A Visit To Detroit

 We haven't been to Detroit since December 10th!  We used to go every week!  I'd say our habits have changed since Covid.  Not a little.  Anyway, it was a perfect day, with cooler temps, lots of sun, and a sky filled with enormous feathery clouds.  Donald Trump was also in Detroit today, but we managed to miss that event.  The Cass Corridor, our usual hangout, was quietly bustling, just the way we like it.  Nearly every block has new apartments under construction, usually from converted older buildings.  This year for the first time in a very long time, Detroit's population actually rose.  It's easy to believe when you see all the new things continually happening.

 

We began our day at John King Books, an easy place to spend an hour.  I spent a lot of time looking through a 1945 Collier's world atlas.  We had that atlas in our house when I was growing up, and I spent many hours perusing it as a child, planning on where I would visit.  I also invented solo person games to play using the atlas.  No interstates!  I nearly bought it; I should have.  I inherited a really fine up to date National Geographic world atlas from my dad recently.  He loved that atlas.  I can see where I get my interest from, at any rate.  After King we went to Fire Ass Vegan.  Yup.  A very catchy name.  It is one of half a dozen or so new vegan places popping up everywhere, though this one had the best hours.  We had take out wraps, and sat at a shady table on Wayne State University campus.  Next was a visit to West Canfield St., where both sides are lined with very funky shops, breweries, and restaurants.  There is a place to buy our favourite soaps, and we bought one.  Then on to Source Booksellers, where I usually buy something, but I didn't.  I did buy a book at King, though.  It's called "The Mammouth Book of Tales from the Road:  Tales of Life on the Move," filled with short essays by different writers, including Kerouac, Moorcock, Ballard, and many others.  Looks like good reading before a road trip!

 

Next up was a new (for us) brewery, in a very up and coming neighbourhood.  Many of these places used to be no go zones, but they are now welcoming and fun to visit.  there are discoveries to be made around every corner.  Nain Rouge Brewery had 10 taps of their beer, of which we tried 4.  It is a total gem of a place to sit and sip, surrounded by restaurants and an game arcade that also serves ales.  Our final stop was for coffee at a newer cafe/grocery store called Seasons Market and Cafe.  They serve coffee roasted in Ann Arbor.  We took our coffee (and vegan brownie) to the little oasis of a park adjacent, finding the most perfect table shaded by trees that one could ever hope to find.  We also bought a bag of Guatemalen coffee beans, from the roastery (called Hyperion).

 

After that it was back into the car.  In Detroit the parking is by zone #.  For the entire afternoon we were able to park anywhere in the zone, after paying once (2$ per two hours!).  We had a long wait at Canada Customs, due to an unusually long stop for a car ahead of us.  When that finally cleared, it was shift change, so we waited another ten minutes. 

 

West Canfield is a very fun street to explore in Detroit.  Just off to the right is Shinola.

A little park leads to Nain Rouge Brewery.  I've been wanting to get here for some time now.

We sat indoors and sampled four of their ten ale offerings.  A very cool spot, adjacent to restaurants, an arcade, and a pretty new apartment building.

Inside Nain Rouge Brewery on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  Temps were mid 70s, a perfect day for strolling the neighbourhood.

The small park adjacent to Seasons Market and Cafe.  We are at the world's most perfect table, surrounded by deep and welcoming shade from trees.  That table in front of us was soon occupied.  The entrance to the park, across the way, is through an old water tank, the kind that used to sit atop buildings here.  It has been cut open and now serves as the official park entrance. 

 

In my last post I celebrated the fact that we had not yet had a heatwave.  Well, the party ends tomorrow.  Here is a look at what is in store for next week.  Tuesday is the only day we need to go out.

 

Current temp as I write this is 72 F.  Tomorrow it begins.  I would say the weatherman is understating by saying "warm."  Add the humidity and I would say "ugly."

 

In film news there are two to report, both from Mubi.   Deb chose one called Funny Pages, directed by Owen Kline and from 2022.  A young cartoonist comes into contact with a former colour separator from an older comic series, and tries to get him to teach him.  This off beat comedy is mostly stolen by actor Matthew Maher, who plays the completely psychotic former cartoonist.  Sometimes brutally funny, the film is one to look out for, especially for those of us into graphic novels, comics, and funnies.  Daniel Zolghadri plays the hapless young man who wants to learn.  He also appeared in episodes of the unforgettable series called Tales From The Loop, which is still showing on Amazon Prime.

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

The teacher and pupil, from Funny Pages, 2022. 

 

The Third Murder, a Japanese film from 2017 and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, is an entirely different sort of experience.  This is a taut and involving tale that goes deeply into what begins as a simple case of brutal murder.  As the plot and characters develop, however, it becomes more a tale of what Truth is, and isn't.  I am currently reading a light-hearted though elegant and purposeful book called "Gallantry" by one of my favourite authors, James Branch Cabell.  While Cabell's version of gallantry has many aspects to it, The Third Murder might still fit into the definition of that word per Cabell.  As the young woman at the heart of the film says near the end, "No one tells the truth."  A thought provoking film, and a true sleeper.  Highly recommended.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Mapman Mike