JCT Detroit October 8, 2019

Our group of 15 friends and acquaintances, all supporters of Joslyn Castle Trust of Omaha, gather at 8:30 AM at Omaha Eppley Airfield for their Delta Airlines flight to Detroit. Bags are checked or not, boarding passes are distributed and we depart at 10:30 for Detroit. The flight is smooth with clear skies. We arrive about 5 minutes ahead of schedule, collect our 16th member arriving from Houston 3 minutes after our arrival and head to the carousel to pick up the checked bags. All bags arrive intact and we traipse out to the parking area to meet our bus.

We motor into downtown Detroit and stop at Jimmy John’s to pick up our preordered sandwiches and collect our Detroit City Tour Guide, Karen, and proceed on a tour of the city while we wolf down our sandwiches, chips, cookies and bottles of water.

Our first stop is at GM Renaissance Center and riding the elevator to the top of a garage where we viewed a rooftop garden and beekeeping facility. This gave us an overview of this 300 year old city and a glimpse of the buildings that populate this area. We stared across the Detroit River to the City of Windsor, Ontario, looking directly south to our Northern neighbor Canada.

Leaving the interior and winter garden courtyard (right) of the Renaissance Center, we head for a unique structure, The Z Garage, one of a number of buildings owned by Dan Gilbert, the CEO of Quicken Loans and the initial driver of the current Detroit Renaissance. This garage has artwork on every floor, and from the the 10 floor level, we could see all around the area, including a recent painting of Stevie Wonder on the side of one of the buildings.

We leave the garage and walk through an adjoining pedestrian alley whose adjoining walls are covered in art and graffiti. The area is lined by small shops, bars and restaurants. At the end we reboard our motor coach.

Next we head towards the Guardian Building, constructed in 1928 as the headquarters of the Guardian Bank. This phenomenal structure has the entire former first floor retail banking floor now converted to shops and stores. The 5 story tall lobby area is topped by a faux tile ceiling actually made of canvas and horsehair padding to reduce sound. There is no echo here.

On next to the Fisher Building. This 28 storey building was built by the Fisher Brothers, as headquarters for the Fisher Coachworks corporation. It is across the street from the former GM headquarters, now the Cadillac Place building, housing government offices. The Fisher Building is a work of art, designed by the architect Alfred Kahn. The lower exterior of the structure is granite, and then the upper storeys are marble. Inside, the lobby is polished brass, marble and art work everywhere.

From here we drive to MoTown for a look at the houses that formed the original Motown record label founded here in Detroit by Barry Gordy. We did not tour the museum, but did step out to listen to the music being played and for photo ops on the front porch.

From here we headed to our hotel for the rest of the trip, the Inn on Ferry Street. This collection of early 20th century mansions located a block from the Detroit Institute of Art. We take over one entire mansion and its adjoining arraign house. After a quick curt case drop, we convene in the lobby of the mansion which serves as the restaurant and office for a cocktail. We then walk a block to our restaurant, Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails. Meals included Scallops, Merguez Sausge hors d’oevres, potato dumplings, chopped salad, twice cooked egg salad, basil ricotta tortellini with shrimp, short rib and Babette Steak. A few desserts followed.

We walked back to our mansions to rest and recuperate from our busy first day in Detroit, retiring around 10:00 and looking for an exciting second day.