Corktown one of 10 great urban neighborhoods.

*to explore.

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinati...ods/49932996/1

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Motor City may have hit hard times, but it still has some bright spots. Corktown, the city's oldest neighborhood, is on the rise, attracting artists, musicians and professionals. "People live there for a fraction of what they would pay in New York or Washington," Florida says. "It has interesting shops and young people starting studios and music venues." Visitors come from far and wide just to try famed Slows Bar-B-Q.

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http://i.usatoday.net/travel/gallery...horizontal.jpg

Good to see Slow's get some national mention.

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Originally Posted by Detroitej72

Good to see Slow's get some national mention.

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Sarcasm? :confused:

I, too, am glad that the plucky underdog, Slows, is finally being recognized by the media. And three cheers for the national media for finally getting Slows on their radar screen. ;)

Eh, it's important to have anchor locations like that. They serve as a hub from which other things branch off. People go to Slows and see a bar on the corner, or a little shop, and the good business vibes spread.

Just about all positive press is a good thing.

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Originally Posted by BrushStart

Sarcasm? :confused:

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I was just stirring the pot a little. :)

Interesting that Corktown is included on this list. The carefully-cropped picture above would reveal a very different impression if you zoomed out.

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Originally Posted by XDetroitr

Interesting that Corktown is included on this list. The carefully-cropped picture above would reveal a very different impression if you zoomed out.

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I agree. While I do enjoy Corktown...I wouldn't call it one of the best urban neighborhoods. It needs a lot of work to fill in the gaps along the north side of Mich Ave., and the south side of Mich. Ave. is pretty ugly. Sans a few cool bars and restaurants...there aint shit there.

What Planner said.

Honestly, it's like night and day comparing Corktown to the other 9.

Check out Ohio City in Cleveland. It's like Corktown but in another dimension. Imagine if we didn't have urban renewal, the widening of Michigan Avenue, the destruction of Western Market, the freeways of the lodge, 96, and 75, and Tiger Stadium [[value of parking lots) - we might be as nice as Ohio City. They also have a historic private school tucked right into the neighborhood that looks to be thriving and you can't discount the Great Lakes Brewery compound either.

In other words...what Planner said.

The Author of this piece, Richard Florida, often strolls my hood in Toronto. He is a first-class twit and self proclaimed Urban Guru. That being said, his say is loud as hell and nice for your city.

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Originally Posted by jayclarkreid

The Author of this piece, Richard Florida, often strolls my hood in Toronto. He is a first-class twit and self proclaimed Urban Guru.

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Have you offered to blurb his next book?

This said, Detroit is evolving into a sort of acid test for his "cool cities" theory—can a decent-sized creative class revive even a city that is really seriously down and out? His other examples [[Austin comes to mind) have been sleepy places but not severely deindustrialized ones. I think he's trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy here, but if it works out, more power to him.

When I posted this I thought Corktown was the odd one on the list. Nice neighborhood, but basically as said, just Slows and a few strips along Michigan Ave. Here's what you see when you pan just a few feet from the photo above. http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.331419...,41.39,,0,-6.8

Personally, I would have picked Midtown, but it didn't seem to fit the list in a way even though it should. But then the list seemed weird anyway.

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Originally Posted by jayclarkreid

The Author of this piece, Richard Florida, often strolls my hood in Toronto. He is a first-class twit and self proclaimed Urban Guru. That being said, his say is loud as hell and nice for your city.

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I totally agree with the guru bit. This guy is delivering his spiel in hopes of getting hired by civic administrations as consultant on how to bring success to a metropolis. His pop advice is not the only one around; Clotaire Rapaille, french guru who promotes his consultancy with a portfolio he developed via Procter and Gamble, Chrysler and Shell signed a contract with Quebec City's mayor to find ways of promoting the city as a modern dynamic urban place as opposed to the cliché of historic old citadel. Nothing came of it in spite of a big bill for the taxpayer at a time when QC already had the lowest unemployment rate of all canadian cities, and it is relatively booming.

I would rather have a committee of strong minds in urban planning and other related fields deal with Detroit's problems along with a civic administration than a single flamboyant consultant it seems.

I think Richard Florida's wife is from Ferndale, so he as a soft spot in his heart for us.

Come on, Corktown has a "history", it has homes that are occupied, it has Roosevelt Park
[[and a super music festival this Saturday) it has the famed sports bar Nemo's, it is home to the Maltese Benelovant Society, the Gaelic League/Irish American Club, a couple of nice neighborhood bars, Casey's, LJ's, Hoots, Lager House with great food and music, Astro Coffee, Oblivion's, a super sport shop [[I always liked Designated Hatter better than it's current name) a music studio, hair salon, etc. And we do have Slow's to thank for being there and bringing people into our area.

My wife and I are planning a move in the next 6 months. [[she is a citizen and sponsoring me for permanent residency) Corktown is where we'd like to be. Funnily enough, the neighbourhood Florida blurbs about in Toronto, Queen Street West, is already finished. It is overpriced condos[[names like Bohemian Embassy) and kids from the suburbs getting drunk at the bars we used to go to. If you're in the market for a 200 dollar shirt there are ten places to go. If you want an apple, go fish...

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Originally Posted by jayclarkreid

My wife and I are planning a move in the next 6 months. [[she is a citizen and sponsoring me for permanent residency) Corktown is where we'd like to be. Funnily enough, the neighbourhood Florida blurbs about in Toronto, Queen Street West, is already finished. It is overpriced condos[[names like Bohemian Embassy) and kids from the suburbs getting drunk at the bars we used to go to. If you're in the market for a 200 dollar shirt there are ten places to go. If you want an apple, go fish...

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Yup, the developer says; "experience the vibrancy of Bohemian Embassy". I would add: Stick middle finger to back of throat...

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Originally Posted by jayclarkreid

My wife and I are planning a move in the next 6 months. [[she is a citizen and sponsoring me for permanent residency) Corktown is where we'd like to be. Funnily enough, the neighbourhood Florida blurbs about in Toronto, Queen Street West, is already finished. It is overpriced condos[[names like Bohemian Embassy) and kids from the suburbs getting drunk at the bars we used to go to. If you're in the market for a 200 dollar shirt there are ten places to go. If you want an apple, go fish...

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With Bachmann, Perry and their ilk running for the presidency, you might want to rethink permanent residency in the U.S.

I'm thinking about permanent residency north of the border....

^^ what he said ^^

It is really interesting that some people would rather move here than live in TO. I would club baby seals [[not really) to live in TO.

If you want to spend a million on a home, experience the worst gridlock on the continent and work 60 hours a week, come on up!!!