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TIME
Eastern Standard Time


STATE
Michigan

REGION
Great Lakes States




Detroit: Home to Motown

• is home to the Motown sound founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1957

• installed the first mile of paved concrete road, just north of the Model T plant, on Woodward Avenue between McNichols and 7 Mile Roads in 1909

• installed the country’s first traffic light in 1915 in downtown Detroit

• built the nation’s first urban freeway, the Davison, in 1942

• is the potato chip capital of the world, based on consumption

• has the USA’s largest island park within a city – Belle Isle Park

• is home to the world’s only floating post office, the J.W. Westcott II, can be found on the Detroit River

• is home to the largest flower-bedding market in the world – Eastern Market

• shares the world’s first auto traffic tunnel between two nations – the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel

• is home to the second tallest hotel in North America – the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, at 73 stories

• receives freighters from over 100 world ports on the Detroit River

Cars, sports and music have defined metro Detroit for decades, and Michigan’s largest city has hip new attractions and restaurants to welcome visitors from across the country.

From stunning cultural institutions like The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Henry Ford and Cranbrook, hotels and stadiums, restaurants, theatre, entertainment, symphony and the arts, Detroit is an interesting destination with much to offer.

Campus Martius Park is a 1.6 acre park downtown and a centerpiece of the Detroit’s revitalization. Modeled after the world’s best public parks, it’s a beautiful urban space, where people can relax, eat, see concerts in summer or ice-skate in winter.

Another major transformation features a $500-million development project on the east riverfront. Its centerpiece is the General Motors Renaissance Center, boasting the Detroit Marriott hotel and a Wintergarden, a five-story glass atrium that overlooks the river offering shopping and dining.

A network of parks enhances the Detroit International Riverfront, including the 31-acre Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor, Michigan’s first urban state park. General Motors opened a half mile of RiverWalk and the $25-million GM Plaza and Promenade behind the Renaissance Center.

Detroit’s automotive heritage distinguishes it from other destinations. The new Ford Rouge Factory Tours at The Henry Ford in Dearborn are one of the newest and most popular attractions in metro Detroit. Opened in May 2004, the tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the new Dearborn Truck and Assembly building, including watching as an F-150 pickup truck is assembled. Multi-screen theaters, interpretive displays and the world’s largest living roof are other highlights of this one-of-a-kind experience.

From auto baron homes, such as Henry Ford’s Fair Lane estate, the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House and Meadow Brook Hall, to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, GM World, Henry Ford Museum and Automotive Hall of Fame, metro Detroit is a car-lover’s dream.

The Motown Historical Museum and the Motown sound are distinctively Detroit, producing artists from the Supremes to Stevie Wonder. Kid Rock, Bob Seger and The White Stripes hail from Motown, and Detroit has been a centerpiece of jazz and blues since the mid-20th century at venues like Baker’s Keyboard Lounge – still a live jazz music hot spot today.

The Detroit theater scene shines with its fabulous Fox Theatre, the Detroit Opera House Fisher Theatre and more. The Max M. Fisher Music Center, home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, underwent a $60-million expansion in 2003. Detroit’s three casinos are expanding and adding hotels.

Detroit Tigers baseball, Lions football, Red Wings hockey and Pistons basketball are musts for sports fans.

Detroit and Windsor have offer a “Two-Nation Vacation.” Windsor, Ontario in Canada is directly across the Detroit River from Detroit.

Detroit is home to diverse ethnicities and accompanying traditions and restaurants including Greektown, Mexicantown and Hamtramck (Polish). Dearborn is home to a large Middle Eastern population, and a new Arab American National Museum. There is a Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.

Shopping for all tastes and budgets is available from downtown Detroit, to quaint, chic metro area downtowns like Birmingham, Royal Oak, Rochester, Plymouth and Northville to discount malls like Great Lakes Crossing and upscale malls like Somerset Collection. There are also the edgier, funky shops and restaurants in “Fashionable Ferndale".


DETROIT HOTELS


Photo courtesy The Henry Ford

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