Life Lessons Learned Along the Way: The Beauty of Detroit
We continue our series of personal, impactful stories that have shaped how we practice law.
Detroit is a wonderful place to be.
I am not a native Detroiter. I was born and raised on the west side of Michigan’s lower peninsula in a town of fewer than 8,000 people and fewer than even 80 things for a kid to do. Many of those limited “things for a kid to do” involved sports on TV or the radio, and I fell in love with the Detroit Tigers and Lions in particular. I watched gifted Lions running backs Billy Sims and later Barry Sanders score many a touchdown on dazzling runs. I listened to legendary Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell call home runs for my favorite players, Lance Parish, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and Kirk Gibson, and strikeouts thrown by pitchers Jack Morris, Dan Petry, Milt Wilcox, Dave Rozema, Guillermo Hernandez, and more. My favorite of Ernie’s regular calls: when a batter struck out looking, Ernie announced: “He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched it go by.”
Even so, my connection with the city of Detroit itself was fleeting. The three times I went to Detroit were to watch two games at the awesome Tiger Stadium (which was built in 1912 and closed in favor of the fantastic Comerica Park in 1999), and to sing along with my high school choir accompanied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
As much as I yearned to be surrounded by a much larger community than my small hometown could possibly offer, I didn’t yet know if Detroit and its surrounding environs could be that place for me. But I knew I had to be somewhere else. So, upon graduating high school, I moved 200 miles away to Ypsilanti (immediate neighbor and sister city to Ann Arbor) to attend Eastern Michigan University, from which I graduated (with honors) with a dual degree in Political Science and Creative Writing.
While at EMU, I began to experience Detroit anew. I attended more Tigers games. I discovered (or, more accurately, had my peers direct me to) various Detroit restaurants, bars, and clubs. I attended concerts, musicals, and other shows at the beautiful Fox, Fillmore, and Fisher theaters, St. Andrew’s Hall, and The Masonic Temple. And thus, a spark of love began.
Absence, as the old saying goes, makes the heart grow fonder. And so it was that during my three years attending law school in Bloomington, Indiana, that I missed Michigan in general and Detroit in particular. As incredible as my law school years were, I knew that I was a true Michigander destined to move back home to start my career. And 20 years ago now, in 2004, I fulfilled that destiny, moving back to Michigan and settling in the suburbs northwest of Detroit. Over the 20 years since then, my love for Detroit itself has grown exponentially.
Also growing exponentially over that time? The beauty of Detroit. All four of Detroit’s professional sports teams are now located within two blocks of each other in downtown Detroit in stadiums opened in 2000 or later. New restaurants, apartments, and condominiums have sprouted in Detroit’s various neighborhoods. New parks and other greenspaces have flourished. Beginning in 2007, a streetcar known as the QLINE was built, and now transports hundreds of people per day up and down scenic Woodward Avenue. In 2006, Detroit hosted the Superbowl, and in 2023, it hosted the NFL Draft, which was attended by a record crowd of over 775,000.
Two more recent attractions are perhaps the jewels of Detroit’s growth. Earlier this year, the long-dormant Michigan Central Station reopened as the centerpiece of a Michigan Central, a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. Also this year, Detroit’s gorgeous Riverwalk—which has been named the Best Riverwalk in America three years running by USA Today—is in the process of being further expanded and beautified beyond its already impressive 3.5 mile length.
Unlike what has been at times communicated about our great region, Detroit is a wonderful place to be.
In our second article the month, David Saperstein discusses different approaches states have taken with regard to whether attorney’s fees may be recovered under the prior litigation exception to the American Rule.