Marvin's Marvelous Mechnical Museum
By: Tom Hendrickson, 12/19/2008
Robots and automatons and fortune tellers, oh my! Shoehorned between two halves of a Farmington Hill's shopping mall you'll find this mechanical menagerie of vintage arcade oddities.
Element One
By: Tom Hendrickson, 12/18/2008
Fifty Lawrence Tech students banded together to create a hydrogen fuel cell powered Formula racing cart. The result? Probably the coolest zero-emissions vehicle you've ever seen.
Check Out Ypsilanti!
By: Tom Hendrickson, 12/11/2008
Nearly 200 years old and hipper than ever. From its vintage neighborhoods to its growing indie music and art scene, Ypsilanti is quickly establishing itself as the Brooklyn to Ann Arbor's Manhattan. Just don't call it "Hipsilanti". The locals hate that.
Hey, it's Farmington!
By: Tom Hendrickson, 11/19/2008
An island unto itself, this tiny city (ten thousand strong) is surrounded by the much larger Farmington Hills community, which only wishes it had as cool of a downtown. How cool is it? They bought their own art deco movie theater.
College For Creative Studies
By: Tom Hendrickson, 11/13/2008
For nearly 100 years the College for Creative Studies has influenced the world of design. From automobiles and advertising to fine art and film, its students represent the creative class professionals Michigan needs to transform its economy and communities.
Dearborn Is The Place!
By: Tom Hendrickson, 11/6/2008
It's two... two... two great downtowns in one. From its front porch neighborhoods to its downtown lofts to iconic institutions like The Henry Ford to its blossoming Arab American community, Dearborn is the ultimate urban small town.
Grave Stories In Ann Arbor
By: Tom Hendrickson, 10/30/2008
'Tis the season to be spooky. Join historian Wystan Stevens as he leads one of his tours through Ann Arbor's Forest Hill Cemetery, weaving fascinating tidbits about the city's history with creepy tales of death and demise.
Welcome To Berkley
By: Tom Hendrickson , 10/16/2008
Right next to Royal Oak and Ferndale, Berkley's quiet charms sneak up on you. Walkable neighborhoods surround a cozy downtown well-worth checking out. Blink and you'll miss it... and you'd be sorry.
The Henry Ford
By: Tom Hendrickson, 10/9/2008
It's Metro Detroit's own slice of Smithsonian-style grandeur. From steam engine trains to an authentic restoration village to a state-of-the-art IMAX theater to the Weiner Mobile, The Henry Ford is a one-of-a-kind historical resource that should be a required experience for every Metro Detroiter. Heck, they even make their own microbrews.
Prosper Video: Brooksie Way
By: Tom Hendrickson, 10/9/2008
The first ever
Brooksie Way, a half-marathon and 5k run/walk, made Oakland County a
destination spot for thousands of runners Oct. 5. The run began at Oakland University, wound through the county's streets and trails, and
ended up at Meadow Brook Hall. Watch the Prosper video.
Welcome To Birmingham!
By: Tom Hendrickson, 10/2/2008
Birmingham has embraced the idea of smart growth, creating a 24-hour downtown that caters to all ages, tastes, trends, and incomes. Just a hop, skip and jump from Detroit, this inner ring suburb boasts the kind of walkable urban core other cities strive for and rarely achieve. Join resident Mark Nikita on Metromode's quick video tour.
Brogan & Partners
By: Tom Hendrickson, 9/25/2008
When your business relies on great ideas it's wise to keep your inventory happy; namely the creatives that work for you. Birmingham-based Brogan And Partners Convergence Marketing gets it. Seriously. From its historic downtown digs to its employee perks to an underlying appreciation for the creative spirit, Brogan has long been one of Metro Detroit's most desirable places to work.
International Bancard Corporation
By: Tom Hendrickson, 9/11/2008
For eight years Royal Oak's IBC has been a stealth company, pulling in customers and profits with its old school ideas about servicing clients. Now the e-commerce and credit card processing firm is ready to step into the sunlight and school other companies about the power of topnotch customer service.
Beauty Blossoms In Metro Detroit
By: Tom Hendrickson, 8/28/2008
Norm Silk and Dale Morgan are all about aesthetics. Whether it's the explosion of flowers that fill their Birmingham boutique or the restoration of the only home in Detroit to be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Bellyache Candy Shoppe
By: Tom Hendrickson, 8/14/2008
Candy and Detroit rock n' roll - two great tastes that taste great together! Royal Oak's Bellyache Candy Company is taking the web by storm, pushing Goo Goo Clusters, Pop Rocks and Charleston Chews along with CDs, vinyl LPs and 7-inch singles from bands like The Amino Acids, The Hentchman, and Gore Gore Girls. Can you say, "Yummy"?
Take The Detour
By: Tom Hendrickson, 7/30/2008
Indie music, cult films, live show videos, killer parties.
Royal Oak-based Detour Magazine channels its suburban rage into inspired pop culture writing, plastering the web with Metro Detroit goodness.
The Hilberry Gallery
By: Tom Hendrickson, 7/17/2008
There was a time when Ferndale and artsy would have been a contradiction in terms. Not anymore. Don't believe it? Visit the internationally recognized Hilberry Gallery, probably the most respected and forward-thinking private gallery in Michigan.
Model D TV: Wayne State Living
By: Tom Hendrickson, 7/15/2008
Why Midtown? A couple of Wayne State students talk with Model D TV
about what the neighborhood around the campus has to offer a
twentysomething -- bars, restaurants, museums, music, walkability, cool
housing options, etc.
Puffer Reds
By: Tom Hendrickson, 7/10/2008
More than just another downtown hip hop store, for 29 years Ypsilanti's Puffer Reds has been a nationally recognized tastemaker. Customers come from as far away as Ohio to shop there, Nike provides them with a custom shoe display and Adidas celebrated the Forum's 25th-Anniversary by creating a sneaker designed by the owner's 18 year-old son. The store has got street cred to spare.
Moo Moo's
By: Tom Hendrickson, 6/19/2008
Put the microwave pizza pocket down. Step away from corndog. Ferndale-based Moo Moo's Vegetarian Cuisine makes the things that make you go, "Yum." With the vegetarian food market expected to reach $2.5 billion this year, owner Michele Rastelli hopes her locally produced entrees-to-go make a little green of their own.
RTT, USA
By: Tom Hendrickson, 6/5/2008
The virtual world is their oyster. Royal Oak's RTT, USA has turned its virtual prototyping technology into a must-use strategy for companies developing new products. It can then use that same technology to virtually market the product to an endless Internet audience. Cool.
Ann Arbor's Foodie Nation
By: Tom Hendrickson, 5/22/2008
La Rochefoucauld once said, "To eat is a necessity, to eat intelligently is an art." Leave it to a university town to embrace the genius of food. From Zingerman's to Eve, Durham's smoked fish to Morgan & York's artisanal cheeses, the farmer's market to Main Street's restaurant row, just thinking about Ann Arbor and is enough to make your mouth water.
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center
By: Tom Hendrickson, 5/8/2008
For 50 years the Birmingham/Bloomfield Art Center has been connecting community through art. Whether it's painting, ceramics, jewelry making or weaving, this unique and ambitious institution has put the focus on greater appreciation and practice of the arts. Watch the video, get inspired and go out there and make something!
Laptop Design
By: Tom Hendrickson, 4/24/2008
Nightmare Sinema
By: Tom Hendrickson, 4/10/2008
The Ann Arbor Film Fest
By: Keith Jeffries, 3/27/2008
Birmingham Community House
By: Tom Hendrickson, 3/13/2008
Media Genesis
By: Tom Hendrickson, 2/28/2008
MORE, MORE, MORE
By: Tom Hendrickson, 2/14/2008
Ronin
By: Tom Hendrickson, 1/31/2008
The Shadow Art Fair
By: Tom Hendrickson, 1/17/2008
The "D" Show
By: Tom Hendrickson, 1/10/2008