{"id":19304,"date":"2017-02-07T02:53:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T02:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=19304"},"modified":"2017-02-07T02:53:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T02:53:45","slug":"three-dudes-go-south-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/three-dudes-go-south-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Dudes Go to “South Detroit”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has heard the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believing” has heard the line: “Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit.”<\/p>\n

As someone who isn’t from Detroit and who wasn’t too familiar with the city before moving here, I just always took this line at face value.\u00a0 Turns out there is no South Detroit.\u00a0 Because of the orientation of the city along the Detroit River, “South Detroit” would actually be Windsor, Ontario, Canada.\u00a0 A quick google search will show you that Windsor is not at the top of anyone’s must-see travel destinations.\u00a0 Vice, in their usual swing through town for 10 minutes, talk to a bunch of weirdos, and then write a piece as if they know a place, style, had this to say about Detroit’s neighbor across the border, “This city near Detroit may be the worst city on Earth.” https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/windsor-ontario-residents-tell-us-why-its-not-the-worst-place-on-earth<\/p>\n

Thanks Vice.\u00a0 Solid work.<\/p>\n

Detroit suffers from a similar image problem around the US.\u00a0 So a couple friends and I set off on a diplomatic empathy mission.\u00a0 The three of us decided to actually seek out the treasures to be found in South Detroit, the worst place on Earth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First stop: Tim Horton’s across the street from the border crossing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes I know Detroit also has Tim Horton’s.\u00a0 Even my office downtown has a Tim Horton’s.\u00a0 But there’s something fundamentally better about getting it for 77 cents on the dollar and having a Canadian struggle to explain Tim’s “Roll Up the Rim” contest to your friend from Kentucky who just wanted his thermos refilled with black coffee.\u00a0 She handed him an empty cup with his order and continued to repeat the phrase “you just roll it up” over and over until her coworker came over and offered the same advice, but slower.\u00a0 I think the words “have you ever been to Canada?” were even uttered at one point.\u00a0 It was fabulous.<\/p>\n

Second stop: The Canadian Welcome Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was my third time in Windsor and I’ve stopped at this welcome center every time and every time it’s been worth it.\u00a0 Not only did we receive the warm welcome and courteousness I’ve come appreciate in Canada, the woman working the center found out our Canadian National Park Passes hadn’t come in the mail yet.\u00a0 So she gave us each one, no questions asked.\u00a0 Boom.\u00a0 Free access to any National Park in all of Canada for the rest of 2017.\u00a0 Follow the Beaver.<\/p>\n

Third stop: Goodwill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, you can find thrift shops in Detroit.\u00a0 The Salvation Army there is great.\u00a0 But it can’t hold a candle to the Goodwill in Windsor.\u00a0 Need hockey skates? 10 bucks (before the exchange rate).\u00a0 Need a 2010 Vancouver Olympics pullover? Of course you do.\u00a0 Need a picture of Pegasus in an epic face off with other horses?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 But it’s there.\u00a0 And so are surround sound speakers.\u00a0 Things made of wood.\u00a0 Thousands of books.\u00a0 The store is clean.\u00a0 There’s any random Canadian artifact you could hope to find.\u00a0 I’d put it on Windsor’s must stop list for anyone with enough sense to see that paying full price for clothing is a fool’s game.<\/p>\n

Fourth stop: Canadian Tire<\/strong><\/p>\n

My comrades in empathy approaching the Tire for the first time.<\/p><\/div>\n

A tire shop?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 And oh so much more.\u00a0 Neither of my friends had been to one before.\u00a0 One was excited, the other skeptical.\u00a0 Both left with life-improving purchases.\u00a0 For those who don’t know, Canadian Tire is a sort of Home Depot meets Cabela’s meets random Canadian things store.\u00a0 I scored the warmest winter coat I’ve ever owned for pennies on the dollar.\u00a0 One friend snagged a down jacket that could compress and fit inside an airplane pillow for a similar steal of a price.\u00a0 The other upped our Slow Roll game for next season by finding a backpack soft cooler.\u00a0 Canadian Tire folks.\u00a0 Where dreams come true.<\/p>\n

Fifth stop: Walkerville Brewery<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not much to report here.\u00a0 A solid brewery with $3.50 beers that are quite delicious.<\/p>\n

Next stop: lunch at O’Maggio’s Kildare House Irish Pub<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Irish Pub is in an actual house in the Walkerville neighborhood.\u00a0 The interior vibe is similar to any Irish Pub you’ve been to anywhere in the world.\u00a0 The waitresses wore kilts, but not in the Tilted Kilt sort of way.\u00a0 Our waitress pegged us as Americans within minutes as we all proceeded to deliberately order terrible Canadian domestic beers (me in my Tim Horton’s beanie and one of my friends with his Canada mittens on the table).\u00a0 She got a kick out of us trying to maximize the Canadian-ness of our experience and encouraged us to order poutine to complete it, a decision you will never regret.\u00a0 The food was delicious and in a mashed potato, corned beef, and poutine-induced coma, we set off on a walk to our next destination…<\/p>\n

Seventh stop: Hiram Walker and Sons Distillery and THE Canadian Club<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This distillery, which you can see from across the river in Detroit, was the epicenter of illegal booze smuggling into the US during prohibition.\u00a0 The offices, known as The Canadian Club (yes, that whisky), are modeled after an Italian palace that Hiram Walker, the founder, decided he liked.\u00a0 If you want to learn more, go on the tour.\u00a0 Our guide was a bit awkward and long-winded, but the folks at Hiram Walker and Sons are very trusting in what they allow you to do on the tour, the one rule being: don’t touch any of the ledgers.\u00a0 Other than that, have at it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the old money books down in the basement.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bourbon master Everett learning alternative facts from a clueless fellow tourist.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just running the numbers at Hiram Walker’s old desk.<\/p><\/div>\n

There were more shenanigans that happened after this as we wandered around downtown Windsor and along its riverfront, but I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own visit to Windsor.\u00a0 You can do much worse than Detroit’s international neighbor to the south.<\/p>\n

I’ll leave you with this:<\/p>\n

Hiram Walker? Or some guy named Soccer Mike? I’ll let you decide.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has heard the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believing” has heard the line: “Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit.” As someone who isn’t from Detroit and who wasn’t too familiar with the city before moving here, I just always took this line at face value.\u00a0 Turns out there is no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":304,"featured_media":19312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[548,549],"class_list":["post-19304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-playdetroit","tag-canada","tag-south-detroit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}