Ask most people in the US and they'll all say the same thing about Detroit. once an opulent city, booming with the wealth that was brought here by the automobile industry. However now it resembles an scene from a film like 28 days later, where the streets are empty and the only human life you see are the old and homeless trudging along dormant streets.
Ok, so I'm painting a pretty desolate picture here, it wasn't quite that bad, but it lived up exactly the picture people had told us when ever we mentioned that we would be visiting there.
I had thought, it's not going to be that bad.. People are just giving it a bad name, because it used to be bad... Surely by now it'll be recovering.. That wasn't the case, this must have been the first time that a city had been the opposite to what I was expecting.
We arrived around midday on Saturday, and headed downtown looking for a bite to eat, thinking it wouldn't be too hard and the place would be a bustling hub of activity. It really wasn't the case.. Having found a place that was open ( in this case the American Coney Island Cafe) we got some food and decided what and where we should go.
The sky was heavy with battleship grey clouds.. Only adding to the overall bleak and depressing feel the city was greeting us with. The decision was then made to go check out the old abandoned Michigan Central Terminus Station. I'd noticed this large looming structure as we'd entered the city, which on the outset looked like an urban explores wet dream. Once we arrived at the old station it soon became clear that entering the building would not only be unsafe, but would also be a bad idea for a number of other reasons.
So while I was off taking pictures, Andreas had made conversation with the organisers of a church funded weekly event for the homeless. They could get donated clothing and a slice or two of hot pizza and something to drink. I retuned from my picture taking excursion and joined the conversation.
There was a number of characters there, who were more than happy to talk to us, being that we were from outside the US many of the questions being asked where about how we do things differently to the US.
The tables and chairs were soon all packed away, and we where left there stood talking to two homeless gentlemen with scarcely another soul in sight. That's when one of them took me aside, and began his plea for a handout.
Knowing full well the contents of my wallet, I tried to remain defiant in that I didn't have anything I could give away. The contents of my wallet being two $20 bills. More often than not, my wallet is empty as I prefer to rely on card payments, which had this been the case it would be an easy get out of jail card. So I relented, I made the mistake of getting my wallet out to 'check' what's inside it... Straight away the guy saw the $20....
"Oh, 20 would REALLY help me out...."
"Ahhh I'd love to help you out with a couple of bucks, but I could really use this 20 myself.."
After a little more two'ing and fro'ing I relented, and handed him the 20. I'd initially thought
"well, he'll be able to get a nice hot meal with that, maybe stay in a shelter tonight.. Perhaps make that money last for month.. Homeless people are resourceful"
So here's the But.
Having taken his picture (which turned out pretty awesome I though) I wondered off again to take some more pictures of things that caught my eye... Whilst doing so, Andreas and the two homeless guys were still talking. Then the older guy who I'd generously donated too, announced
"Well, I'm off to go get my drink on"
I returned and finally the onset of rain was enough for us to be able to end the conversation and head on our merry way.. It wasn't until I told Andreas of my philanthropic deeds that he told me about what the guy had said.
The rest of our time in Detroit was spent sampling some very good local bars and cafés. I had a very tasty Baby Back Ribs in a place called Slo's, some great coffee and Astro Coffee, some tasty brunch sliders at the Green Dot Stables and some tasty beer at Gussolines in Royal Oak.
The two short days we spent in Detroit really were an eye opener into what happens when a city effectively goes bust. I don't think there is any comparison to a city like this in the UK, perhaps in mainline Europe.
Location:Detroit, MI
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