Exploring an iconic American city on my 30th birthday.
Detroit is truly an urban photographer’s paradise. I’m not any kind of serious photographer myself, but I can look at those aging bricks and see how a talented photographer could make them speak, and speak so richly.
I’m generally pretty open to possibilities when it comes to travel, but when I started this blog and my job traveling, I was downright scared of two places: New York City (too big) and Detroit. I dreaded the possibility of being assigned to Detroit in winter, thinking of it as worst possible case scenario: high crime and freezing cold. It was built up in my mind as an extremely dangerous place to be. These ideas were vague, but came from all the way back in my teenage years, when I read about the rapper Eminem and his life growing up there all the way up to recent years, when I saw Pinterest boards with articles about abandoned factories and malls in the city. I imagined it like something from the movie I am Legend: a place I might not survive.
Back in the summer of 2015, working in Ottawa, Ontario, I met another lady with my company also working on an assignment there in the city. Her name was Autumn, and she had been traveling like this for a little over three years. I’ll never forget seeing her walking down the street toward me. She had a huge mass of tawny curls and startling light-green eyes. She had a big smile and projected confidence, but it wasn’t just that: it was also restlessness and a kind of dangerous wildness, too. Now that I’ve been on the road so many years, I now feel how she looked, and I get it. But back then, I was just fascinated.
“So where do you call home?” I asked at some point that night. She looked at me, watching for my reaction, and said, “Have you ever heard of Flint, Michigan?”
Being that this was before 2016, when the media exposed a water crisis in Flint, I hadn’t heard of it. Autumn squinted, trying to find the right words. I don’t remember how she described the place exactly, but I remember thinking it was one heck of a place to be from, so close to Detroit. I also remember Autumn describing that city so positively I was confused. “You mean the Detroit? In Michigan?”
“Oh, yeah! There are some really nice things there,” Autumn said. “It’s like any other city, and has its crime. But you should definitely visit someday. You’ll love it.”
I wasn’t booking the next flight to Detroit, but Autumn definitely piqued my curiosity. As my interest in city development and housing grew, my interest in Detroit also grew. I tuned in to stories about the state and the city so I could learn more. Gradually, I started to see it less vaguely as a city with a tough history but heart to carry on.
In 2017 I reconnected with my old friend Felicia, who now lives in Michigan outside the city of Detroit. She, too, told me to come and visit her anytime, so with that open invitation, I watched for my opportunity. It came a little sooner than I expected. For my 30th birthday, as my work assignment took me to Dayton, Ohio, I knew I wanted to dress up and go out. Looking at the map of cities near me, three hours’ driving north would put me in Detroit. Felicia and her newlywed husband Tony both had the night off work, and were free! I was so excited, and started planning – my date with Detroit was on.
I couldn’t go to Detroit without telling Autumn, of course, and she sent me several recommendations. One was Candy Bar in the Siren Hotel, a 1920s Paris-themed speakeasy cocktail bar decorated with luxurious pink velvet and an 800 pound chandelier. (It was never planned to be so big, interestingly: they thought it was 400 pounds, but when it arrived from France, it was 400 kilograms.) Felicia had never been, since it only opened 8 months ago… and wow. I can’t recommend it enough. The hotel and accompanying restaurant are also beautiful, and a rooftop spot is coming soon (I was two months too early).
We parked in the Z lot, with fantastic city views and tons of art all around. I couldn’t believe how excited and friendly everyone was, out on the streets. We got in the elevator with a couple – the guy was dancing a little in place and his female companion laughed, “He wants to go dancing so bad!” We chit-chatted about our plans.
The big adventure that night wasn’t in the pretty, well-lit downtown area, but down a risky side street near the Fillmore and Fox, at Hot Taco. Starving, we stopped for giant late-night burritos (mine served as three meals), and Felicia accidentally left her purse in the bathroom. We were back home and the place was closed before we noticed it missing. Her bank’s 24/7 help line seemed to have no one on duty that night as she tried to cancel cards. It was a bummer ending to the night. She kept saying, “I just know it’s gone – it’s Detroit!” But the next morning, at 11 o’clock, she called Hot Taco and a Detroit Christmas miracle had happened: someone had found it and turned it in. Her purse and all its contents were waiting for her behind the register.
The two of us went back downtown that afternoon and visited Eastern Market, Belle Isle, and the Heidelberg Project. We also had GIANT burgers at Cornerstone downtown. We took a picture with the big Christmas tree at Campus Martius. The sky was crystal blue, the temperatures in the thirties. I couldn’t have asked for a better day in Detroit, and ended up staying until sunset.
Check out the Heidelberg Project’s FAQ page for more on the recurring theme of time.
I didn’t take enough pictures in Detroit. After visiting a place, I usually wish I’d spent less time behind the camera, but now that I’m back at work in Dayton after my birthday weekend, I look through my camera roll to realize what’s there just doesn’t begin to relay what’s in my memory. Built in 1701, the city has been there on the water for a long time. Its buildings are full of history: some celebration, some tragedy. In those bricks I can see the story of a city that quickly became wealthy through industry, lost much of its wealth, and now faces the challenge of rebuilding a stable, equitable society in this new age of technology and information. It’s no small challenge.
A place is a place. People are people. To really experience and learn, there isn’t room to feel fear or prejudice against either.
I went to Detroit instead of somewhere more stylish, more comfortable, more wealthy because this decade, I plan to keep taking what I’ve learned and pushing on toward real understanding. And that includes seeing places like Detroit to challenge my own preconceived notions and fears. I’m convinced that’s the only way I’ll ever really feel free. And as an added bonus, sometimes you find that thing you were prejudiced against, you actually fall in love with. This past weekend was one of those times.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~
