[Model D] Green Grocer: A fresh food oasis in Northwest Detroit

Metro Foodland

The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation's Green Grocer program exists to strengthen the over 80 independently-owned full-service grocery stores in the city of Detroit. Each week for the next several weeks, Model D will profile a selection of these stores in neighborhoods throughout the city.

This week we're focusing on the neighborhoods of Northwest Detroit: Grandmont-Rosedale, Rosedale Park, Old Redford, and 7 Mile and Evergreen.

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[Model D] Farm City is the next major transformational project in ever-evolving Old Redford

There is a transformation happening in northwest Detroit's Old Redford neighborhood equitable to the grassroots efforts that have pushed along the development on Michigan, Woodward and Cass avenues.

Motor City Blight Busters have been the driving force of development and transformational change in Old Redford over the past 25 years (with $20 million in investments over that time period). John George, founder and president of Blight Busters, has worked tirelessly to find people with similar visions who support each other. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," says George, whose work has not only included demolishing blighted crack dens but also renovating empty buildings into community spaces. "It's one thing to clear land and walk away but another thing to stick and stay."

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[Metromode] Reel History: The Redford Theatre

Modern movie theatres aren’t so much theatres anymore as they are entertainment megaplexes offering any number of additional distractions beyond the simple movie-going experience, from leather seats the size of La-Z-Boys that vibrate to bars and bowling alleys. But the Redford Theatre in Detroit’s northwest corner (in the Old Redford neighborhood, bordering Redford Township) has been running the “show” in the exact same way since 1928.

The Redford Theatre was built in 1928 and has always -- and continuously -- operated as a movie theatre. It houses an original Barton Theatre Pipe Organ, a historic instrument made by the Ann Arbor-based Barton Organ Company and one of only about 250 that were manufactured during the company’s production period during the age of silent films (it closed in 1931). Only 8 or 9 Barton organs still exist in the country today.

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