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Los Angeles may have perfected urban sprawl, but Detroit invented it. Although the landscape is mostly flat, recreational opportunities abound, most of them centered around water. To the northeast of the city sprawls Lake St. Clair, a shallow but broad lake popular for boating and fishing. The Detroit River is a resource that the city has never fully exploited though a system of parks and greenways is now gradually taking shape.
Downtown
The old downtown of grand movie houses and department stores is all but vanished, but lively areas have sprung up around the perimeter of the aging banking-and-commerce center. The north end of downtown is the latest hot spot. Comerica Park, a new baseball stadium for the Detroit Tigers, opened in 2000. The National Football League Detroit Lions, who abandoned downtown in the 1970s for suburban Pontiac, have since returned to Ford Field, which was built adjacent to Comerica Park. Nearby is the glamorous Fox Theatre, the renovated crown jewel of the city’s opulent movie houses, as well as the aptly-named Gem Theatre, The Second City Detroit comedy theater, the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, and an assortment of restaurants and bars.
Greektown
On the eastern edge of downtown is Greektown. What was once just a block of Greek restaurants has now become the center for Detroit nightlife, with its many eateries, bistros and clubs. One of Detroit’s three temporary casinos is drawing additional people to the area. Adjacent is the restaurant-and bar area known as Bricktown, and near that is the towering Renaissance Center. East of the Renaissance Center, along Jefferson Avenue, new housing and retail developments are taking shape beyond the restaurants and clubs of the warehouse district known as Rivertown.
Other pockets of activity include the Cobo Convention Center and the Joe Louis Arena, home to the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, and the western outskirts, where two more temporary casinos have opened. Most of downtown’s sites are linked by the People Mover elevated train system.
Cultural Center/New Center
Detroit’s Cultural Center is situated between Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, an impressive complex of hospitals and research facilities. The Detroit Institute of Arts is famed for its Diego Rivera murals, which chronicle history through the eyes of laborers, and Auguste Rodin’s sculpture "The Thinker". Nearby is the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the largest museum of its kind in the United States. Families can also enjoy the Detroit Science Center and the Detroit Historical Museum.
Farther north, the New Center Area boasts the ornate, golden-towered Fisher Building and its Fisher Theatre, home to touring Broadway shows, as well as the General Motors Building and Henry Ford Hospital.
South of the Cultural Center, a major renovation effort is underway to preserve the acoustically rich Orchestra Hall.
The West Side
Near the Ambassador Bridge is Mexicantown, the heart of Detroit’s growing Hispanic community, with dozens of great restaurants. Dearborn is home to the Ford Motor Company world headquarters, the Fairlane Town Center, and the area’s foremost attraction, the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, where the intertwining history of America and the automobile are chronicled. With a large Arabic population, Dearborn also has an intoxicating array of authentic Middle Eastern restaurants.
Farther west is the bustling Metropolitan Airport, which is undergoing a major expansion to handle increasing traffic. A new trade center is taking shape in nearby Romulus. Livonia has Laurel Park Place, a major shopping and entertainment area.
Oakland County
Oakland County is vast and diverse. It is one of the nation’s wealthiest counties, and the site of the world’s first enclosed shopping mall (the Northland Center). Many other shopping opportunities abound, including the upscale Somerset Collection and new Great Lakes Crossing.
In the southern part of the county, a vibrant restaurant and nightclub scene has sprung up in once-stodgy Royal Oak. North along Woodward Avenue, Birmingham’s thriving downtown features upscale shops of taste and variety.
In the northeastern part of the county, Auburn Hills is home to the Palace of Auburn Hills, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons. It also has the new Chrysler Technology Center. Nearby in Rochester are Oakland University and its acclaimed Meadow Brook Theatre. In West Bloomfield Township is the deeply moving Holocaust Memorial Center.
Each August, the Woodward strip from Ferndale to Pontiac hosts the Woodward Dream Cruise, the world’s largest rolling participatory auto show and the ultimate 1950s and 1960s nostalgia trip.
The East Side and Macomb County
Go east from downtown along Jefferson Avenue parallel to the Detroit River and you will pass the bridge to Belle Isle, one of the world’s great urban parks. The Grosse Pointe area boasts mansions of auto executives and scenic Lakeshore Drive. The nondescript suburbs of Macomb County include some items of interest: The Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, and Metropolitan Beach on Lake St. Clair.
Windsor
One of the few places in the United States where one can travel south into Canada is from downtown Detroit. By way of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or by bridge, it’s easy to reach Windsor, Ontario, whose clubs and restaurants are an integral part of the metro Detroit entertainment scene. The popular Windsor Casino served as the impetus for Detroit to start building its own casinos.
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