Midtown Events

Midtown Detroit is the cultural heart of the city — the museum district, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's home, Wayne State University's main campus, and a dense cluster of music venues, restaurants, and bars all sit within a roughly 30-block area north of downtown along Woodward Avenue. The Detroit Institute of Arts (free for tri-county residents), the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit), and the Detroit Historical Museum all anchor the museum cluster. The Detroit Public Library's Main Branch — one of the country's most beautiful Beaux Arts library buildings — sits directly across Woodward from the DIA.

The music scene runs across the spectrum. Orchestra Hall (the DSO's home) and the Michigan Opera Theatre house the classical programming. The Majestic Theatre / Magic Stick complex on Woodward books indie, hip-hop, and underground music. Cliff Bell's runs nightly jazz. El Club in Southwest Detroit (technically outside Midtown's borders but tied to the same music scene) programs Latin and underground. The Music Hall hosts touring Broadway and concerts. The Crofoot's affiliated bookers run shows at smaller Midtown venues.

The Wayne State University presence shapes the daytime character of the neighborhood. Cass Avenue and the surrounding blocks are full of student-priced food and coffee — Avalon International Breads, Astro Coffee (Corktown spillover), the Wayne State campus eateries. Higher-end dining clusters around Selden Standard, Marrow, Chartreuse, the Whitney (in a restored 1894 mansion), and a wave of more recent additions. Noel Night — the first Saturday of December — is the neighborhood's signature event, with 80+ venues opening their doors free to the public.