New, Transformed, Reimagined
While we were masked up, quarantined, and figuring out how to survive the new reality that the pandemic rained down on us, some people were building new spaces, reinventing classics, and creating Detroit originals. We are a strong, innovative city that, when pushed down, we rise up.
Spot Lite opened their doors last year during Micro-Movement. Roula David and her staff have created a space that is unlike anything we have seen, in a neighborhood filled with history and creativity. Just blocks away from the Heidelberg Project, Spot Lite is a community anchor that shines bright during the day as a work space with pop-up coffee creations by Cairo Coffee and one of the best record stores in the city, curated by the DJ’s DJ Vincent Patricola and Jesse Cory. When the sun goes down, the eclectic art-filled warehouse is transformed into the hottest new nightclub in the city, featuring a roster of talent that focuses on Detroit, but also features talent from around the globe.
Josh Greenwood opened Urban Bean in 2008 in downtown’s Capitol Park. Josh’s eye for design, history in the electronic music scene, impeccable taste, and love of all that is orange sustained a space that is uniquely Detroit. Over the years it has been the home to Burst Radio and 313.fm broadcasts, legendary underground parties featuring many renowned DJs from around the world. Armed with a liquor license and a complete renovation, Urban Bean has metamorphosed into SPKR BOX. With the same great coffee, plus the addition of craft cocktails, and a custom Void sound system by Audio Rescue Team, Detroit’s premiere audio company, the bar is destined to be a world-class destination.
In 2006 Timothy Tharp bought the only bar operating on lower Woodward Avenue downtown, Foran’s Irish Pub, since renamed Grand Trunk Pub. Over the last two years, he has restored the historic building back to its original glory, exposing the classic terrazzo flooring, rebuilding and meticulously repainting the gorgeous plasterwork in the vaulted ceiling, and installing a modern bar. Long known for taps filled with Michigan brewed beer and a menu of Irish classics, including the best reuben in the city, Grand Trunk continues to be a must go-to destination in the city.
CHROMA opened up in the Milwaukee Junction/New Center area on West Grand Boulevard. The historic building long known for its giant bleeding rainbow mural by Katherine Craig, now replaced by an equally spectacular mural by Sydney James, has been rebuilt as a food hall with 14 different vendors, co-working space, and cocktail bar by developers The Platform.
This is just a taste of the undeniably Detroit energy that has not stopped bringing new vision and focusing on the amazing architecture, talent, art, and strength of Detroit. Our neighborhoods are not ‘up and coming’, they have always been the core of what makes this city the garden of creative possibilities. We look forward, build on the past, and redefine what is possible.