Detroit does not have a good reputation. When my friend suggested I stay with her sister-in-law, I assumed the sister-in-law lives in the suburbs. No, she lives in Detroit. I’m not going to lie to you, I was a little scared for myself and my car.
In the shadow of the Fisher building, a huge and wonderful Art Deco monument, is a community of 100-year-old houses that seem oblivious to the urban decay around them.
The houses, built around the same time the auto industry was taking off, were bought up by General Motors for their executives in the 1980s. Before General Motors moved into their new digs downtown, many of their offices were in this area, the “New Center.” As for the Fisher building, remember when you would open the door of your Olds Cutlass and the doorsill had an oval logo with a stagecoach that read, “Body by Fisher?” That’s them.
I love that when I pull out of this neighborhood, I drive on Woodward Boulevard, the first paved road in the United States. I don’t think they repaved it since that first time.