Detroit
By "Evan Lysacek"
Detroit is known for consistently receiving a top rank on the "Most Dangerous US Cities" list. Despite having a rough and tumble reputation, Detroit and it's surrounding areas actually make for a great place to live. While the metro Detroit area is a place for a smattering of actors, musicians, and athletes to call home, not many live in the actual city itself. For the sake of convenience, many people who live in the area will introduce themselves to non-Detroiters as being from Detroit, but the majority of the time they're from the suburbs. Michiganders (yes, that is an actual term we use) from the lower peninsula of the state often map out the part of Michigan they're from by pointing to a spot on their hand; Michigan is shaped like a mitten, and it's a handy (Haha, get it? Handy?) frame of reference. One thing to note about the Detroit area is that being Motor City, everybody drives. It isn't unheard of for people to have hour-long commutes to work, and driving all over southeastern Michigan within a day to do errands or for entertainment isn't uncommon at all.
Detroit was a thriving city in the mid 20th century, but many of the economic forces that made the city so great soon expanded towards the surrounding suburbs and eventually left the city. Many Detroiters left for the suburbs with those companies, and were also motivated to leave by the racial tensions that plagued the city. Several riots based on the city's race relations (or lack thereof) had broken out throughout the city during this time. Detroit was one of the hardest hit cities affected by white flight, and even into the 20th century the overwhelming majority of the population consists of black residents. The city has slowly been recovering from losing more than half of its population to the suburbs, and the once abandoned houses and buildings are in a constant state of renovation. The mid 1990s saw what many city leaders had hoped to be The D's renaissance. This revival brought three major casinos downtown, two new sports stadiums, and a lot of revenue for downtown businesses.
There's a great wealth of entertainment in downtown Detroit and in surrounding areas. Downtown is home to three casinos, Comerica Park (where the Tigers play ball and where huge concerts are held), Ford Field (the Lions' new home, as well as the site of Superbowl XL in 2006), and several great theatre and concert venues such as the State Theatre, Cobo Hall, Fox Theatre, the Masonic Temple, the Detroit Opera House, and the Gem Theatre, to name just a few. Detroit certainly isn't lacking in things to do and places to eat, but at the end of the night, most visitors still drive back to their homes in the suburbs, though this is slowly changing. More recently, real estate developers have begun to renovate many of the older buildings downtown, particularly those along the riverfront. Many of these buildings house apartments and lofts, and despite the high prices of some of these properties, Detroit is beginning to attract a younger crowd of twenty-somethings looking for urban living.
While Detroit was left in economic ruins in the mid 1950s, the suburbs began to flourish. Detroit was a poor city surrounded by rich suburbs; Oakland County, for example, is one of the wealthiest counties in the US to date, but is a mere ten minute drive from Detroit's poorest neighborhoods. Because the Must Be Pop universe consists of rich celebrities, much of the focus of this section will be on Oakland County: The REAL OC, as we like to call it. Many of Detroit's celebrities live in the various suburbs that make up Oakland County. The richest parts of the OC, such as Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, and Birmingham, are home to many of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons. It's these three towns that probably give Oakland County its moneybags reputation. Some Oakland County suburbs are what you'd expect from the average suburb, but then there are others that are home to a lot of old money, and they're not afraid to show it. To illustrate, as swiped from a Facebook group I belong to:
"There's Somerset, Uptown Birmingham, and The Palladium, overcrowded with middle schoolers. 6th graders with cells, and private school rivals and public schools that hate them all. Where learning how to use your iPod is like learning how to walk and where the Starbucks to citizen ratio is 1 to 4. Where there are more country clubs than banks and Porsche-driving soccer moms popping their collars & no one gives a shit about the west coast, even though they think having a winter home there is nice. We have the rides, looks, & are ALWAYS on the look for a place to party. We sound like assholes because we are, but that's how we do it in OAKLAND COUNTY-The REAL OC."
It sounds pretentious, and that description could have you mistake Oakland County for Orange County or Beverly Hills (in fact, we do have a Beverly Hills here), but it sums it up to a T. A quick and dirty rundown on some of the places mentioned above:
- The Somerset Collection - Known to locals simply as 'Somerset,' this mall is so much more than just a mall. One end is your ordinary mall dressed up to the nines, and another end is nothing but luxury. The 'poor' side is anchored by Nordstrom and Marshall Fields, with all of your regular mall stores in between. The ritzy side is home to Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, The Armani Exchange, and yes, Betsey Johnson has a boutique here. When people say they're going to the mall, it's usually this one, though there are a few others in the area that do just fine, as well.
- Uptown Birmingham - this area has also recently undergone a revival of sorts, though it didn't really need it. Birmingham can be thought of as a cross between Rodeo Drive and Melrose. Anthropologie, Nicole Miller, and Roots could all be found here at one point, along with smaller local shops. The Palladium is a luxury movie theatre that could probably handle a premiere or two. B'ham is often crowded with middle schoolers and early high school kids trying to look cool by spending mommy and daddy's money on $5 mugs of hot chocolate that they pretend is coffee, because that's cool. Restaurants and cafes are all over this small downtown area (really, it's just a few blocks long -- it's entire length is walkable in 7-10 minutes, I'd say). If you happen to be walking around, you'll almost certainly stop for a few minutes at the Mercedes dealership to pick out your dream car from the window, and real buyers go across the street to the Porsche dealership. Surprisingly, Purple Haze, a local head shop, can be found in Birmingham, also. Middle school kids love daring each other to go into Purple Haze. A small city park is located on the outskirts of downtown, also.
- Royal Oak - Downtown Royal Oak is another good place to hang out. This is where you'd be more likely to find the less mainstream high school crowd, along with some younger twenty-somethings. Downtown Royal Oak is small like Birmingham, but is cheaper and less trendy, though this really is the trendy place to be if you're not trying to be mainstream. Royal Oak is home to many bars, local restaurants, and small shops, and the rumor is that the next Real World is going to be shot here. Ferndale is similar to Royal Oak and is like the gay mecca of Michigan. It is also known for The Magic Bag, a small concert venue that often welcomes returning local acts.
Of particular interest to figure skaters, because there are quite a few of them on MBP who are from the Detroit area, would be the Detroit Skating Club. DSC is located in Bloomfield Hills, which I wrote earlier is one of the richest parts of Oakland County. Chances are your skater isn't from Detroit, but instead either Bloomfield Hills or one of the other surrounding suburbs like West Bloomfield, Troy, or Rochester Hills. A lot of the Detroit area skaters in the MBP universe either are or were based at DSC at one point. Downtown/Uptown Birmingham is about a ten minute drive from DSC and Somerset is about twenty minutes away; it's likely that your skater hangs out at one of these places.
Things to Do in the 'Burbs:
- There are quite a few malls in the area, with Somerset being geared towards wealthier crowds. The attractiveness of Somerset and other local malls make for quite a few mallrats in the area.
- Coffee shops are fairly popular hang outs, also. Caribou Coffee and Starbucks are the two major chains in the area. The Coffee Beanery is a local chain that also has a following of its own. Birmingham, Royal Oak, and Ferndale all have their own local coffee shops also. Java Hut in Birmingham is a personal favorite of mine and is always crowded.
- Hang out at the lake. Commerce Township, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, and other surrounding areas are known as the Lakes Area. There TONS of manmade lakes here. It isn't uncommon for a lot of kids to grow up on the water (in the summer, at least); we learned how to sail long before we could even get our learner's permits to drive a car. Some of the area high schools even hand out boater's licenses.
Annual Events:
- North American International Auto Show - Being Motor City, this is a HUGE event that sticks around every January-February for a few weeks at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit. It's always crowded and there's always something going on. Forget all of the other auto shows; this is THE premiere auto show in the country, and we Detroiters take pride in that, even if we normally don't give a damn about cars. If you've lived in Detroit, or "Detroit," you've gone to the auto show at least once.
- The Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) - This is a huge music festival that happens each Memorial Day weekend. It's only five years old, but it's a huge hit each year.
- Fireworks - The Detroit River Fireworks are a huge event held before or on the Fourth of July each year. Tons of people turn up for this event and you can watch from either the Detroit side or the Windsor side of the river. Lots of locals grew up going to the fireworks each year with their families.
- Trips to the cider mill - Okay, so this isn't really an annual event, but we love apples. Once October hits, apple orchards and cider mills start to open up to the public. Hay rides, maize mazes, apple picking, it's all done here and it's a very popular tradition for a lot of families.
Other Things to Know:
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada is right across the river from Detroit. People go there a lot. I had friends in high school who would go very weekend just for fun. The legal drinking age is 19, and it's a tradition for Detroit-area teenagers to go to Windsor for their 19th birthday to drink. Windsor is easily accessible by either the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
- Ann Arbor is nearby, also. The University of Michigan's largest campus is located in Ann Arbor and serves more than 30,000 students. Ann Arbor is a city in itself and is very much a college town, with a plethora of bars, restaurants, and clubs. U of M's campus is all over downtown Ace Deuce (or A-squared, but I like Ace Deuce better), so it makes sense that most students live downtown. Despite its college culture, there are tons of non-college students living in the city.
- Aaaaand speaking of college: if you live in Michigan, it's easy to get caught up in the big Michigan vs. Michigan State rivalry. The two universities are the largest in the state and their sports teams are the reason that some family members are disowned on certain weekends (just kidding...kind of).
- People who live in southern Michigan, including metro Detroit, like to go "up north" for the weekends. We don't mean Canada. We mean northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula (the UP), where there's easy access to the Great Lakes and lots of outdoor sports opportunities. In the summer, people go up north for camping, fishing, hiking, etc. In the winter, we go up north for skiing at resorts like Crystal Mountain.
- Mackinac Island (pronounced "Ma-ki-naw") is another easy weekend trip. It is accessible only by bridge and does not allow the use of any sort of motor vehicles. Very much a Victorian island. Pretty much everyone who's grown up in Michigan has gone to Mackinac at least once; most elementary and middle schools have weekend trips up north.
- Chicago is a 4-5 hour drive from Detroit. Yet another popular weekend getaway location.
- Pistons pride, man, Pistons pride. And the Red Wings, too. As long as they're winning, we like them. A lot. (Oh, and they play at the Palace of Auburn Hills, a northern suburb.)
- It's pop, not soda. Not soft drinks, not Coke, not soda pop. POP.
