IN most cities, the opening of a youth hostel might not be all that big a deal. But Detroit isn’t most cities, and in an era when most of the news is bad, new things, positive things — well, the locals pay attention.
A lot of it was about being in the right place at the right time. Hostel Detroit (it sounds like the title of an upcoming Eli Roth movie, but it’s really not) made its debut this spring in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood. Once a bastion of traditional Irish-American culture, Corktown has become a place to see Detroit at its coolest.
In this historic section of the city, settled nearly 200 years ago, you can see a Detroit that is on the verge not just of renewal, but also in the process of forging a whole new identity. In a town that most people identify with the old lunchpail, punch in, punch out mentality, an explosion of DIY is leading Corktown (and the city at large) into the future.
Here, you can now see artists working to re-appropriate forgotten spaces as public art. You have urban farmers making productive use of vacant land, taking the idea of eating local to the extreme. You have the city’s most talked-about restaurant (an excellent barbecue joint), a record store, a Martiniquais (by way of Paris, Brazil and Brooklyn) making crepes, a cool little vintage boutique, two brothers selling freshly-made bagels out of their apartment, a sustainable food truck and, soon, a speakeasy-style cocktail lounge and a third-wave coffee bar.
And then there’s the occasional energetic redhead, brimming with enthusiasm, who decides to open a youth hostel.
“I was hosting a lot of couch surfers,” says Emily Doerr, a neighborhood resident who dreamed up the hostel idea and made it a reality. “I had 100 strangers coming in and out and thought, you know what?”
Doerr found a building, on a desolate (or quiet, depending whom you ask) block of North Corktown. She worked with business advocates, city inspectors and hordes of tireless volunteers (who are all honored on a plaque at the hostel’s entrance) to formed the nonprofit’s board of directors. It opened its doors within six months.
“There’s a lot of for-profit hostels but I didn’t want to be for-profit,” she explains. “I wanted it to serve the community and be of the community, that way everybody knows I’m not making a dime off this. This is very much a thing we’re doing to help Detroit and show people what there is here.”
They provide affordable private-room and dorm-style lodging with easy access to public buses. They will also offer ambassador programs for out-of-town guests.
Kristyn Koth of the Pink FlaminGO is no stranger to the do-it-yourself concept either. Last summer when the US Social Forum had its summit in Detroit, hundreds of hungry campers were sleeping outside in vacant lots by her home. She already had the retro shiny silver Airstream, so she started serving food and never stopped.
“I knew I wanted to turn it into [a food truck] but didn’t think I’d get to it that fast,” Koth jokes. “We decided just to do it because that’s how it’s been for so long here: don’t wait, just do it.”
Koth utilizes local greens sourced from Brother Nature Produce — which runs a sold-out CSA program — next door and community farm Hope Takes Root, located across the street.
Both were started in response to a number of culminating factors: joblessness, hunger, health concerns, a need for community involvement and education and opportunity. By using vast stretches of vacant land to grow fresh, organic food that feeds the community they also educate the community on healthy food choices and promote self-empowerment — if you can’t buy it, grow it.
If urban farms fill the void of Detroit’s food desert, then Detroit Institute of Bagels fill the void of what brothers Ben and Dan Newman call Detroit’s “bagel desert.” Over on the other side of Michigan Ave. in Corktown’s southern half, the brothers make bagels and humorous Photoshop bagel art (playing off the Detroit Institute of Art) in their shared Corktown flat, with plans to open a storefront soon. They’re part of a food entrepreneur group that exists to help launch and support start-up food businesses.
“This is the beauty of Detroit versus other cities,” says Ben. “Here [other small business owners] are all willing to talk to us.”
And no one does that better than Phil Cooley. Much of Corktown’s good fortune can be traced back to the success of Cooley’s now nationally famous Slows Bar BQ, which has become a gathering place for all sorts of Detroiters at all times of day, a smart and fun bar/restaurant that serves some of the city’s better food.
Next door, a coffee house for connoisseurs named Astro Coffee is set to open soon; Cooley has been a strong supporter of the project from the very beginning — he’s even helping with the carpentry. (Prohibition-themed craft cocktail bar Sugar House and the upscale/gourmet Mercury Burger Bar opening this year on that same small block; Slows is also preparing for a much needed expansion.)
Cooley has also been a huge driving force in the revitalization of Roosevelt Park as a dynamic public space, located across the street from Slows in front of the oft-photographed Michigan Central Station, which somehow went from depressing ruin to star tourist attraction.
And even that’s starting to get the beginnings of a facelift. Thanks to political pressures on the owner; visitors this summer will see work crews installing glass back into long-ago shattered windows on the impressive, long-vacant structure, designed by McKim Mead and White in the same vein as New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
10 WAYS TO DO DETROIT’S CORKTOWN
1) Check into Hostel Detroit
— beds in this cheerful and newly-built facility start at just $18; volunteer “ambassadors” are available to make hostel guests feel at home in the city.
2) Chase down the Pink FlamingGO food truck and order the churrasco bowl (check their Facebook page
for the latest on times and locations).
3) Stop in for a drink at Nancy Whiskey
, working hard to get back to its dive roots after a 2009 fire. Wednesdays are $1 PBR night — not to mention $3 whiskeys and free jukebox (2644 Harrison St.)
4) Pile in with the crowds at Slows Bar BQ
, one of the city’s most popular restaurants for a reason — the food is good, the room is welcoming and the range of beers on tap (including some of Michigan’s best) is impressive. Best bets: Yardbird sandwich, blackened catfish, macaroni and cheese (2138 Michigan Ave.)
5) Volunteer with Imagination Station
, which is working to build a creative campus in two blighted 1800s homes facing the abandoned Michigan Central Station – ongoing projects here are a great way to meet interesting locals.
6) When family ties led him to Detroit, Charles Sorel — once a familiar presence in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene at his Chez Oscar and Café Lafayette – opened Le Petit Zinc
, a cheerful little creperie in an industrial corner of Corktown. Spend an evening on their outdoor patio; they stay open until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays (1055 Trumbull St.).
7) Metro Detroit has plenty of good cocktails, but within city limits, the pickings get a little slimmer. Dave Kwiatkowski is working to up the ante with Sugar House, a handsome lounge for civilized drinking debuting very shortly.
8) Stop in at Rachel’s Place
for vintage duds (2124 Pine St.). For vintage books, the long-running (and vast) John K. King
store on the neighborhood’s fringes is a must for serious readers (901 W. Lafayette Blvd.).
9) Detroit’s growing café culture is about to get a jolt from the addition of Astro Coffee, a third-wave espresso bar opening soon next to Sugar House and Slows. It’s brainchild of Dai Hughes, one-time Brooklynite who returned to his home turf to be a part of an evolving Detroit. Check its Facebook page
for details.
10) A no-nonsense spot for live music near the old Tiger Stadium (that’s the biggest of all the vacant lots you see when you drive up Michigan Avenue and into the neighborhood, btw), PJ’s Lager House
is still a no-nonsense spot for live music, but it’s less grotty now, and there’s also good food. Do drop in (1254 Michigan Ave.)
WHERE TO STAY
If you’re not young or young at heart, the digs at the Detroit Hostel may not be to your liking. Not a problem — Detroit may not have masses of hotel rooms, but it definitely makes up in quality for what it lacks otherwise.
Conveniently, the city’s best address (no contest) is the MGM Grand Detroit
, which bridges the divide between Corktown and Downtown. The immensely appealing, Tony Chi-designed spa alone makes this one of the best city hotels in the Midwest; an exclusive feel and masculine, expensively-decorated rooms — nicer than at many an MGM-owned hotel in Vegas — help matters greatly, as does the presence of two fine restaurants overseen by Michael Mina. You should know, though, that this hotel doesn’t feel like it’s in Detroit. This may be a plus for some. We were first-timers once, don’t worry. We get it. No judgments. Rates can sometimes be as low as $160 on third-party sites, but are generally $250 and up if you book directly.
For those ready to get the full Motown experience, stay somewhere iconically Detroit: The Westin Book Cadillac
. What was the tallest hotel in its time, the outsized and arrogant tower on Washington Boulevard — where Lou Gehrig met the beginning of his end — lives again after years of abandonment. The hotel’s Roast restaurant (overseen by Midwest celeb chef Michael Symon) and the historic Motor Bar are two of the top venues in the city for both dining and drinking. It’s still a Westin, though; rooms are dull and corporate. It’s also Detroit, so service, while pleasant, is not reliable, which can be kind of a dealbreaker after awhile. Because of its popularity with movie production companies and other regular customers, rates are very often way above $200 a night.
Overall, we’re much happier at the homier, more personal Inn on Ferry Street
, up in Midtown. Scattered along a beautiful old block of historic homes just behind the Detroit Institute of Art, the location is ideal for visitors with cars — there’s plenty of off-street parking and Downtown’s just five minutes down Woodward Avenue. Rooms are nicely appointed if a little musty; free breakfast is served in the main building. Frequent travelers to the city love the way guests are made to feel at home here — us included. Rates as low as $125 or so on third-party sites, higher when you book direct.