Motor City Pilgrimage, Part Two: Cars

Last week, I made a tough decision to have week one be about Motown and soul food. This week we explore that other little thing Detroit is known for. With this plan I wanted to do a little more than just go to museums — though we'll do that too. Let's get out in the streets.

Rhetorical question: does metro Detroit start and end on Woodward? Well, regardless of your answer, this Saturday does. We're starting at Avon Donuts. As you approach, you'll see M1 Concourse across the street. For over a century, that land built trucks — the Rapid Motor Company arrived in 1905, GM made it Pontiac West Assembly, and the lines ran until 2008. Avon Donuts has been a fixture across the street for over 30 years. My grandfather worked at that plant. Occasionally, I imagine him getting breakfast before a shift the way my mom would get my brother and me donuts before school, if we were extra good that morning.

After breakfast, a closer look at M1 Concourse is an option — there's a parking lot on South Boulevard across the street, and there's a karting event that starts at 9 a.m. After you've had your fill, we'll be heading north on Woodward. On your way to the Stellantis North American headquarters on the corner of Opdyke and Featherstone, you'll see an Amazon fulfillment center. As you cross Opdyke, you'll start to see the Stellantis headquarters on your left.

Readers of a certain age may remember when the fulfillment center was the site of the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Detroit Lions — but I'd like to point out some other tidbits. The Silverdome was one of the venues that hosted the 1994 World Cup, and interestingly, it hosted the first World Cup games ever played indoors. There's something about that mile or so that gets me. It might be that my childhood home was across M-59. I remember hearing the crowd cheer from the backyard when the Lions scored, and the roar of monster trucks when there was an event. I think it's a bit more than that, though. I think it's the juxtaposition of a legacy company and Amazon staring each other down, where history was bulldozed. I suppose history may be too strong a word. Memories. What is history but the memories of the collective.

No real plans here — just a drive-by and a fleeting thought.

It should be lunchtime by now, and we're heading back to Woodward for sliders, fries, and shakes at Hunter House. Named for John W. Hunter, who helped found Birmingham in 1819, Hunter House has been serving sliders for over 70 years. After that pit stop we'll continue down Woodward to the Detroit Historical Museum, where the permanent installation "America's Motor City" tells, in the museum's words, "the fascinating stories of both how cars built metro Detroit and how metro Detroit built cars." Take in as much as you want, or spend some time shopping downtown or on the riverwalk until your reservation at Highlands.

Located on the 71st and 72nd floors of the General Motors Renaissance Center, you'll be dining with spectacular views of Detroit and our neighbors to the north (technically, from where you'll be dining, they're our neighbors to the south too).

So, while Saturday was Woodward-focused, there was an obvious omission: Ford. While I could have incorporated it into Saturday's outing, I believe our Sunday plan makes a nice contrast. Saturday we traveled the length of Woodward; Sunday we take in history and culture in Dearborn. Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum — a combo ticket gets you into both. Edison's lab and the Wright brothers' bicycle shop give some contemporary reference to the technology and innovation of the times these companies were started in. We end the evening at Al Ameer, a Dearborn original open since 1989. I hope you're as excited as I am.

See you there.

— Evan