  Dmart Member Username: Dmart Post Number: 11 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.84.183.222 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01 /29/fashion/sundaystyles/29DET ROIT.html?_r=1&oref=login I got the login from www.bugmenot.com username: screwer password: screwer7 | ||
Hardhat Member Username: Hardhat Post Number: 84 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.209.133.64 |
Here's the text By ALEX WILLIAMS Published: January 29, 2006 DETROIT WITH its neon-tinged, Art Decolike facade, velvet rope and immaculately manicured young women in low-slung jeans waiting outside, Bleu Room Experience here in the heart of downtown would be right at home on South Beach in Miami. True, it is about 40 degrees outside, and a few abandoned skyscrapers loom like hooded muggers within blocks in either direction. But Bleu Room is not alone. In the last five years the lights have begun to shine once again in the former no-man's land of downtown. And when some of the nation's most conspicuous consumers of Cristal champagne and Chloé handbags descend on the Motor City this week for the prelude to the Super Bowl next Sunday, they may be surprised to learn that yes indeed, there is life after dark in Detroit. From their hotel rooms at the Renaissance Center, guests will be able to walk safely the few short blocks to Bricktown, the old warehouse district and home to spirited old-time bars like the Detroiter on Beaubien Street or Jacoby's German Biergarten. A few blocks in the other direction will take them to the upscale clubs and restaurants of the financial district. "Detroit's earned a real hardcore image, with the murders and crime and everything, but it's also not as bad as what people think," said Mitchell Jaworski, an owner of Bleu Room. Nightlife, he said, has blossomed since the extreme years of the early 90's, when it consisted largely of some Irish bars, a few rough-and-tumble hip-hop clubs and a lot of illegal raves in condemned buildings. "There's still the craziness, but there's also a whole other part of Detroit that people don't understand," he said. When Bleu Room opened in 2001, it was one of the first outposts of cool to spring up among the boarded windows of the once-bustling commercial district around Grand Circus Park. Now, in the wake of ambitious downtown redevelopment schemes, there are moody martini lounges, opulent nightclubs and casinos, rock clubs, and restaurants serving everything from fusion to upscale soul food within walking distance of Ford Field, the new football stadium where the Super Bowl will be held. While many new nightspots in Detroit seem to be trying to import a sense of glamour from more cosmopolitan cities, Bleu Room preserves a sense of Motor City grit, maybe even a little good-natured sleaze. On a recent Saturday night a svelte young blond bartender wearing a T-shirt and a pink bikini bottom climbed atop the bar and shimmied lasciviously as visiting D.J.'s from Berlin, lured by the city's reputation as a capital of techno music, laid down a rib-rattling jackhammer beat. Both Lizzie Grubman and Tommy Lee plan to give parties there next week. Nearby on Woodward Avenue stands Oslo, an aggressively minimalist sushi restaurant that opened in 2004, featuring a chef from Tokyo, a staff clad in black and a chic dungeonlike nightclub in the basement. Young people with a bent for vintage wash down river eel sushi with $15 cold sake to a Kraftwerk soundtrack. If lower Woodward is the locus of hip, then the financial district near the Cobo convention center along the Detroit River is the focus of moneyed flashiness. The elegant and funky Congress Lounge, which has backlighted alabaster walls and bamboo shoots in silver vases, opened two years ago on Congress Street. It is already a favored destination for the pretty people who like to be seen by equally pretty people as they settle into their cedar-plank salmon. Envy, which opened in 2000 and features a 20-foot waterfall and a shimmering brushed stainless-steel bar, lies a block away on Larned Street. The club has a dance floor downstairs and a V.I.P. room upstairs that has reeled in, according to the club's owners, celebrities like Kid Rock and Eminem. Last week the crowd was diverse and affluent, and the dance floor was filled with fashionably dressed young Detroiters of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent who at one point launched into a rousing version of the dabka - the traditional Arabic wedding line dance - while Peter Arabo, an owner, mixed Arabic-inflected blend techno from the D.J. booth above the stage. The splashiest new entrant to the nightclub field is the Elysium Lounge, and anyone willing to shell out $200 to $600 on Friday will have the pleasure of enjoying its sizable dance floors and undulating LED light wall as a guest of P. Diddy. The $2 million space features five V.I.P. rooms, with bottle service "recommended." Grey Goose will run you $300 a pop. Proud locals are hoping the coming week will shatter some stereotypes of Detroit as a ghost town felled by urban blight. "You will never find a place like this," said Kristin Abel, 25, who grew up in the wealthy suburb of Grosse Pointe and returned to Detroit after graduating from Smith College in Massachusetts. "It's got its own flavor. New York is great, don't get me wrong, but Detroit, there is something more raw about it that I really, really adore." The Bleu Room is expecting A-list Super Bowl company. Much of the city's nightlife is driven by suburbanites like Ms. Abel, who pile into their S.U.V.'s and drive in from Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills on the weekends. Music is another big draw, and the locals love to talk about the city's proud place in music history (a safer topic than the automobile industry these days). "I mean, it's Motown," explained Aaron Lada, 24, a supervisor for United Parcel Service and a fan of electronic dance music who lives in suburban Westland and often comes downtown to hear music. "It's pretty fantastic, a lot of the stuff that goes on downtown. You hear the word vibe thrown around a lot. The vibe here is immense. Nobody wants any drama. Everyone wants to have fun, party, have a good time, meet new people - and do it again next weekend." Major acts like Sheryl Crow and B. B. King play the opulent Fox Theater on Woodward, and for rowdier fare there's the venerable, if gritty, rock club, St. Andrew's Hall, a converted Catholic school gymnasium where local garage rockers like the White Stripes have added to the city's storied musical legacy. One recent Friday the staff at Flood's Bar and Grille, a high-end soul food restaurant in Bricktown, had scarcely launched into the evening's dinner service when the patrons, some accessorized by fedoras and pocket squares, started filling the dance floor - and any other available floor space - to do the electric slide as the house D.J. dropped "Knee Deep" by George Clinton, a funk hero in Detroit, onto the turntable. Still, except for the game, some Super Bowl week visitors who are staying in the affluent outskirts may never venture south of Eight Mile Road, the dividing line between city and suburbs. Others may remain holed up in the vast, futuristic Renaissance Center, observing the city from the Coach Insignia over $44 Porterhouse steak 70 stories above the ground. These unadventurous souls will miss the distinctive scene deep within the 313 area code. Passing those remaining empty storefronts and skyscrapers downtown to get to a place like Elysium, there is a lingering sense of melancholy, but also one of titillation, a bit like what one feels in East Berlin: it is not exactly lovely, and it's been battered and bruised, but the wellsprings of bourgeois abandon that are emerging on the other side of the hard times are exhilarating to experience, if simply for the unlikeliness that they exist there at all. Or as Sean Davis, an owner of Elysium, put it, "It's not the most beautiful city, but it is one of the most fun." | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 444 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 64.12.116.204 |
That's journalism. Yea. hear me Freep and Detnews. When is the last time an article like that occupied your pages? | ||
Blessyouboys Member Username: Blessyouboys Post Number: 242 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 69.209.145.184 |
excellent article | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 2966 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.160.138.107 |
Amazing and very positive. It borders on C&V Bureau spin. But tis the truth! But Lowell, not to worry, Detroit still has plenty ruins! jjaba, tells it like it tis. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 960 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.246.13.131 |
Holy crap! we live there (here)? cool | ||
Crash_nyc Member Username: Crash_nyc Post Number: 504 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 24.193.39.60 |
Great article! I loved the comparison to East Berlin -- right on! Anyone who's been to Berlin (aka "the 'New York' of Europe") knows that most of the places to go to really have late-night fun are in the gritty, not-so-pretty neighborhoods of (the former) 'East' Berlin. Funny, because I remember commenting to friends on how that area had kind of a 'Detroit vibe' when I was there. Hope to see many more articles like this one. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1158 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 141.213.173.94 |
Bibs, well said. | ||
Corktownmark Member Username: Corktownmark Post Number: 158 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 68.61.194.191 |
Thats the kind of honest press. It show the good and bad which is the very best we can hope for. If the local Media, both print and TV rise to the occasion and see the city the way someone new can see Detroit it would help too. | ||
Realitycheck Member Username: Realitycheck Post Number: 245 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 68.41.173.240 |
. . . But wait, there's more in the same paper's Sports section today: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/sports/football/29lions.html?_r=1 Two highlights: Dearborn native Gary Danielson, a Lions QB from '76-'84, says SBXL visitors will discover "a city trying to do the right thing."
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Spaceboykelly Member Username: Spaceboykelly Post Number: 116 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.246.30.248 |
I loved this article. It was completely realistic, and shows that the person actually set foot in the city. Also, I love the fact that I've DJed at a club featured in the NY Times fashion section! | ||
Realitycheck Member Username: Realitycheck Post Number: 250 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 68.41.173.240 |
W H O O S H -- you're definitely riding a rocket to Manhattan now, SpaceBoy!  Hey, just couldn't resist . . . it IS cool + you deserve to get a kick from it. Spin on, Kelly! | ||
My2cents Member Username: My2cents Post Number: 123 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.253.67.62 |
THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE! | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 625 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 69.209.179.90 |
What a great article; that made my whole day. | ||
Czar Member Username: Czar Post Number: 2881 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 72.49.166.173 |
Another piece of biased trash from the liberal NY Times. Blame America, excuse terrorism. Oh wait a minute, wrong thread... There's also a good article in today's NY Times about the futility of being a Lions fan. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/sports/football/29lions.html?_r=1 (Message edited by czar on January 29, 2006) (Message edited by czar on January 29, 2006) | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 2239 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.167.58.137 |
Hey folks, please remember not to quote full articles. Read This regarding posting copyrighted materials. It is a simple matter to sign up for free with the NYT and other outlets. All that said, I concur, great article. | ||
Llyn Member Username: Llyn Post Number: 1400 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 68.61.197.206 |
I'm thinking that this whole Superbowl thing may come off better than I expected in the national press. Time wil tell, but after so many years of being bashed by the national media, it's been a pleasant surprise to see several articles with either a median or a very positive attitude. At least people in some places are starting to get the word that they need to rethink Detroit. Except for people in Colorado. And readers of Bang cartoons... | ||
Jjw Member Username: Jjw Post Number: 36 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 68.33.56.156 |
I keep hearing about detroit being bashed by the "national press". But, isn't most of the bashing of detroit coming from the local media??? Most people I speak with around the country are hoping for the best in Detroit. But, I am not exactly sure the people of the metro area share those feelings. It seems to me the true cynics of Detroit's progress are the Detroit area residents and not the feelings of the nation. | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 15 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 66.167.58.137 |
OOoooh AAaah it's good to be a Detroiter today! Group hug every body. |
