Had breakfast with a mover/shaker pal at Mercury Coffee Bar this morning, which I am continuing to love. We talked about how irritating all the marketing of Detroit stuff continues to be, and just how ass-backwards the thinking of the people holding the pursestrings is in this town.
On the one hand it is always nice to know folks who are on the ground running like my friend and who feel the same way about that stupid time-wasting. On the other hand, it doesn't change the fact that right this minute there could be some dude in pleated pants out there deciding it's a good idea to throw half a million bucks at another website to attract the creative class.
We segued into how genius it would be if the downstairs of Mercury stays non-smoking when they get their beer/wine license. Which they should do since they are all foodie and everything.
Left there to drive around and find a place to get some wi-fi and ended up in Hamtamck. On the way up here saw another closed up big old building half devoured by scrappers, what the fuck is this city gonna do about that? It's insane. I never cry a tear when I hear of one getting electrocuted, I will tell you that much. If that makes me a bad person then fine.
Angry, I drove through some of the Ham-town neighborhoods, drove down Jos. Campau, went by my brother's house from when he first got married, watched kids playing in schoolyards - that all calmed me down a lot and put me in a good mood again. And I saw this, which was awesome:
A sign of tough times.
But read the fine print.
Ended up at Cafe 1923 to work. It's actually my first visit here - I've shied away in the past because they allow smoking, but mercifully there's no one smoking here now. They've really got their act together, and it's more coffee-housey than the Rowland Cafe. So here's another good coffee spot in Detroit (well, Hamtramck is technically inside Detroit). And oddly, the people I've seen here are mostly quite well-dressed. So if you are wondering where the nicely-dressed people in Detroit are, they are at Cafe 1923.
I do like Hamtramck a lot.
OK, another mover/shaker friend just walked in (dressed fabulously) so I gotta go.
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4 comments:
Mercury Coffee Bar has wi-fi. But they don't really encourage people to hang out and work there. But they do have it.
FYI: Whiskey in the Jar and Three Star BBQ (both in Hamtramck) also have the wi-fi.
hamtramck must have the highest concentration of dollar stores in the states. well, until now.
You know what this town really needs - another organization or conference geared towards attracting the Creative Class. The more organizations and meaningless marketing campaigns, the better.
Oh, and Make It Here - I love how this could have been an opportunity for small, hip, indie graphic artists and web designers to get a good account and build business that was shoved off to Crains, the arbitrators of cool.
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