My girlfriend and I are planning to move to Detroit in May. We currently live in Portland, Oregon and are attending law school. We graduate at the end of April and will immediately be heading to Detroit to study for the bar exam which takes place late in July. Once we pass the bar, fingers crossed, we intend to open a small firm that will focus on providing legal services for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Neither of us has ever been to Detroit, but we have been obsessively researching for the past few months. My girlfriend has a 3-day trip planned to Detroit in early March to get a feel for the city and we were hoping to get some suggestions of how best to utilize her time there. We have read about all of the go-to destinations mentioned in every Detroit news story, but we were hoping to get some ideas from locals of their favorite places and activities that exemplify “their” Detroit. Also, if there are people she should try to meet while there, we would love to hear about them too.

We will likely be renting at first, with plans to buy when the right situation arises. We would really appreciate any ideas about possible properties or neighborhoods. We have been mostly looking at Midtown and Corktown, but have entertained the idea of Woodbridge or the Villages. We would likely need a house with a yard, as we have two dogs. We will also be looking for office space for our firm.

A few more details about us: both in our early 30’s, no kids or plans to have kids, love good dive bars and live music, adventurous eaters, interested in art, art culture, architecture, interior design, etc.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.