Detroit: 3rd Visit

It was back to the Motor City on Tuesday, my 3rd post-pandemic visit.  It was a gorgeous day, and at 80 F, it was the coolest day we've had since mid-June.  Temps go back up today.  Last time I visited I was with Jenn G., and we were supposed to do a downtown exploring walk, to see what was new and what might have closed down.  It ended up raining heavily all day, so we nixed the walk.  This time I got back downtown, first time in well over 2 years.  While the city core was not as animated as before the pandemic, it was busy and active.  There were new cafes and stores, and even more rehab of older buildings going on.  One new skyscraper had been built and was just being finished, while two others are ongoing.  So things seem pretty good overall for the downtown centre.

I started out at Founders Brewery, still in a near no-man's land just northwest of downtown.  It sits on a street where parking regulations have yet to arrive.  I was able to sample three of their beers and enjoy some chips and guacamole before heading downtown.  I left the car there for the afternoon and walked the twenty minutes and began my exploring.  Here are some shots of the journey.

This is the Detroit branch of the famous Grand Rapids, MI brewery.  Their beer can be found all over the world.

Founders tap list!  I tried three of them, including two brewed on premise.  The blonde from Class 1 was actually quite good, but even better was the Witbier from Class 2.  The Belgian Triple Twist was the best of the bunch, from Class 3.  Yes, they have a lot of taps.  I was also given a free sample of the KBS 2021, a barrel aged brew, and very strong. 

I sat at the bar and chatted with the barmaid, who was getting ready for her first trip to Europe.  She was heading for Rome, where her sister was stationed for military training, and was quite excited about it.  Though I wouldn't choose August, I would love to be heading for Rome, too.  For now, I will have to make do with Detroit.  Things could be much worse.

It was a beautiful day to be walking downtown.  David Stott building on the left, a favourite of mine built in 1929.  Once abandoned, it is now residential.  At 436', it is no longer in the top ten tallest buildings in Detroit.

Another renovated building from 1913 this time, now called Chrysler House.  At 323', it was once the tallest building in Detroit.  Photo below looks up from lobby.  Closeup of lamps below that.

Looking up from the lobby of Chrysler House.

Elevator doors in Chrysler House.  There is also a fantastic vegan take away in the building.

Lamp from the lobby of Chrysler House. 

Exterior detail of Chrysler House

In the background is the Book Tower.  Once long abandoned, it has been under going a very loving restoration, and is nearly complete.  Built in 1926, it is 475' tall.  It will soon be bumped off the top ten tallest in Detroit by the new Hudson site building, which is about 1/3 of the way up at the moment.  Notice the ornamental downtown street light.

Campus Martius Park is the heart of Detroit, with a cafe, fountain, sand beach, concert and film stage, art, benches, food trucks and movable chairs and tables.  In winter it becomes a skating rink. It is one of at least seven downtown parks fully renovated and engaging visitors at a high usage rate.

 

Another view of the David Stott Building.

One of the most beautiful buildings downtown is the old, once long abandoned Metropolitan Building.  It is now restored and features a high end hotel with rooftop bar. It was built in 1925.

Later in the afternoon I returned to my car and drove to nearby Midtown, where we usually hang out.  I visited Avalon Bakery for a box of vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, and then went to a small bookstore called The Source.  Though it began as a non-fiction store, it now includes fiction.  I purchased a new hardcover book called Black Cloud Rising, historical fiction about a Black regiment in the Union army during the Civil War.  There were about ten books I would have liked to have purchased, many of them brand new titles.  I need to stay away from bookstores.  Next, I drove further north up to the New Centre, another area which is like a mini downtown.  I visited Vault of Midnight, a comic and board game store.  It used to be right downtown, but they moved here to a larger space, and likely much less expensive, too.  Half a block away was a new cafe called The Gathering, so I stopped in for coffee and a brief Messenger chat with Deb.  Deb is unable to visit Detroit due to the regulations governing LTC homes in Ontario.  She would have to stay away from visiting her mother for two weeks if she crossed, even for a few hours.

I finished up my day at Batch Brewing, a favourite haunt of mine, this being my first visit since the pandemic.  I enjoyed two light ale samples, a Mexican Lager and an English Mild.  Both were tasty, but the Mild was exquisite, and only 3.8% alcohol.  Well done!

In local news, I seem to be accident prone as of late.  On Sunday I gouged my leg on the steel rebar in front of our garage.  They are there awaiting the new concrete, when they will bent into it.  But for now they stick up, and entering or leaving the garage they are a hazard.  A moment's carelessness and I was bleeding from a long gash on my right lower leg, halfway down my calf.  It likely needed eight or nine stitches, but our ER wait times are really, really long, and I had no wish to sit all night at a hospital out clinic.  So Deb patched me up with butterfly bandages and gauze.  I managed to walk okay in Detroit Tuesday,and it seems to be healing over, but there will likely be a nasty scar left behind.  

And then last night I was biting into a piece of pizza crust when a piece of an upper molar chipped off, exposing a silver filling.  So Friday morning I am off to see our dentist.  I'm trying not to contemplate what the third event might be.

Mapman Mike