Michigan...Worth Another Look

Michigan…Worth Another Look
Adam Babcock
Wonder Michigan

This post was written by Adam Babcock, my partner with NxtGen Marketing.  Although Adam grew up in Michigan, he has been living out on the West Coast for the past few years, until his recent move to Chicago.

I recently decided to move back to the Midwest, from Los Angeles to Chicago.  While apartment hunting in Chicago, I figured I would just stay with my parents back in Michigan.  I thought, at the most I will be home for a couple weeks, and it would give me a chance to spend some quality time with my family (who all still live in Michigan), which is one of the main reasons I wanted to move back to the Midwest.

My plan didn’t quite work out as I had hoped.  It took me much longer to find an apartment than I originally thought it would.  However, I am glad it did, because during my time back home, something truly great happened.  Something completely unexpected, yet much appreciated.  I fell in love with Michigan…again!

I absolutely loved growing up in Michigan.  And I wouldn’t trade my 4 years at Michigan State University for anything.  But after I graduated, I can honestly say Michigan wasn’t exactly my favorite place.  More and more of my friends were moving away.  I was stuck in a job I didn’t like or want.  There were very few opportunities in Michigan to do what I actually wanted to do, and the years and years of cold, grey winters had finally taken its toll on me.   So I left and didn’t look back.

When you don’t live in Michigan, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking nothing positive is happening there.  Detroit is practically looked at as a third world country by outsiders.  The only press we get is negative press.  Whenever I would go home to visit, they would be short trips focused on family.  I didn’t have time to get out and see what was going on around the community.  So when I recently came back, I came back with the same mindset I had when I left.  “I don’t want to be here.”

It didn’t take long for that mindset to change.  The very first weekend I was home, there was Arts, Beats and Eats in Royal Oak, the Detroit Jazz Festival, and Eminem and Jay-Z, two of the biggest names in hip hop, were putting on show at Comerica Park.  We played host to a number of high profile events, such as TEDxDetroit and 140 Conference Detroit.  I saw Transformers 3 being filmed in Detroit, and heard countless stories from friends and family of all the stars they have been seeing around town.  And as great as these things were, it was the little things that really helped me fall back in love Michigan.  Taking my dog on walks through all the beautiful neighborhoods.  Seeing the sense of community among the residents.  Even the fall foliage!  These are things you don’t necessarily get outside of Michigan.  And quite frankly, I didn’t realize how much I missed them until I came back.

There were two questions people always asked me when I met them for the first time after I had moved away:

1.)   Why did you leave Michigan?
2.)   Would you move back?

I do not regret my decision to move.  I learned a lot over the past 3 years and they have helped me grow to be the person I am today.  But my answers to these questions have certainly changed. 3 years ago, I would have told you, I left because I wanted to live somewhere I could have fun in the sun, and that I probably don’t see myself ever going back.  While the answer to the first question might be the same, my answer to the second question is dramatically different.  Would I ever move back to Michigan?  I not only hope to, but I plan on it!

My question to you is, have you taken another look at Michigan lately?

24HRS: Detroit

Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey
Model D
Featured in the Fall issue of Next American City

Karen Gage says the best way to travel Detroit is by bike. The entrepreneur and community development star isn't just saying that because she started the city's first bike rental business a year ago. Karen's bike is her main mode of transportation. She says the city's flat, wide streets and sparse traffic make for great conditions for those who prefer two wheels to four.

"People ask me all the time if I feel safe, and I just want to be like, 'No. No I don't. And it sucks. That's why I ride my bike every day,'" Karen says, with an ironic deadpan.

So where does the biking businesswoman and urbanist pedal to in Detroit?

Everywhere. By day, she uses her urban planning background in her role as vice president of the New Center Council, a community development corporation in a busy neighborhood at the northern edge of Detroit's downtown. By evening and weekend, she is co-owner of Wheelhouse Detroit, the bike shop that opened last year on the city's recently developed RiverWalk along the Detroit River. A day in Detroit for Karen is never the same, but wild variety and randomness are why she loves this city.

Karen's day in Detroit:

9:30 a.m. Coffee for breakfast at Stella International Café in the Fisher Building lobby. The small but chic coffee shop serves Illy brand brews and makes a mean Americano, Karen's favorite. It's owned by the same people behind the Pure Detroit t-shirt shop, which is also in the same, glorious, art deco, iconic Albert Kahn building, along with her New Center Council headquarters.

10 a.m. Meetings and phone calls at New Center Council. She and the team are working on big projects, including revamping an old, admittedly creepy viaduct with new lighting and public art. The project "is going to be a nightmare, but I love it," Karen says. Then there's the massive rehabilitation of the Argonaut Building, a coup for New Center. The city's art and design school -- College for Creative Studies -- is putting $145 million into the redevelopment of the 760,000-square-foot, 11-story Argonaut. The former General Motors '20s office building once was home to the auto company's designers but has been vacant for five years. Starting this fall, it will house a new generation of creatives in the art school's dorms and classrooms, plus a new charter school for the city's youth. The neighborhood is already feeling the impact from the project, even before the kids move in. "All the construction guys are coming in. They shop at our stores. They eat at our restaurants. And when it actually opens, it'll be more," Karen says.

Noon: A slice at Supino Pizzeria in Eastern Market. If she can squeeze it in, she loves to grab lunch at this relatively new spot next to the region's premier farmers market. "It is hands down the best pizza I've ever had," she says.  The Wheelhouse crew often bikes there on the Dequindre Cut bike path, which opened this year. With graffiti encouraged, the $3 million, 1.2 mile greenway replaced a former depressed rail corridor. And now Karen and the bike shop crew call it their "pizza super highway."

5 p.m.:  Karen takes her turn minding the Wheelhouse. In its second year, sales are up. She and biz partner Kelli Kavanaugh offer guided rides that are often sold out, attracting both out-of-town tourists and metro Detroiters wanting to know their city better.

8 p.m.: Drinks at Park Bar. After work, Karen heads over to a favorite spot for Detroit urbanites: The Park Bar. Owner Jerry Belanger opened the bar two years ago, and it's where the "Who's Who" of Detroit downtown dwellers come to gossip and drink the local brews on tap. "You can go there by yourself, and you always run into someone you know. And even if you don't see someone ... no, you always do," Karen says.

9 p.m. Party at MOCAD ... or some other random act of fun. If something is going on, and there's almost always something, the MOCAD -- Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit -- has cool, funky and enlightening programs. Plus they throw the best parties, attracting the art-collecting elite and art school kids alike. The Museum has brought in the "Shrinking Cities" exhibit from Berlin and showcased plans for a "container house" development dreamed up by Detroit architects. A talk this summer was entitled, "Is Detroit Really The New Berlin?"  If nothing is going on at MOCAD, there's always something else odd or enticing, or both. One night, it was an Alley Cat Bike Race: Think chopped bikes put back together in some creative way and then raced like hell through the city streets. On another night, a friend put together performance art in a vacant lot that involved cooking with power tools. Another night friends rented a boat and threw a huge dance party on the river.

Midnight: Bedtime, or perhaps a visit to a local bar. A Friday favorite is Café D'Mongo's Speakeasy, a late-night jazz hangout whose decor prompted one writer to call it "Liberace's living room." "David Lynch's lounge" would also work. If it's a Thursday night, she enjoys the dive bar goodness of a place like L.J.'s in Corktown, where neighborhood residents and hipsters mingle, sing karaoke, and soak in the low-key atmosphere. If she opts for sleep, it'd be hard to blame her. The next day in Detroit could mean more bikes, buildings or trips on the pizza superhighway. She just never knows.