Although this is a real estate blog and primarily about Los Angeles and its communities, I want to share my recent trip to Michigan.

My mother’s family is from Detroit which is one of the oldest cities in the Midwest.  Last week, I met my mother and sister in Lapeer.  We attended my cousin’s wedding and celebrated my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary.  

My mother, sister and I had some free time and last Thursday we drove into Detroit to see where my mother used to live (my grandmother’s home).  Detroit’s unemployment is about 25%.  Due to loss of jobs and foreclosures, homes are becoming vacant and attracting vagrants. I was told that the new Mayor, Bing (of Pistons fame) has been ordering these vacant homes torn down.

In my mother’s former neighborhood nearly 30% of each block consists of vacant lots, well maintained homes are sparsely mixed with the vacant lots and decaying homes. On one lot was a community garden.  We crossed the freeway to see where my great grandmother lived, but her home has been torn down.  She had an amazing claw foot bath tub, but everything is gone...

We had lunch at Andiamo, an Italian restaurant chain and then visited Greenfield Village.  The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking.

On Saturday, we drove to Frankenmuth (little Bavaria) which houses bakeries, restaurants, beer halls, shops and a variety of other attractions.  My mother recalled as a very young girl driving there with her family and spending the day.  She also remembered that their chicken was delicious. We ate lunch at the Bavarian Inn and their fried chicken is likely the best, I have ever eaten.



If you enjoy Pasadena’s Stats, you would be amazed by Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland .  Also in Frankenmuth, it is the  world’s largest Christmas store (the size of one and one half football fields).

If you find yourself in Lapeer, I suggest breakfast at the Farm House Family Restaurant.  In nearby Metamora, I highly recommend dinner at the Historic White Horse Inn.  Their food was so good that we ate dinner there twice.

More Michigan musings:

The people in Michigan are friendly, generally more helpful than Angelinos
As they don’t have earthquakes, brick homes are common 
They are apparently patriotic; I noticed a lot of flags flying 
I heard that forty movies are being filmed in Michigan this year as there are special tax incentives 
I noticed a lot of garage sale signs

It was wonderful spending time with my mom and sister who live in Washington (state).  And yes, there was plenty of real estate to go around.  I was in contact with Lisa daily and checked my email morning and night.