Do people actually visit Detroit? (Dearborn, Wayne: neighborhoods, theater, college)

[Iraqvet]

I love traveling and seeing new places. I have been to a lot of midwestern cities but I have never had the opportunity to visit Detroit. I want to go and visit Detroit during the summer but I wanted to know if it is a place that people actually visit. I love visiting old, urban cities with great architecture and I've heard that Detroit has all of that. What are some places that I should visit when coming to Detroit?

[cardwellave]

Detroit does have these kind of old buildings. However I'm not sure how many are open or how to get to them, specific locations, etc. I'm sure someone on here could give you more info. But yes, people do visit. One person interviewed during the NCAA basketball game downtown said hes coming here for all his vacations from now on. There are TONS of suburban sights to see as well, especially the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (and Rouge Tour) in Dearborn. This is great if you love old architecture as well. Probably the biggest tourist attraction in Detroit.

[detshen]

Check out this site, it has info an many different places a visitor might enjoy. The neighborhoods section is a good tour guide for the city. People do visit here and there is a lot to do and see.

Model D - A Day in the Life of Southwest Detroit

[Coldjensens]

people do visit Detroit. I see tour groups at the ren Cen on a regular basis. They come in a tour bus and take a guided tour. Many of them are from other countries. I cannot imaging what the talk about on the tour. "This is a store, and that is a restaurant, and up there are a bunch of offices!" I will have to tag along one day and see what the heck they look at and discuss.

There are a lot of great things to do in and around Detroit. Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are a full day or two by themselves. The DIA (Art) is great. There are a lot of other threads that discuss at length what there is to do here. Some people like to do a decay tour. It is apparently fascinating to see what was so nice turned into caved in rubble.

[cardwellave]

You can always go park in the Michigan Theatre and see some great old architecture. I still wonder who came up with the idea to do this.

Michigan Theater (Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Detroit Yes - Michigan Theatre

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

I cannot imaging what the talk about on the tour. "This is a store, and that is a restaurant, and up there are a bunch of offices!" I will have to tag along one day and see what the heck they look at and discuss.

Some people like to do a decay tour. It is apparently fascinating to see what was so nice turned into caved in rubble.

You're closer to answering your own question than you realize. For better or worse, Detroit has come to symbolize urban development seriously gone wrong for most foreigners. I have European colleagues who have stated they study the American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars, and Detroit in US History class - Detroit singled out simply for the riots and ills of urban living gone bad. After all, how can the mighty country that single-handedly helped rebuild Europe after WWII with programs like the Marshall Plan not take care of their own dirty laundry? It's a negative example in some ways, BUT, Detroit is also studied, along with rejuvenation projects like the RenCen, out of curiosity as to what can be done to "fix" it. It ashames me somewhat to say that there are probably more foreigners than Americans rooting for Detroit and the resiliency of the human spirit. Read all the charged posts on here that usually pit urban vs. suburban, black vs. white, etc. The rest of the US could hardly care about what happens in Detroit. That's why you see so many foreigners at the RenCen - it's not for the offices and shops but what the entire building represents.

[nycjefftrain]

I read a poll on the msn homepage a few months back and it ranked the top 30 most visited cities in the US. Detroit came in somewhere around number 20 with 16 million visitors per year. I'm sure lots of it is business travelers but the regions sports teams account for alot of that too(pro & college).

It would be interesting to see a Michigan tourist stat. I'd have to believe its in the Top 10 and at least the Top 15.

[cardwellave]

Detroit is certainly not the huge draw in Michigan. The west coast, Mackinac Island, Frankenmuth, etc are much bigger draws. But I'd say Michigan is definitely one of the top tourist states.

[and the]

Fort Wayne would be interesting to see if they'd open it more than a couple days a year. If you Google Earth Detroit you can see the old ramparts outlined pretty good. Follow the river south of the Ambassador Bridge. It's on Jefferson where Dragoon Street dead-ends.

[One Thousand]

Originally Posted by Iraqvet

I want to go and visit Detroit during the summer but I wanted to know if it is a place that people actually visit.

Yes. They visit Wayne County Jail to see family. LOL.

Actually, for what it's worth, I have never been to Greenfield Village on a weekend and not heard a number of different languages.

Belle Isle, in the winter, is amazing. Oldest aquarium in the U.S. And the architecture of several building on the island is very impressive.

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

After all, how can the mighty country that single-handedly helped rebuild Europe after WWII with programs like the Marshall Plan not take care of their own dirty laundry?

The Europeans had a culture that supported rebuilding... not resented it.