METRO DETROIT: Drive-Ins and Popcorn

This summer the all American drive-in movie theatre celebrates it's 80th birthday. How cool would it have been growing up going to movies in your car, ordering food or perhaps laying and watching from the roof? 

With their origin in the early 1930's, the first opening in Detroit in 1938, it wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s that they reached their peak popularity and by this stage there were over four thousand drive-in's across America. They were especially a hit with teenagers, becoming a popular destination place for dates. Inclement weather, color TV, video rentals and upgrading costs eventually led to the decline in the drive-in movie theatre and very few remain today.

Michigan Radio aired an interview earlier this week about this American invention which got me thinking about a now closed drive-in that we'd passed the other week. Opening in 1956, the Commerce Township drive-in had a capacity of over 1,000 until it's closure in 1990. Now only the sign remains, a modern car wash sign stuck right next to it, but behind the sign is where the screen originally would have stood. It's been interesting reading old comment forums about this particular drive-in, while it had a huge screen, bigger then neighbouring drive-in's, it's out of the way location was it's apparent downfall but it was great finding some vintage film advertisements mentioning the drive-in.

Original movie advertisements for the Commerce Drive-In (Source)

While predominately most drive-ins are closed across America a couple do still run, wouldn't it be so fun to go to one?

METRO DETROIT: Strange and Peculiar

 

So before I revelled in the delights of the root beer float on July 4th, we visited a place considered the home of strange curiosities, oddities and the peculiar - Marvin's Marvellous Mechanic Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Actually listed as one of the 100 most unusual museums in the USA Marvin's is home to over 300 vintage coin operated machines from the 1900's to today's more computerised gaming machines. There's fortune telling machines, magic machines, pin ball machines to 1920's show banners and neon signs. It's even home to a couple of old machines originating from London and Brighton pier.

While it may be a museum, it's certainly hands on and you can play and operate all the machines, perfect way to waste an hour or two and a tonne of quarters.

Fancy a play yourself?

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Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum 

31005 Orchard Lake Road,

Farmington Hills, MI

LIFE: Blossom and BBQ's

Michigan springs are pretty much the temperature of English summers, but after the cold winter I forgot just how warm it gets here. The bright sun and the warmth really sets off the blossoms which cover street upon street around these parts which is welcome after how bare the trees were just a couple of weeks ago. So yesterday with another day with temperatures in the mid 80's, we packed up our BBQ and took off to one of the state recreation parks not too far away and ate hot dogs with a lake view.

Perfect Sunday indeed.

Around These Parts

Growing up on the Yorkshire Wolds meant walking hills became second nature to me, now living in south east Michigan the only hill we have in our city is man made and in the local park. Kids love the hill - they all go, climb up and sledge down in the winter months when there's been some snow. For the rest of the months walking up to the top offers a different terrain for runners and walkers alike with some great views of the cities bordering ours. Don't be fooled by the depth and the blueness of the Michigan early cloudless spring morning skies - they can be as bitterly cold in the wind as any day in Winter but it's nice being able to somewhat feel the warmth of the sun and the promise of warmer days to come.

DETROIT: America's Oldest Aquarium

Belle Isle's is home to America's oldest running Aquarium, or at least it was until it was sadly closed in 2005. With a history of 60 tank exhibits for native Great Lake species and other international fishes, the basement of the building also served as a speak easy during prohibition. The building was designed by arhictect Albert Kahn - a man infamous for many buildings around the city and the aquarium itself is worthy of being noted for it's beauty. With it's single large open gallery design, the walls and curved ceiling is covered in green glass tiles - ones aimed at recreating the sense of being underwater. 

When we visited the aquarium was open every odd weekend but now it's opened every Saturday as they raise funds to keep it open. Granted it's not worth a trip just to see the aquarium as about only a third of the tanks actually have fishes in, the others may be empty of fish but they do have interesting visual displays showcasing local business. 

It's sad to know it's future is unknown although just this summer it's been re-roofed, if this aquarium with such a great history was in any other city it would have masses of tourists and never have been left to decay.

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MIICHIGAN: Greenfield Village

On Saturday we wrapped ourselves up and went down to Dearborn to visit another part of the Henry Ford museum complex known as Greenfield Village. If your familiar with Beamish in the UK it's very similar - an outside open air museum come village put together by Henry Ford [that car dude] with houses and buildings related to his life - childhood home and first Ford building to the complex of Thomas Edison and other prominent Americans. In fact its the largest of such museums in the whole of the USA. There was also stream trains which made the trip in itself worth while. So I thought i'd share with some of the 'statement' buildings from people you know [or should know about].

This building was built at Greenfield Village in 1945 and is a 1/4 size replica of Ford's first factory located on Detroit's Mack Avenue where from 1903 workers began manufacturing some of Ford's earliest vehicles. 

Before they became infamous for their flight trails, the Wright Bros. daily income came from building, selling and the repair of bicycles in Dayton, Ohio their actual shop now sits along Greenfield Village's Main Street next to their home which has additionally been moved there.

Inside the replica [although some of the parts are original] of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park complex you can see were the first light bulb, phonograph and many of his other inventions were created. Apparently Edison challenged himself to making one minor invention every 10 days which he is said to have achieved. 

Inside the Detroit Toledo and Milwaukee Roundhouse which was built in 1984 there's some great stream engines inside [well great to me at least]. They are currently working on Mr Ford's personal train engine and America's oldest scheduled running train [from the 1850's] is currently undergoing it's winter service.

When you think of Mr Heinz, you'll probably think of tomato ketchup but he actually started bottling horseradish which he sold from and made in the basement of this house which moved from Pennsylvania to the village. 

Around Main Street they had some lovely vintage porcelain [well replica] advertisements for everything from soap to sewing threads. There's certainly something much more beautiful to these advertisements then there is to airbrushed women. 

Joe had a lot of fun feeding the sheep that were alongside the replica of Henry Ford's childhood home - they were rather friendly to say the least and I was somewhat envious of that lovely lot of thick wool they had on their backs.

Are you a museum geek like we are?!

DETROIT: Belle Isle Nature Zoo

Hidden away on Belle Isle is a tiny little Nature Zoo which is run by the Detroit Zoo. I thought I'd write this post as a somewhat comparison and show and tell about American garden birdies after we spent a good while watching some birds having a feed. In America you'll find the normal sparrows and your starlings, but the other birdies they are bigger and brighter. Even the traditional Robin in the US is the size of a blackbird. 

The common grackle is the size of your blackbird and is similar in colouring expect the Grackle has a gorgeous blue/green/purple colouring to it's head. Apparently they tend to steel food from other birds and are more likely to feed from the floor.

American woodpeckers are a lot easier to find and spot when you're out in the woods compared to my former life in the countryside of Yorkshire. This a red bellied woodpecker is one spending most of it's time in southern Canada and the northeastern parts of the US. Not too sure why it's called red bellied as the redness is found on it's head, but there you go.  House sparrows are house sparrows were ever you are!

Pretty Blue Jays, apparently have a bit of an angry side to them with their lavender blue colouring and white underside. Being the size of blackbirds, maybe a little bigger they are easy to spot. They have a bad reputation of destroying other birdies nests and eggs.

Squirrels are pretty easy to find here in Michigan. They tend be a lot darker in colour too - in some cases actually being black. We get loads coming across the lawns in front of our apartment. 

At the Nature Zoo they also have this really neat two sided display connected to the outside of the building were bee's can fly along into and visibly show you making honeycombs. I even spotted the Queen bee. The rest of the Nature Zoo was filled with the typical species you might come across in the wilds of Michigan from Salamanders, turtles, fishies and frogs.

After spying their little allotment patch, they have a great little trail through fields of wild flowers and woodland around the nature centre too and what appears out into grasslands. We didn't have the best of footwear to be slogging around in overground grasses but it's certainly somewhere to wander back too.