Shopping in Detroit: New Center Eatery

For the people who live, work, and shop in the New Center Area, there is a cute little cafe right on West Grand Blvd. near Woodward that serves delicious food in a no-frills atmosphere.  The New Center Eatery specializes in chicken and waffles, a Southern "delicacy". Sandwiches, burgers, salmon, grits, omelets, steak and eggs, and other entrees are available, but the big, moist, chicken wings served with hot syrup on fluffy waffles are worth the $2.00 fee to park in the nearby lot.

Hungry yet?  I am...I'll be back in a couple of hours...yum!

New Center Eatery
3100 West Grand Boulevard
Detroit MI 48202
(313) 875-0088

Detroit's Unique Neighborhoods: Woodbridge

Woodbridge is a historic neighborhood in Detroit, originally developed along a streetcar line on the near-Westside. Located near Downtown, Midtown, New Center, and the Cultural Center, Woodbridge today is a growing and thriving residential and mixed-use neighborhood successfully blending the old with the new.

Many of the historic homes, built between 1870 and 1920 as single-family and two-family residences, are a variety of nineteenth-century architectural styles, including: Queen Anne, Colonial, and Georgian Revival. Stores, offices, bed-and-breakfasts, and art galleries are intermixed around the commercial districts on Grand River, Trumbull, Fourteenth Street, and 12th Street (Rosa Parks Boulevard). The neighborhood is located about two miles from Downtown between Grand River Avenue and the John C. Lodge Freeway.

New homes are also now part of Woodbridge: Woodbridge Estates consists of condomininums, townhouses, and single family homes with streets named after Motown Legends. It is located right off the Lodge Freeway and is another example of new housing stock and the regentrification of Detroit while preserving history.


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Shopping in Detroit: Facets of ToddMichael Custom Jewelry

 Custom-made Jewelry right here in Detroit. Although the economy is in crisis at this writing, there are still Detroiters shopping. Sweetest Day is coming up soon, and there are always weddings, birthdays, holidays, and "just-for-me" occasions.

 

Facets by ToddMichael is a beautifully unique high-end jewelry store located right in the heart of Detroit in the Fisher Building in the New Center Area. Facets has been in business for several years in the same location and is open from 10 am to 5 pm Mondays through Fridays and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays. On "Theatre Nights", when there are shows at the Fisher Theatre, Facets usually is open until 8 pm.

Walking into Facets is like walking into another world, away from the bad news of the day, and into beauty and serenity. The services include custom-made pieces and one-of-a-kind designer jewelry of the highest quality. Free, validated parking is available in the Fisher Theatre Lot next to the Fisher Building.

3011 W. Grand Blvd.
125 Fisher Building
Detroit, MI 48202
(313)  871-0030
facetstm@msn.com

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The BizR Collection

Yes, there is the Somerset Collection in Troy, but we have great "Collections" here in the "D", too!

If you're looking for great clothes, shoes, hats, and accessories that scream "Detroit!", head on over to the New Center Area right on the corner of The Boulevard and Second.



Biz-R accepts all major credit cards; shoes sizes available range from 6 - 12. You'll also find "Sunday Goin' to Meeting" suits and hats, boots, sandals, and the all important accessories.

Back "in the day", the space where Biz-R is now was occupied by the "old-school" stores we remember: Winkelman's, Crowley's, even Gantos! But those stores are long gone now, and Biz-R has taken up the mantle of "Shop in Detroit" for well over a decade. According to the owner, Biz-R is here to stay!

Just what we love to hear!
Happy Shopping in the "D"!

Old-School Family-owned Hardware Store Right Here in the "D"

In connection with my 1st "Detroit Neighborhoods" post about an area with many homes more than 100 years old, I want to tell you about a hardware store tailor-made for owners of historic homes and restored lofts.

Walking into Detroit Hardware, located at 6432 Woodward just south of "the Boulevard", is akin to stepping back in time several decades. Uneven wooden plank floors, glass front display cases, a vintage tin ceiling with ceiling fans, two floors connected with a somewhat rickety staircase, rows and rows of nails, nuts and bolts, old-fashioned washboard, hard-to-find plumbing fixtures greet grateful DIY-ers and contractors.

Most of all, there are wonderful, helpful men and women who actually know every inch of the store and take the time to answer every question. Whether you need that whistling "thingy" for the top of your pressure cooker, clawfeet for your antique bathtub, extra keys cut, or even a hunting or fishing license, you'll find what you're looking for at Detroit Hardware.

We in the "D" are certainly glad that one of the "big-box" home improvement centers decided to locate one of their stores in the City, but we are equally glad to have a delightfully charming, family-owned and operated real neighborhood hardware store in the Woodward Gateway Retail District within the Midtown/New Center area.

You can enter the store from Woodward, or park in lot behind the store off Milwaukee and enter through the creaky steel back door. The beautiful and distinctive red-and-white striped awning on the storefront on Woodward was purchased a few years ago with funds obtained from the New Center Council; funds raised partially through the annual Cityfest.

For more information and hours, call 313.875.0838

What Are You Doing This Weekend?

There are so many wonderful events happening every weekend in and around Detroit, but how about joining me at the annual celebration of the historic New Center Area of Midtown: The Comerica Cityfest?

The Cityfest, formerly known as the "Tastefest" is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The festival started out as a fundraiser for the New Center Council, which supports the neighborhood servives provided by the New Center Council. This is the 10th year that the Cityfest/Tastefest has been sponsored by Comerica.

Admission is free; "Taste Tickets" cost $10 for 16 tickets. The extended hours this year are Wednesday - Saturday: 11:30 - 11:00 pm; on Sunday: 11:30 - 8:00 pm.

Over 60 performers will be at the Festival which showcases local food and culture, as well as local, national, and international performance artists. The Cityfest will even be "going green": rejecting Styrofoam containers, and using 100% natural fiber bags and recycled paper.

Award-winning local interior designer and fiber artist Carole Harris will be having a open house for the New Center location of her company, the Harris Design Group.









Entertainment lovers will especially enjoy seeing local poet/spoken-word legend Khary Kimani Turner,









old-skool crooner Billy Paul,









and Funkmaster George Clinton; at least those are three shows I will definitely be seeing.

For more information on the 2008 Comerica Cityfest, click here for the full website.

(All photos except of the performers/artists are courtesy of New Center Council, Inc.)

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