- In this episode of "Fly Brother", we're gearing it up in Motown.
Detroit, Michigan.
It's downtown parks and rec with dream builder, Deba Harper.
It's culture and tortillas in Mexican Town with food ninja, Carlos Parisi.
It's the luck of the Irish and corned beef in Corktown with global mogul Scott Brills.
And it's divine inspiration with the spirit of Detroit herself, international businesswoman, Kennedy Johnson.
We're one nation under a groove in the Notor City.
Let's get fly.
(upbeat music) I'm Ernest White II.
Storyteller, explorer.
I feel like Indiana Jones.
I believe in connecting across backgrounds and boundaries.
Join me and my friends and discover that no matter the background, no matter the history, the world is our tribe.
Come with me.
Whoa.
"Fly Brother".
- [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by - This is Mayor Ras J.
Rock'a, welcome to Newark.
(upbeat bass music) We are Newark, one family, brick city.
- [Announcer] Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, promoting racial justice, interracial understanding and human healing.
Additional funding provided by the following.
(upbeat music) - Detroit, the Motor City.
In southeastern Michigan, Detroit is the home of music, laughter, culture, fun, packaged in a bustling, thriving metropolis where community is really another word for family.
And my good friends take us on a deep dive into the spirit of the city.
(mellow music) That spirit manifests throughout Detroit in its architecture.
And one particularly stunning edifice is the Guardian Building, an art deco masterpiece opened in 1929.
It's here that my friend, Deba Harper, entrepreneur and dream builder, tells us why she loves Detroit.
Deba, this is a glorious building.
- Yes it is and I love it.
Every day that I come into this building, it just brightens my day.
It has so much culture.
It shows the diversity of Michigan and Detroit in particular.
It's indicative of just the beauty that Detroit gives in architecture.
- And we're seeing that with all the different styles from art deco and mid-century modern to neoclassical and everything in between.
- Just how they refurbish these buildings.
The city was in disarray for so long, and then after the bankruptcy, they really took their time to bring out the unique essence of the architecture of these buildings.
You know, oftentimes people say, "Well, why don't you tear it down?"
But the city is all about bringing the life back, the resurgence of what was and bringing it beyond.
And it really shows in this building.
- So it's really about recognizing the treasures that we have, so we can create the space for more treasure.
- Exactly.
We have to know what we have to build what's new.
You have a very special relationship to this building, particularly, don't you?
- Yes, I do.
I actually worked here for four years.
In Los Angeles, I was hit hard from the economic downturn in 2008.
I had applied for jobs, thousands of jobs, and I couldn't find the right one.
And then I moved to Detroit and applied for a job.
And my interview was in this building and I got hired on the spot.
- Amazing, amazing.
- It was so amazing.
It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
It changed my life.
There's an angel over the elevator.
When I went into the area to get on that elevator.
I saw that angel.
I said, "This is my job."
- You were being watched over, right here in the Guardian Building.
- I really was.
And it was actually like calling me because I had a dream about Detroit.
All I saw was these beautiful parks and all the color and all the balloons and the people.
It was very diverse.
All the people had their own uniqueness and they were working together and they were playing in these parks in the middle of a city.
When I woke up, I wrote that dream.
I was like, "Where is that?"
And that was 2012.
- And you, it was Detroit.
- I moved to Detroit in 2016 from Los Angeles.
I got on the people mover and I went to a stop, that Circus Park.
And I said, "That was my dream."
And ever since, every park that I go to in Detroit, Belle Isle, Circus Park, Capital Park, it definitely brings up remembrances of the dream.
So it let me know that I was here.
- Well, we're here in Detroit and I'm excited to see what parts of downtown you feel like speak most to that ethos of everyone having a place.
- The parks.
- The parks, the parks in downtown Detroit.
- In the middle of the city.
- All right then let's do it.
- Let's do that.
(chuckles) (upbeat music) - [Ernest] Downtown Detroit is studded with grassy parks, each with inviting amenities that are accessible all year round and perfect for a coffee date, hang out with friends, lunch break, or even pet playtime.
- So they create the space for visitors to come and enjoy the nature within the city.
And Detroit is very, very concerned about creating green-ways.
So that you can walk and experience the beauty of the city.
So here we are in Campus Martius.
- I see.
- Yes, this is a view- - Has nothing to do with Mars.
- It has nothing to do with Mars, but sometimes it may, 'cause it- - Earth.
- It changes with the seasons.
- Ah, ah.
- So, during the summer and the spring we have like it is now.
We take advantage of the sun and we have a park, water fountain.
We have a beach area where you can take your shoes off, play in the sand and just enjoy looking at all this beautiful architecture of the city.
So this is a great place just to lounge and just get your bearings around Detroit.
So a lot of these buildings have been repurposed, where they used to be warehouses.
Now they are lofts and retail space.
- Oh nice.
- I love this park, Capitol Park because you can come out here, sit down, have a latte after getting your nails done.
- Okay, well I bite my nails, but at least I can sit down and have a latte.
- Yes, but you know us ladies, we got to do it nice.
- Oh.
(both laughing) - [Ernest] The first Cadillac in Detroit didn't roll off an assembly line.
He came down river with 25 boats of settlers to claim land inhabited by Algonquin and Iroquoian peoples for France.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac arrived in 1701 and 200 years later, his small encampment had grown into a manufacturing powerhouse.
Today, Detroit's factory still crank out everything from nuts and bolts to sedans and salt from a 1500 acre mine that sprawls under the city streets.
And along with the thriving Motown sound and Detroit house music scenes, the city's bustling arts beat boasts world class museums, theaters, and architecture.
Detroit rocks.
(upbeat music) Anchoring a Metro area of 4.3 million people, Detroit sprawls along the Detroit River between two of the Great Lakes and north of Windsor, Canada.
And my buddy Carlos Parisi, entrepreneur and food ninja, fresh off a bike accident, bless, brings us in.
So tell me about growing up in Detroit, Carlos.
- Growing up here in the city and then the border of southwest Detroit, and I'm thankful to say that I got to learn culture from all different directions.
I got to know a lot of different people from all different kinds of backgrounds.
Mostly through food.
- That's one of the best ways to get to know people is through food.
- And then got to learn a bunch of different dishes over the years and cook with those.
And that's kind of what brought me into the food fold of the city that I'm in today.
But also, just being part of the community.
The biggest thing that I've learned is that the community is really the only thing that we have here.
You know, I mean... - Really everywhere, it's the same story.
You know, it's the people that make a place a place.
- Totally.
Detroit's had it so hard too.
Since like the 1960s, even beforehand, but specifically with the riots, when the automotive industry started kind of moving away from the city of Detroit, people started to realize, "Okay, well what is this one trick pony of Detroit?"
It's like, Detroit is not a one trick pony.
Never really has been.
But with anything, we've had the opportunity now to show each other what we can do in small business, with community development, really building each other up because that's the only way.
- Mm, yes.
- You know?
- Well, teamwork makes a dream work.
It's become cliche, but it's still just as important for everyone to realize that.
- Absolutely.
- And I'm excited to see how things are coming together here in Detroit with these different communities that are here, making it a place, making it a home.
- Absolutely.
Yeah, there's so many different types of cultures that you'll see and notice from the different neighborhoods.
But each one of those still knows that at the end of the day, we are all Detroit and we're all here for each other, with each other.
And the only people that are going to show the rest of the world what we got is us.
(upbeat music) - In a city of distinct neighborhoods, Mexican Town shines with its colorful murals and street art, unique boutiques, vibrant cultural events, and of course, restaurants serving up a plethora of delights.
(upbeat music) Carlos takes us to one of his favorites, Triangulo Dorado, for a feast of flavors from Mexico and beyond.
So Carlos man, Mexican Town.
Who would've thought that there's a Mexican Town in Detroit?
- Well, it's wild.
I mean, with the factories that have all kind of dominated this region for so long, people from other countries were just coming, over the years.
From the beginning of the textile mills to woodworking to everything that was before the automotive industry.
You would see people coming in from the Irish population, Maltese population, moreso the Mexican population as it continued forward.
So as that population started coming in because of the jobs and the opportunities that they had here in this city specifically, this region grew.
Obviously you saw in Mexican Town where we were, that displacement that happened because of the highway.
But the one thing that's so cool about southwest Detroit Mexican Town, is that no matter what, no matter what stood in it's way, it was able to thrive, because the community always built up for each other.
Like this place has become a favorite of a lot of people here in southwest Detroit.
People that really crave like deep flavor, here in the city, come here because it's like no other.
Although there's great Mexican restaurants all throughout the city of Detroit, this one is specifically regional.
So the Triangulo Dorado is Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
- Three states in Mexico.
- Three states in Mexico, meaning the golden triangle.
And this food is specific from that area.
- Okay - Alright.
(server speaking foreign language) This is what I was talking about, right here.
So these are quesadillas that are a little bit different than the way that you would find quesadillas throughout the rest of the country.
Tortilla's a little bit more fried, cut open, and then placed in.
You still get the melty cheese on the inside.
But each one of these is significant to the different states in Mexico.
Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, each one of these is going to be the flavor that's represented of those states specifically.
And what's cool is we get all three.
So hey.
(laughs) - Hey, the golden triangle.
- Yeah.
- And here I was thinking the golden triangle was this.
- You're not wrong.
(both laughing) - I love it.
(tortilla crunching) Mm.
- Mm.
There's so much food, right?
(chuckles) - It's a lot of food, man.
(upbeat music) - [Carlos] Tacos Chihuas for sure.
This is beef cheek.
So these are Gorditas.
Always a double- - Low carb man, low carb.
- [Carlos] Yeah?
This is cool, the Vampiros.
- Boom.
(Carlos speaking foreign language) - [Carlos] The cool thing about Mexico is that there is a huge fascination of Japanese culture in Mexico.
- And this has steak, shrimp.
And then this one's our Sushinola.
It has steak, shrimp, - [Ernest and Server] and bacon.
(Carlos laughs) - But I'm vegan man.
(all laughing) Not today, huh?
- [Server] Wrong place.
(all laughing) Wrong place.
- No one ever said that Mexican food was supposed to be nice.
You got to get a little messy sometimes.
- It's bacon on sushi, like... (upbeat music) Another of Detroit's historically ethnic enclaves is Corktown, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.
With a youthful vibe and a mix of historic houses and trendy gastro pubs, Corktown attracts residents and visitors alike with its lovely architecture and tasty grub.
My boy, Scott Brills, entrepreneur and adventure capitalist takes us for a walk around the block.
So is Corktown related to County Cork in Ireland?
That's just my unsuccessful Irish accent.
- Yeah, it was originally inhabited by the Irish in the 1830s, 40s, 50s, especially during and after the potato famine that happened in Ireland.
And then, after that, successive waves of immigrants kind of built the area, Maltese, Germans and then later the Mexicans in the beginning of 20th century.
- How has that mixture of people kind of lent itself to the energy, the drive, the spirit of Detroit?
- Detroit, just like a lot of cities in the US is a melting pot of different cultures, and especially in Corktown.
We had a lot of people from disparate communities all over the world, come here because of jobs.
So they worked in the factories, pre-Ford and the car companies coming in.
And then, when the car companies started in the early 1900s, they became the employees there as well.
That together, kind of formed the community and formed the city as far as people wanted to get jobs, they wanted to make money, they wanted to make a good future for themselves.
- Sure, sure.
After a jaunt around the neighborhood, we stop at award-winning deli and wine shop, Mudgie's to continue our chat and grab a snack.
So Scott, what do you love most about Mudgie's?
Why is it so special to you?
- This is one of the first spots that I came when I started coming back to the city regularly, which was about the same time as this place opened in 2008.
And you could see the awesome garden patio back here.
It's an awesome place to be during the summer, meet up with friends, grab a sandwich, grab some drinks.
They usually got a DJ out here.
Yeah, it's just, it's really close to my heart.
- Nice, well you know, we've been calling Detroit one nation under a groove.
What does that mean to you man, as a native of the area?
- I mean, being a big music nerd, former DJ and- - I know this.
- Yeah, yeah.
Lover of all kinds of music.
Detroit's really where a lot of that started.
You got techno, you got a lot of types of rock, Motown.
You've got the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, now called Movement.
And that also really got me coming downtown back in 2000 when it started.
Because before that, I was from the suburbs and I would just come down here to go to a Tigers game and then you go right back home.
And so, right when I was 18, that kind of thing started.
And I really got into the city through music.
- With the connection between Motor City and Motown, you've been a DJ, how has growing up here and kind of being in the milieu really been something that's carried you through life?
- Well it's funny because I actually didn't appreciate it so much growing up.
My parents had listened to Motown.
It wasn't really my jam, right?
But then when I went to live in Japan for a bit, became a DJ, I was turned onto Motown music because the Japanese loved Motown music.
So when I was 18-19, I got turned on or re-turned on to Motown house music, electronic music, came back to the US, came back to Detroit and then I found out, "Oh wow, like this is all over the city."
And there's all these places I could experience it, whether it's at like a rave or free concerts put out in downtown.
I would go and see the pioneers of electronic music play and there'd hardly be anybody there because this is the aughts, like before Detroit kind of had its comeback that its had the last decade or so.
And so I would just go there and there wouldn't be anybody.
I would just walk up to the DJ booth and there's like this godfather of electronic music playing.
Nobody even knows who he is and I'm just like, "Wow, like I am so privileged to be here", where a lot of my fellow countrymen like don't really get what it is.
But you take that guy, you put him in Europe, you put him in Japan, like he's a god to them.
- Wow.
- Yum yum yum.
- Oh my... Mmm.
- [Server] Cheers.
- This looks exciting.
About to get eaten.
Oh my God.
Mm.
- Mhm.
- What's the cultural significance of this, of corned beef, of this corned beef sandwich?
- So what you've got there is a corned beef sandwich, which is super popular in Detroit, especially in the neighborhood we're in right now, Corktown, because it is an Irish American staple, corned beef, and we are in Detroit's oldest neighborhood, Corktown, that was settled originally by Irish immigrants.
So that's kind of like a nice slice of the neighborhood that you're eating right now.
- I love it.
It's a wonderful slice of the neighborhood.
That's my horrible Irish accent.
But no one's going to sue me, I hope.
(Scott laughing) (bell dings) (upbeat music) Detroit.
We head back downtown, where the weather's clear and the city comes alive.
In an area dominated by boxer Joe Louis' jab, it's at another statue, The Spirit of Detroit, where we connect with my girl, travelpreneur and glamazon, - Hi.
- Kennedy Johnson.
(both laughing) We're sitting here at this wonderful statue, The Spirit of Detroit, you embody that, as far as I'm concerned.
I mean, you're a goddess.
I don't even know what else to say.
But what does it mean to you?
- You know, Detroit has a complex history of just adversity and poverty and politics.
But Detroit just breeds a different type of person you know.
Coming from Detroit, it requires you to create a way.
So Detroit breeds innovators.
Detroit has just that energy where you have to create a solution.
You know, we didn't have a lot of resources here.
So we had to create a way.
You know what they say, "Adversity is the mother of all invention."
So Detroit just breeds that into you and all we have is each other here.
So we create entrepreneurs, community builders, storytellers, the rebels become hustlers.
And we find a way to make it happen.
And it's just something about the essence of Detroit I'm able to take with me globally.
- Sure.
Considering all of that, when people come to visit Detroit, what do you want them to take away with them?
- Well, I want them to take away that Detroit is a place full of opportunities, full of energy.
It is a melting pot of people and it's a cultural hub, especially for black culture.
So I want them to come and take away that and experience all the joy that Detroit brings.
But I also want them to come and bring in their ideas.
Detroit needs them.
You know we're in a era where we're revitalizing the city and we're rebuilding.
And it takes a village to do that.
- Sure, sure.
Well, we started off in downtown and then went over to Mexican Town.
Where would you take me?
- I have an awesome place, Detroit's gem.
One of my favorite places, Belle Isle.
- Belle Isle?
- Yes.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
(laughing) - Go get it.
(upbeat music) - [Ernest] In the middle of the Detroit River, at the border of the US and Canada, Belle Isle Park sprawls over nearly 1,000 acres encompassing a half mile long beach, golf course, aquarium, museums and an Indycar racetrack, drawing visitors and summertime beach goers from near and far.
One of its gems is the ornate James Scott Memorial Fountain, where Kennedy and I stopped to make a wish or two.
- You know, when I was growing up, we would take a coin and we would throw it in a fountain and make a wish.
- Oh really?
All right, all right, let's do it.
- All right, so... (coin plunks) (Ernest mimics sound of coin plunking) - Your turn.
- Okay.
Uh-oh.
- Oh no.
♪ No coins for the fountain.
♪ Yeah.
(both laughing) Everyone needs friends they can clown around with.
Kennedy takes us over to the lovely Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, a greenhouse and a botanical garden built on Belle Isle at the turn of the last century.
Why is the conservatory so significant to you?
- The history.
This is considered one of the oldest conservatories in the United States.
It's full of history.
We have the lush garden here and it's the perfect place to have picnics and weddings and just take a nice stroll.
- Nice.
I mean, this is a beautiful day.
Didn't expect it to be, because coming to Detroit, you kind of don't know what the weather's going to be like.
- Exactly, 'cause tomorrow could snow.
- You're someone who's lived and traveled around the world.
And yet you grew up here.
How much of your worldliness do you think comes from being from Detroit?
- Absolutely, 200% of it.
- That's a lot of percentage.
(chuckling) - Absolutely.
Yeah, so Detroit has definitely shaped me.
You know, it's a huge cultural hub, full of art, entertainment, food.
We have everything here so it really helped me explore the world with a eye for a little bit of everything 'cause we're a melting pot here.
- Okay, okay.
- So- - People from different places around the world, from different parts of the US.
- Yes, so my first friend was Romanian.
- Okay.
- So I was able to experience baclava at the age of four.
- All right.
(Kennedy laughing) You were like this baclava, that's...
I don't know what I was eating at four, Cheerios.
Probably not.
Fruit Loops.
- Yes, probably so.
So, with Detroit being a huge melting pot of a lot of different culture, influence, music, fashion, hair.
You know, we're the hair capital of the world.
- All right, I didn't know that.
- Yeah.
So, it makes it easy to explore and have a very open perspective for everything and be able to absorb it as well too, so I love going and I love coming back home always.
- Nice, nice.
That's a nice sentiment.
To go and always feel like you've got a home to come back to.
- Absolutely.
(upbeat music) - [Ernest] Like all places, Detroit continually transforms into something new.
It's a place where history becomes the backdrop for new possibilities.
Beyond the boundaries of culture and identity, where a shared love of the city creates the conditions for greatness.
Detroit unites passionate people who believe in the spirit of community, the spirit of friendship, the spirit of opportunity, the spirit of joy.
The spirit of Detroit, one nation under a groove.
(bouncy music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by - This is mayor Ras J.
Rock'a, welcome to Newark.
(upbeat bass music) We are Newark, one family, brick city.
- [Announcer] Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, promoting racial justice, interracial understanding and human healing.
Additional funding provided by the following.
To join the "Fly Brother" travel community or to order your own copy of this episode, visit flybrother.com.
(upbeat music)