Ferndale

Ferndale’s first identity was “Urbanrest” — a country escape where Detroiters came to breathe, back when this was all farmland and marsh. (The first tavern went up in 1821, which tells you something about local priorities.) When Henry Ford’s Highland Park plant started churning out Model Ts a few miles south, the farmland filled in fast with auto workers, and a trolley running up the median of Woodward connected it all to the city. Ferndale became a village in 1918 and a city in 1927.

Like a lot of inner-ring suburbs, its Nine Mile downtown boomed mid-century, then faded by the ’70s. The comeback is the good part: around 1997 the city narrowed Nine Mile to make it walkable, and the pedestrians — and the bars, restaurants, shops, and galleries — came right back. Along the way Ferndale became the heart of metro Detroit’s LGBTQ+ community and a proudly progressive, creative, come-as-you-are kind of place. Locals call it “Funky Ferndale,” and they’re not wrong. It’s the rare suburb with a genuine point of view — and it wears it well.

For a city of under 20,000, Ferndale’s roster is loaded. The Spinners formed here; jazz icon Ron Carter was born here. There’s former Michigan Governor (and U.S. Ambassador to Canada) James Blanchard, actor Dana Elcar (MacGyver, The Sting), Cy Young-winning MLB pitcher Bob Welch, and Joseph Bruce — better known as Violent J of Insane Clown Posse. Eminem even keeps a recording studio in town. Governors to Juggalos — Ferndale contains multitudes.