What strikes first time visitors as special or unusual when they arrive in Detroit, MI?

Posted 25Jul2017.

From a Facebook post a year ago:

What do you see?
Do you see black, white, Asian? Do you see hijabs and tattoos? Rich or poor? All of that may be there…
*I* see people having back-demolishing fun, laughing, and riding the Giant Slide.
We may need more of these.

Culture has always been a big part of Detroit – for better and for worse. The city has progressed from the riots 50 years ago, and some of the more interesting conversations about my deployments in Iraq/Afghanistan have been with folks from Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Other points of interest: the lack of acceleration lanes on freeways like I-75. I was explaining the benefits to my wife on our recent trip to visit relatives: “There are none. You get on the freeway and you are driving… at whatever speed the traffic is going. The people in the right lane will see you and get over (usually), but for the most part you are expected to drive. There is none of this ‘plenty of distance to check your mood, build up your own self-esteem, or make sure your aura is healthy and at its full glow.’ Getting on the freeway will either kill you, hurt your feelings, or make you a better driver. Don’t like it? Take the bus.” Driving in Detroit is one of the things I miss the most. None of the wandering aimlessly that you find in the South, a distinct lack of insanely stupid drivers like those I encountered in Hawaii, and more organization than the chaotic Thai traffic that is both interpretation-driven and contextual in participation. Oh, and you learn real quick to read the road surface as it varies from that annoying thumpthumpthump of concrete slabs heated and cooled over the years to those “Fill it with asphalt – the cars will smooth it out… eventually” potholes that work your shocks like a meth addict on a pogo stick. Along with that, you also learn to be very wary of people standing on pedestrian overpasses – this last one may be a holdover from childhood recollections of dropped rocks hitting the windshield on more than one occasion.

From my wife, another observation: “Detroit is one of the most architecturally interesting cities I have seen here in the U.S. Yes, there are a lot of stupidly neglected buildings, but the city – and the people – are the most authentic I have met so far.”

Open plains where there were once were neighborhoods. Many places I remember from my childhood exist only in pictures and memories. Turn right on Chalmers from Jefferson, and you see a sort of economic and cultural “scorched Earth” policy run amok – one or two houses per block, and the overgrown tangle of those freakishly fast growing weed-tree things beside what used to be strategically-placed shade trees for the houses that once stood. Even more surreal is to go down Alter – on one side, the grim remains of a formerly habitable neighborhood punctuated by Party Stores… on the other, the lush green lawns of Grosse Pointe Park. It’s weird and sort of distressing the first time one sees it in person, but exists as a sort of example of the tenacious divide between economic status that has defined the city for as long as I can remember.

And finally… though you may see Coney Islands all over the place, everyone worthy of your trust will tell you to start at Lafayette and go from there… or not. Whatever. Your choice to eat garbage. (Detroit’s attitude is about as subtle as road rash… but you learn to like it, after a while.)