Southwest Detroit is a land of treasure. It’s richly diverse; at any given moment, you might overhear a conversation in English, Spanish, or Arabic. Hijabs are fairly common, and halal meat is as accessible as tamales. One neighborhood grocery, Honey Bee Market, is arguably the best in the city, with fresh guacamole rivaling any you can find on the Texas-Mexico border and some produce besting what farmers sell on Saturday mornings at the Eastern Market. It’s one of the few places where you can buy a book from an independent bookseller and is home to one of the city’s most popular, albeit cozy, concert venues. 

Southwest Detroit is a land of treasure. It’s richly diverse; at any given moment, you might overhear a conversation in English, Spanish, or Arabic. Hijabs are fairly common, and halal meat is as accessible as tamales. One neighborhood grocery, Honey Bee Market, is arguably the best in the city, with fresh guacamole rivaling any you can find on the Texas-Mexico border and some produce besting what farmers sell on Saturday mornings at the Eastern Market. It’s one of the few places where you can buy a book from an independent bookseller and is home to one of the city’s most popular, albeit cozy, concert venues. 

Community-driven arts programming is all over the neighborhood. There are the longtime free writing and publishing programs in partnership with 826michigan and the Campbell Branch Detroit Public Library; Living Arts’ works to ignite youth creativity through media, performance, and visual arts; and the Matrix Theater Company offers theater opportunities for all ages. That’s all before even mentioning Clark Park, a year-round recreational oasis for the family.

And then, there are the homes. Hubbard Farms holds some of the most enviable residential properties in the city; structures that offer brick facades, high ceilings, long driveways, crown molding, natural breezeways, and fully covered porches that could hold a living room’s worth of furniture for outdoor comfort in the summertime. 

It’s a beautiful community, one filled with so much rich culture that when people move there, they rarely want to leave. A family could live their entire lives in Southwest Detroit, without having to venture outside of the neighborhood for any needs. 

Unless they want to breathe fresh air or get a good night’s sleep, that is. Pollutants from Zug Island and the Marathon Oil Refinery have assaulted Southwest, but especially Delray residents for decades. The black dust of petcoke settles onto the porches of homes daily, causing some residents to keep the windows of their non-air-conditioned homes closed, rather than see the dust blown onto their sofas from nearby windowsills.

In Springwells and Mexicantown, the nonstop rumbling and exhaust from 10,000 corporate semi-trucks per day driving up and down residential streets to access the highway or bridge to Canada is more than a nuisance. The weight of the trucks on the roads actually shakes residents awake at night and causes the foundation of their homes to crumble.

Citizens deserve better and they know it. So they organize. They go from door-to-door on their own streets, forming neighborhood block clubs to keep one another informed and teach one another how to effectively petition the power that be to take action in favor of human beings. 

In recent years, the first Latina, a lifelong resident of Southwest, was finally elected to city council. As she steps back from a political career, all signs point to another resident of the community taking her place. To that end, the neighborhood is closer than it’s ever been to an ordinance that may solve the problem of truck traffic on residential streets. 

Just as recently, when residents of Delray were displaced for construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, activists who live in the community advocated for a reasonable community benefits package and worked with the City of Detroit to create an accessible home improvement program for residents who were able to stay. 

Places of note to visit:

27th Letter Books: Newly opened in the southwest neighborhood of Core City, this bookshop offers an array of nonfiction, general fiction, and children’s literature from internationally-known best sellers and local authors alike. In addition, the store hosts storytime and other reading events.

Xochi’s Gift Shop; This gift shop is a family-owned store in the heart of Mexicantown. Specializing in Mexican imports, it’s overflowing with an array of goods, from pottery to sombreros to jewelry, you’ll want to return more than once to explore. 
Honey Bee La Colmena Since 1956, this neighborhood grocery store has provided the community with reasonably priced Mexican food staples, alongside a gorgeous variety of fresh produce, meats and seafood. The deli counter is a favorite at lunchtime. In addition to supplying residents with good food, the store is also an active sponsor of youth and cultural arts programs in the neighborhood.


Audio Postcards

Thomasenia Weston is a food entrepreneur, community activist, resident of southwest Detroit and president of the Livernois 2 Clark Block Club.


Lurdes Arumbala is a parent, lifelong resident and engaged citizen in southwest Detroit.

Sign me up for Planet Detroit’s free weekly email newsletter

Give us your email, and we’ll give you our award-winning free weekly email newsletter on Fridays

Courtney Wise Randolph is a native Detroiter with a heart for people and their stories. A WDET Storymakers Fellow, she also writes for nonprofits and individuals through her small business Keen Composition.