Detroit

“The city, above all, is the public realm memorialized.” J.H. Kunstler

I’ve been fascinated by Detroit for years. In May 2013, I got the chance to visit with my dad for a much-belated high school graduation trip. With each day, I fell more in love with the beauty and drama of this American place.

Detroit from the air

You can just make out the city skyline at the narrowest point in the river

An urban garden/art installation on the former site of the Lafayette Building

Calder would be proud

The newly renovated Westin Book Cadillac Detroit

The inside of the Guardian building, the cathedral of finance

More of the Guardian with a mural of Michigan on the far wall

“The Spirit of Detroit,” an iconic Detroit monument along Woodward Ave.

At night

I think this public art is a part of the The Heidelberg Project, but I really don’t know for sure … someone definitely put some time into it whatever it is

Found a little alligator in the foam of my beer at Atlas Global Bistro. I think they closed recently

Acid rain? Vandalism? Old stone church

Ruin porn … love the turret in the front

If this grass could talk

The Falcon F7 “supercar”

Yup

A tulip tree outside the Detroit Institute of Arts

Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals at the DIA

Along the top of two panels (this one and the one on the opposite wall), four women represent coal, coke, iron and stone

No trip to Detroit is complete without a wake up call!

All smiles before the plunge

The Hecker-Smiley Mansion on Woodward

The Detroit Historical Museum and the Detroit Public Library (background)

Taking a picture of someone taking a picture of ruin porn

A restaurant I’ll try next time around

The Wayne County Courthouse is FOR SALE … I can’t believe it. Eminem should make this his house

Pastries from Astoria in Greektown

Flowers near Campus Martius

Detroit Soup!

The program for the night

The front facade of the building that houses Detroit Soup

Grande Boulevard is a little over capacity for the current traffic situation

Bathroom on Belle Isle (one large park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted)

A view of the Ren Cen across the Detroit River from a pier on Belle Isle

Monument on Belle Isle

Former Michigan Theater, now a parking garage

Michigan Central Station

It looks like one room on the top floor has been renovated

From the back

The Penobscot Building

Close up on a facade in downtown Detroit

Here are a few posts on Detroit I’ve written so far:

• Detroit! Books! Adventure! (preparing for the trip)
• Detroit Preflection (the story of my relationship with the city)
• Underperforming Asphalt
• A Day in the D
• The Wayne County Government Building
• Labor Lost
• The Detroit Institute of Arts
• Vision for Detroit: 1807

And here’s a map of the city where I’ll start to add photographs and posts that correspond to certain places or sections in the city: