The Atlas Obscura Guide To Detroit

48 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Detroit, Michigan

Updated January 18, 2023

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Unusual Attractions in Detroit

Grande Ballroom

Detroit, Michigan

Grande Ballroom

Abandoned concert venue legendary for its rock counterculture.

The stacks of John K. King Used & Rare Books.

Detroit, Michigan

John K. King Used & Rare Books

This sprawling bookstore spans four floors and has more than a million books in stock.

Inside St. Agnes Church

Detroit, Michigan

St. Agnes Church and School

This Detroit ruin was once a gothic bastion of its community, but now it stands as a haunting ruin.

A postcard from the inside of the aquarium, dating to 1907 or 1908.

Detroit, Michigan

Belle Isle Aquarium

The Beaux-Arts aquarium boasts a vast collection of saltwater and freshwater fish on an island in the Detroit River.

Hamtramck, Michigan

Hamtramck Disneyland

A wacky two-story folk-art assemblage of carved and found objects, with lights, motion, and sound now in need of financial support.

Heidelberg Project

Detroit, Michigan

Heidelberg Project

One man's attempt to create an artistic wonder on a run-down block in Detroit.

Detroit, Michigan

Motown Museum

Berry Gordy Jr.'s old home was the original headquarters of Motown Record Corporation.

Detroit, Michigan

Michigan Central Station

A Beaux-Arts triumph set to become Ford's innovation campus

See All 48 Things To Do in Detroit

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

The Raven Lounge

One of Detroit’s oldest blues clubs stands in defiance of the passage of time and the city’s shifting fortunes.

The entrance decked out for the holidays.

Detroit, Michigan

Grand Trunk Pub

The grandiose interior of this bar speaks to its past as home to famous jewelers and railway offices.

A plate of samaki, or fried fish.

Detroit, Michigan

Baobab Fare

Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere opened this community-minded restaurant serving dishes from their native Burundi.

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Diego Rivera's mural sprawls across a light-flooded room in the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Explore Detroit, Michigan

Abandoned 6

Ruins 6

Architectural Oddities 6

Music 4

Eccentric Homes 4

Homes 4

Unique Restaurants & Bars 2

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Stories About Detroit

When Rosa Slade Gragg bought this home at 326 East Ferry Street in Detroit in 1941, neighborhood rules forbade the Black woman from living there.

The Black Woman Who Didn’t Just Open Doors—She Moved Them

Rosa Slade Gragg wouldn’t let a racist restrictive covenant stand in the way of the Detroit Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.

by Carole Rosenblat

The Boston Cooler: "The nectar that the Olympians pined for but didn’t know how to make."

How the 'Boston Cooler' Became a Classic Detroit Drink

This sweet, creamy enigma dates back to the late 1800s.

Waddles, with copies of her poetry-infused "Soul Food Cookbook."

The Poetry-Loving Cook Who Fed Detroit's Soul

With a 35-cent-meal restaurant and other charities, Mother Waddles was "a one-woman war on poverty."

Landlubbers discovered the stuffed-bottle surprise.

Found: A Landlocked Message in a Bottle in a Detroit Train Station

More than a century ago, a couple of guys had some beer and an idea.

by Jessica Leigh Hester

Podcast: The Heidelberg Project

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

by The Podcast Team

The food at Mr. Kabob, a Chaldean gas-station restaurant that is a short drive from Chaldean Town.

The Detroit Restaurants That Taste Like Ancient Mesopotamia

Known for their food, the city's Chaldean diaspora wants to revive their restaurant scene.

by Priya Krishna

The shoebox lunch has become a symbol of resilience.

How 'Shoebox Lunches' Made Black Travel Possible During Jim Crow

Humble shoeboxes allowed African Americans to dine with dignity.

by Nicole Taylor

This is not want you want to see in a sewer.

How a Massive Fatberg Went From Sewer to Science Museum

The underground menace is now a reminder that people should be kinder to their pipes.

by Jessica Leigh Hester

January 24, 2020

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