First time to Detroit

Hi everyone:

2 of us will be visiting Detroit for the very first time in mid June 2009. We will be attending a baseball game at your stadium. We will be heading from Cleveland with a car and then Flying home after our stay in Detroit. (maybe suggestions for road trip there) I was looking for a general feel for the area. Like a good site to find music events that may be going on, or summer festivals, even small ones would be good. I would like to see what is going on in the area before I start looking for accomodations. We will be in Detroit at least 4 nights, Thursday June 18th through Monday June 22. Possibly longer. Any Ideas or sites to visit would be great. We love Live Music%26gt; Jazz, blue grass, Rock, Small or big. Locals bands are great too.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Looking forward to exploring your City. We are in our late 40%26#39;s.

First time to Detroit

Prior to your trip here, you can monitor live music events online at www.metrotimes.com teena.

If you%26#39;re planning to stay close to downtown, there are scores of bars and theaters in that area that feature live music of almost every type. (not much blue grass, tho)

Before you visit, check out the programs set for Chene Park, The Majestic, Harpos, Baker%26#39;s Keyboard Lounge (jazz) and in the city of Hamtramck. Detroit has a very strong local music scene.

Plan to visit the Motown Museum too.

And The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village, in Dearborn (American history).

Good luck with your planning.

First time to Detroit

Check out the Hilton Garden Inn on Brush Street downtown...it is a perfect place to stay for access to Comerica park (you can walk from there...it is a very short distance...)

Also within a few blocks (walking distance) are the Hockeytown Cafe, Cheli%26#39;s Chili (Chris Chelios from the Red Wings owns it) the beautiful Fox Theatre (in case there is a good show or concert), Greektown Casino (always a pretty good lounge act) the old Shilleliagh Bar(very raucus and fun time with local bands) and of course the peolple mover is also only a short walk away that can take you to the RenCen, Cobo, Joe Louis, the Riverfront area.

HGI is a very nice place, clean comfortable and right int eh middl eof everything.

Thanks for the info jimmyk64 and 24fan. We are not sure what area to stay Downtown, or other. We love to just park and use public transportation or walk or taxi when we travel, but we both are not familiar with Detroit as far as safety. The Chene park suggestion will come in handy I am sure I will try to find something on that end. It looks like a big tent? Is it outside or not. We love outside events. We will have to check out Bakers Keyboard as I keep reading about it. The museums will be in the agenda and it looks like you have a few brewery%26#39;s or brewpubs we can visit.

Looking on the maps it looks like Rivertown is the area by the river and I find Greektown also, but have not seen mexican town on anything yet.

Also how is the river walk coming along I have read about that also.

thanks 24 fan for the Hilton Garden suggestion, we use them often, but can I trust you%26gt;%26gt;%26gt; after all you are a JG fan. LOL ';just kiddin';

What are either of your thoughts about staying in Hamtramck compared to downtown area.

Mexicantown is about four miles southeast of downtown proper, but still a part of Detroit, it%26#39;s basically a neighborhood enclave. There are many Tex-Mex restaurants in the neighborhood--some very good.

Chene Park is an outdoor venue.

The Detroit Beer Co. is a brewpub a very easy walk from Comerica Park. If you stop there, try the Detroit Dwarf--a great beer.

One thing you%26#39;ll get hit with, teena, if you choose a downtown hotel, is overnight parking fees for your car. While they won%26#39;t make you swoon, they will surprize you. I don%26#39;t believe there is ';suitable'; lodging choices in Hamtramck (Hamtown). You might look at finding accomodations in Dearborn and driving from there when you want to be in the downtown area.

A word of caution: do not park your car on the street if you%26#39;re doing the tourist thing. Always use fenced, secure, attended parking. Or a parking garage.

We will be flying home from Detroit. We could check into our hotel and drop off the car and use public transportation or taxis during our stay and not bother with the driving. That is what we do in other cities (boston manhattan sanfransisco etc) Is this an option in Detroit? Or is there near by cities we may want to visit like Windsor or others that we may need a car. We only have the car to drive from Cleveland to Detroit by way of Cedar Point amusement park. We also want to do a fishing charter, and are wondering which city/town along the way would be best for that.

I have read some negative things about Detroit as far as safety compared to other places we visit. Most of them are older reviews and such, so I hope it is better now. any suggestions on that.

You%26#39;ll need a vacation to recuperate from your vacation!

Stay in Dearborn. Keep the car till you drop it off at DTW. Go to Windsor. Visit Deippe (sp) Gardens, The Hiram Walker Distillery, Windsor Raceway, Ceasar%26#39;s Casino...

I%26#39;ll put some Lake St Clair Charter Fishing info into a PM to you. Can you say: Muskellunge. Catch and release, but one of life%26#39;s sheer joys.

Just for your info....

If you plan on taking a rental car into Canada, make sure that you have that written on the rental car agreement. You may be asked at the border to show that you have the rental car company%26#39;s permission to take the car across the border.

Thanks for your precautionary note, vanclan.

I know what you mean about parking the car and using transit to get around. We like doing that when we go to other cities too. Unfortunately that%26#39;s not really practical in Detroit. If you stay at the Hilton Garden Inn per an earlier suggestion, you%26#39;ll be able to walk to the ballpark and other nearby venues like Greektown or possibly use the People Mover. But for anything outside that small area, you%26#39;ll really need to drive.

Thanks to all of you for the info. We will have to keep investigating.