New York Magazine thinks Detroit is a travel destination, too

Street cred, something vague about hopeful post-apocalyptic gardening.

One of the ten most viewed posts from the first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News was Detroit as a travel destination? The New York Times, BBC, and Financial Times think so. It, like the most popular post from last year, fit the pattern of promising Kunstler's readers a link to an article in the New York Times about Detroit and getting their attention. I don't have a New York Times article to tease them with today. Instead, I have the next best thing--an article from New York Magazine promoting Detroit as a fun place to visit as part of their five-point escape plan series: Discover Urban Renewal in Detroit. It's the same theme that the three articles I summarized from the NYT, BBC, and FT last year: Check out the city picking itself off the floor and dusting itself off. Looks like it's not dead after all! Hey, it beats ruin porn.

Seriously, the piece is all about places to stay, eat, and see in Detroit proper plus Hamtramck, not the suburbs, so it really is for the adventurous. Each page lists a handful of businesses for each purpose. The lucky three places to stay are Westin's Book Cadillac Hotel downtown, The Inn at Ferry Street, and the Honor & Folly Bed and Breakfast. Russell Street Deli, Le Petit Zinc, and Supino Pizzeria make the cut for places to eat, along with honorable mentions for Motor City Wine and City Wings. The things to do and see are all sustainable--yes, really. Four of them are examples of urban agriculture at work: Rising Pheasant Farms, Brother Nature, Eastern Market, and of course, Urban Farming itself. The fifth is a bicycle tour run by Wheelhouse Detroit, which will stop by some of the urban farms. There is also a page for insider tips, like the ClandesDine, something I'd never heard of before, but which sounds like a lot of fun. The closest thing I can think of is a fine dining equivalent of a rave. Cool

Finally, there is an oddball tour page, which hits some of the more eclectic and eccentric sights and tastes of the city. Such a trip would not be complete without seeing the Heidelberg Project and, sure enough, it's on the itinerary. So are the Imagination Station, the Power House, and "Hamtramck Disneyland." Stops for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, and a midnight snack include Astro Coffee, D'Mongos, Cass Cafe, Avalon International Breads, and Lafayette Coney Island. Looks like a good day of sightseeing to me!

The Detroit Free Press called their readers' attention to the article and asked for their suggestions. Additional sights to see and places to eat include Lincoln Street Sculpture Garden, Greektown, Belle Isle, and the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ at the Senate Theater. An enterprising commenter also put in a plug for Colors restaurant, complete with phone #. Hey, this is one instance where free advertising would be appropriate.

After reading and writing all of that, I'm eager to take my wife on a tour of the city, and I promise we won't be one of the fearful suburbanites who tour the city from inside a bus.