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As Detroit Files For Bankruptcy, 5 Reasons To Still Go Show The City Some Love

Not a good day for Detroit, then. The city has officially filed for bankruptcy, making it the largest city in America to ever do so. Though a citywide plan was unveiled in June to prevent this exact scenario from taking place, the city has sunk too far in debt to emerge without federal help. Detroit hasn't exactly got the best reputation, and the latest news won't help... but, aside from the much-hyped annual North American Annual Auto Show (yawn,) there are some amazing things you can only get in the Motor City. (That aren't motors.) Read on to find out exactly what they are...

by Jenny Hollander

Detroit Files For Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History

Not a good day for Detroit, then. The city has officially filed for bankruptcy, making it the largest city in America to ever do so. Though a citywide plan was unveiled in June to prevent this exact scenario from taking place, the city has sunk too far in debt to emerge without federal help. Detroit hasn't exactly got the best reputation, and the latest news won't help... but, aside from the much-hyped annual North American Annual Auto Show (yawn,) there are some amazing things you can only get in the Motor City. (That aren't motors.) Read on to find out exactly what they are...

Spencer Platt/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Belle Isle: An Actual Island, In Detroit

Okay, so you probably wouldn't have turned to Detroit for your first-choice vacation spot. But Detroit is home to the biggest city-owned island park in the United States: Belle Isle is almost 1000 acres of happiness. There's a half-mile of beach, a yacht and a boat club, a Nature Center, a Great Lakes museum, and special areas for hiking and seeing wildlife. You'll get to see spectacular views of urban-jungle Detroit, and it won't take you long to get there via the MacArthur Bridge.

Michigan Central Station: Creepy, and Where "Transformers" Was Shot

Michigan Central Station is the stuff of legend. Owned by a reclusive billionaire, it's been left in sinister disrepair for almost a hundred years, and is totally abandoned. For decades, Detroit has been pledging to recover the world's tallest rail station (also sounding creepy by now) to its former glory, but no-one's come through on their promises yet. It's registered as a national historic place, which means it can't be destroyed. It was also where Transformers was filmed, not to mention a handful of other blockbusters.

J.D. Pooley/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Detroit Eastern Market: The Place To Be, Apparently

Every week, some 40,000 people hit up the 43-acre Detroit Eastern Market, with some getting their entire week's groceries there. There are hundreds of independent vendors, and it's been described as a modern-day town square — pretty much everybody goes. Not so armpit-of-America, after all.

It's All About Obama: The Obama Exhibit

We bet President Obama has a soft spot for Detroit. The "Visions Of Our 44th President" exhibit in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History boasts no less than 44 busts of the President. You can see Obama dressed up as Roman emperor; bedazzled; covered in arrows; in mosaic form... really, you name it. For the fashion-forward, there's even even a half-zebra-print, half-leopard-print Obama. This is your place for epic proportions of presidential fandom.

Actually, It's All About Motown: Motown Museum

What, you thought the city's legacy was constrained to cars and industry? Motown's first-ever recording studio is at the heart of the Motown Museum, and in its heyday, it was frequented by the likes of Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5, just to name a few. You can also visit one of Michael Jackson's hats, if going to Neverland is all a bit much for you. Really, what are you waiting for?

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