Overlooking the Detroit skyline
An interesting starting point could be the Heidelberg Project . Located just a few blocks east of the city center, the Heidelberg Project is a collection of streets where local artist Tyree Guyton He has collected objects from everyday life and has placed them randomly around the area. Piles of mismatched shoes hang from the front of one of the buildings, pieces of broken cars, appliances and dolls They await the visitor under the watchful eye of irregularly shaped clocks that hang from trees and corners stopping time.
Everyday life made art
Guyton began to "stop time" in Detroit in his particular tribute to the city where he was born 30 years ago and this same summer, to the surprise of visitors and volunteers from the non-profit association, he announced that little by little he will begin to dismantle the disturbing installations that so many visitors have received in recent years (El Diario Guardian estimated that they could be about 270,000 a year ) .
The walk around the piles of trash turned into art is the perfect prelude to getting in the mood and understanding something of what Detroit is today: a broken doll with a disturbing look , to which little by little some of its citizens try to smile back.
These facilities could have their hours counted
After being the American capital of the automobile industry (Detroit is also known as ' Motor City ' either ' Engine City ’), the rampant economic crisis meant that about a 25% of its residents leave the city . The city that Detroit is today realizes this, far from the crowded streets with workers up and down that it was for decades, in 2016 its great avenues hardly observe the traffic of a handful of cars at rush hour , it is possible to make a change of address right in the center without too much trouble, and its historic buildings rest, many of them with broken windows and blackened by the passage of time.
But despite this abandonment, which surely hurts more on a cold winter's day, those born in Detroit feel true passion for his city , and there are also small remittances from foreigners who have ventured to live in the city, which offers low and It has even given free housing to writers to repopulate the city.
The visit to the Heidelberg project may have left you with an empty feeling in your stomach. If so, before approaching to see the area of skyscrapers and historic buildings , pass by the Bakery Avalon International Breads L.L.C. , a true treasure for lovers of bread and pastries, which daily bakes organic grains, croissants, sweet and savory and offers good coffee to accompany.
Detroit, industry or oblivion
The street where it is located West Willis , on the corner of Cass, places us in one of the epicenters of the city's regeneration, with other small businesses that support a small agro-urban community . For them, the 84,000 empty plots within the city limits are but an opportunity to create a “ organic mecca” in which to grow sunflowers and corn , next to warehouses full of vegetables raised using a hydroponic system.
Along the street there are also some second-hand shops, and if you are interested in history you can attend one of the tours organized by the First Congregational Church of Detroit, which in its day was the last stop on the route to freedom for hundreds of slaves traveling in secret through the Underground Railroad.
An agro-urban community makes its way into the city
THREE MUSEUMS TO UNDERSTAND DETROIT
It may be strange to imagine painters Diego Rivera and Frida Khalo living in Detroit, but the couple resided here for months between 1932 and 1933 , while Rivera completed the immense 27-panel mural commissioned by the capitalist Edsel Ford inside the **Art Institute** of the city. 'La Industria de Detroit', considered one of the best murals of Mexican art in the United States, is the star of the museum and represents a production plant , for which the painter took as an example the closest one, located in the Dearborn neighborhood.
Part of the Detroit metropolitan area, this neighborhood today hosts one of the largest Arab communities in the world outside the Middle East . The contrast between what used to be the area where a large number of auto industry workers used to stay and the current personality of the neighborhood is curious: most of the signs are written in Arabic and you can get practically any typical product. To eat here, a good option is ** Sheeba ,** which offers Yemeni-Mediterranean cuisine with good prices and authentic flavor.
'Detroit Industry'
What little remains in this area of Henry Ford's legacy is the museum of the same name (**Henry Ford Museum**), a monument containing various artifacts related to the country's recent history. The visit to this museum can take from a couple of hours to a whole day, the 9 hectares that comprise the museum contain 26 million artifacts , from the Dimaxion House by architect Buckminster Fuller to the bus where Rosa Parks changed the course of history , going through the rocking chair in which abraham lincoln rocked on the night of his murder.
Sitting on the bus where Rosa Parks changed history
The third and friendliest museum of the three is a little closer to downtown Detroit, it is the Motown Museum , popularly known as ' Hitsville, USA ’. This was the first recording studio of the record label, and today it is still possible to set foot in Studio 'A', with original instruments and the control room with which songs such as 'Please Mr. Postman' . Through the house of "the sound that changed America", names like Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5, Marvyn Gaye, The Supremes or The Temptations.
You can still step on his Studio 'A'
To welcome the afternoon, a good option is to visit a local brewery . Some of the best ones are quite central, like **Batch Brewing Company**. **Atwater Brewery,** a little closer to the river, offers tastings, and **Motor City Brewing Works** also serves homemade pizzas to go with it.
On the other hand, Detroit has varied bars and theaters where to have a drink or watch a show. The **Fox Theater,** or the **Fisher Theater** are among the many still available with Broadway signs; the Majestic It includes several rooms with coffee and pizzeria as well as the oldest bowling alley in the city. There is no shortage of speakeasies either, s secret bars so trendy which you will have to enter following different rituals. **La Casa de la Habana**, **Raven Lounge**… most of them are in Downtown . Some, like the **Detroit Opera House Sky Deck**, offer panoramic views, while others, like the Ghost Bar They offer, -ahem- well supposedly that, a drink in a bar where if you go to the bathroom by going up the stairs... you won't find yourself alone.
The Ghost Bar
FROM BRICK TO NATURAL
Detroit is made of contrasts, and to really get to know it you can't leave without taking a walk through two opposing zones . On one hand his downtown , with its imposing and stately historic buildings (many of them have an information plaque on the facade identifying them), which form the well-known silhouette of the city: the Dime Building, the Cadillac Tower, 1001 Woodward, or the Lafayette Building . Among them is the sculpture that represents the detroit spirit , a large bronze statue holding the god symbol in its left hand and the family in the right.
To get the best panoramic views of some of these buildings, it is best to move away from the center and cross over to the small island of the Detroit River, Belle Isle (Isla bella) less than a kilometer from Canada, which is accessed through the MacArthur bridge. This area is a haven of peace with its own aquarium, zoo and yacht club on whose shore you can sunbathe in summer, or put on your ice skates in January to slide down one of its frozen lakes.
belle island