Shaping Up Detroit

One of things that has been on my to-do list with this blog (which I’m sure you can imagine is pretty long at this point) is to write about gay and lesbian business owners in Detroit.  In the first piece I wrote for Model D back in 2007 I talked about some of the gay-owned businesses in the city, and what great ones they are.  But where do we stand four years later?  Is there anyone new?  It turns out that yes, there are, and I am going to start talking about them, beginning with Kimo Frederickson of True Body Fitness.

I first met Kimo last year at Doggy Style.  As you may be aware, fitness is not my milieu, so when I found out he was a personal trainer I naturally tried to get away as quickly as possible to spare myself any judgment.  Well, several friends started working out at TBF and it turns out it is like the least judgmental place ever.  Which I guess I would have known if I’d looked at their website where it says in big letters “Fitness without the attitude” but you know, gym websites are not high on my browsing list. 

I probably never would have gotten to know Kimo unless Liz Blondy (of Canine To Five, Detroit’s best dog daycare, boarding and grooming facility) hadn’t said to me, “Dude, you won Hatch Detroit and are going to have your picture taken a million times next year.  You will need to look good.”   So I finally got my act together and met with Kimo on a professional level. 

Now this isn’t meant to be a SGD fitness report, but it’s kind of hard to separate out my experience from writing about True Body Fitness.  So let me just say it’s going fine, don't expect anything crazy and we will never speak about me working out again.

Kimo actually started True Body Fitness in 2008 in a residential space in Howell.  Can you imagine how bleak that was? (Nothing personal, Kimo)  So at the end of 2010 he made the big leap and not only moved to Detroit, but rented a ground-floor studio space in Corktown on Michigan Avenue, set it all up and started putting together all the components of a full-fledged fitness studio.

The studio is awesome.  I’d just assumed it was going to be some small-ish crappy drywalled space but it’s all brick walls and mirrors and high ceilings and lots of light.  It’s in that commercial strip on the north side of Michigan Avenue just before Trumbull, the one with all the brick buildings and green awnings.  Watch for it the next time you drive out of downtown.

Kimo’s main thing is the one-on-one fitness instruction, which I can attest really kicks your ass.  He’s so nice about it though, not so much in the way he’s a total prick making you finish a set that is really fucking hard but in the way he makes you feel like you genuinely did a good job when you finish.  Personal training isn’t totally cheap, though, and I get it isn’t for everyone.  What is cool about TBF is that there is an entire separate room where you can get your Zumba or yoga on.  I could give the whole spiel but you should take a look at the class schedule here to see the offerings.

I asked Kimo why he opened up in Detroit, and his answer wasn’t unexpected.  He wanted to feel connected to a diverse community and do his small part to make Detroit a better place.  He has had a really great response, especially to the classes.  One very nice idea he had is the “Fit to Give” classes, where the proceeds from those particular classes each month benefit a designated charity.  

Overall, he told me it’s the people that are the best thing about being open in Detroit, and how overall it’s been great being a new-ish member of the community.  I know that’s a common refrain, but it does make me happy to hear that people are coming to town, genuinely working hard to build something and having a good experience.

I have to throw this in though: the other day we were talking about this whole “gentrification” discussion that’s going on (which is not really about gentrification but that’s another blog post) and he told me about an email he got when he opened.  Some woman from Corktown wrote to let him know that she and her friends viewed him as some kind of interloper from the suburbs and she and her friends were carpooling to Dearborn for their yoga class.  Just to let him know.  It turns out it’s some white chick originally from northern Michigan somewhere.  If that doesn’t sum up how ridiculous that whole “outsiders moving in” bullshit is getting, I don’t know what does.

Anyway, back to Kimo.  I haven’t even talked about the gay aspect of things, and I guess other than the fact that he has a lot of gay clients, there really isn’t one.  He’s just an out gay man running his business in the city, and since he has a boyfriend he isn’t even bitter about the gay social scene. Kind of refreshing!

I know some of you are making some New Year’s resolutions to be more fit, so why don’t you check out some classes at True Body Fitness and support a sister while you’re at it! Oh and check out TBF on Facebook for lots of studio pics and more info!

[Oh, and Kimo wanted me to ask: TBF is looking for a gay-friendly bootcamp instructor, dance instructor and maybe a trainer.  If you know anyone cool and city-loving, have them email Kimo here!]

Downtown Roundup for Pride

Motor City Pride weekend is here!  I was talking to a bunch of friends last night and everyone is so excited - it's like we live in a different city.  Last year I was in San Francisco for their Pride, and while I readily admit the level of planning and number of festivities was much greater there, the anticipation for the event in Detroit this year seems about on par with that.  And if that's not progress I don't know what is.

The Pride Project was an overwhelming success.  Forty-five independent businesses from Corktown, Midtown, Woodbridge, Eastern Market, New Center and the Central Business District participated, and together as the Greater Downtown Independent Merchants we raised over $7000 for Motor City Pride. The group is a sponsor at the Gold Level, the highest sponsorship level this year!

Please visit our extra special website to see all the great downtown businesses that chipped in.  Visit them this weekend while you are out and about, and throughout the year!  They are our friends and a fantastically supportive community, and I can't send them enough love.

OK, so onto the festivities!  There is a lot going on at Hart Plaza, most notably a bunch of us city-dwellers will be hanging out at our booth in Sponsor's Row, just as you enter the festival.  Stop by and say hello!

But there's also a lot going around downtown of special interest for Pride attendees as well. Here is a rundown of things you'll want to take advantage of this weekend.

FRIDAY
Visit my little contribution to downtown's alternative gay scene tonight!  The very special Motor City Pride edition of Doggy Style takes place at the Park Bar from 9-2, with a painstakingly curated mix of highly entertaining music videos.  All the cool kids will be there!

SATURDAY
If you head downtown for the Saturday component of Pride, it's a quick two blocks to the Grand Trunk Pub.  They are always a good spot to visit and as a special extra for Pride, DJ GM (or as you may know him better, Greg Mudge, proprietor of Mudgie's Deli in Corktown) will be spinning all afternoon and evening.  They have a great patio, great eats and if you are a beer lover, they have fifteen craft beers on tap.  Which are also great!

Of special interest, Saturday is the date for the annual Historic Indian Village Home and Garden Tour, which is always lovely and you can hit before Pride starts Saturday afternoon.  Tickets are $20 there is more info at their website.  See Sunday's activities for more info on tours of the Villages!

Saturday night, another mainstay on the downtown scene, Fierce Hot Mess, is having its third anniversary party AND Official Pride Afterparty at Oslo!  "Messy dance floor decadence, fierce music and hot people, converging in one place to create a distinct Detroit experience that is sure to be remembered."   Our favorite dj's, Mike Trombley and Chuck Hampton (aka Gay Marvine) always play the most amazing music!

If you are looking to mix things up on Saturday night, you can also check out the Cupcake Collective at the Old Miami, where they present All OUT Detroit: A Very Special Cruise.  They will be playing electro, disco, house, hip-hop and soul all night, and part of the proceeds go to benefit the Ruth Ellis Center.

SUNDAY
Sunday morning is the all-new Pride parade!  It starts at Griswold north of Lafayette (think Lafayette Coney Island area) and goes down to Hart Plaza.  Who knows what it will be like?  Probably awesomely home-grown.  I'll be walking with the "Robert M. Nelson presents a Salute to Robert M. Nelson, with Robert M. Nelson and the Detroit friends of Robert M. Nelson" float.  Who is Robert M. Nelson?  Find out at 11am on Sunday!

When you are at the Pride festival, make sure you check out the DJ set by Macho City's Mike Trombley at 5 on Sunday!

Wind down after Pride at Cafe D'Mongo's!  Larry is opening especially for us "in honor of your parade" and I expect a lively afterparty at everyone's fave watering hole will be the perfect way to end a fun weekend.  Come by for drinks and Robert M. Nelson will show you how he puts the "easy" in "speakeasy."

SPECIALS
Some of the sponsors in the Pride Program are making special offers just for Motor City Pride attendees.

Wheelhouse Detroit is located right on the riverfront, and you can rent a bike and do a little exploring.  It's so fun to bike around downtown and Sunday in particular is supposed to be GORGEOUS.  If you show your Pride sticker (you know, the one they give you when you enter Motor City Pride) you can get 20% off rentals, so two hours is only $10 and a full day is only $25!  Those Wheelhouse girls are the best.

Avalon is giving a 10% discount off your purchase for the weekend if you tell the retail staff a piece of local or national GLBT trivia.  Which will be really easy to do if you read Tim Retzloff's great op-ed in this week's excellent issue of Between the Lines.  Buy cookies and bring them to us at Hart Plaza!

Inside Detroit, the downtown's unofficial chamber of commerce and home of the Detroit Segway tour, has a great retail shop inside the Welcome Center in Merchant's Row.  They sell tons of unique Detroit apparel and locally-made items, and they are offering 15% off in honor of Pride weekend!

ALSO
While you are at Pride, be sure to stop by the booth for The Villages of Detroit because they are offering three FREE one-hour bus tours that leave from Hart Plaza.  It won't be as in-depth as the Indian Village Home & Garden Tour on Saturday, but it will give you a great overview of all the Villages, and there will be one stop to visit a gay-owned home on the tour!

Also in the home tour category (but separate from Pride), Corktown is presenting their Historical Home & Garden Tour on Sunday from 12-5. It's not specifically for Pride but who doesn't love a home tour?

Finally, when you are at Pride, stop by the booth for the Spirit of Hope Church, where our friend Pastor Matt is running a GLBT trivia contest.  Answer questions on gay politics, music, society and religion and get a chance to win a gift card from a Detroit Pride Project business!

That's all I've got for now.  See you at Motor City Pride!

The Pride Project

For me, one of the most frustrating things to come out of the discussion about Motor City Pride moving to Hart Plaza from Ferndale was this leitmotif that Detroit is not as gay-friendly as Ferndale.  It's been mentioned in comments on Facebook (although the Motor City Pride page is pretty aggressive about removing excessively negative comments, a policy I have mixed feelings about) and covered in Between the Lines (be sure to read the comments).

Now I get where this perception comes from.  There have been widespread reports of homophobia in the African-American community in the past, and we've had several civic and community leaders make homophobic remarks over the years.  But let's compare apples to apples.

Ferndale is a community of 19,000 people covering 3.9 square miles.  Detroit is a city of 713,000 people covering 149 square miles.  But the greater downtown area, the area including the Central Business District, Corktown, the Midtown neighborhoods, Lafayette Park & adjacent areas, and Eastern Market, is roughly 16 square miles and approximately 40,000 residents. Essentially that's been my world (with the addition of the Villages and SW Detroit) and it's a better comp than the city as a whole.  And I've never lived anyplace more gay-friendly.

A little over three weeks ago this was rattling around in my brain, trying to figure out how to send the message that Detroit is actually an AWESOME place to live and be gay.  And maybe Motor City Pride moving downtown was an opportunity to show that.

The independent business community downtown is pretty tightly-knit, so I asked a couple friends if they were interested in doing a small sponsorship of Pride that we could bundle together.  And if they thought other business owners would be receptive to the idea.  It turns out they weren't just receptive, they were enthusiastic.

I could never in a million years have anticipated the positive response I received from every friend I approached.  And they approached friends too.  And in the three weeks since we started spreading the word, we've raised over $6500 from a whole slew of downtown independent merchants who are proud to be sponsors of Pride.

See the fact of the matter is, Detroit is the most welcoming city I've ever lived in - and I've been around.  Jim Geary, owner of the Woodbridge Pub, said it even better:

I think this is great for the city and a good public example of the diversity and tolerance that Detroit should be famous for. It is my experience, in the ten years I have lived here, that Detroiters are more tolerant in general, whether it be religion, race, sexual orientation or financial status, than anywhere else I have lived.

So anytime you hear someone say Detroit isn't welcoming to gays, why don't you straighten them out and mention the following list of businesses - the bars, restaurants and retailers who make Detroit as cool as it is - who put their money where their mouth is and jumped at the chance to welcome the regional gay community to Detroit.

I'll share more info about this when this little Downtown Pride Project is done.  I'm still approaching folks - these are just the people my friends and I knew personally who'd committed by last night.  If you don't see your favorite downtown spot on here, why not ask them about it? Hit me up at the email to the left, I'd love them to help roll out the gay welcome mat!

Imported from Hollywood

Let's get this out of the way first, it appears that we will get the cherished desire of the masses, a RoboCop statue.  The people have spoken.  Very specifically, some guy who owns an energy drink company in San Francisco named after Omni Consumer Products (they would be the giant corporation that built Robocop in the movie) kicked in $25,000, which pushed the project over the funding level.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the previous post.  There are really some great thoughts in there and I encourage everyone to take a moment to glance over them.

This has been a really fascinating debate.  And I do want to emphasize that - at least for those of us here in Detroit - it's been a discussion, not a battle.  Some of you in the comments section there really got a little carried away, and I think you should have a drink (nothing involving energy drinks though).  Maybe a valium. Maybe both.  I had a long chat with Jerry Paffendorf of the Imagination Station the other day that was fully casual and friendly, and what I really got out of it is that - at least from my perspective - this is about different priorities.

First off, at the end of the day it's just a Robocop statue.  It's not going to save Detroit and it's not going to ruin Detroit.  I still personally feel it is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time, but that's just me. I will be annoyed when I see it and that's the extent of it.

The things that rankle me the most are the permanence and the placement. A cast metal statue isn't easily removed when people get tired of the joke (unless it it scrapped, of course).  And there is something about taking a joke to a $50,000 extreme that really speaks to the question of priorities.  I am aware that the Imagination Station folks are open to placing the statue someplace else but as of this moment, the proposed location is still on the edge of Roosevelt Park.  I have a very hard time with the idea that any neighborhood in Detroit should have to be home to a RoboCop statue.  I guess that's what you get when you let in hipsters. Cue gentrification arguments in three ... two ... one ...

And other issues lay where they always have with this blog - about lowered standards, and trying to raise expectations.  I think the "it's art" argument is spurious, it is at best a monument to a Hollywood movie, and quite frankly for a much more appropriate location consider the Hard Rock Cafe or a shopping mall.  You can call me an elitist but I've been called worse.

From Jerry's perspective, however, this is a fantastic way to put crowd funding on the map.  They have worked very hard to raise money for local projects in the past, and they feel with the success of the RoboCop statue project they will be able to firmly establish this method of fundraising as legitimate, and it will hopefully lead to more and easier success in the future.

I am actually very pleased for them on their success in this regard.  It's hard to make something go in this town.  I just wish the vehicle for this success hadn't been something quite as polarizing as RoboCop. What's next, Kwame?

And I wish it hadn't been driven almost entirely by people outside the Detroit area.

There is no way for me to precisely track where the money is coming from, but I took a look at the list of backers this morning to do a little math.  Some people have their location listed with their names, and I do know a reasonable number of people here in Detroit.  What I discovered was that out of 1500 backers, there were 10 whose location was listed as Detroit, MI.  Additionally there were 10 people whose names I recognized, including folks affiliated with Imagination Station.  And while I didn't count specifically, there were maybe 10 others from the metro Detroit area.  So that's 2%.  Even if you take into account that many people have no location listed, what could we possibly be talking about, 10% of the backers were from the Detroit area?  I think that says a lot, and not just that we are poor.

So the question remains, will this lead to success in future projects that are not tied to some national enthusiasm over a joke?  Most Detroiters I know are not fans of this idea, will they support future Imagination Station projects?  Or has IS sacrificed some local goodwill in an effort to put themselves on the national map?

We can really only wait and see. A lot will pivot on the execution of the statue, but at the end of the day Detroit just got a present from the rest of America, and it's a gag gift.

10 Reasons Why a Robocop Statue is a Bad Idea

Someone Tweeted Mayor Bing, his office replied, and a sensation was born. In case you haven't caught wind of it yet, a movement is afoot to build a statue of Robocop in Detroit. Primarily growing through social media, there seems to be a lot of support for this “awesome” idea.  All I can say is, wow.

I don't have strong feelings about the film "Robocop," and I was as charmed as anyone when Sweet Juniper posted the pics of his son's Robocop Halloween costume. I am sure for younger folks, most of whom are newer residents to the city, a statue of this film icon from their youth seems like a really fun idea.

But building a monument to this particular character in Detroit stirs up a very deep well. So before everyone gets carried away, I just want to share with you my 10 reasons why I think the Robocop statue is a bad idea.

1. It is insulting to Detroit and to Detroiters who have lived here through the worst. The reason Detroit is the setting for Robocop is because the city is considered a hellhole. Robocop may be a man/machine who overcomes injustice, but the Detroit in that movie is no compliment. The statue would serve as a perpetual reminder that Detroit holds the distinction of being the most believable dystopia in America.

2. It's disrespectful to the police. As if there is any better symbol of a dysfunctional police force than Robocop. Good luck with your 911 response times with that statue in your front yard.

A vision of the future.

3. It's hypocritical. A major plot point in the movie is that the new “Delta City” would be built over the crime-ridden “Old Detroit.” The movie's plot does pivot on the actions of corrupt corporate overlords, but Robocop remains a tool of the corporate powers at the end. The need for a new Delta City is never in doubt.

The fact that the Imagination Station is involved is of particular interest, since co-founder and president Jeff DeBruyn has been so very vocal in the recent gentrification fear-mongering in the Corktown area (a notion that was nicely debunked by the Free Press editorial page and mlive.com's Jeff Wattrick last month). Apparently it's ok to celebrate a movie that takes for granted the need for a most severe kind of gentrification in Detroit, but it's problematic when middle-class people move into a middle-class neighborhood.

Incidentally, the Detroit Works project posted “Love that Robocop trended out yesterday” on their Facebook fan page. They need to think really hard about the decision to enter into this discussion, since they are teetering on the perception of being Omni Consumer Products, the corporation responsible for making the New Detroit in the movie, themselves.

4. It proves Martha Reeves was right. When she was elected to office a major part of her agenda was to have statues of Motown stars placed around town. She said it would make people feel good. She was rightly ridiculed for this, because what Detroit needs is substantive change, not feel-good gestures, even if it is statues of actual Detroiters who made significant cultural contributions.

Of course a statue of a fictional character, conceived and created 2000 miles away from Detroit, is a great idea and if you don't like it then you should prepare yourself to be labeled a buzzkill.

5. It's the outsider's answer to the Joe Louis fist. There is a vocal group of people who can never move past the notion that the Joe Louis fist statue is a defiant gesture aimed at the suburbs, a constant reminder in the heart of downtown that they think they were told to “hit 8 Mile Road” by a Detroit mayor.

A Robocop statue, with money that will no doubt be raised primarily from outside the city limits, can be seen as the constant reminder (potentially right in the middle of one of our more vibrant neighborhoods) that Detroit will never move past its reputation as hopelessly corrupt and crime-ridden. And will be celebrated by many more non-residents than residents, for sure. Way to put a city in its place.

6. It's derivative. Public art can be hit or miss, but even when it doesn't quite work it demonstrates the creativity of a community and the openness of a population to those creative endeavors.

Placing a statue of a movie character shows little creativity, and it actually flagrantly uses somebody else's intellectual property, whether or not this particular use is legally copyrighted. It may be clever, or even ironic, in its placement, but at the end of the day it's not art.

7. It's a waste of money and manpower. The Kickstarter project seeks to raise $50,000 to make this statue. I don't doubt that is a reasonable estimate of costs for materials and manpower, and possibly administrative costs. But in a city like Detroit where $50k can make such a difference, is this really the best way to use that kind of cash? And doesn't it really squander the talents of people who could be involved in better, more creative pursuits?

Or what about projects to help the destitute in Corktown so they can get real help instead of feeling displaced from a public park?

8. It's low culture. Sure, Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky, and Milwaukee has the Bronze Fonz. But honestly, is that what we are going for? Stupid tourist attractions that appeal to connoisseurs of lowest culture? I'd argue that this is one “us too!” moment we can live without.

9. It's opportunist. The initial Tweet to the Mayor's office was a joke, and possibly the biggest error in this whole thing was the fact that someone in the Mayor's office actually deigned to reply to it (props again to Jeff Wattrick for that observation). But now it's become the movement of the moment, and it just seems a bit opportunist to take ownership of the idea.

It certainly will be plenty of publicity for the Imagination Station whether this gets funded or not – heck, they're already on Detroit Public Radio today to talk about it. Then again, maybe that's the idea? In which case Jerry Paffendorf (whom I like very much personally, by the way) continues to prove himself one of the savviest marketers in the Detroit area.

10. It will add an entirely new dimension to train station ruin porn. Tired of pictures of the Michigan Central Station? If this goes up in front of the Imagination Station, located across the street from the train station, you can expect to be seeing a lot more MCS ruin porn in the years to come.

At the end of the day, if this project gets funded, it's a private project on private property and of course people will do what they want. And that's their right. I just think that this particular idea is too rife with negative connotations.

I guess all I can say is I gave to the Kickstarter Hygienic Dress League “No Vacancy” Project, and I gave to the Save the Downtown Synagogue project, but I'm hanging on to my money for this one. I think we are better than this.

Supergay Slate '09!

Well it snuck up on us, 2009's Metro Times Best of Detroit voting, but it didn't completely slip by! The deadline for voting is this Tuesday, the 31st (2 days!), so please take the time to vote for Supergay Detroit as Best Local Pop Culture Blog!

This year they've pared down the categories considerably, and a lot of our friends from last year aren't really eligible for any categories this time around. So I've decided to take a different approach to picks for the Supergay Slate. In accordance with my stated objective for this year, I've made choices that I think help raise standards here, and selected places that make Detroit a better place to live for me.

I've selected 19 categories, and you only need to vote in 15. You can use this slate or make up your own - just be sure to vote for me!

Metro Times Best of Detroit 2009: The Supergay Slate

Best Place to See An Indie Film: Detroit Film Theater at the DIA

Best Local Film Fest: Reel Pride Michigan, our GLBT Film Festival

Best Local Website: Well MT always wins, but you should cast a vote for our friends at Model D!

Best Local Pop Culture Blog: Supergay Detroit!

Best Abandoned Building: Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Obviously.

Best Bicycle Shop: Wheelhouse, because I love them.

Best Florist: the guys at Blumz continue to make great flowers accessible to Detroiters with their shop downtown

Best Restaurant Under $15 per diner: Bucharest Grill inside the Park Bar is my default spot for cheap and good eats

Best Restaurant under $50 per diner: Atlas Global Bistro, my perennial fave

Best Restaurant to Impress Out-of-Towners: Slows BarBQ never fails

Best Italian Restaurant: Angelina Italian Bistro is not only delicious, it is deliciously non-smoking. Even the bar. While I can't endorse their blown-glass art installation/light fixture, the rest of the place is perf. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

Best Neighborhood Pizza: Does Supino’s fit here ...

Best Gourmet Pizza: ... or does Supino’s fit here? I'm not sure, but they are fantastic and deserve a vote in both categories!

Best Deli: Mudgie’s in Corktown, for a lovely modern decor AND amazing eats.

Best Indie Coffee Shop: With Mercury Coffee Bar out of the picture, Café 1923 in Hamtramck takes this one hands-down

Best Club Night: Fierce Hot Mess has been entertaining us at Oslo all year!

Best Gay Bar: Detroit Guerrilla Queer Bar - because it really is!

Best Beer Selection in a Bar: not too many categories to pick to reward the Park Bar for being the gracious and loving host of Doggy Style, but this one fits!

Best Jazz Club: Cliff Bells, now with a delicious dinner menu!
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Coffee Bar-Hopping

Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck is like my new BFF. It is a great place to work. And even though I am possibly the most rabid anti-smoker I know, if you stay in the front part it isn't really noticeable that they allow smoking in the back room. Of course if you want a comfy chair you have to deal with smoking, but fortunately I don't.

The front is also better for the random run-in. Just yesterday I was enjoying tea and viewing the internet when who should walk in but fellow Detroit blogger D-Tales. While I was reading her blog. That was funny.

After a fantastic old-school liquid lunch with a colleague at the Caucus Club I ventured over to the Mercury Coffee Bar in Corktown.

That place has been buzzing every time I've driven by lately. Sunday night around 5pm it was nuts in there. It was relatively busy yesterday too, lots of folks working on laptops and a few meeting type activities in the lower level, but I think the greatest thing was working and being able to look out at the Michigan Central Depot on an overcast Monday afternoon.

Another thing I've noted before and has been verified by several friends is the very attractive and well-dressed crowd that patronizes this business. Incredulous, one of my friends asked, "where did these people come from?"

Actually the only thing that has been bugging me about Mercury is the fact that their identity program involves using the initials "MCB." First of all, why in God's name would you not fully utilize a great name like Mercury?? Of all the horribly named places in this area (Detroit Breakfast House and Grill comes to mind) you get handed this really glorious name by virtue of your location and you decide to change it to the wholly-uninspiring initials "MCB"?

And secondly, MCB is kind of already taken in Detroit - it's how everyone seems to refer to Motor City Brewing Works.

I feel like I will just call it Mercury all the time and maybe "MCB" won't catch on. Otherwise, I love it.
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Rambling

Nothing special to write about here, just some thoughts on a Tuesday morning.

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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Mercury in Retrograde

This past weekend didn't seem busy while I was living it, but when I sat down to write this I realized that an awful lot went on. The most interesting (for you) would probably be the events that bookended my weekend, a preview of the Mercury Coffee Bar in Corktown.

Friday after work a friend and I headed over to check it out. They were having a preview thing, and since I'd passed on all the Book-Cadillac opening excitement, I decided I wanted in on this.

It seems like we've been waiting forever for the Mercury Coffee Bar to open, although in reality the group now doing it hasn't been at it all that long. What is great is that you've got hardcore foodie types, hardcore design-y types and hardcore urbanist types working together to create something special for Corktown/downtown/SeMI/America/the world. You can read the basics on the place here.

The interior is great and kind of shocking! It's defnitely a new paradigm in coffee bar design. The colors and geometry really evoke the graphic design of the 80s, which is absolutely perfect for the hipster vibe of Corktown. You know I just cannot get enough of the hipster appropriation of the 80s! I am sure this assessment is making the architect's head spin - the colors were supposed be be inspired by the colors of a printer test page, but all I saw was the cover of Bronski Beat's "Age of Consent" album. You be the judge; here are some photos I took over the weekend.

The upstairs service area and a cute owner.

Think pink!

If I'm wrong tell me whyyyyyy.

The food we tried that night was amazing - I had this peach chutney and goat cheese sandwich - and the espresso I had after dinner was one of the best I've had in Detroit, and I am not exaggerating! The downstairs dining area has a really different vibe than upstairs - more brick/wood/concrete with nice modern touches. The bar area downstairs will eventually have ten beers on tap and ten different wines. That will be an extra special touch, n'est-ce pas? And the bathroom down there is seriously fab! Designed by king of the hipsters Phil Cooley, the word on the street is that the architect had an aneurysm when he saw it. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but if you want a sneak preview, check it out here.

The almost-finished staircase to the lower level dining room.

After Mercury we went to the Book-Cadillac, so I finally got to check that out. There are some really nice things about it, it's very contemporary overall. There are some missed opportunities too, but what a great thing to have. And by great thing I mean finally a nice hotel lobby bar.

Saturday night was the Kathy Griffin show at the Fox Theater, and that was great fun. She is a freak, and even though I am not as up on popular culture and television viewing as I needed to be to get everything she was talking about, it was a fab show. More significantly, it was a theater packed with 5000 people and the vast majority of them were gay guys. It was the most gay people in one spot I've ever seen, at least in Michigan.

Sunday morning the Detroit Free Press Marathon occurred, and I ran the whole thing in record time! OK seriously, I drank mimosas and cheered on runners and walkers as they passed my friends' house in Corktown. It was the perfect fall morning, I saw many of my fellow Detroit gays out there running their little hearts out. We did some cheerleading cheers to keep their spirits up as they approached mile 12, and to distract them from the fact that the loudspeakers over on 14th Street were blaring "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins ... "gonna take you right into the danger zone." Suburbanites, really, it's not that bad.

"H-O-T-T-O-G-O! You are ... hot to go!"

After the marathon we walked up for a second visit to Mercury. They still weren't technically open yet, but it's all about who you know, you know? The place has a really different feel in daylight and it was crawling with sexy hipsters, boys and girls. But, like, really sexy boy hipsters. A lot of them.

Having a coffee at the little upstairs coffee standing bar is tres european, especially with the train station ruins right outside. I would like to point out that Mercury has that cone-drip coffee that is so good and is all the rage among serious coffee fans around the country. I went to one place in Hayes Valley in SF that had it and someone told me people wait like a half an hour to get that coffee. Crazy. And now we can have that here! Hopefully without the wait.

This is a fierce look that I was not expecting in Corktown. Those shoes!

I then left to go do some work and chill, being exhausted from all that cheering and an unusually early Sunday morning. Plus I had to see how this photo turned out.

I tried not to objectify this hipster worker boy but, once again, I failed.

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Best of Detroit: The Supergay Slate

Hey kids what time is it? It's time to vote in the Metro Times Best of Detroit reader's choice poll! And I would like you to vote for me again this year! Yes, more election season drama!

I don't think I that I ask too much from you, my wonderful readership. Expect too much? Of course. But ask? Not really. I do enjoy/require a little affirmation from time to time, however, and this is such a cheap, easy and less invasive way to give it, how can you possibly deny me?

The Metro Times Best of Detroit poll is also a really great way to help out our fellow gays and gay-friendlies who are doing all the right kinds of things in the city. Since the onerous rules of the poll require you vote in at least 20 categories, I've put together the Supergay Slate with my picks that you can use! All you have to do is set aside five minutes, go to this link, and vote for these deserving entities ... or pick some of your very own! It's fun, it's easy, and you can send a virtual pick-me-up bouquet to a bunch of folks who would really love it!

And when you are done, why don't you email this slate to your wonderful friends! Click here to forward this post.

Metro Times Best of Detroit 2008: The Supergay Slate

Best Detroit Riverfront Attraction : Bike Rentals (from our friends at Wheelhouse!)

Best Dog Park : Doggy Style co-presenter Canine to Five's urban dog park

Best Local Radio Talk Show : Detroit Public Radio's Detroit Today (because sometimes they let me talk on it)

Best Local News Blog : Detroitist (detroitist.blogspot.com)

Best Local Pop Culture Blog : Supergay Detroit! (supergaydetroit.blogspot.com)

Best Florist : This is a toughie, there are two deserving gay-owned florists. My pick this year is Blossoms because, while they are located in Birmingham, the owners just spent like $17 million renovating the Frank Lloyd Wright Turkel House in Detroit. Blumz owners also live in Detroit, and they have a location here, but this past year their money went into expanding the Ferndale location. It's really kind of a wash, so pick your fave.

Best Place to Buy Furniture : Mezzanine (although Ikea or Art Van always win this category, so you may want to save your vote for ...)

Best Indie Home Furnishing Store : Mezzanine, or Bureau of Urban Living. (both are deserving - and while Mezzanine is gay-owned Bureau is as gay friendly as you can be. Pick your fave!)

Best Gourmet Grocery Store : Zaccaro’s (because they really are quite lovely, if you are not buying produce, and I need them to stick around because they are so convenient)

Best Health Club : Downtown YMCA

Best Bike Shop : Wheelhouse

Best New Nightspot (Last 2 Years) : Park Bar (last chance in this category!)

Best Gay Bar : Detroit Guerrilla Queer Bar (because it really is)

Best Beer Selection in a Bar : Park Bar

Best Place to get a Martini : Centaur, home of the original gay straight guy, and great friends

Best Jukebox : Honest? John’s Bar & No Grill

Best Jazz Club : Cliff Bell’s

Best Restaurant Under $15 per diner : Bucharest Grill (inside the Park Bar)

Best Restaurant Under $50 per diner : my fave, Atlas Global Bistro

Best Hangover Brunch : Honest? John’s Bar & No Grill

Best Barbeque Restaurant : Slows Bar BQ

Best Neighborhood Pizza : Motor City Brewing Works or ...

Best Gourmet Pizza Place : Supino Pizzeria (Dave Mancini’s great new place in Eastern Market - thanks Open City! Let's give the new guy a boost!)

Best Brewpub Restaurant : Motor City Brewing Works

Best Beer Selection in a restaurant : Slows Bar BQ

Best Bakery : Avalon International Breads (family owned and operated, if you know what I mean!)

Best Tea Room : No comment (do they mean what I think they mean??)

Best Indie Coffee Shop: Rowland Café (in the Guardian Building)
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Fleet Week

Do you remember that episode of Sex and the City where all the sailors come to NYC and it's "Fleet Week" and a big party and hot guys for hook-ups? Well Detroit is about to get it's own Fleet Week in the form of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's "Creating Change" conference.

Why were the SATC girls obsessed with enemas?.

As I write this, thousands of gays and lesbians (and our trans siblings) from all over the country are descending on the Renaissance Center for a four-day conference focused on building political, leadership and activist skills in the GLBT community. How amazing is that!!

Oh how I love gay activism. As I've discussed before, the gay community was angry when I came out of the closet, and with good reason. Gay men were dying from AIDS and from all appearances the rest of the world was fine with that. So the gay and lesbian community mobilized and got mad and got loud. The activist voice of the community got quieter as the immediate health threat disappeared, to the point the when gay marriage came up as a political issue it was straight white men taking most of the risks.

The very existence of this conference brings me joy, because it means gay activism isn't dead quite yet, and the fact that it is in Detroit brings me to the brink of ecstacy. No, seriously. 2000 gay people descending on Detroit - it's like the gay equivalent of Superbowl XL!

Naturally the thing I am MOST excited for is the 2008 Awareness Ball - a big drag ball on Friday night! Yes kids, there is a full vogue ball in the Mackinac Room at the Ren Cen. I'm talking Paris is Burning! How can you deny yourself categories like "Female figure performance - You're stuck in an alley with nowhere to go .. now it's time to vogue! Dramatic cats in a taste of red vs. soft kitties in a taste of pink." I was so excited when I came across this info I was running around in circles in my living room texting everyone I knew. Doors open at 9, Grand March at 11. This will be the most fun I have all year, I can already tell!

Speaking of fun, for conference attendees and those seeking to sleep with them here are a few recommendations for gay-friendly socializing downtown:

Atlas Global Bistro (3111 Woodward, Detroit) - Great for lunch, dinner, brunch or just hanging at the bar. Gets a semi regular gay-er crowd at the bar in the evenings (it's hit or miss, Miss) but very gay friendly, upscale nice place for the gay or lesbian professional type. Tell them Supergay sent you so I can get some free booze next time I'm there.

Centaur (2233 Park Avenue, Detroit) - Centaur gets a really eclectic crowd - including gays - and has great martinis in a great space. The owner is the only straight guy who kisses me on the lips to say hello every time he sees me. They have actively courted Creating Change attendees, by the way, and are a seriously gay-friendly spot.

Park Bar (2040 Park Avenue, Detroit) - My love for the Park Bar is well-documented on this blog. There's almost always a downtown gay presence. It's a beer-and-a-shot place, but a nice one.

Cliff Bell's (2030 Park Avenue, Detroit) - Right next door to the Park Bar, it's a restored historic nightlife spot with excellent jazz and a GREAT clientele. Always interesting people and always gays in the house. Such an amazing spot, downtown is lucky to have it.

Slows Bar-B-Q (2138 Michigan Avenue, Detroit) - The epicenter of Corktown's hipster scene, Slows is an amazing restaurant that with its attractive design naturally attracts a gay clientele. The food is great and you get to see one of Detroit's cool emerging neighborhoods. Think Williamsburgh circa 1990. Or maybe earlier. Don't forget to check out the Michigan Central Depot across the street, America's largest ruin.

Avalon International Breads (422 W. Willis, Detroit) - Not a nightlife spot, but a Detroit institution. Owned by a super cool lesbian couple, it's a great spot for morning or afternoon coffee and a carb. Gets a verrrry gay midtown crowd passing through. Tons of vegan options for the lesbian in your life.

La Dolce Vita - (17546 Woodward Avenue, Detroit) - Located in the middle of what used to be Detroit's gayborhood, LDV still draws a heavy gay crowd (despite no longer being gay owned). Italian restaurant with a nice bar area. It's on your way to the bars in Royal Oak/Ferndale too.

As for hitting the gay bars in the city, I'm sure the concierge at the Ren Cen Marriott will have all that info. A few notes - the Eagle here is not what you are expecting, Backstreet is in a strip mall, and Gold Coast is tacky as hell. Have fun, they will all be an adventure!

Now for non-visitors, I really need everyone to come downtown this weekend and welcome all these visiting gays in the best way you know how. There will be every color of the gay rainbow represented - diversity is important in the activist world! Gay Detroiters should come down and see how great it will be when the city has a critical mass of gay people, and as a personal favor I am asking you to roll out the red carpet however you possibly can. The city needs all the good PR it can get right now, and if that involves being the welcome mat then so be it. It is Fleet Week, after all.

My master plan for Tigers Stadium

Ernie Harwell continues his "It's a Wonderful Life" 11th-hour savior moment with old Tigers Stadium and I think it's safe to say I'm totally over it. Here is a link to a Detroit News article about his progress on his "Save Tigers Stadium" plan.

Since there is apparently an open RFP for the TS site, I've decided to come up with my own master plan. My plan - which I think will please the City, the residents of Corktown, the TS preservationists and the gay community - is to turn the area into Detroit's new gayborhood.

First of all, let's look at the economics of the whole thing. Ernie's plan relies on nostalgia to make the stadium work. Donations from foundations, selling naming rights for a stadium with no real use, museums as tenants ... that plan has more holes in it than my granny's panties. Foundations make grants based on need and Lord knows there are a lot of worthy charities out there already. And people go to museums, what, once a year?

No, nostalgia ain't gonna pay the bills.

(click for a somewhat larger version)

In my plan, we tear down a good portion of the stadium. Fuck it, it's ugly, worth more as scrap and it's taking up space. The historic corner of Michigan and Trumbull will remain, mostly because it's the only architecturally interesting part of the stadium but also for its more intimate scale, and it will house retail businesses that cater to the needs of the gay and lesbian community. Examples: Hermes, Apple, Barney's, Good Vibrations (for our lesbian sistren) and Hollister (for twinks and the men who dress like them).

Instead of a sports hall of fame and a music museum, we will just have the Madonna Hall of Fame. It's important to have a cultural aspect to any project.

In an additional nod to preservationists, a gay sports bar called "The Dugout" will open right at the corner, and will adaptively re-use the much-loved trough urinals in its restroom, as well as some lockers from the visitor's locker room for decor. And of course there would be a Starbucks, for caffeination and general cruising opportunities.

The historic locker rooms themselves will also be saved. The Tiger's locker room will be converted into part of a premiere health club facility, and the visitor's locker room will be converted into a bathhouse. Can you imagine the draw of that? Come hook up in an original MLB locker room? Rest assured, people would visit more than once for that experience! There would also be a gift shop.

The field itself would be saved - another nod to preservationists and the neighborhood - and could be used for lesbian softball leagues with a dog park way out in the outfield.

In place of the stadium there would be new, mixed-use modern construction - restaurants, service retail, condos, apartments and townhouses. I can hear the bitching now, "modern doesn't go in Corktown!" I say contextualism is for pussies. The only context right now is empty parking lots, a freeway and a giant pile of steel. These buildings will vary in size, but they should push the design envelope and make a statement. We're here, we're queer, we're fabulous, get used to it.

This will give Corktown housing for all types ... want something new and modern? Got it. Want a fixer-upper? Just cross over the freeway to North Corktown. Want Victorian charm? Hop across Michigan Avenue into the historic Corktown area. And you are a minute from downtown.

People need to start looking forward in this city, instead of rubbing one out over what used to be. It's time to rub one out over what could be. This is a solution that works, so let's get going with tearing down that stadium!

Oh, and I also propose they take down Comerica Park while they're at it. I hate sports.

Let's Go Outside

There’s a great trend going on in this city that is heartening to see, and is one of those harbingers of hope, like the swallows coming back to Capistrano.

It seems everywhere you look this summer there is al fresco dining. It was not too long ago that Agave, Tom’s Oyster Bar rooftop and La Dolce Vita’s patio were basically the only outdoor options. This summer? Well, here’s a short list of places I’ve noted recently: Small Plates, Detroit Beer Company, Tom’s, LDV, The Rattlesnake Club, Bert’s on Broadway, The Rhino, Vicente’s, the Woodward Grill (in Compuware, not the gay bar), Honest John’s, Seldom Blues, Majestic Café, Twingo’s and Slows Bar-B-Q. And I’m sure I’m leaving a ton of stuff out.

It’s just so reassuring, because it’s one of those normal things you take for granted, until you live someplace that doesn’t have it.

If a picture says a thousand words ...

... I'm betting one of the words this photo says rhymes with "hay."

How can you not love the gang at Slows? Not only do they have great food and an advanced design aesthetic, they take irony to completely new heights. And they are better gays than most of the actual homos I've met in this town.

Their first two postcards were brilliantly conceived and artfully executed, and now they've come up with an awesome promo for Yacht Rock Thursdays.

There. It sums up the night fairly well (did I ever blog about the time the poodles showed up?). Don’t forget to go this week.

Slow & Smooth

Some good news has come down the pipeline in the last week ... Slows Bar-B-Q in Corktown is finally starting up their Thursday Patio Nights again. Hail Mary!

A train in the tunnel, baby.

If you managed to hit Yacht Rock Thursdays during the late summer last year, you know that co-owners Phillip Cooley and Dean St. Souver know how to spin some smooth tunes, laced with a touch of irony of course. And you know that there are few places as lovely on a summer's eve than the patio at Slows. And finally, you know that the gay hipsters cannot get enough Michael McDonald.

[Catch a snapshot of late summer Slows at the end of this article in Model D, "A Night Out with ... Aliccia Berg Bollig"].

Last Thursday was the soft launch for soft rock at Slows, and it seems the boys are mixing it up just a little this year. And that's a smart move. As the Yacht Rock phenomenon becomes more mainstream it seems only natural that early-adopters would seek to expand the scope of it. Fun music (maybe drifting off a bit into wedding-reception territory at times) and cool people acting decidedly un-cool pretty much define the vibe of the evening.

Is it really gay? Well first off, Slows is one of the gay-friendliest restaurants in the city. And there was always a good batch on the patio when I was there last summer. But I think a better testament comes from Sarah Lurtz, formerly of Wound Menswear and a longtime server at Slows, who said with a laugh, "Oh great, it's gonna be gay night again!"

The official start of Thursday Patio Night is this Thursday, so squeeze into your dangerously low-rise jeans and kiddy t-shirt and go drink beer. And see the very pretty Phillip Cooley in his really, really short white shorts.

The very pretty Phillip Cooley. I'm just sayin'.

Supergay Blight Tour: Gay Bars of Detroit (Part 1)

[In spring of 2006, inspired by the "blight tours" of Detroit posted over on the forum at HotFudgeDetroit.com, I posted the following photo tour of the gay bars of Detroit. The forum was recently hacked and all old information was lost, so instead of simply linking to it, I'll just recreate the whole dang thing over here, and then throw in a spring 2007 update at the end. Have fun!]

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Detroit has a long history of being home to the gay bars of SE Michigan, but since the gays moved north there hasn't been an evolution in the bars of Detroit. Like adding windows, for example. Or being attractively decorated. Take a look at all the great gay bars!


Part One: Downtown and Eastside

The Woodward: New Center


It's the building between the hardware store and the empty art supply store.

A helpful fellow named Steve approached me on the street as I took this picture to ask if I knew what I was taking a picture of. I told him I did, and we chatted about the history of the gay scene in Detroit, and how the Woodward had gone from being an old-timers bar full of white guys into a relatively busy bar with a mostly black clientele in the last few years. He suggested I get a picture of the back too, since that's where the entrance is.

Here's the grand entrance, near the ample parking. Steve told me that the front will be clad with marble later this spring, although there are no plans to open the front entrance. Or spruce up the back, apparently.

Steve walked me to my car after that. I thought for a second he was going to hit on me, but he just ended up hitting me up for a few bucks, for a White Castle, seeing as he's laid off right now ...

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The Eagle: New Center, south of Henry Ford Hospital

Lots of people think this area would be a good one for the gayborhood to spring up. Can't say I disagree, although it makes me sad that this bar is the centerpiece of that plan. At least the entrance is on the street.

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Temple Bar: Temple & Cass, in the glamorous Cass Corridor


I'm including this because people insist this is a gay bar. I will only say that a tranny hooker does not a gay bar make.

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The Works: Michigan Ave in Corktown


Another alleged gay bar. Apparently one night a week gets a strong gay after hours thing still, although the appeal every night seems to be primarily after hours drugs.

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Off-Broadway East: Harper & Connor, eastside


I don't know if there is an Off-Broadway West or where the original Off-Broadway was, but here is the eastside version. I was only there once, about 10 years ago. This hot guy I was screwing around with and I went to check it out and we couldn't tell if it was a gay bar or not, especially from the glares the few patrons in the bar gave us. Now it is apparently a hot spot for the gay African-American community.

I wonder what ever happened to that guy?

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The Rainbow Room: 8 Mile & Mound (ish)


Conveniently located in the shadow of the Warren Truck Assembly for the butch bulldaggers who work there. Lots of lesbetarians drink here. Love the billboard.

continue to Part 2