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My first Detroit visit


ZachariahDaMan

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I love hearing these stories. Back when I was in highschool, I always enjoyed taking my friends to Detroit because it was a whole shocking experience to them.

College has been a completely different story. I usually hang out with a group of friends that all live in big cities. Detroit was really not all that much of a shock to them. They've seen bad parts of their own cities and witnessed revivals of some of the worst ghettos. So they merely took any visible blight as an interlude in Detroit's lifecyle. Quite a different perspective when you are always hearing people speak of a hopeless future.

Everyone so far has loved the architecture, didn't mind the abandoned buildings, hated the empty lots, and were impressed with the cleanliness of the downtown. Seriously, some of my friends have said Detroit has the cleanest downtown they've ever seen!

It's also quite interesting to hear what people from foreign countries say about the city. Friends from Hong Kong; Bangalore, India; and Singapore all feel Detroit have more potential than a lot of other USA cities. They haven't quite said why, but I'm guessing because of the wealthy suburbs around the city, and that this money will eventually move back into the city. Who knows if it will, it could.

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Yesterday, I went down to the auto show. My friend's father works at the Auto Show. When my friends father met up with my friend, his brother, his brother's friend (Hilarious), and I ,we took the pm around to Michigan Station. We got off and walked to Lafayette Coney Island. On the way, we obviously passed by the Book-Cadillac and my friend's father said, "Look at that piece of crap...... wait that's not a piece of crap, actually it is beautiful, it is just left behind....." I said, "Thats getting renovated this summer. It's the Book-Cadillac." He said, "REALLY, thats awesome." My friend's brother said, "How do you know all of this?" Then my friend went on aout how, "Oh Robert knows all of this, he loves detroit, ask him anything and he will tell you." Later in the night when we were driving home my friend said, " WHAT IS THAT?" It was all of the cranes and the footprint of the new MGM Grand Casino. I told him and his brother said again, "HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL OF THIS?"

The point of my story is that, anyone you take down to Detroit, you can change some of their viewpoints. They respected me telling them this and they didn't think I was just bullcrapting. My friends were amazed with all of what is happening downtown. The only bad thing that happened was when we passed by two lone guys on the street. Both the father and my friend pulled out their knives, ready to fight back. I just laughed. I did have them in the corner of my eye, but they didn't need to pull out their knives. My friend said that the one man was staring at me, which I believe he was. But I was watching him out of the corner of my eye. Nothing was going to happen. Zachariah, you really need to just take them down and satisfy them. Make a plan of what you will do and just show them around. It will gain alot of respect for Detroit and you as a person.

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It's great to inform all your friends and family about Detroit. They are always so intrigued by what's actually here.

When I was at Michigan State for my undergrad, I would come over to Windsor some weekends with friends. Most of them were from Southfield, so we'd sometimes stop in there to say hello to their families n' stuff. Anyway, one night on the way back to MSU from Canada, we drove up Woodward as Compuware was still being constructed. One of my Southfield friends says, "Wow! That's the biggest parking garage I've ever seen". My eyes rolled...but not as much as when another one of them didn't know what the Renaissance Center was. CLUELESS!!! And from SOUTHFIELD! Good grief. :) lol

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Took my bro and his friend to the Auto show today. Man did Detroit look nice. Took them to Lafayette Coney, great meal, then took them around downtown. They took it all in and when it was time to leave they wanted to see more. Drove them down to Belle Isle, saw Chene Park, and showed them were all the riverfront developments would take place. Then drove them by MCS. They had a great time and I think in the future will be much more receptive to the city. Only if we could get more suburban skeptics to take a look around and try to understand the city. They want me to take them back as soon as the weather gets warmer.

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The city is even more beautiful when it is warmer out.

Tonight when I was out with all of my friends, we were talking about my friend, who was with us, pulling out his knife downtown yesterday. As I said in my story. I found out that two of my friends were exactly like me. NOT SUBURBANITES! It was actually really cool to find out that my long time friends had alot of the same intrests as me along the lines of Detroit. Learn something new everyday!

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It's great to inform all your friends and family about Detroit. They are always so intrigued by what's actually here.

When I was at Michigan State for my undergrad, I would come over to Windsor some weekends with friends. Most of them were from Southfield, so we'd sometimes stop in there to say hello to their families n' stuff. Anyway, one night on the way back to MSU from Canada, we drove up Woodward as Compuware was still being constructed. One of my Southfield friends says, "Wow! That's the biggest parking garage I've ever seen". My eyes rolled...but not as much as when another one of them didn't know what the Renaissance Center was. CLUELESS!!! And from SOUTHFIELD! Good grief. :) lol

I got a similar story for yah Michi. At a job I was working at a few years ago, one of my co-workers was from Grosse Point and constantly city bashing. After listening to him beat his gums about all that is wrong with the city, I had to ask him when was the last time he actually visited. He then admitted that as a boy his mom told him the city was dangerous, and he hadn't been in several years.

One day I had to give him a ride from one of our work sites (Novi), back to the facility in Southfield. I decided I'd make a trip through downtown just for the hell of it, and the guy had an absolute BALL. He admitted Detroit was nothing like he thought it was, and had MUCH more to do than his community. I then cruise down Jefferson and he says "Is that Belle Isle, I've always heard about it, but I've never been". How can you live in Grosse Point for so long and be clueless about Belle Isle?

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Make sure you cover most of the Midtown and Newcenter areas. Be sure to visit Eastern Market, and then take a drive down E. Jefferson and check out the Gold Coast and Bell Isle. Other places to check out is Corktown, Mexicantown, and the Southwest side in the Vernor area. Then visit Arabian Village on the southeast section of Dearborn along Vernor. I know that's a lot of area to cover, but well worth it.

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