Detroit's eye-catching Civic Center borders the river at the foot of Woodward Avenue. Dominated by the grandeur of the ultra-modern Renaissance Center (world headquarters for General Motors) with its towering 72-story Marriott Hotel, the riverfront area features scores of handsome buildings surrounded by gardens including the Veteran's Memorial Building, the City-County Building, the Ford Auditorium, Cobo Conference/Exhibition Center, Joe Louis Sports Arena, and the Hart Plaza--a vital riverfront park designed by sculptor Isamu Noguchi featuring the Dodge Fountain, a futuristic creation. Modern office buildings, luxury condominiums, and apartments adjoin this area. But Detroit is more than just buildings!
Detroit is Symphony -- and it is a very fine Symphony. In the winter season, the Symphony performs at Orchestra Hall and summer brings cabaret concerts and the outdoor Meadow Brook Festival. And, as a Detroit tradition, ticket subscribers who can't attend a particular concert call the box office prior to curtain time to make their tickets available to students that day for a reduced price. In addition, Detroit hosts the annual Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival.
Detroit is Theatre -- the Fisher (just north of Wayne State's campus), Star, and Gem theatres feature top-flight productions. "The Wiz", "Annie" and "Cats" all enjoyed long runs in Detroit and many pre-Broadway hits are included on the playbill. In addition, the Hilberry Theatre on Wayne State's campus features the country's only graduate repertory theater.
Detroit is Sports -- For the spectator sports enthusiast, Detroit boasts the Pistons basketball, Lions football, Red Wings hockey, and Tigers baseball teams. In addition, June brings the annual Grand Prix Auto Race to Belle Isle. July has the Spirit of Detroit Thunderfest with the Gold Cup hydroplanes on the Detroit River.
Detroit is a Melting Pot -- and proud of it. There are at least 67 designated ethnic communities within Detroit (such as the Swedes, Albanians, Yugoslavians, African-Americans, Belgians, Mexican, Polish and Lebanese). This ethnic conglomeration is featured all through the summer with a series (every week) of three-day free ethnic festivals at the riverfront Hart Plaza.
Detroit is Restaurants -- Esquire and Holiday rate it as one of the five best restaurant towns in the United States. There are the usual fine steak and seafood establishments plus dozens of small ethnic restaurants where the menus may be printed in two languages. Greektown cuisine is fantastic and within a graduate student's budget! Eastern Market, a maze of shops and open-air stalls, features fresh produce, meats, cheeses and specialties for creative home cooking.
Detroit is Museums --Greenfield Village is one of the most elaborate and extensive collections of fully restored historical buildings and items anywhere, including such gems as the Wright Brothers' Cycle Shop and Stephen Foster's home. Craftsmen demonstrate their ancient or revived talents, while weekly events like antique car gatherings, musket shoots and pottery festivals spice the season. The adjoining Henry Ford Museum, an extensive collection of automotive and other transportation vehicles are featured. Although the Village and Museum are national tourist attractions, Detroiters get special recognition--season memberships are available, and horse drawn sleigh rides through the grounds are featured at Christmas-time.
Detroit is the Renaissance Center -- "RenCen," the waterfront complex, is larger than New York's Rockefeller Center. Its towering glass and steel structure (a 72-story Marriott Hotel with four adjacent office towers and two new towers) is an architectural tribute to the city's rebirth and to the Detroit investors with the wisdom and vision to build it.
Detroit is Belle Isle -- a 982-acre scenic island located in the Detroit River, 1.5 miles upriver from the heart of downtown. The park is an enchanting combination of great variety including a Children's Zoo, frequent free concerts, canoeing on lagoons, biking and running on wooded trails, a Nature Center, an Aquarium, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, a Conservatory, Greenhouses, and a vast picnic area.
And Lots More!
The educational opportunities at Wayne State University are not limited to the traditional campus boundaries as the Cultural Center with the city's leading museums and centers of creativity and learning bordering the campus. Directly adjacent to the main campus is the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. Containing more than two million volumes, this spacious building is distinguished for its Fine Arts Department with 500,000 prints, famed Burton Historical Collection, and the world's largest Automotive History Collection. The Library also contains a complete set of U.S. patents as well as a wealth of scientific literature. Across Woodward Avenue from the library is the Detroit Institute of Arts, the nation's fourth largest art museum, containing 101 galleries, including some of the world's most significant art treasures. The Art Institute is more than just a museum, however, it is a complete cultural center by itself. Nearly every day finds some special inexpensive event in progress. Tuesdays and Thursdays feature jazz concerts in a bistro atmosphere. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings it's the Detroit Film Theatre, featuring classic film treasures from the past. Saturday mornings and afternoons feature the Detroit Youth Theatre with puppet shows, musicals, and plays. The Sunday morning "Brunch with Bach" is a fun experience combining breakfast and classical music.
To the north of the Art Institute is the Children's Museum, with its own planetarium, the International Institute, with its ethnic displays and ethnic lunches, and the Merrill-Palmer Institute, pioneering in the area of children's educational research. To the east are the Detroit Community Musical School, the Center for Creative Studies, a top-rated art school housed in an architectural wonder which resembles a "Tinker Toy" castle, and the Museum of African-American History.
Adjacent to the Library is the Detroit Historical Museum. Here one can stroll back through three generations on the streets of "Old Detroit".
The Detroit Science Center is undergoing an extensive renovation and modernization. It features several "hands-on" exhibits. Designed for people of all ages, its exhibits range from experiments with optics and sound to models of some of America's space achievements, including authentic space capsules.
In September and December the Cultural Center throws collective parties for the city. Streets are closed to traffic and it's one grand open house with refreshments thrown in. To make certain that everyone can enjoy this gem of the city, admission to all museum is either free, or at most, a voluntary contribution.
Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River, is but five minutes away via the lofty Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Customs clearance is rapid and simple. Detroit's sister city is warm and friendly. It is an excellent place for specialty shopping and dining, and Windsor's lovely riverfront park is the ideal site from which to enjoy the impressiveness of Detroit's Renaissance Center and the downtown skyline. Neighborly relations between these international sister cities are climaxed each summer by the unique International Freedom Festival held in joint celebration of Dominion Day (July 1) and Independence Day (July 4) featuring many cultural and recreational events. The highlight of this festival is a gigantic fireworks display--one of the world's largest--which is staged from several barges anchored in the Detroit River. This spectacular event annually attracts hundreds of thousands of onlookers on both shores and the downtown area is closed to vehicular traffic to accommodate them. Windsor is also a stepping stone to additional Canadian attractions, including historic Amhurstburg, the world-famous Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, and the northern shore of Lake Erie. An outstanding attraction in the mind of Detroit-area birdwatchers and naturalists is Point Pelee National Park, a scenic peninsula combining marshlands, woodlands and beaches, which swarms with migrating birds in spring and fall.
The vast Metropark System is ever popular with Wayne State students and faculty. The 10 parks are huge (more than 15,000 acres total and growing) and are located throughout a five county region of Southeastern Michigan circling the Detroit area. Attractions include nature study centers, swimming beaches, boating and sailing centers, picnic facilities, camping areas, fishing and winter sports activities. The admission fee is small and the parks are maintained in a spotless condition. If one chooses to "escape" for a day, the Metroparks offer a good route.
For the winter buff, the entire state of Michigan offers skiing at its finest. There are extensive cross-country ski trails (several hundred miles within the Metroparks alone) as well as 100 ski runs of varying difficulty within an hour's drive of the Detroit metropolitan area.
Of course, the surrounding suburban communities' recreational and cultural activities, play an important role among members of the Wayne State community. Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester offers fine theatre as well as many outdoor summer concerts (including those by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which maintains its summer home at Meadow Brook). Pine Knob is a popular outdoor concert pavilion featuring pop, rock, and jazz music. The Cranbrook Institute of Science and Academy of Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills provide an excellent family learning and entertainment environment in a beautiful wooded setting. Likewise the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak is an extensive and ever-popular attraction.
All in all, Detroit is full of beauty, activities, and fun. It is a good place to be.