We drove into Detroit, Michigan at around midnight. In some U.S. cities, there are areas that still have some life at that hour – late-night restaurants closing up, bars open, people milling around; there’s a lovely hum.

But that’s not we saw when we first arrived in Detroit. The streets we drove on were pitch dark and deserted. We wanted to get a bite to eat, but when we finally found a place, there was a group of men standing on the corner outside hurling rocks into the street. We decided not to get in their way.

We went to pick up a friend, a Detroit-based rapper who was putting us up for the night. He swung into the car and directed us to drive through red lights: it wasn’t safe to stop for them. We took his advice.

A rundown area of Detroit

Motor City

As home base for the three major U.S. auto companies, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, Detroit has been nicknamed “Motor City,” or “Motown.” Motown Records, based in Detroit, made the name synonymous with American rhythm and blues music, turning musicians such as Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson into superstars.

During the day we saw remnants of the city’s former wealth: huge, beautiful old homes; skyscraper office buildings downtown; and wide-open streets designed for a parade of great sparkling automobiles.

But those high-rolling days are gone.

Over the past few decades, tough competition from overseas manufacturers has forced America’s car industry to massively downsize its workforce.  At present, Detroit’s unemployment rate stands at 11.7 percent — more than two percent higher than the national average.

Race Riots, Ghost Towns

Detroit’s troubles have not been just economic. Racial tensions sparked a major riot in 1967, when an early-morning police raid on an after-hours club resulted in five days of violence and looting. Forty-three people died in the clashes.

Those events led to the exodus of many white residents to the suburbs, a phenomenon nicknamed “white flight.”

Now, amid crumbling infrastructure, much of the middle-class African American  community has moved out as well. U.S. Census figures show the city’s population has plummeted 25 percent  in the past decade.

Detroit, once a city of 2 million people, is now home to 700,000.

In some parts of the city, we saw dilapidated buildings stand empty, covered in graffiti. Homes with smashed windows and broken-down doors have been left to rot. Shops are crumbling, deserted.

Recovery

Detroit skyscrapers

As an outsider on a brief visit, I found something oppressive about Detroit and also something raw. In a tantalizing way, I felt like I could never be sure what to expect. It felt like a city on the verge of something.

Residents say the city is beginning to recover. With help from the 2008 government bailout, auto companies are beginning to hire again. Young people are starting new, socially-conscious businesses and buying properties. The guys who we stayed with are making innovative music and videos and selling t-shirts at their shop Division Street Boutique. Elsewhere, organizations like Hantz Farms are encouraging urban agriculture in a city where vacant land is cheap and plentiful.

These Detroit residents, struggling to revitalize their city,  remind me of stories of pioneers a century and a half ago, trying to make it in America’s vast western wilderness.

When I was in New York, I headed over to Wall Street to see the anti-corporate greed protest that’s been going on for a while there now. There were colorful banners denouncing everything from racism to sexism and hundreds of people with their faces painted white with grey blotched eyes and red trickling down their mouth, stumbling around as if unconscious. They were supposed to look like the “corporate zombies” many protesters think are destroying the United States.

During the day, people were eating, hanging out, some were snoozing in sleeping bags. There were lectures, like one on how to avoid getting arrested by the police. Organizers were handing out free pizza and sandwiches, donated by the public. At night, the atmosphere felt a bit more electric with a lot of young people talking politics and hollering out their frustrations and hopes for the future.

The protests have also hit the punk rock music scene. I went to a Patti Smith concert where she dedicated a song of hers called “People Have the Power” to the “Occupy” movement. The whole audience stood up and started pumping their fists in the air singing, “The people rule! The people rule!” I’m sorry to say photography wasn’t allowed inside.

But I’ve also heard a lot of dismissive or outright angry comments about the protests, comments like “Get a job!” I spoke to one IT consultant called Eric who said he would like to support the movement but “big corporations” pay him for his work and he would be worried about supporting a movement that seems to denounce them.

Occupy Boston protesters have set up a tent village

Since New York, I’ve also stopped by the “Occupy” protests in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, and Chicago. Unlike in New York, a lot of other protests have been allowed to set up tents. Occupy Boston had a health center, library, a relaxation tent, and they’re growing organic vegetables. They seemed intent on staying for the long haul.

Tom's Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York (by Selah Hennessy)

On my first morning in New York I went to this diner where I was fed pretty much a full meal before I’d even sat down — a cup of coffee, bacon, sausage and, oddly, a slice of orange. It was a weird and kind of wonderful American way to keep a line of hungry customers happy (a line that ran all the way around the block) but I was seriously full by the time I sat down. The place was Tom’s Restaurant in Brooklyn. It’s been there since 1936, is still run by the same Greek family and is covered top to bottom with framed photos from American celebrity history, even an old black and white photo of Marilyn Monroe, signed by the lady herself. They serve what may be the best pancakes in New York City. Mountainous plates of fluffy pancakes with great dollops of butter and maple syrup complete with bacon, eggs, the works — it’s like a total heart attack. I must say I rolled out feeling pretty happy.

Diners are a classic part of American eating and somehow, they sound to me kind of wholesome. But I don’t know, after just three weeks on the road, I might have already had my fill. Eating healthily on the road in the USA can sometimes feel like a Herculean challenge. I ordered oatmeal the other day and it arrived swimming in full-fat cream. I ordered a salad and it turned out to be deep fried chicken with a tomato and a slice of cucumber. An ice-cream sundae I ordered at a drive-thru in Philadelphia was a brownie with fudge sauce, cream, coffee ice cream, and a cherry on top. It was totally delicious but seriously it was about a foot long and I thought I might pass out before it was done. Yes, I did finish it.

In Detroit, Michigan, I went to an “urban farm” – literally a 4-acre organic farm in the middle of the city, where they grow 35 different fruit and vegetables. It was started up by the local African American community to combat what they said was a gap in the food chain. Jackie, an older woman from Detroit who’s lived here all her life, was down on her hands and knees all morning planting beautiful big garlic cloves. She took some time out and told me how she had started working on the farm because fresh  fruit and vegetables were hard to get as there are only one or two grocery stores nearby. She said moms struggle to feed their kids a healthy diet and instead just gives them a few dollars to head down to the local corner shop to buy a hotdog.

Back on the road, I’m kind of wishing I could plant a little organic farm in my car, a few tomatoes, maybe some spinach and a couple of eggplants. Then I could order some pancakes for the side for a nice balanced meal.