early oktoberfest in detroit

Andy and I didn't do much (any, really) traveling this summer.  But we headed out to the D--Detroit--last weekend to have fun with our friend Stephani.

En route.  I love a pretty old movie theater.

Really expensive but neat old swimwear at an antiques mall.

At Sugar House for cocktails.  Andy has this expression on his face a lot when he's with Stephani and me.

Stephani's roommate got this as a white elephant gift, and it's one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen.

The DIY Fair in Ferndale.  Wow, was it ever crowded!  I ran into a couple of my Etsy/Twitter/vintage seller pals by chance, which was very cool.  (Hellooo to Timnah and Bethany!  Hope you guys each had great sales.)  I didn't get to shop much as I was helping Andy to wrangle Ms. Lucy.

There were lots of cute dogs at the fair.  And Lucy got stopped every few feet:  "What kind of dog is that?  How old is she?"  Lucy thought every human--and there were tons of them--had a dog treat to give her.

I want to live in this house.  It even had good music--Tom Waits and the Clash--emanating from it.

It was perfect weather.  Stephani made us mint juleps and we enjoyed them outside.

Aw, yiss!  We had an early celebration of both Oktoberfest and Steph's birthday.

Nothing says Oktoberfest like a beer barrel light fixture.

xo

k

spooky D

We spent last weekend in Detroit, and went to a weird little sale thingy--a cross between a garage sale and an antiques mall--and this fantastically creepy framed little girl came home with me.  The frame is covered in tiny, shallow little dents--as though someone tried to stab it repeatedly with a pen.  *shivers*

This sale also had a huge selection of freaky and disturbing dolls.

Don't just lie there, Snoopy--run!  Look at its eyes...

Creepy clown's head and torso has been separated from its yarn body.

We also happened across this spooky old warehouse that would have been a lot spookier had it not had several other explorers wandering about and a photo shoot happening inside. 

It wasn't all scary stuff, though.  I got to eat at my favorite BBQ joint, drink at a great new cocktail place, and do a wee bit of stocking up.

And we couldn't be too frightened, anyway, because we had this fierce creature along to protect us.  (She crawled up on top of my friend's bag so she could see out the window better, and apparently got very comfortable there.)

xo

K

hedonism

Last weekend I celebrated my birthday in Detroit. I didn't take a ton of photos--I usually like to forget about the camera when I'm having fun--but I took some.

This is me in front of Zingerman's Road House (in Ann Arbor, en route to Detroit), pointing at a bone on the ground. I think it was a rib bone. What I thought was funny about this is I'm standing in the parking lot near the barbeque smokers, and I was just picturing a hungry employee snatching a rib off the smoker to eat, and then tossing the bone into the parking lot. Who could blame them?

I think this ironic photo has probably been posted a billion times since the oil spill, but I still had to take my own.

Here is Stephani in front of Ferndale's Ringwald Theatre. She recently saw that production of Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy, and gave it two thumbs up.

All dressed up for cocktails and dinner at Michael Symon's Roast. I covet those boots Stephani is wearing. She is lucky her foot is two sizes smaller than mine.

I love this photo Stephani snapped as I hurried out of the cold back into her house.

Food and drink highlights of the weekend: The Subtle Smoke (Plymouth gin, Laphroaig, Sauternes, Lemon Twist) and Golden Gate (Bulleit bourbon, Benedictine, rhubarb and Angostura bitters, lemon twist) cocktails at Roast. (The Golden Gate reminded me--in a good way--of old furniture. I need to get some Benedictine so I can create one at home.) The rosemary fries at Roast (which my oh-so-refined palate correctly detected were fried in pork fat). The macarons that Nikki bought us from cup.cake in Royal Oak. Stephani's chicken piccata! The Balvenie served to me at the very cool, slightly dive-y, Deco-era Bronx Bar.

And of course, as always, Slow's BBQ.

xo

K

a little more from the D

Just a few more snapshots from our little holiday in Detroit.

No trip to the D is complete without German food and song at the Dakota Inn.

Andy and I spent a day thrifting. For me, it was kind of a dud. He found some good guy stuff, but things were a bit bleak on the lady side. However, I was very excited to find this cool old children's book...

...which had this hilariously sad bunny in it. "I can not get out!" Oh my.

Also, we got to have delicious crepes, coffee and chocolate cake at this place (which I know of thanks to Lauren. Thank you, Lauren!).

We got to take Lucy for a beautiful walk at Kensington Park. Lucy was a bit freaked out by the sand hill cranes hanging out in the parking lot like mean teenagers.

Oops. No dogs allowed. Even cute Lucy-like lowriders in bowlers and sweaters. (No worries--we did not take Lucy on the nature trails. We care about wildlife, too!)

The birthday girl did not get loaded, but did have a good time. Some stranger bought her a shot of Makers Mark. Happy birthday, Lady Stephani!

xo

K

the edsel and eleanor ford home

We are back from a trip to Detroit to visit my best friend, and while there, I got to indulge in one of my favorite activities: enviously touring the beautiful homes of the rich (and now dead). The D--thanks to the auto industry's downward spiral--may no longer be the thriving metropolis it once was, but you can still go and see (and tour) some of the homes of its one-time moguls.

Edsel was the son of Henry Ford, and his wife, Eleanor Clay, was the niece of the founder of Hudsons department store. My photos are all outdoors, as photography is not allowed in the home, but you can see some photos on the home's website. The home was designed and built to look like a cluster of homes in a Cotswolds village, and most of the interior is furnished like an ancient English manor home. However, my favorite rooms were the Modern Room and the boys' bedroom, which were both furnished in an art deco style completely at odds with the rest of the house.

The home is set on the shores of Lake St. Clair, and the large property includes a lagoon, swimming pool, and rose garden.

My cute new vintage kiltie oxford pumps from rustlethepetals were excellent tour/walking shoes!

The estate also has a playhouse--yes, that's a photo of a playhouse below--built at 2/3 scale for Ford daughter Josephine in 1930. It cost $13,000 to build, which was over four times the cost of an average family home at the time. And apparently, Josephine was a tomboy, who rarely used it!

Frankly, I could easily live happily in the thing.

Detail of the playhouse's cute wallpaper.

Wonderful bas relief nursery rhyme motifs on the playhouse's gables.

See those cute little duckies? Love!

xo

K

don't knock the D

Detroit gets an awfully bad rap. The huge numbers of abandoned buildings and homes, some incredibly beautiful, are a very sad and a very visible symbol of the decay of the city.

But there is still a lot of life in this city. You can't help but love Detroit and Detroiters--the people who hang on in this rust belt city and love it no matter what. My best friend lives there, and so I am lucky to get a little taste of the D about once a month or so, a taste that helps alleviate the occasional longings I have for my previous home, another city I will always love--New York.

Detroit, I love you and I don't care what they say about you. I'll keep coming back.

Here is a very photo-heavy post about my weekend in Detroit. I hope these photos will give those of you who have never been a little taste of this city, which is still vibrant in many places and ways.


The Dakota Inn, a German restaurant in Detroit, open since 1933. I recommend the sauerbraten and spaetzle. Here are my friends Lori and Abram in their chicken hats.








We stuffed ourselves silly at the Dakota, so we did not partake of the soul food at the eccentric and friendly Café D'Mongo's Speakeasy. But we did have drinks. And were taken on an impromptu tour of Detroit's only synagogue, which is next door.




This eerie, half torn-down building was near our hotel. The entire facade had come down, so you could look right into the building as though it had been sliced in half. The photo is blurry, but there is a big excavator in front on a giant pile of rubble.




At the Detroit Institute of Art, Henry Ford is showing auto workers a dog-shaped rendition of an automobile engine in Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry mural. You could stare at it and listen to the docents talk about it all day long and you would still not know everything going on in this huge and stunning work. One fun new thing I learned is that Rivera placed two images of his favorite actress, Jean Harlow, in it!





The beautiful Wisteria Gates by Thomas Hastings, at the DIA. These were made for Henry Frick, who decided he didn't want them. New York's loss is Detroit's gain.






Caution: Knowledge is Power at the Detroit Public Library.




Abram looking très French at sunny Le Petit Zinc (thank you, Lauren for the tip!). Love the big bowls of tea and goat cheese crêpe.





Speaking of Miss Dear Golden, I did get to meet the lovely Lauren herself on Saturday night at Cliff Bell's. Unfortunately, we got there much later than expected due to the epic wait at Slow's BBQ (that place exerts a crack-like influence over everyone in my group, including me. Damn you Slow's!). Thus, by the time we reached Cliff Bell's, I sadly did not get to spend a lot of time with Lauren. But that will be remedied soon I hope! She, of course, was gorgeous, in a fabulous hat and dress. I, of course, was a dolt and didn't take a photo.


I did take a ton of photos on Sunday at the Heidelberg Project.












The Arboretum at Belle Isle.






Wall molding at the Grand Trunk Pub, which is in the former Grand Trunk Railway ticket office (lots and lots of delicious Michigan beer poured here).




The Art Deco beauty of the Guardian Building.







Many more photos here on my Flickr photostream.

xo

K