I had the fortune of visiting Detroit Michigan last week. The primary reason was to attend the Buffalo Traffic Jam show, the secondary reason was to see the city. The concert itself was pretty fun. They put on a good show and played all the hits. I thought the venue itself had an intimate and historical feel to it (St. Andrews Hall). And I was surprised at the amount of youth at the show, thinking the band had an older sound to it. Also, who knew but Detroit has a surprisingly large number of taller people!
My initial impressions of the city weren’t all that great. My hotel window overlooking a strip club didn’t help. However, as the trip evolved, my opinion improved. I’m sure it helped that the weather was nearly perfect everyday.
I found the downtown and the water along the Detroit river (Hi Canada) to be very clean and safe. They’re clearly trying to make downtown more pedestrian friendly with many smaller green spaces and smaller roads through the core streets of downtown. Plenty of newer buildings and active businesses through many of the core blocks. Strangely the weekdays felt less busy than the weekend. The weekend did have some sports going on but there wasn’t much life in the daytime or the evenings both Wednesday and Thursday. The Tigers stadium is right in the heart of downtown and the downtown did come alive the day there were playing.
Besides the show itself, there were several highlights. First up was the Riverwalk. Accessible from downtown and not at all crowded, a wide sidewalk takes you along the river. There are many stations along the way for water or restrooms. You can easily make it a several mile trip, walking, running or biking. And you can look across and say “Oh Canada!”.
Three bars stood out. The best of the bunch being Bad Luck Bar. Accessible from a pretty shady alley, one in which you’re thinking your Google Maps is broke, you walk into a dark small bar with a high ceiling. A few tables and chairs before a bar of just around 6 seats with a high wall of liquor bottles behind it. A small menu of about 12 cocktails with at least 8 ingredients (you’ve heard only of maybe two in each drink) awaits you at each seat. Very friendly staff and likely the most you’ll ever pay for a cocktail (average price is $30) but well worth the experience. I went twice.
The other two bars of note, the Old Miami and Queens. Old Miami is a dive bar by every sense of it. I recommend it for a day cocktail when the sun is out because of the back yard. Spacious and full of flowers and weird knick knacks and a little bit of a view if you’re looking in the right direction. Queens bar sits in a great location. I walked by it several times and finally stopped in with some time to kill before my flight home. Great for people watching if you’re sitting on the patio but otherwise a chill place to relax.
My final recommendation is Vecino, a Mexican spot in the midtown area. I wanted to check this out because it was recently named on the top 41 Mexican restaurants in the country (NYTimes) It delivered. I recommend the cocktails, even the custom shots. The guac, which might be the freshest I’ve ever had in the United States.
Detroit, I will return
Leave a comment