September 2023
Day 1 Friday 15 September
Arrived in the motor city; Detroit, the port city sitting on the Detroit River connecting to four Great Lakes. The city with a great music legacy and its infamous contribution to the car industry. The city that was once one of the foremost industrial hubs of the United States with one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world along the Detroit River….and also the largest city in America to file for bankruptcy in 2013 and a population that has declined by 65% since the census in 1950. The giant Uniroyal tyre looms in Allen Park over looping freeways connecting the city which sprawls out flat with low level shotgun houses, stripmalls, miles of fluorescent orange and white traffic bollards…then suddenly grand houses some beautifully maintained whilst their neighbours slump under the weight of cracking bricks and collapsing porches. Knowing some history of the city it doesn’t come as a surprise and a strange affection settles in.
Hire car picked up at the airport and on to our first destination, the imposing Detroit Institute of Arts…surrounded by other grand buildings small museums lush lawns trees and sculptures which peters out quickly in to more urban sprawl.
With 100 galleries it’s an astonishing collection. We are here to see the huge Diego Rivera Detroit Industry mural (1932-33); a series of frescoes consisting of 27 panels depicting the Ford Motor Company painted in one central ground floor room. Rivera thought these to be his most successful work.
A wonderful Indian gentleman, Vishwas volunteering at the institute gives us a fantastic overview of Rivera’s masterpiece. Various details he highlights, explaining the symbolic meaning of. He’s travelled the world extensively, I tell him one of my favourite trips was to India in 2017. He advises me to return to explore the cave temples in the South.
Other favourite pieces are (girl in chair) ‘The Communicant’ by Gary Melchers (circa 1900). ‘Evangeline Discovering her Affianced in the Hospital’ by Samuel Richards (1887-9).
After two hours wandering only 10 or 15 of the galleries we leave to eat Mexican food a short drive away at M-Cantina, parked right outside on cracked tarmac. Road signs ‘Smoke like a Billionaire Hemp wraps’ near to ‘Everyone deserves affirming life care’. To the Holiday Inn Express at Allen Park to check in and crash out.
Day 2 Saturday 16 September
Driving in to Downtown Detroit to ogle the lobby of the gorgeous Fisher Building. Opened 1929, 30 floors, a 3-storey arcade decorated with mosaics, frescoes, marble and brass…architect Albert Khan. Now a mixed use business retail events space and home to The Fisher Theatre.
As long time music fans we were excited about our next stop. An 11am tour of the Motown Museum in Detroit, booked 3 weeks in advance as tours are small and sell out fast. Roy tours us around. This is where Berry Gordy started it all after getting an $800 loan from the Gordy family savings club. A 90 minute tour of Gordy’s house, the studio, costume and record sleeve displays spread across 2 connected buildings next door to each other. Originally called Tamla Records founded in 1959, it became the legendary Motown Record Corporation in 1960.
The name Motown came from ‘motor’ and ‘town’ Detroit’s nickname. Hugely influential in so many ways including racial integration in the US. Incredible what they achieved. Motown Records moved to Los Angeles in 1967/68…influenced by the Detroit Riots and the loss of songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland over pay disputes.
Our guide Roy had retired but luckily for us his daughter convinced him this was an ideal place for him to be a few days a week. Fantastically knowledgeable, a funny guy, an excellent voice and…even gets us all singing and dancing to ‘My Girl’. During the introduction Roy asks where each of us in the group is from…when we say England there are intakes of breath and swooning sounds. So I punch the air “Oh!…so we win?!” Lots of favourite music moments reminisced by a great group of people.
A comprehensive regeneration project is going to expand the museum even further showing more of their collection, scheduled to open in 2025. Fabulous history and an incredible rosta of musicians.
Not far from the Motown Records Museum we head to The Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum. It’s great putting in the research and finding the eccentric places.
Olayami Dabls is an entertaining and interesting man. He became fascinated with African beads and set up his own museum 16 years ago breaking all the rules of typical museums. Here you can handle the beads, buy some of them and appreciate the power of their African heritage.
Free to visit, the site includes some outdoor art installations, the N’kisi House and an African Language Wall. Colourful and unique, there’s plans for some sort of art community project to expand in to the grounds.
Another nearby eccentricity is Hamtramck Disneyland in the Hamtramck neighbourhood of Detroit. Created by Ukrainian outsider artist Dmytro Szylak (1920-2015) who moved to the US in the 1950s, worked for General Motors for 30 years retired in the 1980s and started creating his own homespun version of Disneyland on top of his two garages. Hand-sawn kinetic structures, found carousel horses, a windmill, a rocketship…it’s a slice of childlike whimsy.
After Szylak’s death the local community campaigned to save his creation and volunteers are now restoring and adding to the original vision. Aaron is a volunteer project manager in his spare time from studying his art degree. On top of the garages painting a wooden structure he’d restored when we pulled up in the narrow alleyway the plot backs on to. He graciously gives us access to the site and we wind up having a great conversation with him about Szylak, music and art.
On to the Heidelberg Project in the McDougall-Hunt neighbourhood of Detroit. Started by Tyree Guyton in 1986 his upcycled trash art projects roll on for the entire length of the street. It’s been bulldozed by the city a few times there’s been fires, but it’s growing in to a larger community activated project which we both like the idea of. There is so much of it, some interesting some not…it’s hard to get in to someone’s head for this kind of thing but I liked the dotted house and the ‘time’ pieces…and I love that he’s got away with it because there is just so much stuff. Engaging and friendly Tyree hangs out at his roadside shack happy to chat and share his thought process.
Back in the car leaving the local neighbourhoods we drive to the downtown financial district of Detroit to see the national historic landmark Guardian Building. Built in 1928 and originally known as the Union Trust Building the architecture firm was Smith Hinchman and Grylls and the head designer Wirt C. Rowland. It’s an unusual and colourful showstopper of Art Deco and Art Moderne style…the interior a blend of Native American, Aztec, and Arts & Crafts influences. Sadly the main hall was closed for a private event but the main lobby ceiling alone is worth the visit.
Soon to be The Womacks! Enjoying their hen and stag weekend as we refer to it in the UK (bachelor/bachelorette)…there is a big group of them whooping it up celebrating their coming wedding set for the the following weekend. Posing for their friends in front of The Spirit of Detroit statue I asked if I could take their photo too. The atmosphere was joyous.
Also in downtown Detroit, The Mighty Fist of Joe Louis, the 7 connected skyscrapers of the Renaissance Centre and a monument to the people of the Underground Railroad.
We end our day back in the Hamtramck neighbourhood where Aaron who we’d met earlier, had tipped us off about the excellent Boostan where we eat delicious Middle Eastern food from a simple hole in the wall packed with loyal customers. Whilst there we get talking with two Jehovah Witness people who are sitting at one of the small plastic tables near to us discussing tea and how best to brew it. Being English I can’t help but interject…we have a fun conversation about tea and travelling.
Day 3 Sunday 17 September
Early morning start. Breakfast at the standard Holiday Inn Buffet and leaving the hotel we joke with two boys in the hotel lift; about 7 and 8 years old. They walk out and one of them turns to say “You sound like you’re in a movie.” It’s entertaining to see how our English accents are perceived on our roadtrips around the US and in turn we love to hear the American accents from the different States. A long day ahead we start at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan…a huge place where we spend about two and a half hours. This is the Presidential car that JFK was assassinated in.
My favourite thing in the museum, a 1941 Allegheny steam locomotive. It’s huge…a behemoth of industry and quite breathtaking. They hauled freight, mainly coal, in trains that were an astounding 1.25 miles long. Weighing in at 603.5 tonnes these locomotives were also used in WW2 for moving troops. Decommissioned after only 15 years when more economical diesel locomotives were introduced. I’m in awe…it towers over me.
Another favourite, a 1923 Canadian Pacific snowplough. The size of these incredible inventions. A 20 tonne wedge style single track plough which would be pushed by one or two locomotives.
A 1952 Wienermobile makes us laugh and an early Model T Ford which I forget to note the date of is a beauty in red bodywork, brass and black upholstery. The original Rosa Parks bus is here but fully refurbished, all the seats replaced.
A 1912 Highland Park Plant-Engine generator. One of 9 built by Henry Ford. This one was moved here and the museum built around it. Driven by coal-gas and steam they produced the electricity that powered the machinery for making Model T Ford motor cars. A 6000 horsepower engine!
We leave the museum and drive 40 minutes to Ann Arbor Michigan, once an enclave for hippies now and upmarket college town of frat houses and sororities. We walk around for an hour and grab some lunch but nothing much to keep us here. A very white town of bookshops, college sports shops, restaurants, cafes…not very atmospheric, some pretty buildings. I think it’s changed quite radically through the years.
Driving Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo on the I-94 by Brill Lake and a highway roadsign declares: ‘After you die you WILL meet God!’ Rain catches up with us 30 minutes from Kalamazoo where another sign screams ‘There IS evidence of God!’ …we don’t find any but the next sign is a little less histrionic ‘Donut of the week! Pumpkin choco chip!’ Huge silos in Decatur. At Vandalia on Calvin Center road we stop to take a photo of the Carriage House, a stop on the Underground Railroad..standing across from the James E Bonine House.
The rain hits hard, lightning flashes, we plough troughs of water around the car, bypassing Kalamazoo cancelling our hotel in nearby Paw Paw (such great names) eventually driving out of the rain over the State border in to Indiana where we call it a day in Elkhart.
Day 4 Monday 18 September
We meet Glen working the breakfast room at Holiday Inn. He’s trained in drug and alcohol rehabilitation but needed to make a living and was still paying off student debt. It’s a crazy world we live in when there’s qualified people spending years crushed by the debt they’ve incurred studying to do something worthwhile for society. We drive to Elkhart RV museum where renovations mean we can’t see the vintage RVs, only the new ones. We turn around and head in to Elkhart instead to look at the town. Driving over St Joseph’s River, a small but pretty Main Street. There’s money here. Huge hanging baskets line the street, benches, fairy lights strung in manicured trees. The pavements are immaculate…but like so many small American towns it’s deserted….we see only one other person walking the street. A furniture shop called ‘Interior Motives’ makes us laugh.
To the Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum where we meet John who shows us some fun stuff; mini comicbooks once dispensed by bubble gum machines, a Spiderman poster which was never used as it has the reflections of the Twin Towers in his eyes and the film release was shortly after 9/11. Models of Stan Lee and Chris Hemsworth as Thor have incredible airbrush detail. Luke Cage models, a show we used to watch…and the earliest Superman toy is on display. They have original costumes/masks donated and signed by Marvel and DC actors. Fun place.
Driving away we pass a McDonald’s and I read out loud from the sign “MC Crispy! Like a DJ!”. Dave pointing out that it actually means McCrispy…doh! We head for Wabash, through Wakarusa, Nappanee, Etna Green, Atwood…passing ‘Egg Innovations’, ‘Creighton’s Crazy Egg & Coffee Bar’, over Chinworth Bridge which crosses the Tippacanoe River. Just outside Wabash we see a Trump flag the only one we’ve seen on this roadtrip, accompanied by a sign: ‘Court martial Biden and his generals for treason.’ Over the Wabash River to see two giant Star Wars Walkers standing outside a scrap metal business.
Stopping at a garage in Swayzee to use the loo where two ladies at the counter tell me they love my accent… and I tell them I like theirs. Driving on by miles and miles of cornfields. On to Fairmount to visit the grave of James Dean…just down the road from Marion where he was born but he grew up in Fairmount.
A friend comments on my facebook post and reminds me of the Morrissey video for ‘Suedehead’ filmed in Fairmount and at Dean’s grave…a hilarious shot of Morrissey atop a tractor trying to get in to gear before driving in snow…another of Morrissey playing bongos next to a herd of black cows. Imagine the record label meeting: “MTV will eat this up…it’s great!” Opposite the graveyard a wall of corn looms dark and ominous; a fixture in horror films. In Elwood we see a place called ‘Eats of Eden’.
A roadsign: ‘Be an organ donor. Give your heart to Jesus.’ In Bloomington we eat great Thai food and walk in late evening sun around town, through the beautiful campus of Indiana University. Autumnal landscaping glows russet red and purple in the falling sun. Rolling grass, stone buildings…it looks wealthy. We buy ice-cream taking it back to sit in rocking chairs on the porch of the Grant Inn where we’re staying the night.
Day 5 Tuesday 19 September
Early breakfast served by Ruthy in the Grant Inn dining room. Antique furniture dark wood, drapes and carpet…a great breakfast bar. It feels genteel but friendly and lived in. I tell the young women at the reception desk that we’re detouring our roadtrip to dip in to Kentucky to take a tour of a ventriloquist museum…they laugh and tell us we might be the most interesting guests they’ve met this year. Heading out of town we drive 30 minutes to Nashville Indiana, home to the Brown County Art Colony set up in 1908. Pretty streets, antique places, pots of autumnal ‘mums’ crowd a nursery that overspills on to the pavement. It feels like a former art colony, a little curated, very well cared for. The main street caters to knick knacks and gifts. The public restrooms on the green are immaculate with a separate room for nursing mothers featuring two large wooden rocking chairs. Pumpkins line stoops.
We meet Bobby and Lisa outside an antiques place where I’m taking photos of the flags on the porch, visiting but they know the area well…they collect antique furniture. Friendly and interesting, they were measuring up the Possum Belly Bakers Rack they’d bought to make sure it would fit in their truck. I’d never heard of one before and look it up; curved lower drawers to keep the rats out of the food.
Leaving Nashville Indiana we drive 115 miles to dip in to northern Kentucky at Fort Mitchell. Following the green highway of West State Road 46 through Gnaw Bone, Clarksdale, Stoney Lonesome to Columbus. Through Newburn and Hartsville where Clift Creek ribbons in blue on the map. Miles of corn, sun blazing across the fields at 10.30 in the morning. A grocery store called Hillbilly Corner. At Batesville we drive over Little Laughery Creek. Roadsign: ‘Value All Children Like Jesus Does’. Dave and I have a well established roadtrip game where we compete to shout out ‘Waffle House!’ when we see a sign. Ridiculously we still haven’t eaten at one so on crossing from Indiana in to Ohio (my 45th State) Dave shouts out ‘Waffle House!’ in Colerain Township and we pull in to break our Waffle House cherry. We meet servers Britney and Titus who I tell it’s our first time, tell them our roadtrip game…Dave saying I was perhaps a bit too effusive about the occasion hah. Britney said they’re open 24 hours 7 days a week 365 days a year. Hey if it was good enough for Anthony Bourdain. It was a fantastic fluffy syrupy treat.
Over the State border in to Kentucky, to Fort Mitchell for the Vent Haven ventriloquist museum. Parking alongside us is Brent. Brought up by Irish/German circus performers he’s a magician and Punch and Judy show performer who lives and travels in his blue truck… in which he’s also got a fairground organ!!! He opens up the back to show us. A return visitor to the ventriloquist museum, I didn’t expect to hear a lilting Irish accent from the first person we met in Kentucky. In his custom made kilt of many pockets, twinkling blue eyes and full of the Irish charm, Brent is a wonderful character full of wit and grace.
The Ventriloquist Museum is a gem. It holds the biggest collection in the world dating back to the 1800s including many famous American stars from old Vaudeville to TV and film. 1,200 dummies spread across several rooms. A fabulous 90 minute tour with the guide who shares the history of ventriloquism, discusses famous ventriloquists like Edgar Bergen, Willie Tyler, Jeff Dunham, Shari Lewis of Lamb Chop fame.
He tells us how the the dummies were made from wood, papier-mâché, even animal skin for the intricacies of more lifelike characteristics like moving lips rather than the standard nutcracker jaw…and more modern techniques of plastics and soft foams.
He demonstrates some of the dummies, showing the inner workings and in the last room we see the human size dummies used in Las Vegas…all four operated by one ventriloquist. We visit because Dave found the museum online and we thought it simply an amusing detour…we leave with loads of information we never knew we’d want about ventriloquism…and it’s fascinating.
From the museum we’re back over the border in to Ohio driving in to nearby Cincinnati to explore the historic neighbourhood of Over-The-Rhine, a former working class German neighbourhood. The neighborhood lies north of the old Miami-Erie Canal which the German immigrants summoning memories of home, referred to as the Rhine River. I wasn’t previously aware of the German history in Cincinnati, they even have an annual Oktoberfest. Handsome 19th century architecture, lots of stunning streetart murals, boutique shops, craft breweries, cafes and restaurants. We were told that it used to be a run down area with a dangerous reputation…it’s looking revitalised as more money is invested.
Mural credits: top left unknown. Top right neon by @insane51 Bottom left Ezzard Charles the Cincinnati Cobra boxer and jazz musician by @jasonsnell Bottom middle “End Homelessness’ ‘Housing is a Right’ designed by ICY + SOT with Artworks Cincinnati. Bottom right by @hera_herakut
We hear Michael busking on Vine Street…sounding very fine. We realise why when we get chatting. He used to be a touring musician working with Teddy Pendergrass, Al Jarreau and Anita Baker. A lovely man he sees my camera, asks me to take some photos of him and text them to him. I oblige….he’s a photogenic subject with his brown smiling eyes.
After eating a huge grilled chicken sandwich with green runner beans (stringer beans here) at Kruegers Tavern on Vine St (delicious) we check in to a Holiday Inn hotel outskirts of Cincinnati near the Kentucky border…the lady at the desk says: “We have a full house tonight because we have two bus tours of elderly people staying who are here to visit the Creationist museum and Noah’s Ark in Kentucky.” Rock n’roll!
Day 6 Wednesday 20 September
By 10am we’re at The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati. An hour of walking among iconic American roadside signage from the 1800s through to the explosion of neon. A small museum but excellently laid out with a lot of historical information. A literal highlight of the trip.
Surprisingly my favourite sign isn’t neon. A 1925 ‘punch out’ sign internally illuminated with incandescent lightbulbs. Louvered holes are punched into the sheet metal and bent inward to allow light to filter through and illuminate the letters and borders. The background is glass smalts which is apparently typical of McSaveney signs.
Attempting to get Dave to play ‘Dave Standing Under Giant Things’ again…I’m really trying… Dave would agree..hah!
Back on the road following I-71 heading for the Amish communities of Ohio. Over the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge crossing the Little Miami river. Bypassing Columbus for the smaller places. Passing Buckeye RV sales…Indiana and Ohio seem to be the main states in which to buy an RV. We pass a giant Longaberger picnic basket in Newark disguising offices. It allegedly cost the founder Dave Longaberger $32 million to build back in 1997 but sadly things went sideways, the building was vacated in 2016 and plans for a luxury hotel to buy it never worked out.
Turning off the highway. By Frazeysburg and Dresden in Zanesville…by Wakotimika, New Moscow and Warsaw. A jumble of cultural name-places. The scenery is gorgeous, narrow roads flanked by tall young trees opening to cornfields and barns of aging silvered planks. Two huge birds feeding on roadkill fly up from the road near a sign for the Chili Crossroads Bible Church. We reach Holmes County driving on the scenic Amish Country Byway, green banked rolling hills, barns, farmland.
First to Sugarcreek to see the world’s largest Swiss cuckoo clock (allegedly; America makes a lot of biggest, fastest, best ever claims)…it’s a little underwhelming and the town, although very quiet when we visit, is very touristy.
Next to nearby Walnut Creek where you can buy pretty much every type of cheese. Amish ladies in long dresses and white cotton caps are loading their grocery shopping in to traditional horse drawn buggies. We’ve seen several Amish women cutting grass across large swathes of land with motorised lawnmowers. Bearded men in black hats, white shirt-sleeves rolled up working the land or in local trade stores. We eat a late lunch in Walnut Creek in a busy large dining room of wooden spindle-back chairs. Choosing a traditional meal from the menu we opt for pork, apple sauce, mash, gravy and string beans (runner beans as we call them in England) but an oversized portion of shredded pork piled high on the plates is barely warm, the mash and apple sauce sloppy….the majority of people in the dining room, Amish, locals and tourists are much older and we wonder if this is catering to them. I won’t name the place but it was tasteless and expensive…a disappointing experience.
In the nearby communities of Charm, Berlin and Millersburg traditional black buggies pulled by healthy sleek horses amiably clop the local roads. Everything appears well tended, pristine.
Room with a view. We stay overnight at Hillside Inn in Berlin (formerly owned by a Preacher). Beautiful place, under new ownership, self check in and free parking suits our needs. Our room has a large comfortable four poster bed, everything looks new and clean. We fall asleep listening to a horse drawn buggy clop by in the dark.
Day 7 Thursday 21 September
Early breakfast in Berlin at a modern Amish coffee shop. Welcoming people with easy smiles. We set out for Cleveland…back on to the Amish highway passing horses and buggies, two heavier Shire horses pulling a wooden wagon with a young Amish couple atop. By roadside stores selling cheese, antiques, furniture, wooden barns and horse tack. Passing through the town of Paint we see a sign advertising a square dance. Plant nurseries, crops, more cheese, bakeries…it is an impressively self sufficient community. I can appreciate what the Amish have created; they’ve integrated with the community and learned a way to benefit economically from it.
Driving through the typical ugly sprawl bordering big cities worldwide, we see the Cleveland skyline ahead. Another roadsign ‘Jesus is a map to the Treasure.’ There’s a lot of God in America. First stop the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The grey glass pyramid looks tired, inside the lighting is terrible, too dark…we’re stooping to read information…the building looks dated. We start in the HipHop exhibition and work our way around. It’s a confusing layout, no obvious route to take. Headphones positioned to listen to music are shredded and dirty, falling apart. There’s an interesting collection here but it needs a cleaner brighter updated venue to showcase it. Among my favourite pieces are Stevie Wonder’s elaborately beaded shirt from 1983, Sam Cooke’s cardy from 1952, a Pine Top Smith record in a great Vocalion sleeve and an Afrika Bambaataa cloak from 1983.
Iggy’s leather jacket, The Clash flyers and Joe Strummer’s guitar…and Meg White’s (The White Stripes) pearly queen jacket.
Handwritten lyrics for ‘Love will Tear us Apart’ by Joy Division. This place needs a major facelift. At $30 a ticket the cold 80s interior the crap cafe and cheap cotton t-shirts selling at a whopping $45 each, is a mess. The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville is far better designed.
In nearby Willard Park we photograph the world’s largest rubber stamp..28 feet 10″ by 26 feet by 49 feet. Created by artist Claes Oldenburg who was commissioned by the then named Standard Oil Ohio to stand in front of their headquarters. A change of management before the installation resulted in the giant stamp going in to storage where it stayed for seven years before it was offered as a donation to the city of Cleveland. Quoted from website Roadside America (which we use to find all the roadside oddities of the United States): “The rationale behind the word ‘free’ relates to its original proposed position in front of the BP Building, just across from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which, upright, it roughly resembled in shape. The word free has several meanings but the main one in this case, was designed to parallel the freedom of slaves but also — because the stamp pressed down on the word free — that many today still are not free.”
We drive to the Slavic neighbourhood of Cleveland to take a look at George Masaveg’s art home. George started buying mass produced art, waterproofing them and across two adjoining properties, began covering both with the ‘paintings’. It’s since consumed his front garden and porches and spilled out on to the sidewalk. It’s fun but in fairness it looks like someone with a hoarding problem.
We were feeling a little disillusioned about Cleveland but meeting Tim Willis turned that around and then some. I don’t know where to start with Tim… he blew our minds. He has the most extraordinary brain, totally self taught. We pulled up just expecting to view some of his giant creations from the side of the road being as they are all on his private property behind chainlink fencing….but Tim gave up 90 minutes of his time to show us around.
He left home at 14 got work at a mechanics, went on to customising car engines, then racing for official sponsors, started buying and refurbishing classic cars and renting them out to movie sets, bought up a lot, started building monster trucks and giant moving mechanicals, started competing them in big shows… and winning. His workshops are fascinating. He’s currently taking apart one of his giant mechanicals to make replicas of it to supply, at their request, to 4 universities teaching robotics that want to use his templates for the curriculum so students have hands on robotics building experience….whilst simultaneously teaching himself human anatomy to create an animatronic of his own body. In his 60s, vegan, keeps fit and doesn’t stay still for a single second. Absolutely extraordinary.
Picking our jaws up off the floor (someone please make a documentary about Tim Willis) we drive towards the Flats area of the city. The 1.5 mile long Cleveland Memorial Shoreway Bridge sweeps above us down towards the Cuyahoga River. This part of the city has seen some rejuvenation with restaurants, bars etc but driving around Cleveland there’s a lot of broken down houses, empty shops, places boarded up and poorly maintained roads. Cleveland Ohio is part of the Rust Belt; a term referring to regions in the Midwest and Northeast USA where factory production was concentrated during the 1940s/50s but by the 1980s many of the factories were abandoned and left to rust. Most major Rust Belt Cities have seen population decline and income shrinkage…but Cleveland feels like it’s on a comeback. There’s a lot of great warehouse buildings and attractive suburbs.
I have a bit of a thing for bridges…especially old rusting workhorses. The gorgeous Cuyahoga Jack Knife Bridge 464 has been fitted with a boardwalk and left permanently in its lifted position overlooking the Cuyahoga River. A photographer was there waiting for a client. Vines clamber over rusting steel, beauty in decay. We stay in the area, eat at Lindey’s Lake House on Old River Road…looking out across the water as the sun lowers.
Day 8 Friday 22 September
At breakfast the next morning we get talking with Eric at GoodKind Coffee in Lakewood on the outskirts of Cleveland. Working two different jobs on 2 laptops as an entrepreneurial content creator. He started by posting up ideas primarily for himself until a big client found his work online and thought it was so good that they hired him. Lived in various parts of the US but came back to Cleveland. One of the greatest things about being on these roadtrips is meeting people.
We’re heading to Sandusky. Hugging the Lake Erie shoreline…upscale neighbourhoods like Bay Village in Westlake with private no trespassing lakeside views, sprawling houses with castellated turrets, huge carports, fake English Tudor. Further along the road the vast NRG energy plant with its towering chimneys and electricity pylons. We pull over before the town of Lorain to sit by the shore of Lake Erie, watching waves spume over a concrete jetty, gulls flare in to the sky. Hard to imagine it as a lake…so vast it’s like looking across an ocean.
In the town of Lorain a pungent chemical smell as we cross The Black River. Driving the ‘Grand Army of Republic’ highway by Skateworld and Jack and Diane’s diner. Repetitive signs for ‘Misney Makes Them Pay’…ads for a local lawyer, his accompanying photograph one eyebrow cocked and a bald hardman image. Driving through Vermillion ‘a great place to live’ says a sign sponsored by Bernie Schlick. Front lawns of giant skeletons pumpkins and ghosts; Halloween kicking in.
In Sandusky the Merry-Go-Round museum is closed for repairs due to getting hit by a storm in August. I’m gutted, I love the carved carousel horses. Back on to Highway 2 instead crossing Sandusky Bay…houses with boats cluster the shoreline. Coming off the bridge in to Danbury. Sign: ‘Marblehead Fish Cleaning We Do Good Work No Bones About It’. Signs for sea wall dredging, Gem Beach Marina, RV Parks and Victorian Inns. Wide empty bulldozed lots. We’re looking for the giant handed Jacque statue in Marblehead, refurbished in 2020 looming outside a moose branded ‘Mickey Mart’ where a note on the inside of the toilet door advises me that Ottawa County asks me to wash my hands…an older gentleman has a 12 pack of Mountain Dew under one arm and a 12 pack of Coors Light Beer under the other. The Jacque statue doesn’t disappoint…his hands are indeed giant. He used to hold a tray but restoration replaced the original hands that collapsed…possibly under the weight of the tray?
We pass Barrys Bagel’s, a model of a shark announces Mike’s Taxidermy next to a lot selling golf buggies. Another RV Park followed by Jim’s Taxidermy and Log Cabin Gifts…competitive taxidermists. Driving through Port Clinton passing Cosmic Rayz Atomic Emporium, on the 163 crossing the Portage River near a place called Pristine Marine…re-connecting on to Highway 2 passing Porky’s Pizza Trof, Happy Hooker Bait and Tackle, by the water tower for Carol Township where a huge chimney at the Davis-Bessie’s Nuclear Power Station dominates the landscape. Through Jerusalem Township where Dave says “Bono is very small”…we head to Bono near Maumee Bay…driving through it simply because it’s called Bono…a sign not far from one for the Bono Baptist Church tells us that the Bono Tavern is the Best Tavern in Town…we suspect it’s the only tavern in town. To Toledo driving first to an historic district which on first impressions looks too down at heel to wander; we may be wrong but several boarded up houses and a car with windows smashed and wheels taken causes us to carry on through. On to the Toledo Museum of Art, some highlights here. ‘HHH1 (Hedonistic Honky Haters)’ by Fiona Foley.
A painting of folded newspapers by Xiaoze Xie is stunning.
A carved and burned wood piece by El Anatsui. Henry Moore reclines in front of a large Louise Nevelson installation. We see so much. It’s a fantastic collection.
To the Warehouse District around South Huron where low evening sun gloams across the red brick glittering across windows painting everything with a warm brush.
We eat a fabulous dinner at Souk Mediterranean Kitchen and Bar. Seated in a booth near the partly open kitchen and serving station, the staff collect to take the evening’s menu instruction from Chef Moussa Salloukh…and I’m propelled straight in to an episode of the excellent tv series ‘The Bear’, a moment of restaurant theatre. And wow the food. The best calamari starter we’ve ever had and despite the more elaborate dishes we were craving pizza…it was delicious. So much flavour…a traditional spicy sausage and pepperoni, the other a flat bread Middle Eastern blend of houmous, crunchy chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes, za’atar…the plates of dishes coming out to tables look mouthwatering. Great service, the place flowing like a well ordered machine, a big space but packed out. I’ll say it again…wow! The food. I’d fly back just for this place. I grab a quick photo of Chef as we’re leaving.
Outside the restaurant we linger a while on the banks of the Maumee River listening to the evening song of the dog day cicadas…noisy insects that emerge during the ‘dog days’ of summer.
End of our roadtrip…driving back to where we started, to the airport in Detroit Michigan. 1,300 miles in 8 days. Another fantastic experience around the United States. Seen so much and met so many great people. 45 out of the 50 States explored so far…there is so much to see out here.
Stayed
Michigan Detroit Holiday Inn Express & Suites Allen Park https://www.expedia.com
Indiana Elkhart Holiday Inn Express & Suites Elkart North https://www.expedia.com
Indiana Bloomington Grant Street Inn https://www.grantstinn.com
Ohio Cincinnati Holiday Inn Express Cincinnati West https://www.expedia.com
Ohio Berlin Amish Country Hillside Inn https://hillsideinn.com
Ohio Cleveland La Quinta Inn & Suites Cleveland Airport North https://www.expedia.com
Ohio Toledo Holiday Inn Express Toledo North https://www.expedia.com
Ate (the places we liked)
Michigan Detroit Hamtramck https://boostanrestaurants.com
Indiana Bloomington Siam House https://www.siamhousebloomington.net
Ohio Colerain Township Waffle House https://locations.wafflehouse.com
Ohio Cincinnati Kruegers Tavern https://www.kruegerstavern.com
Ohio Berlin Ginger House Coffee https://gh.coffee
Ohio Cleveland Lindey’s Lake House https://www.lindeyslakehouse.com
Ohio Lakewood Goodkind Coffee https://goodkind-coffee.square.site
Ohio Toledo Souk Mediterranean Kitchen & Bar https://soukkitchenbar.com
Saw
Michigan Detroit Institute of Arts https://dia.org
Michigan Detroit Fisher Building https://www.fisherbuilding.city
Michigan Detroit Motown Museum (book in advance) https://www.motownmuseum.org
Michigan Detroit Dabls African Bead Museum https://www.mbad.org
Michigan Detroit Hamtramck Disneyland https://www.hatchart.org/hamtramck-disneyland
Michigan Detroit Heidelberg project https://www.heidelberg.org
Michigan Detroit Guardian Building https://www.guardianbuilding.com
Michigan Dearborn Henry Ford Museum https://www.thehenryford.org
Michigan Vandalia Underground Railroad https://www.urscc.org/the-carriage-house.html
Indiana Elkhart Hell of Heroes Superhero Museum https://hallofheroesmuseum.com
Indiana Wabash Star Wars Walkers https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/72525
Indiana Fairmount James Dean Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/267/james-dean
Kentucky Fort Mitchell Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum https://www.venthaven.org
Ohio Cincinnati American Sign Museum https://www.americansignmuseum.org/visit
Ohio Cincinnati Art Mural https://www.artworkscincinnati.org/public-art/murals/downtown-murals
Ohio Holmes County Amish Country https://www.visitamishcountry.com/communities-maps
Ohio Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame https://www.rockhall.com
Ohio Cleveland Giant Stamp https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-rubber-stamp
Ohio Cleveland George Masaveg At Home https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/george-masaveg-art-home-cleveland-ohio
Ohio Cleveland Tim Willis Monster Trucks follow him on instagram where he posts loads of crazy stuff! @timwillis.216
Ohio Cleveland Cuyahoga Jack Knife Bridge https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cuyahoga-jack-knife-bridge-464
Ohio Marblehead Giant Handed Jacque https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/15140
Ohio Toledo The Toledo Museum of Art https://www.toledomuseum.org
Other Stuff
Motown Records https://www.motownrecords.com
Artist Diego Rivera Detroit Industry Murals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Industry_Murals
Artist Diego Rivera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Rivera
Artist Diego Rivera Murals worldwide https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/diego-rivera-murals
Morrissey Suedehead video filmed in Fairmount Indiana home of James Dean.
Indiana Bloomington Black Market Firebombing https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/find-historical-markers-by-county/indiana-historical-markers-by-county/black-market-firebombing
Indiana Nashville Brown County Art Colony https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/find-historical-markers-by-county/indiana-historical-markers-by-county/the-brown-county-art-colony
Performer Professor Brent DeWitt Punch & Judy and Tent Shows https://prodewitt.com
Artist Claes Oldenburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claes_Oldenburg
Ohio Cleveland The Flats District https://beltmag.com/short-history-cleveland-flats/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkMuC0pzagQMVAoCGCh2BxA40EAAYASAAEgJfDfD_BwE
Travel resources
For roadtrippers in the United States and across the world. Both of these are excellent websites.
Roadside America https://www.roadsideamerica.com
Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com
The Travel Diarist 