We head to New Palace Bakery in Hamtramck for a Metro Detroit tradition. We stumble into a long-closed bar, ruminate on life, and rank their specialty Pączki including Strawberry cheesecake, coffee, triple cholocate, PB+J and buttercream. If this is your first time meeting the show, don’t forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your favorite shows....
If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend, and have a hankering for Polish food then you need to check out the St. Florian Strawberry Festival. There will be plenty of Polish food for purchase, and tons of strawberry desserts. As with most festivals there will be a raffle and a tin can auction. If you have kids, there will also be things for them to do as well. Because St. Florian is the Patron Saint of Firefighters, there will be a Firefighter March and Mass on Saturday. T...
Have you ever driven down Caniff in Hamtramck and wondered what that purple house with the giant white ant painted on the side of it was? Welcome to The Planet Ant Theater. The Planet Ant has some pretty cool history. It was originally a coffee shop that had poetry nights, musical performances and art shows. Then one day in 1996 Keegan Michael Key talked the owner into turning it into a theater. For years members of the Planet Ant have been performing improv, sketch, and plays in the small...
Help save this Metro Detroit treasure and have fun at the same time. Hamtramck Disneyland is one of the most unique, artistic places in Metro Detroit, and quite possibly the world. Now, it’s in danger, but you have a chance to help save this amazing art installation. Hatch Art has organized two events this week as a last push to their fundraising goal of $50,000. Currently, the project has raised $31,053, meaning that Hatch Art needs less than $20,000 to meet its goal. The first event is T...
Soccer. Futbol. Whatever you call it, Detroit and Hamtramck have something very special in the Detroit City FC. Le Rouge as they’re affectionately known have garnered the loyal support of thousands – all without giant in-your-face ad buys, without network television deals. Just the heart and soul of Detroit embodied on a rehabbed Works Progress Administration-era Keyworth Field in the enclave of Hamtramck. DCFC is, in so many ways, Detroit. Many of their players hold full-time jobs. After al...
If you’re near 12087 Klinger Street in Hamtramck, you’ll be met with one of the most colorful, unique, and unforgettable sites in Metro Detroit, Hamtramck Disneyland. This folk art installation was created by Dmytro Szylak, a Ukrainian immigrant to the area. Szylak spent 30 years working on building the assemblage sculpture on the two garages on his properties. In May 2015, Szylak passed away, and Hamtramck Disneyland was in danger of being torn down. Purchased by Hatch Art, a local non-profit...
Several weeks ago, the Detroit City FC announced plans for a new stadium. Well, there’s good news for team supporters, the City of Hamtramck, and old Keyworth stadium, because the plans were approved on Wednesday. In a statement, DCFC co-owner Sean Mann said “We greatly appreciate Hamtramck Public Schools seeing the potential of this public private partnership and working with us to bring the rehabilitation of Keyworth Stadium one step closer. It is exciting for us as an organization to not...
Detroit City FC made a big move on Wednesday, submitting a proposal to the Hamtramck School Board to fund renovation work on the 79-year-old Keyworth Stadium. The goal of the project is to turn the statdium into the new home field for the football club. Detroit City FC started four years ago and have enjoyed a steady climb in popularity since its launch, consistently drawing sellout crowds at the current field at Cass Tech High School. However, the success has led them to outgrow their current...
Names that might make out-of-towners do a double take are part of Detroiters’ everyday vocabulary. We’re used to the neighborhoods, streets, and cities that makes up Metro Detroit. However, we don’t often stop to think about how these places got their names and who the people (and sometimes places) are behind them. 1. Hamtramck Like much of Detroit’s history, Hamtramck can trace its name back to the French. It was named after Colonel Jean Francois Hamtramck, a Quebec native who joined...
On Thursday, August 13 from 6-10pm, join Healthy Detroit for a fun filled evening of Fowling as they raise funds to help keep Detroiters healthy! Healthy Detroit is a local non-profit organization who’s mission is to provide every Detroit resident with the education, resources, and empowerment they need live healthy and happy lives, through the implementation of the US Surgeon General’s National Prevention Strategy. Their programming efforts under this strategy include but are not limited to...
Rock City has grunge rock appeal with its mismatched furniture, dim lighting, and unfinished walls decorated with pop culture pictures. Each table has mason jars of stainless steel utensils, chopsticks, clipboards for the menus, and a child-sized blackboard with the specials written in neon chalk. Even during the sludgy gloom of a Detroit winter, the Eatery still managed to fill seats on a Tuesday. Nikita Sanches started selling his crazy flavored pies (as Rock City Pies) at Ferndale’...
Yemen Cafe is a small place tucked into a low-rise building on South Jos. Campau in Hamtramck. Across the street is a mural of women in hijabs and burkas. Next to that is the New Dodge Lounge, a gritty but tasteful dive bar where drinkers young and old come to enjoy live music. Hamtramck is a two square mile “island city” (or enclave) surrounded by Detroit on three sides and also sharing a border with Highland Park (also an enclave). It is home to a vast array of cultures packed into a small a...
We always knew Rock City Pies were tasty. Now, the nation might just know the same thing. One of Hamtramck’s delicacies (and entrepreneurial ventures) will be featured on the second season of “Restaurant Startup” on CNBC starting January 13. Although not in the first episode, Rock City Pies is in some elite company along with 19 other businesses looking for investment from investors Joe Bastianich and Tim Love. This year, Chef, Restaurateur and TV Personality, Antonia Lofaso, joins the show as...
On Saturday, the Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts and Music Festival gave us a chance to check out what the artists, writers, and musicians in the city are up to. For an area of only 2.02 square miles, in which a total of 26 languages are spoken, Hamtramck might be the most culturally diverse place in Michigan. The whole of the city is surrounded by Detroit, and it has a level of urban density that makes it a truly walkable district. It doesn’t come as surprising that the affordable living and mul...
Detroit’s a city of taste. Foodie taste, that is. Americana Favorites like Coneys, Vernors, and Faygo, as well as a wide variety of unique international cuisines are available here. But what about the venerable burger? The hamburger was born into American cuisine somewhere around 1900 and has since become as ubiquitous a symbol of America as the flag itself. Although many sell hamburgers, some of the best burgers in the Detroit area are off the beaten path, while others are right around the co...
