For the past 6 months, I have been happy to call Detroit’s West Village neighborhood “home”. Located on Detroit’s East Side about two miles outside of the city’s vibrant central district, West Village is one in a cluster of historic neighborhoods, characterized by beautiful historic homes, tree-lined streets, and the diversity of its residents. This is a neighborhood that has weathered the worst of Detroit’s decline, where families play in their front yards, long-time residents stroll around the block chatting, and young professionals like me jog on the street, iphone strapped to arm and earbuds in.
Despite friendly neighbors and an active community development organization, West Village is at its core a residential neighborhood, to which residents retreat at the end of the day and from which they venture out on the weekends. As a neighborhood, it largely lacks the cultural and social attractions that often leave me envious of my friends in Midtown or Corktown who live walking distance from a number of bars, restaurants, and shops.
That, however, is quickly changing. A number of small shops and restaurants have opened up along a quaint West Village commercial corridor (conveniently located directly beneath my apartment building), the most recent addition being the New American restaurant and bar Craft Work.
In addition to wonderful food and a great bar, Craft Work has provided the neighborhood with a gathering place, as well as made West Village a destination for Detroiters and suburbanites alike. Neighbors I once knew only by sight (Sweatshirt Dad, who is always taking out his trash when I leave for work; Corgi lady, who frequents the abandoned-lot-turned-dog-park behind my building) are now acquaintances I’m getting to know better with each trip to Craft Work. Friends who rarely ventured to the East Side now want to know all about my neighborhood. Coworkers once aghast at the idea of a twenty-something woman living alone in Detroit, now drive into the city on their weekends to visit our new establishment.
Yes, having Craft Work so conveniently located is truly wonderful in that How I Met Your Mother, bartender knows your drink order kind of way. But the larger implications of such a community focal point extend far past the archetypal twenty-something dream of living above a bar. Craft Work, building upon the momentum of Detroit Vegan Soul and others that preceded it, is taking the already strong West Village community and giving it new energy. It’s placemaking at its finest, and I’m so glad to be a part of it- drink in hand.