Blessed Elephants, Polar Bears, and Atomic Dogs – TDH visits Wyoming, Tireman, Harper, and more

Took a rather extended loop on the Tour De Hood today. It was the same day as the Tour De Troit – which we intersected on our end stretch near Indian Village. Went our own way, as the legal eagle and I  didn’t want to follow 2,000 cyclists around a path we already know well.
Here’s [...]

Aretha’s Hat

Think back to last January, when President Obama was inaugurated. Aretha Franklin made a lot of noise by sporting a unique chapeau, designed and built by Detroit’s own Mr. Song. Here’s Aretha in said hat, in case you’ve forgotten what it looked like:
The Queen of Soul
Here’s where she got it: Mr. Song Millinery on [...]

The return of Detroit’s Mounted Police

Nice news. I took a day off from work today – mostly to catch up on trying to make my yard less of an eyesore. Had to spin through the hood, though, as it was a beautiful day.  For those of you who missed it, Detroit’s own Toby Barlow had a piece in the New [...]

Pimp your Pontiac

It started out cloudy on the TDH this morning, but a brisk breeze from the SSW has blown them away.  While it was still cloudy, this pimped out Pontiac brightened my morning.

Pontiac Sunfire: Non-standard paint color.
There’s an abandoned building on Agnes near Townsend I’ve always wanted. I don’t know why, as it is not [...]

“You can lead a horticulture…

…but you can’t make her think.” So said Dorothy Parker, when challenged to use horticulture in a sentence. I guess people were wittier then than they are now.
I present to you one of the things I find very interesting on the TDH. As you know by now, much of my route passes by abandoned [...]

Couldn’t ride this weekend, but here’s a pothole for your amusement.

I had to work this weekend, and couldn’t get in a ride. To keep your appetite for exciting TDH news at bay, here’s a 2009 contender for pothole of the year.

Pothole cum crime scene cum tire recycling center.

Back soon with more exciting photos of my fair city.

The Fine Art of Deconstruction

It started out a little damp on the TDH this morning, but ended up breezy and unseasonably chilly for a Memorial Day weekend. (It seems to me we always used to be swimming by Memorial Day).
Detroit is cursed by failed attempts at renaissance-ing itself.  Here, in a microcosm, a demonstration of “we were that close [...]

High Speed Rail + Big Three = opportunity for Detroit?

The economic situation as I see it: On the one hand, US Automakers are teetering (save Ford, which, miraculously, appears to be doing pretty well).  On the other, there is a push to finally get High-Speed Rail going in the United States. We (collectively) want to save manufacturing jobs, right?  How about if the Federal [...]

Sunday and all is well

I think maybe the spectacular weather today acted like a hallucinogen on Mister Arthur’s old bean. Despite the poverty, abandonment, ruins, burned down houses, weeds, broken glass, giant (and growing!) potholes etc., etc., I was in a very good mood – and actually saw some nice things.  First, a little glimpse of the townhomes designed [...]

Five Minute Freak Out

I had an unsettling experience on the TDH this morning. I had stopped at Good Girls go to Paris for what is becoming a habit on my rides, a banana-and-Nutella crepe and a cup of coffee. (That particular option is called a “Good Girl” on the menu, but it seems kind of odd for me [...]