Once again, a few impressions of Detroit after our visit there over Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
Growing up, \u201cdowntown Detroit\u201d meant pretty much exclusively the Riverfront, which consisted of the Renaissance Center (so named because, in 1977, the city was supposed to be reborn \u2014 not quite the success it was hoped to be) and Hart Plaza, site of various ethnic and other festivals in the summer \u2014 perhaps because Mom and Dad just didn\u2019t care much about the concept of a \u201cdowntown,\u201d perhaps because no one did. \u00a0(Detroit\u2019s landmark downtown department store, Hudson\u2019s<\/a>, closed in 1983 and was demolished in 1998.) \u00a0But city planners and boosters are putting forth considerable effort to (re-)create a \u201creal\u201d downtown, renovating historic buildings and relocating both baseball and football stadiums in the city center and they have even created what they hope to be Detroit\u2019s Rockefeller Park or Millenium Park, its \u201csignature downtown square,\u201d in Campus Martius Park<\/a>, which we drove past on our way back from an expedition. \u00a0It\u2019s small \u2014 really small; once you add the ice rink, there\u2019s not much space left. \u00a0Certainly, it couldn\u2019t play host to a Chriskindlmarkt, for instance. \u00a0But if you look down the streets (we didn\u2019t get out and walk around, or even do much driving) it does look like a real city \u2014 so long as you don\u2019t leave the confines of the revitalized area.<\/p>\n So they\u2019re trying.<\/p>\n