Hamtramck...NYC hip like? (Detroit, Grand Rapids: 2009, big home, neighborhoods)

[Tiger Beer]

Hamtramck.

I'm a Michigan native, but upstate. However, I have lived in New York City for a few years, and living abroad at the moment.

Hamtramck is seeming quite interesting, the high Polish immigrants, and now a mix of it seems like Bangladesh, Arabic, etc.

Plus, all the bars and businesses, and old style community oriented place of urban-style, that still seems somewhat liveable, etc.

I'm just curious if it would be equivalent to an interesting hip part of New York...like parts of Brooklyn or Queens or places in Manhattan that are more neighborhood-ish...(not the business districts of NYC).

[and the]

With American Axle gone, Hamtramck is going to be a lot less New York-like and a lot more Highland Park-like in a relatively very short time. What a shame.

[Tiger Beer]

What's American Axle and how does it affect Hamtramck? Just curious...as I don't know Hamtramck at all, but want to know a lot more about it.

[and the]

American Axle was part of GM and spun off a number of years ago into a "stand-alone" supplier to GM. As of a few years ago, they were one of the best performing suppliers in the auto industry and their stock was flying high. They also happen to be one of Hamtramck's biggest (if not THE biggest) employer and taxpayer. I believe the Cadillac Poletown plant is partly in Hamtramck and pays taxes, but nothing like the Dodge Mainski plant used to.

Now they're closing shop and moving to Mexico. The same pattern took place in Highland Park....The Ford plant closed....Sears closed.....Chrysler world headquarters used to be there, they closed and moved to Auburn Hills....Just listen to Bruce's "My Hometown". That's what's happening to Hamtramck. Maybe they have a future as a trendy little hipster spot, but I doubt it. They're surrounded by Detroit and one of nation's most dangerous neighborhoods, in Detroit, to boot.

The future does not bode well for Hamtramck. They used to be the most densly-populated city in the entire nation. Not anymore. If you want to experience even a little of what Hamtramck used to be like, you'd better hurry. I hope the remaining bars, bakeries, restaurants and food stores can hang on, but I'm not optimistic past the very short term.

Charlie LeDuff is a fairly recent arrival to the Detroit news. You either love him or hate him, but either way, lots of people read his stories:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...t-in-Hamtramck

I also hope the Polish Art Center stays open. That's a "can't miss" place if you're in town.

[Osito57]

Hamtramck is NOTHING like NYC. I live in Brooklyn, and know Hamtramck well.

Hamtramck is somewhat depressed and poor, and has a very Midwestern-style housing stock.It looks basically how the East Side of Detroit used to look.

Hamtramck never became bombed-out and uninhabitable (like surrounding neighborhoods), but it's defintely in decline.

[Cherry]

I live in Hamtramck, originally from the Grand Rapids area. Many of my neighbors are from New York. Someone should come out here and tell the new people moving in that the city is in decline. If you dare make the journey, please let me know. We'll take a walk through the city, stopping for biryani and gelato, ending with a drink at The Painted Lady.

American Axle pays ~$2 million to the city per year in property and income taxes. GM pays $4 million. Property taxes still have to be paid when the plants are idle.

[Osito57]

^
There are plenty of Californians in Arizona; that doesn't mean that Phoenix = San Francisco. Whether or not you have neighbors from a certain place, it doesn't change the essential nature of Hamtramck, which is working class East Side.

And if you know Hamtramck, you know that the city is in worse shape than 10 years ago. There are so many more check cashing joints and pawnshops, not to mention all the vacant storefronts. It's still in pretty good shape for the inner-city, but not what it once was.

The problem is that the city is dependent on immigrants, but they usually move out after a few years. They all move to Macomb County, where there are better schools and they can buy a big home dirt-cheap.

[and the]

Someone should come out here and tell the new people moving in that the city is in decline.

Why rely on a new resident to tell you if the city is in decline? Why not just ask them at Polonia, Polish Village or Under the Eagle if their lunch business has gone down? Even a pre-Sullivan Helen Keller could read the writing on Hamtramck's walls.

[annika08]

Originally Posted by Osito57

^
There are plenty of Californians in Arizona; that doesn't mean that Phoenix = San Francisco. Whether or not you have neighbors from a certain place, it doesn't change the essential nature of Hamtramck, which is working class East Side.

And if you know Hamtramck, you know that the city is in worse shape than 10 years ago. There are so many more check cashing joints and pawnshops, not to mention all the vacant storefronts. It's still in pretty good shape for the inner-city, but not what it once was.

The problem is that the city is dependent on immigrants, but they usually move out after a few years. They all move to Macomb County, where there are better schools and they can buy a big home dirt-cheap.

And a dollar store on every corner!

Great post. I can't really see too many similarities between Hamtramck and NYC myself.

[Cherry]

Well, if parts of NYC are not working class immigrant neighborhoods, then Hamtramck is nothing like NYC. Things were a lot worse when Dodge Main closed.

The best thing about Hamtramck, and Detroit in general, is the sort of person who chooses to live here.