guest post by John Law
My friend Julia & I just bought a vacation home in Detroit. It’s a small but comfortable three-bedroom house in good condition that sits on a shorefront plot of land along the banks of an actual river. The location is serene, and the price was right — the whole thing cost less than a new Cadillac Escalade. A lot less, actually. But that was only part of the appeal. Just as important to us was the idea that Detroit is poised to become a laboratory for the latest social trend: The Greening of America.
Sure, Detroit may be the scariest place you can think of to live or even visit. Or is it? With the decline of the American auto industry, over seventy percent of the city’s populace fled to the burbs between 1966 and 1990. For those who remained, heroin and crack cocaine savaged the city’s neighborhoods. Yet when everyone else moved away, most of the thugs did too, leaving huge swaths of once-dense urban blocks very nearly depopulated — and quite a bit greener.
The nightmarish view of downtown Detroit and its suburbs is ancient history. The city is currently home to a strong (though small by coast-city standards) art scene. Wayne State University is becoming known for it’s cutting-edge gallery shows, while older artists have contributed much to Detroit’s exceptional public art installations. Detroit is also the epicenter of the Urban Adventure movement, with intrepid explorers coming from as far away as Europe and Australia to clandestinely explore the city’s beautifully decaying factories, mansions, hotels, mental hospitals, and skyscrapers.
Most of all, though, Detroit is already one of the greenest cities in America. I mean green as in green grass! Visit any typical residential block in the heart of Detroit, and what do you see? A handful of occupied houses and a few piles of rubble that once were homes, while the rest of the block has completely reverted back to nature. Rabbits, possum, raccoons, and the occasional deer ramble through this urban landscape as though they own it. We’ve gone canoeing along Detroit’s storied River Rouge canal, and we’ve climbed the abandoned, 37-story {REDACTED}* Building to get an up-close view of a peregrine falcon nest. Detroit’s public transportation system is no worse than that of most other American cities, and it’ll only improve as the renaissance continues. Also – oddly enough, the city has one of the newest and best freeway networks in the country – great biking and roller-skating lanes for when we run out of oil. Homeowners can plant gardens on their spacious lots or those next door as they like.
The price of owning anything in San Francisco, Brooklyn, L.A. or any other “prime” location became prohibitive, even surreal long ago. Even with the recent downturn in the housing market, it is still impossible for most artists, writers or craftsmen to buy in these places. Meanwhile, the industrial engine of the “Rust Belt” continues to freeze up, providing green spaces in cities like Detroit. At the same time, more people are able to work from literally anywhere in various Internet and computer related jobs. Being able to break away from the overcrowding and frenetic pace of life on the coast(s) for long periods and kick back in a relaxed tree shaded waterfront home that we actually own outright is a luxury that, I for one, after thirty years in Frisco never thought I would know. Detroit has plenty of water, green trees, wide-open land and no crucial military targets. Everyone world round thinks it’s a dump. There’s no place to go but up for this town. The icing on the cake is the simple fact that no one will ever waste a Nuke on Detroit.
Ghetto Ice Cream Truck driving through a Detroit neighborhood. [via Urlesque]
A similar article was published in Everywhere Magazine Issue 04.
photos by Julia Solis
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Welcome to the neighborhood. Watch out for the roving bands of scrappers. They'll strip your place clean overnight.
Come up to Clarkston if you need some refuge.
/A
I'm happy to see a (sort of) good article about Detroit. It's a city that really is on the cusp of a real metamorphosis, but people just keep looking down on it. Unfortunately, our mayor hasn't helped our image at all.
Well, as someone who loved in metro Detroit for their formative years and who made his way briefly to Chicago and is now eying SF, I have to say that this is by far the most positive take in Detroit I've heard in, uh, ever.
I don't know. I'd like to believe that Detroit can be something worthwhile again, but I'm too much a pessimist. All my friends back in Michigan are bored out of their minds. They want nothing to do with the state, it's a sinking ship and they want to get off while they still can.
It's odd, then, to hear someone in the reverse scenario viewing it in the exact opposite way?
Yay! So good to see that someone is giving a fresh water coast a chance again. The whole of the north coast of Erie from Detroit all the way to Buffalo has huge pockets of gorgeous and affordable land and homes.
A friend lived in San Fran a while back and out of curiosity we used his yearly rent amount to see what it would buy on the north coast. He could have had acres or he could have had lake frontage and his own beach for the payments he was making.
Detroit has easy access to so much but going down toward Ohio there's a sweet stretch between Toledo and Cleveland that is priceless. Rt. 6. It's beyond pretty. Bald eagles love the place and they still have honor pay fruit and veg stands roadside. But there is a military base along that route, Camp Perry.
Hope you enjoy your vacation home! This was wonderful to read.
Wow. The ice cream truck is… wow.
And they have some of the most experienced trauma surgeons in the country. Especially good with the gunshot wounds.
Don't have to go as far as Detroit to find ice cream trucks like that. OUR getto ice cream truck that drives around West Oakland not only blasts thug hip-hop and is more armor plated, it's got it's own crazy ice-cream-hip-hop tune it semi-randomly switches to.
Hey John, that was a great piece. Inspiring read. Lissie and I (peter) visit MI almost every summer. A lot of windmills going up around the thumb.
I went to Detriot searching for something after I left NOLA a couple of years back. I mean no one goes there so their had to be something. And now this. I drank in a bar in Johns new nieghborhood and could see something but not enough to pioneer. Maybe Johns new digs is going to act as a halfway house to introduce a new kind of bueaty. Won't be the first time I learned something from this guy.
Fun Piece! when can I come over for tea & pie?
John, Somehow I knew you were going to fit the word “nuke” in. are you enjoying the fact that you road warrior fantasy is closer than ever?
Need a neighbor?
I have lived in the city of Detroit for all of my 26 years on earth. I have visited every major city in the U.S. and just got back from seeing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest for the first time. I think we as a city can learn a lot of things that are being done in other areas, not to copy, but to make them our own. It is my dream, that I am devoting my life, to help make our little slice of America a better place to live and grow. Thank you for the positive outlook, with more great stories like these I think will only bring our dream closer to reality.
R. Garcia
It's refreshing to see a positive article on Detroit. I am a student at the University of Detroit Mercy on the northwest side of the city that many people steer clear of. Just like Wayne State, UDM has a lot to offer the art, design, and culture of the city since it has one of the leading architecture programs in the state. Not to mention the MOCAD, DIA, and countless historic theaters.
The city has a lot of potential. For living here my whole life, I never appreciated how green the city really is.
Thanks for the new perspective.
Wow, great post. This is just another reason why I'd much rather read Laughing Squid and skip all of the fluff that is in the newspapers. Very thought-provoking piece — thanks, John.
so nice to read an factually inspired optimistic look on the future of motor city. my folks were born and raised in Detroit and my dad attended Wayne State for med school, and we lived in MI before moving to the bay area when I was 10. We jokingly say Detroit is a great place to be from. So much of modern America was forged in Detroit, and if it can reinvent itself, maybe one day it will be a place to go to again as well.
Welcome to the D! Glad you see Detroit for not only what it can be but what it is. Detroit is poised to be the model city for a sustainable future and we have a damn good time round here. Please look us up and come by for a visit, you'll love Service Street and now that Fall is on its way we'll be having bonfires every weekend. I know we already have some mutual peeps that we can sit round the fire with.
Yes, I said bonfires in Detroit! :)
Gregg & Angela
Detroit Evolution Laboratory
http://detroitevolution.com
Thanks – nice post. I am a former Chicago-boy who has lived in the SF Bay Area for about 30 years, and now is living in Germany. I agree that the “rust belt” also has some prime property, great natural landscapes, and most importantly – is really affordable for normal people. Thanks for telling everyone about your recently purchased piece of heaven.
Born, raised and bored here in the D. I agree – there is tons of potential, however there's enormous inertia as well, and getting the rusty wheels to move in any direction, let alone forward, is a chore. The city has a status quo and it's name is entitlement.
We have lots of open space here in Michigan and in the midwest in general and it's one of those things that really hurts us when it comes to designing and deploying infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure is a huge wall in the path of civic projects which would take root so much easier in denser communities.
things have definitely rebounded a bit since I was a kid in the 80's. Hopefully we can rid ourselves of this current stain of rotten politics, lessen our overall dependency on the auto industry and make some more progress towards that brighter future.
Of note – the comment about the scrappers is not even slightly exaggerated. Those shameless mofos are really incredibly industrious. It's too bad they dont put the effort into above board trade, they'd be able to accomplish great things.
-///
the open space is one of the (many) things that caused me to fall in love with Detroit. the potential to harness that for greater things than informal dumping grounds is pretty incredible. i'd like to see about 10 river rouge-sized preserve/parks, all over the city. however, for starters, we'll take a healthy belle isle.
anyway, all we need to get the ball rolling is about 500,000 energetic types with coastal fatigue who have come to the conclusion that money isn't everything, and have no time to waste listening to the bickering that has gone on in Metro Detroit since the 1960's….all these new arrivals would see is the potential, as you see it., and things would really start to happen.
a word, though, to anyone who is considering moving to Detroit: Manage your expectations re: change (put that on a frigging plaque and hang it above your bed, seriously), really do watch out for scrappers, and always, always tread lightly.
curious outsiders often make the mistake of thinking there's nobody left here, and that's fair, because often times, after 7pm most evenings, anyway, it does seem like that.
however, there are more than 800,000 people who still call Detroit home. it is not a circus sideshow, it is not a ghost town, these are not the roman ruins, the majority of Detroiters are not waiting for you to come save them. in fact, that majority will fiercely defend themselves against outside influence, even if it is to their own detriment (see above: regional bickering).
That is all.
Thank you David,
Your words are very appreciated. Snotty right & left coast types blowing into town with some holier than thou attitude should get a knuckle sandwich. I grew up in Michigan (on the banks of the Muskegon river) and appreciate those who live here and respect their home town pride and appreciate their expectations of new comers. There is pride in Detroit, a lot of pride, I've noticed it despite the terrible conditions of the last 30 years or so. Detroit was THE engine of the largest and grandest industrial/societal expansion in history. Detroit was the 3rd most impressive (after NYC & Chicago) high rise metropolis in the world. Detroit is the cradle of one of three uniquely American musical genre's. Detroit is a city resplendent with history and, as those with foresight can see, bursting with promise. Outsiders are necessary so that the natives can, with new eyes, see the promise of their singular and magnificent city. All respect to the home boys & girls. -JL
Cool article. Nice to see someone who has spunk and vision. I've lived in Highland Park, a city embedded and surrounded by Detroit. The Detroit mayor said of it once, “Highland Park – The Capital of Detroit”.
Due to the ailing health of my parents, I am having to leave, after living some 30 years in that fine town. Truly, one of the World's best kept secrets. It's beautiful, I never had any violent urban related problems and my neighbors are great. And – as you point out – it's green! I have pheasant at my bird feeder!
I was married in that house; my son was born in the living room. Anyway, I want to hand it over to someone who would appreciate it:
http://146farrandpark.com
Urban exploration is fine, but tearing stuff up to do it isn't. I've seen it too many times. Those that also “explore” and then put graffiti all over can kiss my ass. We have enough problems with our city without you “artists” spray painting things and making them look worse. Come, look, but leave nothing but footprints, please.
Just about everyone I worked with in my SF start-up experience was a native Michigander. When my assignment became permanent and the work-from-home promise evaporated, the CEO thought “you just sell your house in Michigan [Ha, good luck with that!] and move into an apartment in SF with five or six guys, it is what everyone does” would win me over. I kind of like owning a three bedroom bungalow with a garden and patio and have always liked Detroit. I think the “greenspace” praise is weird, vacant lots with old garbage and liquor bottles isn't my favorite thing in the world.
Anyways, there is so much art and music that comes out of Detroit for a few real reasons. One – tons of places to show or play or exhibit. You can get a gig somewhere. Two – Civic pride. People love this area, love that they are from here, and don't take a back seat to anyone. People here may dream about making it big in New York City, but when they get there, they make sure to talk about where they are from. Three – No rules. The city has long been a DMZ. Now it is less so, but you can find a spot to do something and it will be free or cheap. Need an art studio? Need to put on some kind of super mechanical dragon battle? Whatever, you can do it and the cops are probably not going to hassle you.
You can see garage bands, techno, hip-hop, whatever – whenever. Then you can drive a couple hours and camp and canoe and look at the stars.
Also, you can read about Detroit's ice cream trucks here.
Also, people have talked about farming in Detroit for a few years now –
http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=2625
Sorry to triple post, but I forgot to mention that I grew up just north of Detroit and spent summers at a family cabin just north of Oscoda. For some reason my dad liked to remind us that the Soviets probably would destroy both. Detroit was the 'Arsenal of Democracy,' in WWII (TACOM/Detroit Arsenal/General Dynamics Land Systems/etc are here), and Oscoda used to have a Strategic Air Command base with long-range nuclear bombers. The SAC base is gone, and US manufacturing isn't what it was, but Detroit would still be on the list, I am sure.
I've never, in 32 years of exploring abandoned buildings all over America & Europe tagged, smashed or damaged any of these places. I love them. I have, on rare occasions liberated some stuff, (furniture for my home, prominently) from places where it was unwanted and would rot. I discourage anyone from trashing ruins. Most people (I'd say 90%) who self identify as “Urban Explorers) are, in my experience pretty respectful of the environments they visit. It's a small group who bash these beautiful, ghostly environments.
John, you are my hero. I'm originally from Flint, Michigan and spent a lot of time in Detroit. I've been considering getting property in Detroit or Flint for a while, endlessly talking about it with friends, but I've wondered if I'm crazy. Perhaps you are crazy but, nevertheless, you've inspired me. Now you need to consider a third home in Flint. It needs a lot more help than Motown. For more info check out http://www.flintexpats.com
DETROIT TOUR 08
By Chris Radcliffe
Two groups of white urban underground explorers ran into each other in the largest abandoned building complex in America and a fistfight broke out. The origin of the fight was an internet tiff from three years before. It involved the ethics of trashing these kinds of ruins. I stood there with my friends wondering if this was going to spread into a Donny brook. I’ve lost touch with how this must sound to most of you. To me, while ironically absurd, it was just another strange weekend. Nothing came of the fight, someone cried uncle, lesson learned. This all happened last Saturday night in the Packard manufacturing complex (http://www.flickr.com/photos/paanta/sets/731080/) in Detroit.
I’d come to town expecting things like this. We had broken into a sixteen story department store downtown earlier in the day. I usually start at the top and work my way down. I’m interested in the architectural artifacts that get left behind when they seal what’s become a sarcophagus. Old neon signs and the crest that every architect worth his salt would have had sculpted to cover the water tower at the peak of a building seem to recall the history that I’m standing in. Old gothic train stations and the dead hulk of obsolete steam powered electrical plants are my favorites. Every major city has something like this but Detroit is the mother ship.
Detroit is not going to experience the urban renewal that seems to follow a sudden influx of artists. Its scale is too vast, the level of devastation too widespread. David Best, a well known west coast artist, built a temple to the American dream in northwest Detroit last year (http://www.detroitdreamproject.com/project-photos/). I went in search of it on my last night in town. In any other city it would be sitting in a major public square, in Detroit it was swallowed up in one of the tens of thousands of vacant lots off any of the major roads leading into downtown. It had no context other than a let them eat cake kind of feel. Even something monumental is dwarfed in that landscape.
There are two city blocks that make up the Heidelberg Project (heidelberg.org) that begin to attempt working at this scale. The artist that started Heidelberg used whole building as his canvas, one completely covered with numbers in various fonts and sizes. The next house was painted with multicolored dots and another had stuffed animal toys nailed to every inch of trim work. These houses were still all occupied in the middle of a mostly empty neighborhood. Whether that was due to the identifiable nature of this distinct place among the ruins or because its been a cause celeb for so long and attracts bohemian sycophants I couldn’t say, but there it was. I was inspired by the spirit more than the aesthetic. There was a building in another part of town that I saw glittering in the middle of a square mile of leveled city blocks. It was covered in broken mirrors glued to scavenged plywood that caught my eye the same way. It all looked like dead flowers on an enormous grave.
Detroit like Chernobyl won’t be coming back anytime soon. If there are other uses for this kind of environment maybe it time to seize that place. As a scene all it takes is common purpose and specific gravity. The next thing you know, what do you get? That's the real question, what do you get. I had a coney at Lafayette's before I left. I sat with a bunch of cops that looked like they'd been under siege for a long time. I didn't get the feeling that they were going to roll over for a bunch of artists with good intentions. But there is a place that could start fresh, inside the Zug Island salt mines the are hundreds of miles of caverns. Maybe in Detroit the new canvas is right below your feet.
Detroit is the result of every liberal dream and policy come true.
The federal government should put a fraction of the money it commits to the Iraq war into Detroit. It's time to agressively rebuild the city's infrastructure, which only the federal government can afford to do on the scale necessary for such a massive project. No undeserved handouts, just investment to create the baseline for economic growth such that Detroit may have a reasonable shot at becoming a productive member of society. Kind of like court ordered probation, send the city through drug treatment, anger management counseling and force it to have a job. I live here and I love it, but it sucks in its own special way.
It'll be nice if the Feds would encourage intelligent growth in Detroit and in other rust belt cities but I wouldn't hold your breath. The government will follow the people and the politicians will claim credit when any improvement actually occurs. That's show-biz. In the mean time, real people, artist, craftsmen etc., will just up and start stuff on their own. A little later business (smallish) will follow. When the water really does run out in the desert where tens of millions live in a place unable to sustain life without importing water, everyone else will follow. I'm no hippy dreamer by a long shot and I have much disdain for most of the goofy, “green” plans that hysterical types are preaching now-a-days. Ask anyone who has known me for a while they can vouch for that. However, looking at long term (over the course of decades and longer) demographic shifts and growth patterns, it seems logical (if not inevitable) to me that the Rustbelt will rise again. Let's do what we can to be a little smarter about it this time.
Am I the only one to sense sarcasm here? Do the words match the images at all? -Michigan Refugee,currently Phoenix
Hope you're changing your water carbon filters from your tap water every few months. The water table under Detroit has many heavy metals leached into it from decades of industrial pollution. Compounds like Barium Chromate and Hexavalent Chromium to name a few are found over many parts per million in various parts of the city.
People don’t escape TO Detroit…..They escape FROM it!
Hi John,
Even though Im only 17 I thought your words were vey inspiring and positive. I've herd small talk about Detriot, Michigan and don't think they talked very much nicely of it. It hurt me because in my near future I plan to be a teacher and I want to go to Detroit for two reasons. One, I want to study in Michigan State. Two, to write my heart out and in hope for every one to be able to read my piece of literature on the ecomony with detriot, thank you for encouraging me to visit Michigan maybe now a little bit longer…
Hey Incognito,
I think your common was quite funny , it's true but still escaping to Detriot. How funny I was on my computer once and I typed in I'm escaping to Detroit and I found this website and that's why I'm a member of laughingsquid today.
Thanks Chris Radcliffe
I am aware of The Heidelberg Project now and I found a lot of photos of the Tiger Stadium, I know I'm so off topic but one of my other dreams is to go to the Tiger Stadium to see what it's like before you know… It's too soon to mention it at my age (17) but yeah I wish one day to go.
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