Downtown Detroit

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

Detroit started right here: Cadillac landed near today's Hart Plaza in 1701, and after the fire of 1805 Augustus Woodward laid out the avenues that still fan out from Grand Circus Park. The car-boom decades filled those streets with skyscrapers, and the Art Deco Guardian Building can still stop you in your tracks. Downtown proper is small, about 1.4 square miles between the freeways and the river, so you can cover it on foot. Campus Martius is its living room, with a skating rink in winter and the bars and restaurants of Griswold and Library Street all around. Game days at Comerica Park, shows at the Fox and the Detroit Opera House, and summer festivals on Hart Plaza keep it busy long after office hours.

1. Grab a coffee at Campus Martius Park and, in winter, lace up at the rink.
2. Step into the Guardian Building's Art Deco lobby, then say hi to the Spirit of Detroit on Woodward.
3. Walk down to Hart Plaza and the RiverWalk: the river and Canada in front of you, the Renaissance Center towers behind.
4. Settle the great coney debate at Lafayette Coney Island, or right next door at American Coney Island.
5. See a show at the Fox Theatre or the Detroit Opera House, then late live jazz at Cliff Bell's.
6. Cheer on the Tigers at Comerica Park, on downtown's north edge.