Runnin’ on Empty (Tuesday/Wednesday 15 & 16 September 2009)

I suppose you might be right in thinking that the Motor City ain’t exactly the obvious place for a walking blog to visit – so what brings me to Detroit in mid-September? It could be the music after all this city is also known as Hitsville, USA because it’s the home to Tamla Motown and believe me I reckon that’s reason enough. Good ole Marshall Mathers hails from here so this week’s blog comes with a caution that the Eminem ‘listen to’ contains some explicit lyrics. Hey I’m old school – I like my rappers to swear. World turned upside down alert – the current America’s Cup holders is still land locked Switzerland, the world’s best rapper is white and the USA has a liberal black president. (I wonder if Nostradamus has a quatrain for that!)  Actually I’m here to watch some baseball but I’m gonna be doing some walking and visiting the Motown museum during my brief visit.

I was last here 10 years ago and back then the city had the air of decay tinged with a hint of menace. Many rust-belt US cities had adjusted late to white middle class flight to the suburbs in the 1950’s by reviving their downtown areas imaginatively but back then Detroit’s efforts seemed half-hearted – a day late and a dollar short if you like. Well the intervening 10 years have not been kind with the recent travails of the giant motor companies and US economy in general delivering the city a real beating. In 1999 I arrived by rental car on the interstate system, this year it was a plane from Heathrow. The airport is located 20 miles (32km) southwest of downtown Detroit but has no rail link and only 1 bus connection. If that’s not bad enough they hide the bus stop away in a corner on a lower level just to try and completely discourage you from using it. I was the only person with a suitcase travelling but its $1.50 fare compared very well to a potential $40 cab fare. It would have been cheaper for me to hire a car for a day than take that option – how crazy is that!

I was glad I opted for the 125 bus and not only on the grounds of economy and environment because the meandering route takes you through River Rouge. This is where Ford made and make cars. Completed in 1928 it became the largest integrated factory in the world. The Rouge measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide by 1 mile (1.6 km) long, including 93 buildings with nearly 16 million square feet (1.5 km²) of factory floor space. With its own docks in the dredged Rouge River, 100 miles (160 km) of interior railroad track, its own electricity plant, and ore processing, the titanic Rouge was able to turn raw materials into running vehicles within this single complex, a prime example of vertical-integration – eat your heart out Karl Marx. Over 100,000 workers were employed there in the 1930s. Today it is still Ford’s largest factory but these days employs less than 5000 workers and looks largely quiet and derelict from the bus seat. Shame I didn’t have enough time to take a tour.

My hotel was just across the street from the ballpark and only a short walk from the bus terminal. Good job I knew where I was going ‘cos there were very few people to ask directions from – a Tuesday mid-afternoon and Detroit is a modern day ghost town. Before the game I found a bar (no mean feat people) and had a coupla beers. When travelling I quite like to choose the most local brew on offer but the closest on tap here was the Blue Moon. Not all that local, from Colorado, but a pretty good wheat beer nonetheless. In the stadium I found some Dirty Blonde as well as Michigan Lager (they seem to pronounce this ‘meeeegigan laaaager’) both very local and both very good. Not gonna say much about the game ‘cos the Tigers got a right gubbing and lost 11-1.

They report that 3 out of every 10 adults are out of work in the Detroit metro area. Mate I’d be staggered if the other 7 have jobs from what I saw. If I thought finding a bar was hard enough the night before then finding somewhere for breakfast the next morning was definitely a challenge. I ended up in Detroit’s Breakfast House & Grill – still trading but had just the previous day filed for Chapter 11. (This allows them to reorganize their debts while still operating.) Rather weirdly a local radio station was transmitting a live breakfast programme on the upcoming local elections from the restaurant. All the candidates were there answering questions from the host and listeners. Maybe it was the only restaurant open downtown.

Having fuelled up on eggs and country fries I headed for the Motown museum. The city’s got a flash people mover that’s cheap, clean and quick – trouble is they don’t seem to have many people to move. Those who still have jobs all seem to drive to work and park for virtually no money on the many parking lots dotted around. These days the city can’t even afford to demolish empty and derelict buildings or they’d have even more to choose from. The city spent squillions on modifying the Renaissance Center (RenCen) – a group of 7 interconnected skyscrapers. This was done in conjunction with General Motors and effectively means that those lucky enough to have jobs need never step outside their hermetically sealed environment and venture onto the streets. The buildings are linked by bridges and come complete with shops – these all shut about 7 pm though. In truth the museum is a little disappointing (though they seemed delighted to have a visitor). The ambience wasn’t helped by the fact that the first song I heard when I arrived was a Stevie Wonder version of Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind – well that’s just flat out wrong I thought.

I made my way back to my hotel ready for my afternoon flight to Seattle. The streets were still largely deserted (see above) but the few shops that are still trading are quite interesting though. The return bus journey was packed with people who looked like they had taken as much of a beating as their city. I’m a city boy and I love urban walking and I had fun walking around but in all honesty I couldn’t recommend Detroit as walking destination. The city has got too many other problems to invest any money in promoting walking which is a shame ‘cos it’d certainly separate them from most other cities in the USA. I wonder what it’ll all look like in 2019?

Useful links:
o The Ramblers    http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Detroit     http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/
o Tamla Motown   http://www.motown.com/
o Renaissance Center   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Center
o Motown Museum   http://www.motownmuseum.com/mtmpages/index.html
o Nostradamus    http://www.nostradamus.org/
o Ford River Rouge Plant  http://www.hfmgv.org/rouge/index.aspx
o Detroit Tigers    http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=det
o Atwater Brewery   http://www.atwaterbeer.com/beer.asp
o Blue Moon Brewing   http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.com/
o Tigers V Royals    http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290915106&teams=kansas-city-royals-vs-detroit-tigers
o Detroit’s Breakfast House & Grill 
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/19/232050/restaurant/Downtown/Detroit-Breakfast-House-Grill-Detroit
o NewsTalk1200   http://www.wchb1200.com/
 

Listen to:
Jackson Browne – Running on Empty
David Bowie – Panic In Detroit
Eminem – 8 Mile
Kiss – Detroit Rock City
Martha & The Vandellas – Dancing In The Street
Rick James – Super Freak
Stevie Wonder – Blowing In The Wind
The Clash – Hitsville UK