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The word about Detroit's visit-worthiness has spread to Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emiates.
"The new cool sweeping Detroit" is the headline in The National, an English language newspaper founded eight years ago this month. Its upbeat travel article is by Shirine Saad, a Beirut-born freelancer based in Manhattan.
She spent time in Midtown, West Village and downtown to research a 1,600-word roundup that mentions more than 30 of the usual restaurants, shops, neighbohoods, landmarks and historic figures. The mostly solid research has just a couple of factual missteps, but recycles here-we-go-again myths.
There's also this grin: A "handmade" Shinola bike costs the equivalent of 11,019 dirhams, readers are told. (That's $3,000 here, but may not seem pricey in Abu Dhabi, largest oil producer of the UAE.)
Here's a summary of what readers in the UAE's capital, which has 1.6 million people and is 7,100,miles away, see in Wednesday's report from Detroit:
The rebirth
"Despite being declared bankrupt in 2013, the city has slowly re-emerged, with new stadiums, renovated landmarks, and restaurants and boutiques attracting tourists and businesspeople again. . . . Foreign investors are snapping up empty lots and historical buildings; everywhere, luxury condos and hotels are rising."
Everywhere, says a journalist who used a cab and Uber to see Midtown, downtown and West Village in a 143-square-mile city. Luxury condos and hotels everywhere.
The myths
"As metropolises such as New York have become unaffordable for creatives, many are moving to this city deep in history and inspiration, taking over vacant lofts and industrial spaces. . . . Now, Detroit is commonly referred to as the 'new Brooklyn.'"
Commonly must mean by outside journalists, Shirine.
Yes, Galapagos Art Space is coming from Dumbo (New Yorkese for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), but that "new Brooklyn" meme gets you ridiculed and disregarded here.
Everyone knows Detroit is actually the new Silicon Valley. Try to keep up.
Twenty years before Shinola.
"Detroit has become synonymous with cool, reconnecting with its music and industrial roots, and opening up to the world. Last year, Richard Branson launched a direct Virgin flight from London with glamorous concerts and city tours, putting his stamp on a city now iconic of hipster authenticity."
Um, no, no and no.
"Reconnecting with its music and industrial roots" is something only a fly-in travel writer would type. It's beyond a parody of the genre. "The spanking new Third Man Records," a scene-setter in the first sentence, is a sign of vitality -- but not of a city reconnecting with its music. That circle remained unbroken.
And did you really put Richard Branson and "hipster authenticity" in the same sentence? Good one. (Heads-up: Hipster authenticity is an oxymoron.)
The wrongness
"Since opening here, Shinola has helped improve the city’s image with its Made in Detroit tag; now most local brands proudly feature their city’s name."
Careful now -- that's how to get Kid Rock lobbing F-bombs.
Eleven years ago, he bought the Made in Detroit apparel brand out of bankruptcy and has goosed new life into a company founded in 1991.
Shinola opened in 2011. Yes, it has helped improve the city's image. But if anyone thinks that's why most local brands proudly feature Detroit's name, we've got a bridge to sell.
"There's . . . Craftworks, a cafe-bar filled with life and music.. . . The owner, Hugh, who is of Iraqi origin, worked in the music industry in Los Angeles and New York before moving back here to open his bar."
Close. It's Craft Work. (And Supino, not Supinos.)
Hugh Yaro has a last name -- as do Natasha and Andy Hollyday of Selden Standard, also appearing without surnames.
Mini-quibbles, sure. But credibility is in the details.
The namechecks
Henry Ford ♦ Diego Rivera ♦ Jack White ♦ Red Wings ♦ Corktown ♦ Drought ♦ Dan Gilbert ♦ Cass Corridor
The White Stripes ♦ The District Detroit ♦ Negative Approach ("the legendary Detroit hardcore-punk band")
Michigan Central Depot ♦ Quicken Loans ♦ John Varvatos ♦ Wright & Company ♦ Campus Martius
Renaissance Center ♦ Cadillac Tower ♦ MOCAD and its Café 78.♦ Eastern Market ♦ Red Bull House of Art ♦ Selden Standard
La Rondinella ♦ Parmita ♦ Sister Pie ♦ Tea and Tao ♦ DIA ♦ Woodward Avenue ♦ People's Records
