Detroit

It's a spot that we like to go to sometimes together and just the vibe is fire because you share plates. Everything is either you can eat it by yourself, or you can share it. But the selections that they have are fire and it's seasonal, so the menu changes. So anytime you go back, there's something new going on.

It's a newer spot that recently opened up in the city, but they have so many different cocktail options. The vibe is cool. It's like dark with ambient blue lights - it's really like small and intimate.

A speakeasy where you gotta set your little reservation, but it's in an alley in Detroit downtown. It looks sketchy as fuck, but you go to the back in that alley, pass a couple porter potties and some wild shit, and then you knock on the door. It's just a big steel door. You don't see a sign or anything, and then they let you in, and it's this fucking hyper, classy ass spot. It's fucking fire as hell, very quaint but low key with low lighting and a crazy big ass bar with a myriad of drinks. They make the craziest drinks and sometimes they make their own chocolate. 

They throw a whole bunch of parties and shows. It's a venue, but it's like a mansion and a historical landmark in Detroit.

I like this spot a lot because it's a good vibe and on a rooftop. You get a good little view of the city. Go on a weekend 'cause it can also get ratchet, and I love that. It's sexy ratchet.

It's pretty much like a techno museum inside of the building. It's right off Grand Boulevard, which is one of the main streets in Detroit, close to downtown. You can learn about the history of techno and like its roots, from equipment to records and all types of stuff. All you got to do is go up there and you can schedule appointment to get a tour, or you could do it online. If you want to get an understanding of the history and culture techno or just music in general you got to check it out. You might see Mike banks just walking around. You never know.


A Black-owned clothing store within Detroit. Shoutout to roast fish, Abu and to Chuck. We got a lot of stuff varying from like Carhartt to New Balance, Nike's and just a whole bunch of stuff. Price ranges from like 150 to 200 it's pretty good. 

You can go fishing over there. They have a park, a botanical garden, an aquarium and just different stuff that that you can check out all on that island. It's spaced out so families come and bring that grill and do cookouts and parties.

Named after a Quintin Tarantino film. In Pulp Fiction there was a scene that it was pretty much named after, and the menu's named after the characters in the movie. It's pretty good.

A fire spot to go to on Saturdays. You can find local fruits and veggies. There's restaurants over there, and also there's meat shops and different stuff like that. On Sundays they have a ballroom dance classes at this one restaurant, I think it's called Burt's Berks. It's pretty cool.

That's on a six mile. It's a Black-owned spot. Shoutout to the homie Mar and his mum. 


That's where everybody's at. It's pretty much an old warehouse joint, where they turn all the places into rooms and rented out spaces. People come and get baked goods or do get straight up catering. Or you can come there and you can get clothes and get geared up, stitched up, tailored, whatever the fuck it is. A lot of Black-owned businesses in there and they're always [hosting] revolving pop ups. They also throw parties in there too. 

Techno Museums and Black-Owned Businesses in Detroit with HiTech

Sam Riddle

Detroit is the birthplace of Techno and still hosts one of the most prestigious electronic music festivals in the world, contextually giving the city a rich history with record stores and DJ culture. Paramita is an unique record store that is also a wine bar and a steward in the Detroit beat scene.



Detroit is a potential gold-mine for the cannabis industry and will see an influx of jobs and industry in the city once marijuana is fully recreational. One disproportionate measure of the cannabis industry is that only 4.3% of the business is controlled by black owned companies. Furthermore, despite roughly equal usage rates, blacks in America are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana. Viola is a black-owned business and my favourite medicinal dispensary in the city, owned by former NBA star Al Harrington.

Cliff Bells is a Detroit institution and my favourite brunch in the city. Pre-Covid you could drop in here on a weekend morning or afternoon to hear live jazz with a scene that feels like a time machine or out of a Fred Astaire movie, as the NY Times described it.

With iconic shoe collaborations (see: New Balance) and a pivotal place in the street wear scene, especially in the Midwest - Burn Rubber shaped culture through its employees and friends that include Big Sean, Jay John Henry, Cliff Skighwalker and more hometown heroes.

Sweet Water is across the street from my favourite concert venue in Detroit, St. Andrews Hall. It was a ritual to visit Sweet Water before and after concerts to grab a meal. I haven’t eaten meat regularly in almost three years, but I still dream about their Buffalo Wings.

A library-esq used book store that boasts over an over 1-million book inventory across their two locations in Detroit and nearby suburb Ferndale. My father used to take me here as a kid and I would try my hardest to get lost in the maze-like-store so I could read until my heart was content.

Detroit has gotten a lot of attention for ‘ruin porn’; the trend of photographing delapitated buildings as if that was what represents the city. The Heidelberg Project flips that trend on it’s head a bit; as a city block-long outdoor community art exhibit that transforms discarded items into exhibits, sculptures and statements.

Coney Islands are kinda to Detroit as Waffle House is to Atlanta. There are so many great ones across all of Michigan including Lou’s in Detroit, Abe’s in Ypsilanti, and Sparty’s in East Lansing (where I went to college at Michigan State.) For this guide and looking at Downtown Detroit - the debate is American Coney Island vs Lafayette Coney Island, which sit next door from one-another. If you ask me its Lafayette all day.