The World Incorporated Travel Blog

Tag: places

  • An Architecture Tour of Palmer Park’s Historic Apartment District, Detroit

    300 Whitmore. Notice the door, how it widens at the bottom. This is due to the "Egypt craze" that occurred after King Tut's tomb was discovered. On second look, it does appear similar to the entryway of the tombs of Egypt, no?
    300 Whitmore. Notice the door, how it widens at the bottom. This is due to the “Egypt craze” that occurred after King Tut’s tomb was discovered. On second look, it does appear similar to the entryway of the tombs of Egypt, no?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Travel back in time to the 1920s.  The place to be?  Detroit.  This was the era  that the automotive industry got its wheels turning.  The Detroit skyline began to take shape as the iconic Cadillac Place (General Motors Building), Guardian, Penobscot, and Fisher buildings were erected.  People flooded the city for work… and they needed a place to live.

    Just north up Woodward is Palmer Park – an apartment district that was created for the slew of workers in the city.  Just a block from this district was the streetcar stop that delivered residents to and from their automotive jobs.  As the decades went on, Palmer Park evolved into a gay friendly neighborhood with lots of restaurants and clubs.  Even Madonna got her dance on at the clubs around Palmer Park.  The original Menjo’s & Cliff Bells were in this area.  But violence drove out the gay population to adjacent cities (Ferndale, Royal Oak) and much of Palmer Park and the apartment district fell to blight, crime, and drugs.  (more…)

  • Bears & Beers: The Detroit Zoo Brew

    Detroit-Zoo-Sign Typically when I think of the zoo, I imagine wild little children running around with their sippy cups eager to see the giraffes.  But the Zoo Brew?  Imagine equally as wild “big” kids running around with craft beers equally as eager to see the giraffes.  Because we’re all big kids at heart, the zoo never really loses its charm.  And this event captures adult allure with the promise of local craft breweries to keep things buzzing.  (more…)

  • What I Didn’t Know About West, Texas

    Welcome to West, Texas
    Welcome to West, Texas

    The road trip from Dallas to Austin was longer than expected and laden with sporadic traffic jams.  The checkpoint of hope beamed at Exit 353 along I-35.  There were notices along the roadway that teased about the gluttonous glory awaiting at this exit… the Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery… an edifice that housed hunger-satisfying happiness in the form of all things baked and delicious.  (more…)

  • Finding The West at the Fort Worth Stockyards

    Finding The West at the Fort Worth Stockyards

    It’s embarrassing to admit that sometimes I’m still stuck in my childhood stereotype of how I expect a place to be.  When I learned I was traveling to Texas, I excitedly imagined a “Fievel Goes West” destination with dusty grounds, blowing tumbleweed, lawless saloons, and lazy cattle.

    Greeted by the towering structures and modern buildings in Dallas wasn’t unanticipated, but rather “not up to scratch” with my vision.  Where were all the cowboys?  I had been warned that Dallas was not my imagined Texas, yet I still longed for spurs and saloons, not suits and skyscrapers.  (more…)

  • Chicken & Waffles in Austin, TX… Without a Side of Cockroach

    Two thumbs up for making it to Lucky J's!
    Two thumbs up for making it to Lucky J’s!

    “We HAVE to get chicken & waffles.” It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a statement, it wasn’t even a thought… it was a definitive command.

    My boyfriend (as he prefers a low-key online profile, for the sake of this blog, we shall call him Mystery Man (MM?) until he decides to reveal his secret identity) has raved about this chicken & waffles place since our first date. It’s crept up in conversations. Other chicken & waffle meals never compared. That bag of Lay;s Chicken & Waffles flavored potato chips only served as an unsatisfying reminder of this life-changing chicken & waffles restaurant in Texas.  (more…)