DETROIT: Downtown Motown

Sometimes I never know what to write when it comes to trying to annotate Detroit photo posts. Many people already have their perceptions, assumptions whether right or wrong about the city, some people won't even click on the post because Detroit is in the title. That's the roll of the dice. From the off I never wanted to go down the ruin porn photograph route when it comes to the city, there's enough of that already - just search ruin porn into Google and most of what comes up will be from Detroit. If you were to ever read reviews about restaurants or places to visit, things to do that I feature, the horror reviews would have you running for you life, sadly too many people in the suburbs believe said tales and never venture south of eight mile.

Sad but true.

Like when the in laws came to visit from Pittsburgh, we didn't hide them away in the suburbs like so many would.

I know Detroit has issues, I see it, I've driven down neighbours with only a couple of houses still occupied to entire stretches of nothing, just overgrown land. Detroit has issues that go back decades (racism, white flight, state/local politics), I guess if you live outside the US you might not be truly aware of them, maybe I'll explain them one day. I feel far more comfortable mentioning Detroit these days - whether it's things to see do or places to eat on my blog lately, I'm throwing caution to the wind and I truly hope you enjoy reading what I share, perhaps to see another side of the Motor City, just to balance things out a little.

On a side note, the eagle eyed locals among you might notice that the "Outsource to Detroit" banner still attached to the 1001 Woodward building in these photographs. They were taken just a couple of days before the 10 story, 130 foot banner split in two and flew its way through downtown due to the heavy winds we experienced in April. While to many it was a bit of an eye sore, it certainly caught your attention when you were heading south along Woodward.