Looking to discover Detroit? Ask the experts at D:hive.
D:hive is a storefront and welcome center in Detroit’s Central Business District where you will find help with anything in Detroit, including places to live, work opportunities, ways to engage and how to build a business in the city.
We asked the staff at D:hive to pick out their five favorite things in Detroit.
1. Dequindre Cut
Dequindre Cut is a 1.2-mile greenway and bike path that connects three of Detroit’s greatest gems: The New Detroit RiverWalk, Mies Van der Rohe’s Lafayette Park and Eastern Market, the largest historic public market in the country. It’s great for biking, running or strolling through and lies just below the streetscape along a restructured abandoned railway line dotted with striking graffiti murals created by well-known Detroit graffiti artists.
Dequindre Cut. Photo credit: wyliepoon via flickr.
2. The Guardian Building
The Guardian Building is a reminder of Detroit’s grandeur in the ‘20s and is one of the most beautiful buildings in the country. However, it’s not just an example of jaw-dropping Art Deco architecture, it also houses three great small businesses: Pure Detroit, Rowland Café and Stella International Café, which epitomize the creative entrepreneurship that is a large part of Detroit’s current renaissance.
The Guardian Building. Photo source: ellenm via flickr.
3. Baker’s Keyboard Lounge
Baker’s Keyboard Lounge is the world’s oldest operating jazz club, open since 1934 in Northwest Detroit. Many notable musicians have played here, including Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site in 1986. It continues to host contemporary jazz greats and is worth a visit just to check out its stunning art deco interior, including its one-of-a-kind piano-shaped bar.
Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. Photo credit: Joshua Smith
4. Strange Bowling
Detroit is home to two very different variations of bowling! Cadieux Café, located in Detroit’s East Side, is one of only a handful of places in the country where you can play feather bowling, a game that originated in Belgium and closely resembles curling. Fowling, a mixture of football and bowling, can be played at The Fowling Warehouse, located in a revamped old toy factory on the East Side. Whether you join a league or just want to stop in, you won’t find this kind of bowling anywhere else in the country.
Fowling. Photo source: fowling.eventbrite.com
5. Southwest Detroit
Southwest Detroit is one of America’s most unique neighborhoods and is much more than the tourist area known as Mexicantown. It is a diverse, vibrant and growing neighborhood chock-full of history, culture and community with amazing murals around every corner, an abundance of authentic ethnic restaurants and great public spaces. Must-sees include Honeybee Market, Café con Leche, Clark Park and the striking art murals along West Vernor Highway.
Southwest Detroit. Photo credit: Andrew Kopietz.
Honorable mention: Hamtramck
Although not technically in Detroit (Hamtramck is a separate city located within Detroit’s border), Hamtramck is known as a melting pot of ethnic groups and boasts the country’s most diverse zip code. The city is home to Bangladeshi, Polish and Arabic populations, just to name a few, and offers a delicious variety of ethnic food, unique shops and coffeehouses, and a vibrant alternative music scene. Must-sees include Café 1923, Aladdin Sweets and Café, and Public Pool Art Gallery.
Hamtramck. Photo credit: ifmuth via flickr.
Make sure to stop off at D:hive to find more great resources in the city; you can even sign up for one of their city tours.