Wow! Frommers has named Detroit one of the "Best Places to Visit in 2021"!

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

Detroit has all the ingredients—local pride, spaces for conversation, opportunities for reflection, and a strong connection to its industrial past—for a revival that reflects the innovation and creativity of its residents, and it’s exciting to see.

Woodward Avenue is the wire that conducts electricity, via the arts, university research centers, sports, and restaurants, through the center of new Detroit. Start at the world-famous Detroit Industry Murals at DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts) Museum. Diego Rivera’s murals show us the visual poetry of factory workers who built the city. Continue down Woodward and stop at the beloved Avalon Bakery, where it's bread ovens, not factory forges, that illuminate the faces of local bakers. Then take a tour at the magnificent Fox Theatre and witness how Detroit’s industry and arts have always been entwined (motors are central to the Motown name, after all).

Finally, turn onto the Riverwalk, where planners have channeled public and private wealth into a safe, beautiful space for festivals, running, walking, and even fishing. This dynamic expanse along the Detroit River allows you to look into the city blocks beyond Woodward, all with their own arts collectives, urban farm groups, educators, cooks, DIY renovators, and curators who wake up every morning with the same Detroit pride and determination of their factory-working predecessors.

This is the city that brought us everything from the Model T to Marvin Gaye. When we walk down Woodward onto the Riverwalk, we can be a part of the R-E-S-P-E-C-T that drives the Motor City home to itself.

[bahboo]

1. good to see Detroit coming back...

in it's day, it was a helluva city...

[llmart]

2. Sorry but I honestly don't know a soul who would plan a vacation to Detroit.

[marmar]

3. Maybe you need to expand your acquaintanceship.

[llmart]

4. My "acquaintanceship" is just fine.

I've lived in four different states and have family and friends from all over but I stand by my statement that as long as I've lived in the Detroit area, I've never heard anyone say they are dying to see the Detroit area and that includes the suburbs where I live.

I've heard many of them say they'd love to see Mackinac Island and plenty from the artist community who come to Ann Arbor (pre-pandemic) for the art fair. Traverse City for the cherry festival? Yes. Detroit - no.

[marmar]

5. I live downtown. Lots of people are visiting from around the country....

....and the world, especially millennials. The city is filled with (younger, non-paranoid) suburbanites on weekends, so obviously we're in different social sets.

[llmart]

6. Well, I do hear that a lot of younger people are moving there and I think that's great.

You are correct that I'm not young and my family and friends and even my kids are not in that group. I've travelled extensively either for personal pleasure or business and like I said, I've lived in four different states and, as the saying goes, been there, done that. Younger people are usually attracted to the cities - any city, just because they're young and cities offer them the nightlife they're looking for and the hubbub of the city life. When you get older and have already experienced that, you're more likely to want quiet and nature and open spaces.

Right out of high school I wanted to live in New York City and write for the New York Times, but I had absolutely no plan on how I was going to do that and I wasn't a very adventurous person back then. Now I just laugh at my younger self.