all Detroit is nitty and gritty but at the same time, so beautiful. It’s everything a big city should be. Windsor is great too… it’s a playground and just a 5 minute drive from downtown. Dearborn has a great strip of bars and restaurants and a wealth of different cultures. And who couldn’t love Birmingham, Royal Oak or Ferndale? I’ve been to NYC, LA and Chicago and none of those places have the quirky charms of Detroit and its suburbs.
Love you for posting this!
haha I just wrote a love letter to Detroit.