Road rage: Matty Maroun's new Ambassador Bridge ramp to nowhere

By now you've heard news reports of the squabbling that's gone on regarding the building of a second bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor.

And you may have heard how a Detroit International Bridge Company executive was jailed for a short time yesterday because the company he represents (which owns the Ambassador Bridge) has refused to follow a judge's order to "stick to the plan."

But have you driven through southwest Detroit to see the half-road that's at the core of this whole mess?

While the state completed the highway rebuilding portion of its Gateway Project last year, the DIBC and owner Matty Maroun - who reportedly was supposed to make ramps that took traffic directly from the bridge to the freeways - instead built this: a ramp to what they hoped was their own second span to Canada. For now, it's a ramp to nowhere, and while the courts are demanding they dismantle it (along with a nearby fuel station and other amenities the DIBC went ahead and built because it felt like it) for now it stands as an odd-looking daredevil contraption for anybody willing to try and get to Windsor 'Dukes of Hazard' style.

That's Fort Street you see in front of the ramp, and the Ambassador Bridge next to it. If the courts ever get their way and force Maroun to bring in the wrecking ball, he ought to first consider loaning it to some Hollywood types to shoot a cool scene for a new action flick. 

Is the Holiday Inn out in downtown Detroit?

Back in the '60s, this building on Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit was home to a Howard Johnson's Hotel. In the decades since, it's been a Mariner's Inn, a Day's Inn, and a Best Western. For a brief stint, it was even called the Heaven on Earth Inn.

In recent years, the Book-Cadillac's neighbor to the south has been a Holiday Inn Express, and now it appears another name change is on deck.

What's left, Red Roof Inn?

The Holiday Inn Express signage on the front and sides of the building have been not-so-discretely covered with what looks like duct tape. (I think it actually a big, silver garbage bad.) Some reports have said the hotel is negotiating with Best Western to once again join that family. For now, hotel desk workers are reportedly answering the  phones by introducing "Downtown Detroit Inn & Suites". When I tried calling, the phones weren't working, although I did stop by and the hotel is definitely still open.

Hopefully, time will tell that this amounts to nothing more than a name change for one of downtown Detroit's hotels, rather than one step toward seeing another hotel close. Either way, the timing couldn't be worse. Auto show crowds are already making their way to town, and I doubt anyone will think to book a room at The Duct Tape Inn.

The Stearns Telephone historic marker in downtown Detroit

Wandering through the cold down Woodward the other day, I stopped to check a text message that had come through on my cellphone.

To my side, I noticed another of those common Michigan Historic Markers that seem to be everywhere downtown. I'd been past this one dozens of times, but never noticed it before, likely because it lays awkwardly in a streetscape box in front of a yellow-glass building that I believe is empty. (I could be wrong on that...I'll have to go back sometime and check.)

Anyway, the placard marks the site where, more than 100 years ago, the Stearns Telephone was first sampled in Detroit. Here's a paraphrasing of how the sign reads.


In 1877, a Bell telephone wire was installed on this site in the drug store operated by Frederick Stearns. An iron wire strung along rooftops connected it to the Stearns Laboratory a half mile away at the foot of Fifth Street. Only 18 months after Alexander Graham Bell patented his invention, this was the first to be offered by the organization that eventually became Michigan Bell Telephone Company. A placard in the store window invited the public to stop in every hour on the hour to speak over the amazing new device. Other private lines followed but it was a year before the telephone exchange was constructed with 15 or 20 subscribers on each party line.

After reading the sign, I went back to my cellphone, checked another text message, and took the picture that you see above. Amazing.

Enjoying a slice of Hungry Howie's at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

As the only college football bowl game played in the Midwest, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl has the potential to become a great holiday-time tradition in Detroit.

Of course, it used to be called the Motor City Bowl, a clearly better name which avoided all sorts of confusion in the stadium. For instance, anyone wandering around Ford Field last week looking for a slice of Little Caesars was out of luck.

It's a funny thing. The game is sponsored by Little Caesars, which is owned by Mike Ilitch, who also happens to own the baseball team across the street. But Ford Field is one of the few slivers of Detroit not owned by Ilitch, and Little Caesars isn't one of its contracted vendors. So all around the stadium, despite the huge Little Caesars logos at midfield and in the endzones, people sat and watched while gnawing on slices of pizza from Hungry Howie's or Cottage Inn.