Hamtramck Star

Since moving to Hamtramck we've talked about making a trip to Mexicantown for fresh, local tortillas. Saturday we found ourselves with some free time so we examined a street map and plotted our course.

Hillary spotted Euclid, a residential street, which picks up on the other side of I-75, goes under the Lodge, then intersects with 14th Street on the West Side. We figured we could avoid any traffic downtown and skip the uphill ride coming back to Hamtramck on the East side.

On the trip there, indicated by the blue line on the map, we took Commor West out of Hamtramck, connecting up with Caniff then jogged South along I-75 until we picked up Euclid. As we traveled west through the neighborhoods, we passed people outside enjoying the day, working in their yards, and a couple of barbecues. People in cars seemed comfortable with bicycle traffic and would often wave us through intersections.

We didn't know what to expect from the one-way 14th but as we turned South on 14th from Euclid we discovered a bicyclist's dream. No less than three lanes going south with a very wide, totally empty, parking lane. Who needs bike lanes with streets like this? There was ample room for bicycles and few lights, so we made good time. Since this is a part of the city we don't usually see, we enjoyed different angles of the skyline as we approached Michigan Ave. at Corktown.

South, we rode by Michigan Central Station and under the viaduct which spills out into Mexicantown. We locked up the bikes, found a seat in a restaurant and soon enough, were drinking horchata and diet pop. We ate, and then stopped by the bakery, which was the primary purpose of our trip.

Left the bakery with stacks of tortillas and a sample churro, then loaded up the bike baskets. Couldn't find room for the churro so we ate it. We departed, moving a bit more slowly on account of our being full of Mexican food.

Since 14th is a one-way, we cut over to Rosa Parks/12th, which is one-way going back North. Rosa Parks/12th is just about indistinguishable from 14th, just a couple of blocks away. This isn't a very lively part of the City on a Saturday in June.

Follow up:

I missed the turn back on to Euclid fooling around with the camera, but Hillary waited up for me as I made a u-turn with one brake. Home stretch wasn't difficult and as we rolled in, the odometer read 16.4 miles round-trip. Our maximum speed was 18.4 mph and our average was 8.8 mph.

View on Euclid St. Orphan wall on Rosa Parks.

School Bus storage. Contemporary Art Institute.

Old brick structure. Eight precinct, Detroit Police.

Wilbur Wright school. A red house somewhere on the trail.

A sculpture. Vodka ad and an open road.

Old theater turned church on 12th. Spaulding Court courtyard.

Mexicantown landmarks.

Michigan Central Station. Viaduct on the tortilla trail.

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