I Drove Through The Worst Parts of Detroit. This Is What I Saw.

Wow! Detroit has some really crazy areas! We begin our journey in Detroit on M102. No, that’s not a radio station. That’s 8 mile road.

We drove down 8 mile road on our way into Detroit. 8 mile road is north of Detroit, about 8 miles north of downtown.

Along the way, we saw many shuttered businesses, and other downtrodden sights.

Of course, 8 mile was made famous by the movie 8 mile, starring Eminem.

8 Mile Road has also always been the physical and cultural dividing line between the wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs of Detroit and the poorer, predominantly black city.

You can see on this map exactly what I’m referring to. As we drive, heading west, on our left is the black population, where people earn about $30k a year, and on our right is the white population where people earn about $75k a year

Then, we left 8 mile road and hopped onto 75 South to head into Detroit proper..

We got off the 75 South at Grand Avenue and headed west. We read online that an area near Rosa Parks Blvd was particularly bad, so we went there first. As it turned out, this wasn’t even the worst area we would see.

At this point, we were 4 miles from downtown. For perspective you can see on this map where we were. The homes here were in pretty bad shape, but like what we had seen in Flint about two hours earlier, in many of these downtrodded neighborhoods, people were not outside. The streets were just eerily empty.

Did you know Detroit has lost ⅔ of its population?

I’ve been to east Cleveland once. That was really bad.

But in East Cleveland, at least they had houses, not just open spaces.

Detroit has lost 1.2 million people in the last 70 years. Of course, that’s because of the auto industry decline, mostly. That’s pretty common knowledge.

In the neighborhood we were in, rent was about $450 a month for the entire house. You can see why.

Now, we’re going to let this go for a minute or two and then take you to the worst area we saw that morning.

So we left that neighborhood and took Linwood, one of the really bad thoroughfares in Detroit. We wanted to go to the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood, which we read was one of the worst in the city.

Of course, Detroit has issues with crime and poverty. One in three people in Detroit lives in poverty. In 1950, 82% of Detroit was white. Now, it’s 82% black. And, of the top 12 employers in Detroit, all but 2 are government jobs. Meaning there’s not a lot of private enterprise here.

Of course, people talk of a Detroit resurgence. While the downtown area itself is improving and adding jobs, the outlying areas like this haven’t even been touched. And apparently, there are businesses who want to grow in Detroit, but they can’t find people who are either motivated or skilled to take those jobs. So the city is actively trying to recruit skilled people to the city, offering tax breaks and cheap housing.

But progress is progress, and there’s an air of hope and optimism among some Detroit folks. Mostly in areas not close to this.

For perspective here’s a map that shows where we are from downtown. We’re even closer to downtown and it’s really abandoned as we’ll see.

Now this neighborhood wasn’t really dangerous - at least we didn’t see any people lingering and never felt threatened. So whoever actually lives in this neighborhood was either hiding inside, sleeping or not home. Sometimes, you’d see a guy on a bike or a few people on their porch, but that was it.

But it was really interesting to see block after block where you would see large areas where homes were razed, and the city was essentially turning parts of the city back to nature. It’s an...urban prairie. The homes left are mostly gutted or have some sort of fire damage. Some of the alleys looked like hiking trails.

But it isn't scary. That’s because it’s early in the day, we can see, and we’re driving in a car that looks like an undercover cop car. So people are giving us a wide berth.

Now, we’re going to let this video just roll. We have about 15 minutes more of just footage, where we looked at different areas of Detroit - all on the city’s northwest end. For the most part, these areas were run down, but occasionally, as you’ll see there are small areas that aren’t too bad.

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[adamn]

It's a shame. Those huge houses were probably something else in their day.

[rabs]

I’m from Venezuela, and usually the poor hood have houses made with raw materials, but in Detroit you can see there are big houses abandoned or bad preserved, this shows the decadence of the city which once was the heart of the American dream

[kelsijodryer]

My unpopular opinion: Detroit looks better now than when I lived there 20 years ago when all the dilapidated houses were still standing. The green space is better.

[newleft]

It's so amazing how a place is instantly beautified when people leave. Look at the greenery... the wildlife is back. Look at those beautiful houses... I would love to live here if job and security weren't issues. I'm rooting for you, Detroit!

Love from, Rojava.

[sohrdfrmdetroit]

I've been living in Detroit my whole life and it's a pretty peaceful place except for all the abandoned houses and never walk at night in Detroit

[MisterS.]

I'm from Russia, and Detroit looks like home to me. Poor and abandoned.

[CeeJay____]

A lot of Detroit neighborhoods give me the "small town blues" vibe. A lot of these places had utterly beautiful homes back in the 50's and 60's, but they've just been left to sit for the past couple decades. It's sad, really.

[breatheinpoetry]

It’s such a shame because a lot of those houses are beautiful

[DotyString]

The abandoned area actually looks beautiful with all the trees and grass

[mikeysix]

Lol ... The hood sleeps during the day and is up all night

[brendanbressler]

Can you please come back and drive through the NICE parts of the city? People who have never been here just assume the entire city is bad and run down, it's not. I've lived in downtown for five years and have seen major improvements and development. Take a drive around downtown, midtown, New Center, Corktown, Eastern Market, and Rivertown. Those are all nice spots. There are still a lot of old historic residential neighborhoods that have beautiful homes. Belle Isle is a beautiful spot with nature and great views of the skyline. Yes I know Detroit has many bad areas and I've driven through a lot of them, but the constant negative outlook on the city gets really old. I've had a lot of guests at the hotel I work at mention how great downtown looks and had no idea the city core had improved so much. The city as a whole has a long way to go, but it's definitely gotten better.

[valerier]

You can still tell that some of those old homes must have been quite beautiful and impressive. Very sad.

[TOOFERMAC]

Next time take a ride down there between 11 p.m. and 4 am

[howarda]

Actually used to be much much worse! The city has been cleaned up substantially. Over 16000 homes and old structures have been torn down in the last 5 years . A long way to go still but a vast improvement nonetheless.

[douglasgriffiths]

It's really sad. Those homes were craftsman homes in their heyday. They had some nice woodwork in them. I remember seeing them in the 60s when I was a kid before the riots. We would go to Detroit once in a while---had relatives that lived there. We lived in Dearborn Heights until 1970 when we moved to AZ. (Jan Griffiths).

[sdcoinshooter]

60 years ago, I was born in Royal Oak and lived in Clawson until my family moved when I was a teenager. It makes me sad to see this, imagine if that area was safe? The housed would be incredibly valuable with all the open space. Good luck Detroit, I hope you come back better then ever.

[aidentomashik]

Sad to see I wish everyone could see what that place looked like in the 40s and early 50s some of the most beautiful neighborhoods

[beckyodom]

There's some beautiful older style houses in Detroit.... It's so sad to see it going to ruin

[chelsiisonn]

This is the most peaceful video ever... I live in metro Detroit, I used to drive through there while it was snowing and listen to calm music like this. One of the best experiences of my life.. lol

[riccogee]

Nick the shooters don't wake up til arnott 12 noon. So mornings are typically slow.