• communities    places    spaces    leisure    history

  • MeltdownMeals.ElAsador
  • Meltdown Meals: El Asador
  • Driving rear wheel drive in a blizzard is an elite level of fun. You kind of just spin around fishtailing and pretending like it’s a movie. Except the stakes don’t exist because the roads are empty and I’m running from nobody...

    Michael Hirsch

    January 26, 2025

  • ThePaidShowcaseJanuarySloppyChops
  • The Paid Artist Showcase’s Winter Bash & DJ Sussex Smooth The Selector’s Birthday Party At Sloppy Chops
  • About one week ago, the “King of the West Side”—aka DJ Sussex Smooth The Selector—joined WeeGee Tha Hustla, DJ Culinary, and Street Certified DJs to throw the Paid Artist Showcase Winter Bash featuring over 25 artists from Detroit and around the USA...

    Ashley Cook and E-Man Bates

    January 16, 2026

  • MeltdownMeaals.Elmers
  • Meltdown Meals: Elmer's Hamburgers
  • I know Hunter House, Greene’s, Little Bros., and Telway; these are all staples in and around Detroit. They all look the same, built in the middle of the 20th century. White tile boxes with white tile interiors, usually some stools with chrome accents attached to the ground and the smell of grease and grilled onions giving olfactoringus to my nose.

    Michael Hirsch

    December 29, 2025

  • CPTChristmasList
  • (313) 669-8413, Call the Scene AKA Detroit Now + Then: Christmas Shopping on CPT
  • Subgenre--Black Business, Mind Theirs: Christmas is not late, you are! But we got you covered with a shopping guide for those on CPT, shop local Black-businesses for your last-minute gifts that will really make someone smile!

    Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins

    December 22, 2025

  • MeltdownMeals.TheCoop.MichaelHirsch
  • Meltdown Meals: the COOP, Little Caesar's Arena
  • Darting around the concourse after the first time out I spotted The Coop, an outpost serving up chicken tenders brought to you by the lovely people over at Tyson. How complicated could it be, eh? Chicken tenders are delicious and simple, just keep frying 'em up assembly line style and serving 'em out, right? No. Of course not. Things can’t be so simple.

    Michael Hirsch

    November 27, 2025

  • 3136698413callthescene.thepillars.CharlesBrooks
  • (313) 669-8413, Call the Scene AKA Detroit Now + Then: The Pillars - Charles Brooks Jr.
  • (313) 669-8413, Call the Scene AKA Detroit Now + Then is a monthly column discussing the Black community and black culture that made this city and keeps the city going. Today, they present the story of Charles Brooks Jr. and No Block Left Behind!

    Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins

    November 24, 2025

  • MeltdownMeals.PolishVillageCafe
  • Meltdown Meals: Polish Village Cafe
  • I’ve Friendzoned multiple Hinge matches just to have someone to get brunch with. So dining alone at Hamtramck’s Polish Village wasn’t something out of the ordinary. When I went down the basement stairs, I was skeptical, but immediately upon entering the dining room, I was converted. Twinkling lights and stained glass painted the room with a soothing bath of color. The notes of the Bill Evans Trio being played over the soundsystem dropped into the honey texture of the room like ice cubes plunking into a glass of Wiśniówka (Polish cherry liqueur)...

    Michael Hirsch

    October 30, 2025

  • MeltdownMeals.Louies
  • Meltdown Meals: Louie's Ham and Corned Beef
  • The first time I went to Louie’s Ham and Corned Beef was the summer going into freshman year of high school– and subsequently every weekend after that until I graduated. Due to some 8th grade delinquency issues, the courts ordered me to complete 40 hours of community service which my mother insisted I complete in their entirety at Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project...

    Michael Hirsch

    September 29, 2025

  • MeltdownMeals.Chenin
  • Meltdown Meals: Chenin
  • A small space with an even smaller menu, Chenin calls itself a “small wine bar” and that is as true as it gets. I doubt the place could fit more than 14 full-sized adults at a time and the fact that it doesn’t accept reservations means it maintains a frenetic friction that alludes to a bustling tabagie in Paris...

    Michael Hirsch

    August 28, 2025

  • ThoseClownsAtOldYeller
  • Those Clowns at Old Yeller
  • Old Yeller turned ten years old this summer, and a couple of weeks ago, they threw their fourth annual Underwater Clown Rodeo. I had the opportunity to interview Alyssa and Kristen about their experience as tenants, property owners, and community leaders in Detroit who have transformed their home into a safe space for creative freedom and expression...

    Ashley Cook

    August 25, 2025

  • Meltdown Meals: Gloria's Kitchen
  • I can’t figure out what I want to say about this place. It was one of the first places I was craving in Detroit when I got back from 4 months of traveling across Asia and South America where I was eating some of the indisputably best street food in the world and I would safely put Gloria’s amongst their ranks...

    Michael Hirsch

    July 21, 2025

  • Hot Club Women (Detroit Edition)
  • The city is full of multi-talented ladies, and this photo series is dedicated to them all!

    tearyeyed

    December 30, 2024

  • TheBarbershopInc.JacksonGifford
  • A Slightly Personal Introduction to The Barbershop Inc.
  • Setting foot into The Barbershop’s larval form on May 24th, I was met with the remnants of what once was, surely, a barbershop. The faded pink walls, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and large basins of granite counter-top which served as pedestals for chemical innovations destined to become groundwater. Despite this tragic beauty, I knew it all had to go, as I was there to meet with founder Jack Jacket to discuss possibilities for the soon-to-be gallery’s first show...

    Jackson Gifford

    August 19, 2024

  • Arnold's Auto Electric Sales
  • In Beatrice’s time stewarding Arnold’s, the city of Detroit was re-narrativized at least 10 times, from all sides. It was a wild time to be alive in the world, and a wild world to be trying to make sense within, especially as a young artist...

    Beatrice Von Rague Schleyer and Mïï Gunn

    October 16, 2023

  • TheAntEndures.MatthewCopeland
  • The Ant Endures
  • Planet Ant Theatre is a true survivor and no stranger to the many obstacles that face a non-profit community of creatives striving toward a common goal. After more than 25 years in operation, the Ant boasts the longest running improv comedy show in the Detroit area...

    Matthew Copeland

    November 8, 2021