Saturday, March 3, 2012

A great place to spend a rainy Wednesday evening in Detroit……………….

What do you do on rainy days?  This past week we had a rainy Wednesday, Leap Day to be exact, so I was thinking lets go see a movie!  That is exactly what we did!  However, it was not our frequented theater.  We decided to head to Detroit and catch the flick, Act of Valor (highly recommended), at the Ren Cen’s theater.  Watching a movie there definitely had some unique moments!  For instance the old school seating (not stadium seating)! 



After the movie it was great to be able to walk around and capture the great architecture and views the building possesses. 



For those of you who do not know much about the Ren Cen I would like to share a little history…………..

Henry Ford II announced construction of the GM Renaissance Center (Ren Cen) in 1971 and in 1976 the first office tower opened.  It is currently five and a half million square feet in size and sits on 14 acres.  The Marriott Detroit inside the Ren Cen is one of the tallest hotels in the world!  The Ren Cen is a one stop shop for eating, shopping, watching movies, working out, and staying over night.  The Ren Cen is not strictly pleasure related either; it is General Motor’s headquarters with 5,000 GM employees and it is also home to 4,000 additional people who work for tenant organizations.  Check out the GM Renaissance Center link for a list of all of their amenities. 

Detroit has a lot of great history and architecture and the Ren Cen is just one great example!  Some other interesting facts about Detroit are:
  • Detroit has the second largest theater district in the country with over 13,000 theater seats in a two block radius.  This includes: Fox Theater, Fillmore, Opera House, Music Hall, Gem, and Century.  
  • The designer of the World Trade Center, Minoru Yamasaki, got his start in Detroit designing buildings such as One Woodward Avenue.
  • The famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park, also designed Belle Isle.

These are just a few facts that make Detroit an interesting place to visit! I would love to hear what you do in Detroit on rainy days and also some interesting facts that you know about Detroit! 

5 comments:

  1. Hi Katie.
    One of my favorite new restaurants in Detroit is Joe Muir's Seafood, which is also in Renaissance Center.

    I would highy recommend it for the food, then head up to the top floor of the Marriott tower to the Coach Insignia for drinks (awesome view of the city).

    Makes for a great dinner, movie and drinks night!

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  2. I agree with Shawn, Joe Muir's is top notch!

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  3. Hi Katie,

    I was actually just in the Ren Cen this past Saturday, and I totally agree, it's pretty awesome. I just discovered that it had a movie theater in it on Saturday too. I can't believe that I had no idea it was there! I have to say that I've never really been there for fun, but I think I might go there soon to check it out! Thanks for the informative post!

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  4. Wow Katie!

    The place looks attractive.
    Thank you for the post- I'm going there for my next movie!!

    Regards~

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  5. Hey Katie,
    The Ren Cen is a beautiful place. I was there for the first time last year. I had a job interview there for Coach Insignia. The guy that was interviewing me was nice enough to take me for a tour of the building. There is a lot to do there and like you said, is the prefect place for a rainy day or any day for that matter.

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