about rapidly gentrifying urban outliers like Staten Island
or rapidly deconstructing clusters like the other 135.8 miles of Detroit.
Urban observers who can write are especially welcome
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Series: Food Map of Detroit-1970 What replaced the favorites as of 2018
Food Map of Detroit 1970's - what replaced the favorites as of 2018
is a result of looking at a reddit-type site called Detroit Yes!
Someone started a thread about restaurants they had gone to- mostly ones that were around in the 60s and 70s. I recall having a senior year lunch with my graduating high school class at Chin Tiki. Some of us were legal and got bombed. I was only 16 at the time,and I had access to a station wagon so I drove down the Lodge , got off near Wayne State University and sang I Am Woman with my classmates. (By the time we had this event we were all sick of the song) Even though I attended WSU I never could afford to eat away from home. Chin Tiki was definitely out of my price range. Apparently Muhammad Ali, Joe Dimaggio and Streisand hung out there.
Here is what Wikipedia states about Chin Tiki " It was a tiki-themed supper club, nightclub and banquet hall established in 1967 in Detroit, Michigan and closed in 1980, later demolished in 2009.The restaurant was famous for being a film location for Eminem's 8 Mile."
The 2018 equivalent is not trying to do a faux polynesian feast. Hawaiian pizza and black ink does not count...Polynesia is not Asian,really-so there is no equivalent...
"At Liang's Oriental Barbeque — located in one of Madison Heights' many strip malls that contain a variety of Asian eateries — that tradition is on display in the glossy whole hogs, ducks, and chickens hanging from hooks above the counter, and the chewy beef belly, intestines, and other offal simmering in gravy steam pans.
One of the great bummers of eating in Detroit is that we lack much in the way of diversity and — debatably — authenticity when it comes to Chinese food and the cuisine of most other Asian countries. There's a lot more to Chinese cuisine than Sichuan or Cantonese, and Liang's is a rare departure from the Midwestern American-Chinese to which we're accustomed."
Well! I can not wait to go here! It reminds me of my old neighborhood on 8th avenue in Sunset Park Brooklyn I am so missing crispy ducks hacked and put with some dumplings for breakfast for under $5. Tea was free... Cuisine tended to be Northern Chinese - Congee, Dumplings stuffed with turnips and bits of pork, spicy omelettes...
Back in the 60's and 70's Cantonese ruled The equivalent in 2018 is other parts of China.Like Sichuan
Again quoting Detroit Metro Times food writer Tom Perkins there is Sichuan - that other province on the coast
"The term "Chinese food" covers a lot of turf, but perhaps the most familiar wing of the country's cuisine is that from the Sichuan province. An Americanized take on Sichuan (then called "Szechuan") spread around the country in the 1970s before restaurants on the coasts started serving more authentic and traditional dishes in the 1990s. Unfortunately for Detroiters, little of our Sichuan cuisine evolved. So when we eat the province's food here, it's often only a hint of the real thing."
I admit I am spoiled having spent time in China (real chinese food is not like American chinese food )
I am so tempted to catch the flight at DTW direct to Beijing. In the meantime I am heading to the suburbs of Detroit to get my fix. Hope Mongolian Dumplings (Borts)
In 2017, Jeff Li, Zhanying Hu, along with Paul Gaines founded Detroit Chinatown LLC. The company is working with Detroit government, Chinese government and investors to construct a new Chinatown in the city limit of Detroit. The cost estimation of the project is 350 million USD. The new Chinatown is planned to complete by 2022.
Series: Food Map of Detroit –the non gentrified version part 1 of a series
Food Map of Detroit –the non gentrified version ???What does that mean the non- gentrified version? Well lets explore all the food venues that hung in there after the factory closed,a la Detropia Like that bar that stillmakes soul food and has Live Jazz
SOme of these places are using locally sourced gardens now. Some of this is organic, but all of it requires that you walk some / ride the Dequindre cut – to burn some calories. What is so bad about that?
Motor City Soul Food is in the hood where I grew up. NorthWest Side, not far from the old Jewish Community Center. This place reminds me of New Years Day at my Aunts- Hopping John ,(Beans and Rice) , Chitterlings , mac and cheese, Collard Greens, fried chicken, potato salad, cornbread, pies, yams … like a church picnic
joint was not here…It was fun coming back to the hood – I knew the old Karps Drugstore was gone and Tom’s Tavern was still serving suds … if you like dives do stop by …7 mile near Wyoming
Do not be surprised by the plexiglass, you get your food and take it home of course. Why ? It is enough to spend $$$ on the rent/mortgage and the supplies and the food – which is why the place has not changed to satisfy those who need furniture … You should be cool, be hip and buy the product, then take your butt home.
I wonder how to live next to something that needs to be restored or torn down.... I would prefer more tiny house projects developed for the formerly homeless and more avant garde approaches to using space once land is cleared. Detroit is not ranked high in healthy walkable neighborhoods. I do not know if its the design /crime/or car culture that makes this place diabetes central.But one thing I do know- Detroit could be the Number One 21st century city of the future. Not suburban, not urban, not inner, not outer but something for all . I call it NeoUrban. A new living arrangement of people , living in connected neighborhoods. Connected walkable, safe with light rail for distances over 2 miles. See this fantasy transportation map?
Disclosure: I write a blog called diabeticslifeline.com I know that diabetes is managed by walking...
Also
My blogging is affected by the following --- I can dream of better things.
I was a kid growing up in a faux Cape Cod with a covered porch / Fixer Upper in Conant Gardens ...I used to look out my window over the city and imagine what it would look like with less houses, and winding lanes and lamps twinkling through the zillion trees. I saw the ravages of Dutch Elm disease, and left before the center fell @ 1985 for NYC. I am now back in Detroit with a unique perspective ...Isn't strange that I could see this city laid out differently years before it actually ended up with less houses?
So put in the twinkling lanes and zillion trees but add houses people can afford till death if need be...A thought : Once the mortgage is paid WHY can't we keep the taxes down? According to what I have been seeing since I left the very expensive East Coast and gentrified precincts of greater NYC ,
Detroiters pay way more than their houses are worth. I live in Oakland county and its also crazy here- we in Oakland are often paying more taxes than owners in Brooklyn Heights mansion owners who are blocks from the Riverfront with that crazy quintillion dollar view...
WHY SO MUCH $$$$ for Less in Mitten Land???????????
If the house is tiny /the taxes should be tiny -until your time is up! if only they would Chant this in the streets.... -regenerate cities- go tiny /rise up Detroit/time to be shiny/lets go people/lets be lively Disclosure: I have seen the marches in Buenos Aires circa 2003 - 3 points This is what will it take to deliver some fairness to the 99%-
Try to sell so that Tiny houses paid in full (no mortgages ) and at the same time , homeowners of tiny houses billed yearly for taxes held to a rule of 15 % of the occupants future earnings(social security, etc) No Increases!!
Use the 15% taxed of all homeowners of green/tiny houses for only 1 thing -the $$$ pays for school ... other taxes levied from other possible sources go to other structural needs of a city , and are subject to legislation
Social Contract of the Neo-urban city: All house taxes Must support the Year Around school for anyone who wants to learn (Mandatory 1-12 grades) . Learning as facilitated by Free Internet will be made available for all future generations to be educated to a BS or BA level Just make it non negotiable and not something voters wrangle over : Millages are stupid.
The third coast is the trendsetter for the rest of the country, and Detroit is the neo-urban leader...
Why should Detroit go tiny since NYC is not going tiny ? East Coast Cities like NY are going up (not tiny...) NY is building above existing buildings like Bladerunner - using the air space . (Maybe has to do with the rising ocean...) See the picture below??. I lived right around the corner from this house in Brooklyn . The other boros: Staten Island, Queens, The Bronx& Brooklyn are not as overbuilt as Manhattan .The possibility of space sans demolition makes these areas open to experimental container green housing. Puerto Rico take note ...Cheaper and Hurricane Proof Housing is available using your imagination and going tiny with railroad containers -cheaper than traditional materials (and can be installed quickly...before the next hurricane season......
see the video below in Williamsburg Brooklyn
(I lived near here in 2011, and passed by it often...)
If tiny is the new black then Square feet is the new bitcoin - unpredictable income equals instability for fboth the 1% and the 99 %.
Why spotlight Diana and Aretha ?
Entertainers make $$$ until they do not -which is when the entertainment is no longer hot, and enters a nostalgic phase. That is when the downsizing should occur - 2 homes and a lot can be a bit much- no?
Having a lot in Palmer Woods off the Golf course is also sensible.
Having a home in Bloomfield Hills is also sensible.
But not being able to maintain all three at the level of no worries would be the goal, especially as one gets older and works less. Something has to give. Guess what is teetering/ hovering above the swirling edge of the default drain? Guess where the property of the stars is that requires a Small infusion of liquid money in order to keep it off the Taxman/Auction list?? 18281 Hamilton Avenue- 1 house from 7 mile is just a cute lot Only .58 of an acre - the right size to put a tiny home cluster of 2 or 3 homes
and give some formerly homeless a chance to start anew ...not too far from the University District and the 8 mile border- Relatively safe- near the 12th precinct police station also. One less thing to worry about, and an opportunity to do good...
Aretha's Lot......Could look like thisProject called True North Near Wayne State University
in any case, the lot is around the corner from the
Frank Lloyd Wright home on 7 mile:
The Dorothy H. Turkel House is a private residence located at 2760 West 7 Mile Road in north-central Detroit, Michigan, within the Palmer Woods neighborhood. - wikipedia