In the past few weeks, my team (Amelia Suarez, Geraldine Chi, Mike Kurfess) and I have been traveling all over District 6 in the City of Detroit. The mayor’s office tasked us with giving a voice to the lesser-recognized businesses of the Motor City. These voices and their stories will eventually make up a city-wide directory of small businesses.

District 6 covers parts of Downtown, Corktown, Southwest, Delray, Core City, and Midtown.

For a lot of those who live in Southeast Michigan (and other parts of the state), Detroit represents successful major sports teams, the Fox Theater, Lafayette or American Coney Island, Punch Bowl, the Riverwalk, or a host of other businesses and landmarks in the downtown area. More recently, the city has become synonymous with names like Gilbert and Ilitch. To many, these people and places have become the foundation of the epic comeback that is currently taking place in Detroit.

I am here to tell you that this is an infinitesimal fraction of the bigger story. Outside the captivating buzz and bustle of downtown, our group found culture, history, charm, blight, progress, and people that we never knew existed. We came across establishments that have become cathedrals in their communities and we were welcomed like family.

Distinguished District 6 will be a series of blog posts dedicated to the dozens of businesses we have spoken to. I urge everyone who reads this to travel outside their comfort zone the next time they consider a meal out, a night on the town, or an event in Detroit. Be courageous enough to strike up a conversation with a total stranger because you never know what you will learn, the stories you will hear, or the life lessons you may be exposed to. I guarantee you’ll be amazed.

The first featured business in the DD6 series is Hygrade Deli.

Hygrade Deli has been owned by two families in its 65-year history.

“Hygrade Deli is the city’s best kept secret. It is a throwback in time. All these other places like Mudgies and Russell Street Deli are new and cool. Well, we’re old and cool. Walking in here is like stepping back into the 1960s or 70s. We have the best corned beef and reuben sandwiches because we put the TLC into it.”

— Stuart Litt, Owner

Stuart is a fixture behind the counters at Hygrade.

Two families have owned Hygrade Deli in its 65-year history. The original deli sat next to the old Western Market until the market was knocked down to build I-75. That’s when Hygrade moved to it’s current location on Michigan Avenue just east of W. Grand Blvd.

Current owner Stuart Litt and his family have owned Hygrade Deli since 1972 (43 years). Litt was a student at Wayne State when his father bought the deli. He started out working summers before becoming a full-time employee while taking night classes.

In 1977, Stuart’s life changed forever. His father suffered the first in what turned out to be a series of heart ailments and couldn’t work for four months. Stuart, who had just graduated from Wayne State and had his own career aspirations, decided to put his career on hold to run the deli until his father was healthy enough to work.

37 years later, Stuart is still running the deli.

But these past 37 years have been anything but an entrepreneur’s dream.

“My father made a very comfortable living,” Litt said. “But in the 1980s, Detroit started to die and this area started to die with it.”

Stuart married in the 80s and had children soon after. Just as his family was beginning, the business was floundering.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to sell Hygrade.

Only recently, with the resurgence of the city and social media has Hygrade Deli started to bring in the business that Litt expected when he took over 37 years ago. Looking back on his tenure as the owner of Hygrade Deli, Stuart calls it “financially unfulfilling.”

But now there is a glimmer of hope for the future. However, it is a future that his family may not be part of.

Stuart’s children are now in their 20s, but they have no interest in taking charge of the family business. And even after all he has sacrificed to keep the restaurant alive, Stuart says he doesn’t want them to. Instead, he wants to let his kids discover their own passions and pursue them.

The 60-year-old Litt is not sure how much longer he’ll be working behind the counter at Hygrade Deli, but he knows it will be at least five years before he can financially consider selling the business.

In the meantime, Litt takes pleasure not in increased revenue, but the day-to-day interactions that he has with each new customer.

“My favorite moments are when people come in and they say they never knew about this place and compliment the food as they’re paying their bill. That makes me happy.”

So, the next time you are looking for a good sandwich in a retro, community-based atmosphere, be courageous enough to drive past the pleasures of downtown and Corktown and into the history of Hygrade.