Woodbridge Visiting Guide

If you visited Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood recently, it was
probably at the invitation of a friend. Or you came to attend a party,
a festival or a community event where you had the opportunity to make
new friends. Or Woodbridge drew you in because of an art or
cultural event at one of the many independent gallery and performance
spaces squeezed into this triangle-shaped neighborhood on the city’s
near-Westside. You may have made a friend or two at one of those places
as well.

Woodbridge is a neighborhood where personal contact is a part of
daily life. On streets like Trumbull, Commonwealth and Avery, you see
students of all ages, college professors, professional people,
musicians and artists, anarchists and organic farmers, dog-walkers and
bicyclists, longtime residents of all colors and social strata. You see
them walking, lounging on front porches — a characteristic feature of
Woodbridge— or firing up the barbecue in the neighborhood’s large
backyards.

Last summer at a house on Commonwealth shared by electronic
musicians Rob Barrett, Matt Caputo, Andy Toth and Colin Zyskowski
(collectively known as People Mover Productions),
a party was held for those born under the sign of Leo. The yard was
packed with people — neighborhood residents and non-residents, Leos and
non-Leos alike — the barbecue was smoking and the group’s basement
studio was filled with DJs and dancers.

“This is the way Woodbridge is,” Zyskowski says. “People come here
to hang out, find a (compatible) group of people to live with, and do
your music or some other job out of your home. It’s very comfortable to
that here, because you’re supported by other people doing the same
thing.”

People place

The Woodbridge visit — the experience of seeing people you know or
meeting people you never imagined you would — might itself be the
strongest characteristic of the neighborhood.

Ed Potas, who heads the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation
(WNDC), says that he and his wife Michelle fell in love with the area
after attending a small street festival on Commonwealth and Merrick in
2000.

“There were about 150 people there, with bands that were trying out
for the Dally in the Alley,” says Potas, referring to a longtime
festival held in a neighborhood next to Wayne State University’s
campus. “We met so many people who welcomed us into their community. It
was the people, plus the beautiful residential architecture, that made
the biggest impression.”

Potas and the WNDC helped start up another larger festival last
August. Called Woodbridge Summerfest, the event is held just north of
the intersection of Grand River and Trumbull — which is closed to motor
traffic for the day — and at adjacent Scripps Park. The park itself has
an interesting history: It was donated to the city by George G. Booth,
a newspaper publisher who founded the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield
Hills. It is named for Booth’s father-in-law, James E. Scripps, who
lived across from the park on Trumbull. Scripps started The Evening
News — which later became known as the Detroit News — in 1873. He also
helped found what became the Art Institute of Detroit.

Last year’s Summerfest featured entertainment donated by musicians
who live in the neighborhood, plus food and beverage vendors. Other
community groups that contributed to the neighborhood party were the
Woodbridge Creative Coalition and Woodbridge Historical District
Association. Potas says this year’s event, set for Aug. 12 in the same
location, promises to be an even bigger affair.

“We want to create that same excitement, that same generous spirit we felt at that little street party in 2000,” Potas says.

Art & culture

Woodbridge is perfectly situated to be a destination for those
looking for a taste of Detroit’s visual and performing arts scene. The
neighborhood includes the westernmost edge of Wayne State’s campus,
which connects to Detroit’s Cultural Center. It is accessible via the
Edsel Ford (I-94) and John Lodge (US-10) freeways, which serve as its
north and east borders. Grand River, the Woodbridge boundary on its
southern and western ends, is the best way to reach the neighborhood
from downtown.

Visitors coming here for an art show at 555 Gallery or to visit a friend’s studio in the 4731
building will also find Grand River the best route to take. These two
“arts incubators” — places that serve the community as engines for
business and culture — were begun by Ric Geyer, a developer who
rehabbed the buildings and set up attractive leasing terms for artists
and creative entrepreneurs.

Another art space in the neighborhood is the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
(CAID), located on Rosa Parks Blvd between Warren and I-94. Like 555,
CAID has a regular schedule of exhibitions and also presents live
musical performances. It will have its own summer festival, inside the
building and in its outdoor sculpture garden, on July 29-30.

There are other options for art and culture in Woodbridge. For
avant-garde theater accented with political activism, check out
programs at the Trumbellplex,
in the heart of the neighborhood at Trumbull near Willis St. The venue
has supported community life for years and draws in visitors to shows
like Europa: Community and Graffiti, which documented squatter culture in Spain, Italy, Germany and Ireland.

A spot with even more hipster cachet and mystique is Alley Culture,
a performance space that is entered — naturally — through an alley off
Willis, between Lincoln and Trumbull. Since 1995, Alley Culture has
featured the work of local and national visual artists. Its most recent
show, called American Icon American Myth, explored 100 years of Paul Bunyan mythology.

Another of the neighborhood’s cultural beacons is the Frederick Douglass Branch Library,
located on the grounds of Scripps Park. The library features a mural
showing a Michigan meeting held in 1859 between its pioneering civil
rights namesake and abolitionist John Brown.

Neighborhood life

What you won’t find in Woodbridge are bars or many options for dining. Its most well-known restaurant is Carl’s Chop House,
which has been at the far southeastern tip of the triangle — at Grand
River and John Lodge — long before the neighborhood was dubbed
Woodbridge. Carl’s is a Detroit dining institution, known for its
generous portions of prime rib, steaks and Maine lobster. The
restaurant offers shuttle service to sporting events downtown.

Residents are more likely to get their meat and fish at University Foods Center,
at Warren and John Lodge, and cook it up in their kitchens or
backyards. But if the urge hits to go out on the town, nearby options
abound. It’s only a few blocks east to various Midtown locations, or a
short car or bike ride to Corktown or to downtown hotspots for food and
drink.

Potas says that there has been some development interest in a bar or
restaurant in Woodbridge, though he adds that the talks are still only
preliminary.

What there is no shortage of is beautiful shade and ornamental
trees, especially on the length of Avery and Commonwealth streets from
Grand River to I-94. Take a springtime walk and see fruit trees bearing
buds for apples, pears, cherries and apricots. Some are blooming right
now, making the neighborhood postcard perfect for strolling and looking
at neo-Victorian, French Tudor and Early Craftsman houses that date
from the 1880s to the 1920s.

As you walk, you encounter people — working on their houses,
gardening in a patch in front of the porch, or just relaxing and
listening to music. You see kids shooting hoops on a court on Rosa
Parks near Forest, or throwing a football around on the grounds of
WSU’s Matthaei Athletic Complex.

It feels like home, which is just the way Potas likes to pitch it when he talks about his neighborhood.

“Walking in Woodbridge always presents a new experience, the way
city life should be,” Potas says. “You always meet someone you know.
You end up leaning on a fence, talking about a neighbor’s landscaping
project. It’s very friendly, really homey. It’s exactly what
neighborhood life should be about.”

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Directions to Woodbridge

From the East:
Take I-94 West and take Exit 214
toward Grand River Ave/Linwood Ave. Stay straight to go onto Edsel Ford
Fwy West, and then turn left onto Linwood St. Turn slight left onto
Grand River Ave and arrive in Woodbridge.

From the North:
Take I-75 South and merge onto
I-94 West via Exit 53B toward Chicago. Take Exit 214 toward Grand River
Ave/Linwood Ave. Stay straight to go onto Edsel Ford Fwy West, and then
turn left onto Linwood St. Turn slight left onto Grand River Ave and
arrive in Woodbridge.

From the West:
Take I-96 East and take Exit 190B
toward Warren Ave. Stay straight to go onto West Jefferies Fwy. Turn
left onto Warren Ave to Grand River Ave. Arrive in Woodbridge.

From the South:
Take I-94 East toward Detroit.
Take Exit 214A toward Grand River Ave and stay straight to go onto
Edsel Ford Fwy West. Turn right onto Grand River Ave and arrive in
Woodbridge.

Take I-75 North toward Detroit. Merge onto I-96 West via Exit 48 on
the left toward Lansing. Take Exit 190B toward Warren Ave. and stay
straight to go onto W Jefferies Fwy. Turn right onto Warren Ave and
arrive in Woodbridge.

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Photos:

4731 Gallery on Grand River

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit

Scripps Park

555 Artists Lofts and Gallery

Trumbull Plex Performance Space

Carl’s Chop House

University Plaza Shopping Center

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All Photographs Copyright Dave Krieger

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