detroit’s had a bad rap for a while. if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was just one giant wasteland. you’d be surprised to know that detroit has loads of little nooks + crannies of streets and neighborhoods with many great restaurants, shops, breweries and coffee houses. one of those areas is called corktown.
a pawn store turned restaurant has a small but delicious menu. what they did to the 132 year-old space is incredible and i noticed all the details. stop here for lunch, dinner or soon – brunch.
i don’t think hipsters refer to places as a “hipster place” (that was me calling me a hipster…. ha) but this place is pretty damn cool. funky music + vegan food offerings, this place has great coffee made by cute guys with unusual facial hair.
i don’t know where to start with this building. built in 1913 after detroit’s original train station burned down, this abandoned train station is one of the most beautiful building i’ve ever seen. even abandoned and destroyed with graffiti it’s unbelievable. in fact, it has been said that it is a premier example of ruins photography or ruin porn. i first fell in love with it when i saw it for the first time during a lunch break at work. here was my first sighting of this building. i think my mouth fell wide open.
now, i don’t recommend that you go in this building, but if you were, this is what you’d see:
arguably better bbq than anything i’ve had in texas! (them are fighting words down here!) but this place is so good! it’s always crowded but eat at the bar if you can – it’s more fun. and buy a long sleeve tee like we did.
there are so many little things to love, here are a few things i’m loving right now…
1. portlandia.
this show tickles me. carrie & fred are my new best friends after flying around the country with them on my ipad. it pokes fun at portland in a lovable, hysterical way. they love the city, love working with each other and i’m so happy i stumbled upon them! this humor isn’t for everyone. you are either the kind that won’t get this at all, won’t think it is funny or smile constantly throughout the whole episode like i do. like check out the opening song here.
2. one kings lane
there are a crazy ton of shopping sites out there and quite honestly, i’m a huge amazon fan. nothing like buying something you don’t need without leaving your bed. and getting it the next day. there is joss & main and the foundry and rue la la. but one kings lane, in my estimation is the best. kinda addicted. this site has been around for a while – so nothing new here – but i have ordered several awesome things from this site with great success. it is reminiscent to going to searching through a flea market but on-line and everything is great – not crap.
ok. so nothing like a flea market.
3. detroit
to say i love detroit would not be doing my feelings justice. after hearing for years and years about the “dreaded” transfer to detroit or just people wrinkling up their nose when you mention it’s name – i really didn’t expect to be so taken. the most notable thing about detroit and the areas surrounding detroit is that the people here love it here. not just like it. love it. we have people at my office who live downtown or in midtown (same thing to me) who absolutely glow with pride talking about the places to eat and things to do. i love that.
what’s even more important to note is that detroit isn’t just something to be surprised by but i’m even ashamedly in awe of some of the despair – spray painted buildings because they are somehow beautiful. it’s not enough to stop there because the point that i’m at – that moves me to HELP detroit is that after watching this documentary – detropia – is that detroit is not detroit’s problem – it’s our entire country’s problem. just like the country rallies around new orleans post-katrina and new york post-sandy – the country needs to rally around detroit. everything exciting, big and great started from this city otherwise know as motown and the motor city. it was built to hold the millions that lived here but now it’s only 700,000 spread out all over the city. we need help and i want to be a part of the upswing of this wonderful city!
Anthony Bourdain’s blog, July 27: Detroit. Where just about everything cool originated. As angry as one gets looking at block after block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore and wondering how the hell that happened, it’s mind boggling to see how far Detroit has been allowed to fall. But what a truly magnificent breed of crazy-ass hardcase characters have dug in there. Of all three cities we visited, Detroit, oddly enough, even while looking the jaws of death straight in the face, remains closest to being a true culinary wonderland. This is due entirely to the successive waves of migration and immigration from all over the world, when people came to MAKE things in America — each group bringing their own food and traditions. Detroit IS the story of America, for better — and worse, and I think we’ve missed that, allowed ourselves to look away. Detroit, after all, made us who we are. Literally. A country of cars, highways, car culture, upward mobility, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and what were once, unlimited dreams. Whatever happens next, Motown, Eminem and the Stooges’ “Fun House”, at least, shall surely outlast the automobile.
of course, those from detroit are thinking – yeah – well said from your toasty home in birmingham. well just you wait.
Look no further. The best margarita recipe is here. Once you make this, you’ll never, ever use a mix again. These, hands down are the best drinks to usher out the summer. if you want a plain, delicious margarita recipe, see this. But if you want to shake things up a little bit (that’s cocktail […]
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now, i don’t recommend that you go in this building, but if you were, this is what you’d see:
