Photo courtesy of Detroit Metro Convention and
Visitors Bureau and Marji Silk
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A great deal of history is contained in this city on the lake, located at
the base of Michigan’s
‘thumb.’ There were the Native Americans who settled in the
region for centuries before the French arrived, the French explorers and
settlers, the French and Indian War and British rule in the in the 1700s
until U.S. rule in 1796. Detroit, incorporated
as a city in 1815, was the last stop on the Underground Railroad and the
nexus of two of America’s
passions: cars and music. Affordable cars were first mass-produced in Detroit by moving
assembly lines invented by Henry Ford. As far as music goes, Berry Gordy Jr.
who, with $800 loaned to him by his family, introduced the world to Marvin
Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokie Robinson, Michael Jackson, the Temptations, Diana
Ross through his legendary record label, Motown.
Four million people of African-American, Eastern European, Hispanic, and
Arab descent live in the region, a varied population in a thriving economic
landscape no longer dominated by belching smokestacks. The Detroit area's median home price is
$156,000 following several years of modest growth. On the expensive end are
the northern suburbs and Ann Arbor, while Detroit offers the
chance to live the 1920s domestic high life at surprisingly reasonable
prices. Typical rent on a single family home is about $500.
Be Reminded: Detroiters worship the car. Expect public transportation,
limited to buses, to be spotty and often inconvenient.
Four wonderful neighborhoods caught our eye. In Detroit,
we chose historic Indian
Village and tight-knit North Rosedale
Park. Farther a field,
we fell for retro Royal Oak and the Old West
Side in upscale, academic Ann Arbor.
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