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DetroitGet heat in DetroitWarming Centers in Detroit

City of Detroit Warming Centers Are Now Open To Help Those In Need

This week brings some of the lowest temperatures Detroit has seen this winter, which can be especially dangerous for the homeless population or those without heat. In order to create warming centers to help provide food and shelter to persons who are homeless and do not frequent existing homeless shelters available within the city limits, the City of Detroit has partnered with Cass Community Social Services, Operation Get Down, and Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. Additional support will als...

Casey's PubCorktownDetroit

Throwing Back A Final Shot At Casey's Pub

That’s a wrap for Casey’s Pub, a neighborhood establishment that’s been around for about three decades. Tonight, driving by and seeing the lights on, a stop had to be made. Was it to be saved? Were the Facebook reports of it’s closing wrong? Alas, no. Casey’s was supposed to be closed on New Year’s Eve, but apparently bartender Gabe Azzopardi was allowed to open it one more time for the Lions vs. Cowboys playoff game. “If I could do anything to change it, I would,” said the barman who is...

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WATCH: Inside The Gates Of The Stunning Abandoned Belle Isle Zoo

We don’t share this video to celebrate in Detroit ruin; we do it to raise awareness because this place could and reasonably should come back to life in some way. The Belle Isle Zoo was something many city-dwellers loved when it was open. It never was as big as the counterpart in Royal Oak, but to many in the city, it was the zoo they could actually get to. The zoo was opened in 1895 and it has sat closed since 2002. Now, the State of Michigan controls Belle Isle under a 30 year leas...

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Let's Kayak Around Belle Isle (With Photos)

Is “Detroit, Land Of The Great Outdoors” a slogan that rings true in your heart? If it doesn’t, it should. It’s more than possible to be active and enjoy being outside in the city. I have biked around the city, zipped down the Dequindre Cut on a Segway, and enjoyed a sunset cruise around the the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. I’ve taken walks around Belle Isle and been rollerblading (that’s right) on the Riverwalk. But I must admit, kayaking around Belle Isle was a new one for me. It was...

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City Girls Soap (And Their Goats) Find Success And A Home In Pontiac

Drive down Orchard Lake Road toward Pontiac. Watch the strip malls recede into clean and refreshing nature. Park by the Goldner Walsh greenhouse and walk to the stone amphitheater. Beyond the amphitheater is a barn housing goats belonging to City Girls Soap, a family farm and small business owned by Amy and John McIntire, which uses goats’ milk to create high quality skincare products that are sold locally. Three exasperatingly curious and adorably affectionate Oberhasli goats graze on land ow...

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Metro Detroit To Be A Top Destination For Families In 2015, Says ABC Travel Guides

The Detroit Metro Convention And Visitors Bureau over on Fort Street must be smiling about this one. It might not be conventional wisdom, but Metro Detroit made yet another list for travel in 2015. This time, it’s from ABC Travel Guides, who creates alphabet, activity and souvenir guides for kids. Detroit’s number three on the list, joining Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Orlando, San Diego, Washington D.C. and Times Square in New York. Here’s what they had to say about us. Our country owes much than...

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Honest John's Sold To Owner Of Wright & Company, Plan To "Keep It Honest John's"

The legendary Detroit establishment, Honest John’s, has been sold for an undisclosed price according to a report by Crain’s Detroit Business. This is the third act for a place that started out near the Detroit River by the Belle Isle Bridge and moved to Midtown in 2002. Word is owner John Thompson is looking to retire and so he sold to Dave Kwiatkowski, who has ownership stakes in Sugar House, Wright and Company and a new coffeeshop to open in Midtown. For us, this was the quote that summed...

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Murder Rate Dropping Again In Detroit, More Progress Still Needed

The murder rate and many other crime rates are on pace to be down in Detroit for 2014, but more progress is still needed. Detroit has had a second straight year of decline in murders and homicides. We’d thought we’d let the data tell the story in this case. You can mouse over or tap on the data points below to see the numbers behind them. Hat tip to The Detroit News. Other data sources include CityData and The City of Detroit....

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Detroit Predicted To Join Chicago As Only "Top 25" U.S. Travel Destinations In Midwest

Good news on the travel front. Detroit, with the opening of some new hotels, new nightspots, and a resurgent attitude in the downtown area is predicted to join Chicago as one of the top  destinations for tourism in the United States and the Midwest, says Hotels.com. In their list of top predictions for 2015, this is what they had to say for their first prediction: Detroit’s resurgence will continue and the city (currently ranked the 28th most popular domestic destination according to HPI) wi...

Best Food Neighborhoods In AmericaCorktownDetroit

Corktown Is One Of The "Best Food Neighborhoods In America"

Accolades continue to pour in for one of Detroit’s up-and-coming neighborhoods. Corktown, in a list recently released by Thrillist, was named as one of the top food neighborhoods in America. We’ve written about Corktown in a few ways, including this piece on Rubbed, and included Mercury on our list of 5 Burgers Tasty To Burgers To Love Around Metro Detroit. But is Corktown Detroit’s culinary center? Thrillist seems to think so. Detroit’s historic Corktown may be the city’s oldest neighborhoo...

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Your Guide to Eastern Market: Winter Edition

Looking for a place where you can get quality local produce and handmade crafts? Head over to Eastern Market. Located just north of Gratiot near downtown, Detroit’s most diverse marketplace has been in business since 1891. Visiting the area during the Saturday Market is a unique experience that the entire family can enjoy, even in the winter months. Getting There There’s no need to wake up early to visit the Saturday Market; however, if you want to beat the rush, you can start shopping as e...

DetroitDevelopmentMidtown

Moribund Corner Park To Get A New $250,000 Lease On Life

The Midtown neighborhood of Detroit is changing rapidly. We’re hearing that Midtown Inc., the non-profit development engine behind much of the resurgence in the neighborhood, is dropping $250,000 into a park next to Selden Standard (you can catch our review here). Redmond Plaza is at the corner of Selden and Second and steps away not just from Selden Standard but new housing and the well-known Honest?Johns. It’s also a neighborhood in transition. The plan is to add electricity, repair lights a...

CrowdfundingDetroitEric Larson

RENDERINGS: Bright Future Ahead For The Old Tiger Stadium Site

The Historic Field To Be Saved Under These Plans Which Include Mixed Use And Community Development Never underestimate the power of a community’s love for a historic site, especially when it’s combined with burgeoning economic development in the neighborhood. The old Tiger Stadium site is finally on its way to a second act as a retail, real estate and community center totaling a price tag of about $44 million for the project. The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) named Larson Realty Gro...

CrowdfundingDetroitHemingwrite

Two Detroit Kickstarter Projects Kick Local Entrepreneurs Into High Gear

Kickstarter became famous in Detroit for helping to fund the (to some) infamous Robocop statue, which raised $67,000 to fund what at the time was sort of known as a hipster joke. It drew criticism at the time for raising money for basically something that nobody needs at all.  Since then, the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has grown and has helped to fund a lot of cool things around the world and in Detroit. Two notable success stories lately are Woodward Throwbacks and Hemingwrite, which h...

Aloft HotelDavid Whitney BuildingDetroit

LOOK: The David Whitney Building Is Kind Of Amazing

You’re going to want to see this. It has taken $92 million and countless hours of effort, but the historic David Whitney Building is back in action after sitting dark since 2000. Yesterday, the facade was lit and the beauty of the 1915 skyscraper showed through. There’s been a new cornice installed, and we got to peek not just at the outside but the inside of the glorious lobby and two of the establishments downstairs, including the WXYZ bar (and we can’t help but wonder if the ghost of Bill B...

Art DecoDetroitDTE Energy

DTE Energy Completes Renovation Of Art Deco Building Downtown

It may be one of the smaller buildings, but downtown Detroit has yet another renovation success story. DTE Energy has completed renovating the long-vacant Art Deco building across the street from its downtown Detroit headquarters as part of its investment in the neighborhood that the company has called home for more than a century. It will be named the Navitas House, and the structure had been vacant since 2004. Navitas is Latin for “energy.” The 32,000 square-foot, three-story building will...

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OPINION: I Am The Wife Of A White Cop Who Polices A Black Neighborhood In Detroit

My husband and I both work in public service in different capacities. My career is in the nonprofit sector; his is in law enforcement. We both work in Detroit. A few years ago, I represented my then-organization at a “Communities in Action Annual Convening” held by the Kellogg Foundation. The summit included several breakout sessions with groups strategically assembled to promote productive dialogue. A response to a focus question in my group prompted me to ask, “But isn’t the assignment of valu...

DetroitDetroit LifeDetroit Race Relations

What Will Detroit Do With Garner And Brown?

Obviously the history, social fabric, and current issues facing Detroit as a region make it ripe for discussion around the Eric Garner and Michael Brown incidents. Detroit has had not one, but three race riots in its history. The most recent being in 1967, occurred when white police raided a blind pig on Detroit’s West Side and decided to arrest 82 black people celebrating the return home of two GI’s from the Vietnam war. It has helped shape why we now live in one of the most racially segregated...