The Decayed Decadence of Detroit

Travel photography of Detroit with a mini city guide at the bottom of this post.

If you ever want to know what the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse might feel like, go to Detroit on a weekday.

On a bright Wednesday morning in May, moving vehicles in the financial district are rare birds. Most of the cars I see are parked, as if abandoned. The gridlock, hurried pedestrians and noisy construction to signal big-city living are eerily absent. It's too still for downtown, so quiet I can hear tree leaves rustling.

But walking down Woodward Avenue, sandwiched by gorgeous historic buildings, I can imagine Detroit's former glory. This was probably their Champs-Élysées or 5th Avenue. So where is everybody now?

When I seek refuge (and lunch) in the Grand Trunk Pub, a former railroad ticket office, I feel as if I've stumbled across a secret meeting place for people to congregate. Throughout the 36 hours I'm in Detroit, I discover hidden gem after hidden gem; the whole city is a giant hidden gem.

I'm here for the Babymetal concert with my sister. Shows were sold out in every city except at The Fillmore Detroit. While I've heard stirrings of Detroit's revival, outsiders are still hesitant about visiting. A reputation as the nation's murder capital doesn't exactly help tourism.

But the more I see of Detroit, the more sympathy I share with Tommey Walker, who designed the ubiquitous Detroit vs. Everybody T-shirts because he was sick of everyone shitting on his city despite the contributions its locals make to the world.

Detroiters are friendly, helpful and unpretentious. Even cat callers are polite. Once I return their hellos, they carry on their way. This is an artsy city without the hipsters. Everything is cheap, which is attractive to artists. Graffiti art and murals, commissioned by the city, is everywhere. The Belt is an alley transformed by murals of professional artists, and there’s the 30-year-old Heidelberg Project that’s the most uncanny display of junk I’ve ever seen.

The Fillmore is a gold and chandelier-ed Italian Renaissance theatre with original seats still in the mezzanine and balcony levels. Now a popular music venue, the main floor has standing capacity. At the Babymetal concert, kawaii girls in gothic lolita getups, hardcore metalheads with greasy hair, and vanilla middle-aged couples all come together to thrash to three underaged Japanese popstars singing hits like "Gimme Chocolate!!" backed by a legit heavy metal band.

After the concert, everyone pours out onto the street. This is the most amount of people I've seen in Detroit in open air. I wonder how many of them are actually locals. I'm confident Detroiters will not let their city decay into a ghost town. Brick by brick, the people are going to make it beautiful again. I love this place already, and it's only a matter of time before others catch on. For now, I like having Detroit as my little secret.

Places Visited