Showing posts with label Detroit Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Travel. Show all posts
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| The Rivera Court in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Kevin Miyazaki for The New York Times |
9. Detroit, Michigan
A comeback city set to make good on its promise.
Detroit’s revitalization, after its 2013 bankruptcy filing, has long been building. In 2015, it was named a Unesco City of Design. But 2017 may be the year promise becomes reality. The new QLine streetcar is expected to open in April, connecting the central Woodward Avenue corridor some 3.3 miles between downtown and the revived New Center area. It passes through Midtown, home to the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the entertainment-focused District Detroit, where a stadium opening this fall will be shared by the Detroit Red Wings and, in a return from the suburbs, the Detroit Pistons.
Click HERE For The Full Article and Travel Guides!
Mind Body Green
By Dr. Joel Kahn
I was born in Detroit long ago and have since witnessed its strengths and weaknesses firsthand. I've worked in the city and surrounding suburbs for years, and have cared for its citizens in hospitals, clinics and my office practice.
And I can truly say that today, the spirit and pride in Detroit has never been higher. The greater Detroit area is tailor-made to be a wellness mecca, with its beautiful international waterways, parks and recreational areas to encourage a variety of outdoor activities. Here are some of the best places to pursue health and wellness in the Motor City and surrounding suburbs.
I get outside.
The Dequindre Cut is a former Grand Trunk Railroad line that is now a 20-foot wide paved path for walkers, runners and bikers. It was extended in the spring of 2016 to reach the Detroit Eastern Market and is crowded with families enjoy outdoor exercise. The urban artwork and graffiti provide a local color.
NetworkingOut is group that organizes runs and boot camps in the city with the goal of exercising the body while providing an opportunity to meet other people of similar spirit.
I try out local fitness classes.
Citizen Yoga has a center in Detroit and suburban Royal Oak and has developed a loyal following under the careful teaching of Kacee Must, who spent several years studying on an ashram in Pune, India. The lunchtime classes in Detroit give office workers an opportunity to get on and off their mat and back to work with better energy and mindfulness.
Detroit Body Garage led by Terra Castro is a former bank that has been transformed into a unique community fitness center that offers boot camps, children workshops, yoga, and community events. Castro recently opened her gym to a fun run led by Rich Roll to support healthy plant based nutrition in Detroit.
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ZAGAT's 26 Hottest Food Cities of 2016
It was an incredible year for dining across the U.S. in 2016. With chefs from NY, Chicago and SF moving to smaller markets like Denver, Charlotte, Seattle and Charleston (among others), culinary innovation is booming in cities big and small. But which food town had the biggest growth spurt this year? For one final look back, we've asked editors around the country to make a case for the city they believe had the biggest year in food by assessing the number of exciting new openings, award recognition and national media attention. Then we let some of the top food media brass weigh in on which locales were most exciting.
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| Photo: Marvin Shaouni |
The Motor City has gone through a lot of, shall we say, changes over the last few decades. Celebrity chef and James Beard award-winner Michael Symon is often credited with kick-starting the city's food revival when he opened Roast in 2008. Now, Roast alums have opened some of the city’s hottest and most critically acclaimed spots, like Selden Standard, which this year garnered chef Andy Hollyday his second James Beard award nomination. Nick Janutol, who cut his teeth at top-rated restaurants like Eleven Madison Park in New York and Ria in Chicago, also picked up a James Beard nom this year for his work at Forest Grill. And Top Chef contestant James Rigato, of Hazel Park's year-old Mabel Gray, also received a James Beard award nomination, and won acclaim from Eater's Bill Addison with a spot on his Best New Restaurants in America list. Adorable new pastry shop Sister Pie got some love from both Eater and Bon Appetit, earning a nomination for their best new restaurant lists. Other big openings in 2016 include ultrahip Thai spot Katoi from chef Brad Greenhill; Grey Ghost Detroit, which was opened by two well-known Chicago chefs (yes, chefs are leaving other cities to come to Detroit now!); and Chinese-American restaurant The Peterboro, opened by the owners of much-loved Motown spots Wright & Co. and Sugar House. And there's more in store: Twice-nominated James Beard Rising Star of the Year Garrett Lipar's new tasting table spot Albena and Townhouse owner Jeremy Sasson's new modern steakhouse Prime + Proper are two of the city's most anticipated restaurants for 2017. Standbys also got their due: Classic Lebanese spot Al Ameer became the first Michigan restaurant to win the JBF America's Classic award this year.
Meanwhile, Detroit's influence elsewhere continues to grow with the rise of Detroit-style pizza in NYC (Emmy Squared, Talde's new Massoni) as well as expats the Sussman brothers opening two Detroit-inspired concepts in Brooklyn, including a short-lived homage to the hometown icon, the Coney Island diner. Will we see more NYC chefs expanding to Detroit? You betcha. It was also announced this year that NYC Italian chef Andrew Carmellini would be in charge of the food at the upcoming Shinola Hotel in Detroit, opening in 2018.
Click HERE For The Full Article!!!!!
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Where to Stay
In the next year alone, a host of new hotels are set to open in downtown Detroit: From Foundation Hotel’s renovation planned to finish in early 2017 to The Shinola Hotel, scheduled to open in 2018, there’s a reason big hospitality names are inking deals in the city. Basing yourself at the newly opened Trumbull & Porter hotel, enjoy a luxe stay in the city’s first boutique property, located in the historic Corktown neighborhood. Cycle the town using on-property rentals from Detroit Bikes, and visit the hotel’s art-inspired courtyard in the evenings for live music. For the art lovers, opt for a stay at Aloft Detroit, located in the historic David Whitney Building next to Grand Circus Park.
Where to Eat and Drink
Myriad eateries have opened in Detroit in the past three years, elevating the city’s culinary culture one outpost at a time. Book a table at the James Beard–nominated Mabel Gray, in Hazel Park, to eat chef James Rigato’s modern, seasonal cuisine. Visit another James Beard semifinalist at Selden Standard, where chef Andy Hollyday serves wood-fired-oven fare. Dine on Thai plates at cult favorite Katoi and gnocchi and cannoli at La Rondinella in Eastern Market. Order small plates at the convivial Wright & Company and sip frozen margaritas and down boilermakers at The Skip. End your culinary crawl with a nightcap at swanky outposts like Standby and Sugar House.
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Out of the Box: Detroit’s Bon Bon Bon
Crafting funky chocolates in a Rosie the Riveter bandanna and coveralls, Alexandra Clark of Bon Bon Bon gives froufrou candy-making a Detroit-style update. Here’s how.
She plays nice. And naughty. Alex adored her high school job at a scoop shop. “The thing I really loved about ice cream is what I love about chocolate,” she says. “You get to be with people when they’re being naughty. Not forbidden, not risqué, but a little naughty."
She’s no Forrest Gump. With a box of Alexandra Clark chocolates, you always know what you’re gonna get. Her $3 bonbons are thin chocolate shells (boxes themselves, really) with no top, so the filling is exposed. The design is a metaphor: “We are an open and honest business.” Rather than convey an air of finnicky perfection, her staff shares kitchen mishaps on Instagram, to the glee of adoring fans.
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The Detroit Guide
Detroit is not unfamiliar with change and reinvention, and yet for all its complexity, the Motor City is often primarily thought of as the land of automobiles. While this is undeniably a piece of Detroit’s fascinating narrative, the city has a great deal more to offer, particularly in the creative arts, which have long played a prominent role in Detroit’s past (from original urban murals to an iconic record label), and in continuing to shape the ever-changing city today.
Museums like MOCAD share the work of brilliant Detroit artists with natives and visitors alike, while also making the case that Detroit is a destination for a diverse, international range of art. Throughout the city, there are extraordinary examples of storied architecture. In rare record shops, music from earlier decades lives on, while contemporary indie bands play in a mix of new venues and old (outrageously awesome) dive bars.
Neighborhoods like Midtown (museum district, home to DIA and a transformed retail experience), Downtown (encompasses all of the city’s major stages from economic to operatic and athletic), and Corktown (a hipster dream) have seen waves of new chefs and restaurants come onto the scene.
Several new boutique hotels are promised to debut in the next year or two. So, while what in part makes Detroit cool is that it doesn’t have all the familiar amenities and trends of frequently touristed cities, it is undeniably a city of reinvention, and we expect this guide to evolve with it.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| Photo: Kyle Evans Design |
Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, the third-largest U.S. mortgage lender, is teaming up with upscale watchmaker Shinola to build the 130-plus-room hotel with about 17,000 square feet of retail space.
Mr. Gilbert’s Bedrock Detroit, the development arm of his family of companies, is credited with helping to revitalize Detroit’s city center by moving thousands of his highpaid employees there and redeveloping mostly vacant skyscrapers into high-tech offices.
Shinola was founded in 2011 in Detroit’s College of Creative Studies with a mission to bring manufacturing jobs back to America, albeit on a much smaller scale than the industrial barons of old. The company has retail locations from Palo Alto, Calif., to Toronto, with most watches selling for $475 to $1,500. It employs about 530 people, of which about 400 are in Detroit.
Executives at the two companies got together a few years ago and decided that they could further the redevelopment of the downtown Detroit area by teaming up to build a new hotel, which will combine Mr. Gilbert’s eagerness to redevelop vacant buildings with Shinola’s pared-down aesthetic.
Their aim is to create a vibrant lobby that can act as a cultural hub for downtown, which is seeing an influx of luxury apartments and office workers.
“We really need a boutique hotel where you can hang out on the ground floor and have these unique experiences on the site,” said Dan Mullen, an executive vice president at Bedrock Detroit, Mr. Gilbert’s development firm.
Mr. Mullen declined to say how much rooms will cost per night, but said it would be a high-end hotel.
The design will combine several vacant historic buildings, along with a new addition and an alleyway with everything from art galleries to noodle bars.
The Noho Hospitality Group, owners of Joe’s Pub and Locanda Verde in New York, will run the restaurants on the site.
The hotel is set to open in the fall of 2018.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| Photo: Vito Paomisano/ Detroit Metro CVB |
You will feel the energy as soon as you get off the plane at Detroit Metropolitan Airport’s McNamara Terminal and make your way through an underground tunnel exploding with a colour-changing light and sound show.
The Light Tunnel uses LED lighting to illuminate glass panels with sand-blasted Michigan artwork in a dazzling, multi-sensory show that’s synchronized to an original score by an Ohio outfit.
“Welcome to Motor City,” the pilot said when we hit the tarmac.
“Welcome to Art City,” is what he should have said.
Something remarkable is happening here. The city is exploding with art and food and activity. Creative types are coming from all over to be part of the transformation.
Stop feeling sorry for Detroit.
Stop being scared of Detroit.
The story here is no longer automobile industry collapse, decline, decay and blight. It’s about a glorious city that birthed the Model T and Motown, that’s coming back better, stronger, artier.
Let Kim Rusinow of Show Me Detroit Tours give you a guided bus tour.
“We’re a blank canvas at this point — we have so many opportunities to be creative,” she enthuses. “Detroit’s coming back and you’re going to want to come back again and again and again.”
There’s Midtown with the “eds, meds and arts.” That’s short for universities, medical centres and Sugar Hill Arts District anchored by the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
Downtown fills up with passionate sports fans when the Detroit Tigers are playing Comerica Park or the Lions are at Ford Field. Next year, Little Ceasars Arena will give the Red Wings a dynamic home between downtown and Midtown and anchor a new sports and entertainment district called the District Detroit.
Also downtown is Greektown with its three casinos, but I’ll be taking the kids on the Detroit People Mover, with art in all 13 stations. It’s just 75 cents and you can stay on the single-track train loop as long as you want.
Culturally cool Corktown is fully hipster and home to the Detroit Institute of Bagels, Batch Brewing (the city’s first nano brewery), music destinations, such as the UFO Factory and Hostel Detroit, with its free walking tours.
Nearby, along Grand River Ave., it’s all about the street art and graffiti murals. Rebel Nell, Rusinow explains, employs disadvantaged women to repurpose these very graffiti paint chips into jewelry.
“Adaptive reuse” is a term everyone uses here.
The Globe Building, part of an 1860s-era riverfront complex that sat vacant for decades, is now the incredible Outdoor Adventure Center, created by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Inside the centre (the name is a tad misleading), kids experience the great outdoors indoors with hands-on activities, exhibits and simulators. They touch a “waterfall,” climb an “oak tree,” walk across a suspension bridge, “fish” from a boat and take a simulated trail ride on a real snowmobile.
Speaking of transportation, this city is moving beyond cars.
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The Next Best Thing To A Personal Tour!
Belle Isle Park has been a favorite retreat for Detroiters for almost 120 years. Whether you're a visitor or a local, you'll learn a lot about the history, cultural attractions, art, and recreational opportunities that abound there. Narrated by Detroit radio veteran Dick Shafran, "Exploring Detroit's Belle Isle" informs you on all major points of interest on the island:
- 18 sculptures and monuments, including its world-class fountain
- 12 historical buildings and structures of architectural interest
- 5 historically significant locales
- 4 indoor cultural attractions
- and much more
The full-featured app employs GPS and helpful audio cues to guide you to over 40 points where narrations automatically provide the details. This 2.5-hour guide is a combination car and walking exploration. Biking the 9.5-mile route is an excellent option, too! Explore it all or pick and choose. It's up to you!
Click HERE For More Information!
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| Photographer: Mike Gilger |
In 3 days and 10 cars (and a few boats and bathing suits), 30 friends cover 1,100 Michigan miles in a new take on classic road rallies.
Michigan-born friends Ben Bator and Matt Ferrel grew up taking a certain sort of vacation. “You take 75 north to your exit, go to your cottage and then you don’t leave that area. You just get to your destination and stay,” Ben says. Growing up, it was a great trip. But not really a great take-in-the-scenery road trip.
Not like the Mille Miglia (that’s 1,000 miles in Italian). The epic road rally began in 1927, when bored Count Aymo Maggi invited a few Porsche- and Ferrari-driving associates to race him over 1,000 miles of Italian countryside. The tradition continues today in a noncompetitive fashion—vintage Italian touring cars required.
Ben says, “We thought, What if we could do that in a way that catered to our friends who didn’t necessarily have three vintage Porsches, but had the same interests?” In 2012, he and Matt planned their first 1,000-ish-mile Michigan-crossing Mille Mitten, hitting public high points (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore swims, Mackinac Bridge crossings) as well as homes and hideaways. They invited 25 friends to join them (based on personality, not vehicle), and the Mille Mitten was born.
You don’t have to wait for Ben and Matt to invite you to their (nonracing) road rally to experience a Mille. Follow their adventures at millemitten.com, or design your own using their insight. Ready to rally?
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Buzzfeed is asking members of their BuzzFeed Community what new Emojis should be created for their state.
Below are the results for Michigan!
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Below are the results for Michigan!
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Detroit has inspired a lot of nicknames: Arsenal of Democracy, Motor City, City of Trees, Hitsville, Hockeytown. All are out of date. Military spending headed west after World War II, the car industry started moving south in the 1950s, Dutch elm disease leveled the great archways of foliage in the '60s, Berry Gordy Jr. shipped Motown Records to L.A. in 1972, and the Red Wings haven't vied for the Stanley Cup since President Obama took office.
If there's a moniker that fits now, it's Cuba of the North. Like the onetime Pearl of the Antilles, Detroit is starting to emerge from decades of economic privation with an entrepreneurial energy that's reshaping the landscape. I grew up here, and, like other natives, I was depressed by the city's demise. But over the past year I began to notice a shift, a success that was sticking, particularly among the most skeptical demographic of all: Detroiters who had fled. People like musician Jack White, of White Stripes fame, and designer John Varvatos were returning to do business in their hometown.
Will Adler, whose family has been selling clothes in Michigan for 100 years, established his company, Will Leather Goods, in Oregon, but he returned in January to open a 9,000-square-foot concept store in a fabulously refurbished supermarket in the resurgent Midtown neighborhood. "Like the boxer who gets hit but keeps coming back, Detroit has never lost its heart," Adler says.
But, he adds, he's also seeing something new: a real thirst for freewheeling creativity, and not just in the community- based artists who are reconfiguring neighborhoods all over town. I saw it too, on a recent trip with my family. We found plenty to do, with or without the kids.
The city was built for drivers, with big six-lane boulevards left over from the Motor City days, and it's dotted with ethnic enclaves and their restaurant rows: Banglatown, Greektown, Mexicantown, and Corktown. Vintage neighborhoods such as Indian Village, Boston-Edison, and Palmer Park are holding on to their boom-era swank. In between there are the abandoned hulks of stamping plants and deserted residential areas, with many blocks turning into de facto nature preserves. It's not unusual to spot a pheasant, as my kids did, rising out of the ruins of a factory.
Evidence of renovation is everywhere, from the great stacks of wood on scissor lifts parked beside long-empty downtown department stores, to the many bike shops and craft distilleries and pickling plants popping up—the calling cards of neo-retro DIYers everywhere.
You still need a car to take in the scope of Detroit, but areas now exist where you barely do at all, like Downtown (a.k.a. City Center) or the Cultural Corridor. If you stay at the Westin Book Cadillac, a beautifully renovated 1924 hotel and residential high-rise in the Renaissance Revival style, you're right by Detroit's two big-league stadiums, Comerica Park and Ford Field, in the heart of City Center. For home games the Lions stay at the Book Cadillac, so you can, if you're 11 and wide-eyed, ride up and down in the elevator, as my son did, meeting football players as they make their way over to the stadium.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Philly takes the top spot, 3 Florida cities are featured and Detroit's comeback continues. . .
- Philadelphia, PA Time for an authentic Philly cheesesteak and a visit to the City of Brotherly Love as Franklin Square turns 10 and the National Constitution Center hosts Headed to the White House this election year. Kimpton, Omni and Loews Hotels love families. Best ice cream parlor is The Franklin Fountain.
- Chicago, IL The Cubs are going to win the World Series in 2016 and Chicago's Museums, Lincoln Park Zoo and the Art Instituteall remain among our nation's best. Stay at Residence Inn's 700th hotel or the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel.
- Orlando, FL More than just the theme park capital of the world, Disney Springs and nearby Kennedy Space Center's Heroes and Legends attraction features the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Stay at The Hard Rock Hotel.
- St. Petersburg, FL Take a "Bird Quest" through the areas museums, parks and hotels and let your senses go wild at the hands-on exhibits at Great Explorations, Sunken Gardens and Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club is a great choice for families.
- Detroit, MI Only in Motor City can you visit the largest penguin facility in the world; stop at a LEGOLAND® Discovery Center and enjoy an afternoon of Beatles at The Magical History Tour at The Henry Ford. For dinner kids will love the iconic Buddy's Pizza. Hyatt Place Detroit/Auburn Hills or Hyatt Place Detroit/Utica are great options for families.
- Miami, FL A Miami Culinary Tour in Little Havana is life changing and GameTime Miami, Jungle Island, Coral Gables Venetian Pool and Lincoln Road provide unique experiences for everyone. The Pizza Bar and Bodega are fun. The Palms Hotel & Spa is incredible for families.
- Hilton Head, SC Beaches, bike trails, kayaking and water sports, horseback riding and we're just getting warmed up. Families will think they are in the Caribbean at Omni's Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort.
Check out ABC Travel Guides HERE!
After a year of historic announcements, surprising discoveries and unexpected natural phenomena in 2015, it's hard to say what 2016 will hold for travelers. But we do know that the year ahead will be one of technological innovations and historical significance in many American destinations. Here are the places across the U.S. to keep on your travel radar in 2016.
Detroit
Detroit is a rapidly changing city. In 2016, it's all about learning and family fun with the opening of a new Legoland, a comprehensive Beatles exhibit, and an expansion to the Sea Life Michigan Aquarium.
Also set to open early in 2016, the Polk Penguin Conservation Center will be the largest penguin facility in the world. Visitors will have the opportunity to observe four different species of penguin play, dive, and fish in their aquatic habitat.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Over the past few years — buried by high rents and intimidating mortgage rates — many young creatives have dreamed of packing it up and moving to Detroit, where they seem to be giving away real estate. Some intrepid folks have actually made the move, and (as often happens in creative “it” towns of the moment) a hopping food scene has developed.
One such bold spirit is Marc Djozlija of Wright & Company — recently nominated for the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Great Lakes Region, 2015. Though Djozlija is a Detroit native, he booked it out of town as soon as he turned 18, and started his career with Wolfgang Puck. After an 11 year stint in Las Vegas, the Wolfgang Puck crew told him they wanted to open a restaurant in Detroit. At first, Djozlija couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to build a restaurant in his hometown (who would come?), but once back home, he quickly decided there was no place he’d rather be.
BRUNCH
Located in an old building that looks like a castle, Parks and Rec serves innovative takes on breakfast items. They are not afraid to push the boundaries with interesting ingredients. They share a kitchen with Republic, their sister restaurant, which specializing in nose to tail dining.
Smoked leek strata, eggs en cocotte with bacon jam and the corn cakes are my personal favorites. I like the fact that they offer some of the dishes in smaller portions so that you can try many things. Be prepared to wait though, as their 32 seats fill up fast.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Best Places to Travel in 2016
To compile our annual list of the best places to travel in the upcoming year, T+L editors thoroughly and meticulously consider a variety of factors. Which under-the-radar gems are most exciting to our network of contributing writers and global correspondents? Which destinations are our A-List travel specialists fielding requests for? Which classic vacation spots are starting to emerge—but for entirely new and compelling reasons? Which global events and changes in travel restrictions have made certain destinations easier to get to?
This year’s list ranges from the Andaman Islands, off India (which impressed even the most discerning ocean-lover, Jacques Cousteau), to an unspoiled stretch of the Caribbean, and nine other beach destinations with sun, sand, and beautiful views. For food lovers, we’ve got everything from Ghent, Belgium (where a group of young chefs is leading the culinary revolution and plans for a massive food hall are under way), to the canal town of Aarhus, Denmark, which is stepping out of Copenhagen’s shadow with three Michelin-starred restaurants of its own.
Closer to home, once-overlooked spots have proven themselves worthy of another glance. The bike-friendly town of Richmond, Virginia, has standout architecture, a burgeoning art and food scene, and a brand-new design hotel. Detroit’s renewal has been on our radar for a while, and with signs of life springing up in its abandoned buildings—including a hotel that set up shop in a historic fire-department headquarters—it’s finally earned a much-deserved spot on this list. And in San Antonio, the Roman and Williams–designed Hotel Emma, in a former brewhouse, sits at the heart of the restaurant- and shopping-packed Pearl district.
27. Detroit, Michigan
In a few short years, Detroit has gone from being a cautionary tale to a success story, and now bills itself as “America’s Great Comeback City.” This is more than just clever marketing—formerly desolate stretches of the riverfront, city streets, and buildings have been resurrected for locals and visitors alike. The first Aloft hotel in Michigan is open in the historic David Whitney Building, and the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center recently unveiled a $30 million renovation. And the historic fire department headquarters across from the Cobo Center will be reborn as the boutique 100-room Foundation Hotel in early 2016. Aside from increasing its hotel offerings, the city has several other new draws: the West Riverfront Park, great for biking, running, and fishing; and the DNR Outdoor Adventure Center with a freshwater aquarium and man-made waterfall and climbing tree. Almost 100 new restaurants, along with breweries and distilleries, opened in the past two years (such as Detroit Water Ice Factory, a dessert shop from writer Mitch Albom, and Kuzzo’s Chicken & Waffles, former NFL cornerback Ron Bartell’s effort to continue to revamp the Livernois Avenue of Fashion), with more on the way. Now that retailers like John Varvatos and Carhartt have opened outposts in the city, and Nike is making plans to join the fray, Detroit might not be able to sell its comeback story for much longer—it’s decidedly back. —Corina Quinn
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