Culture of Detroit - Ethnic Culture

Ethnic Culture

Greektown Historic District is a popular restaurant and entertainment district established by Greek immigrants and residents, having many restaurants that serve Greek cuisine, as well as one of the city's three casinos, Greektown Casino. Certain buildings on Monroe Street are themed to resemble the Parthenon, Pegasus, and other forms of Greek architecture. Greek music is played on Monroe Street throughout the day. Well-known restaurants include The Laikon Cafe, Cyprus Taverna, Pegasus Taverna, and Pizza Papalis. St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, founded by German immigrants, is located in the heart of the district. Jacoby's German Biergarten (1904), the city's oldest surviving pub, provides a small performance space for up & coming acts in nearby Bricktown. German immigrants also founded St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church on the city's central east side, near the Eastern Market Historic District. Immigrants contributed to the area's notable architecture, especially during the Gilded Age.

Corktown Historic District is the oldest surviving neighborhood in Detroit, dating to the 1850s. The name comes from the Irish immigrants who settled there; they were predominantly from County Cork. The neighborhood is primarily residential, but the district does include some commercial buildings, mostly along Michigan Avenue.

Mexicantown had a 6.9 percent population rise to 96,000 from 1990 to 2000, the city's revitalized Mexicantown has improved the local economy. About half the residents are Hispanic, 25% are African-American, 20% are White and 5% are Arab-American, according to the Southwest Detroit Business Association. It is known for Mexican cuisine at restaurants such as Mexican Village, Evie's Tamales, El Zocalo and Xochimilco. Restaurants, bakeries, and shops are located on Vernor Highway. Mexicantown has had a thriving economy in the 2000s, as evidenced by new housing and increased business openings. Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church is north of the Ambassador Bridge. West Vernor-Junction Historic District, another largely Hispanic neighborhood, which contains the Most Holy Reedemer Church is adjacent to Mexicantown.

The Detroit area's diverse population includes French, Belgian, German, Hispanic, Polish, Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern, and Black populations, with each adding its rich cultural traditions. Detroit became famous for its music legacies; major blues singers, big bands, and jazz artists—such as Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie—regularly performed in night clubs.

The east necklace of downtown links Grand Circus and the stadium area to Greektown along Broadway. The east necklace contains a sub-district sometimes called the Harmonie Park District in the Broadway Avenue Historic District which has preserved part of the renowned legacy of Detroit's music from the 1930s through the 1950s and into the present. The historic Harmonie Club and Harmonie Centre are located along Broadway. The Harmonie Park area ends near Gratiot and Randolph. Near the Detroit Opera House, and emanating from Grand Circus along the east necklace, are other venues including the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts and the Gem Theatre and Century Club.

In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records, one of the first black-owned record labels. Over the next decade, a number of top artists, including The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, signed with the label. The Second Baptist Church once served as "station" for the Underground Railroad. A monument to the Underground Railroad was erected in 2001 at Hart Plaza downtown.

The Shrine of the Black Madonna of the Pan-African Orthodox Christian Church was founded in 1953 by the Rev. Albert B. Cleage. One of the churches' institutions is the Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural Center & Bookstore, one of the nation's oldest black-owned bookstores.

The Graystone International Jazz Museum documents jazz in Detroit.

Perhaps the most legendary is Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. Louis is memorialized with a sculpture of a giant fist at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward Avenues, as well as in the name of Joe Louis Arena.