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RAW Detroit Covering the heartbeat of Detroit through stories, businesses, food, and events. Independent media built to keep you connected to the city.

The Detroit Masonic Temple opened on Feb. 22, 1926, with a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert. It has 1,037 rooms, 16 bo...
10/05/2026

The Detroit Masonic Temple opened on Feb. 22, 1926, with a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert. It has 1,037 rooms, 16 bowling lanes, two ballrooms, its own power plant and a third theater that was never finished. It has been the largest Masonic temple in the world since 1939.

Its cornerstone was laid with a trowel George Washington used on the U.S. Capitol. In 2013, Jack White paid $142,000 of its overdue taxes. His mother had worked there as an usher.

The temple is marking 100 years with a centennial gala on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 6 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $100, or $150 for VIP, and include dinner, music from Ben Sharkey and the Detroit Youth Choir, and a cigar lounge. Jay Towers hosts. Proceeds go to preserving the building.

Michigan is putting nearly $50 million toward cleaning toxic PCBs out of the bottom of the Detroit River. Gov. Gretchen ...
10/05/2026

Michigan is putting nearly $50 million toward cleaning toxic PCBs out of the bottom of the Detroit River. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the money Oct. 1.

PCBs are a leftover from the factories that lined the river for more than a century. They settle into the sediment and build up in fish, and they're a big reason anglers are told to limit how much Detroit River fish they eat.

The plan also covers Belle Isle, more boating access, gaps in the Iron Belle Trail and the river's walleye fishery. The state can draw close to $2 in federal money for every $1 it spends on the sediment cleanup.

The Detroit People Mover has run the same 2.9-mile downtown loop since 1987. A final plan from the Detroit Transportatio...
09/30/2026

The Detroit People Mover has run the same 2.9-mile downtown loop since 1987. A final plan from the Detroit Transportation Corporation now maps three routes that would take it out of downtown for the first time: out Michigan Avenue to Corktown and Michigan Central, past the stadiums to Eastern Market, and along the west riverfront.

None of them has funding yet. The state is paying for the next step, a study to pin down the first expansion: its exact route, stations, and type of train.

First, the plan wants the loop easier to use: better signs and easier transfers to buses and the QLine. Longer term, it floats trains running both directions. The People Mover topped 1 million rides in both 2024 and 2025.

Jimmy Hoffa's family summer house on Square Lake in Orion Township is now listed on Airbnb and Vrbo.Hoffa bought the 192...
09/29/2026

Jimmy Hoffa's family summer house on Square Lake in Orion Township is now listed on Airbnb and Vrbo.

Hoffa bought the 1925 house in 1947, and the family spent whole summers there. After he disappeared in 1975, much of what was inside stayed put for decades.

John and Susan Hagen of Ortonville bought it in May 2025 and spent 16 months restoring it, keeping the knotty pine, the fireplace, the stone seawalls and a concrete totem pole on the lawn.

Historic Fort Wayne is getting more foot traffic than it has in decades, and the reason is the bridge next door. People ...
09/26/2026

Historic Fort Wayne is getting more foot traffic than it has in decades, and the reason is the bridge next door. People walking the Gordie Howe Bridge path are stopping at the 1840s star fort on their way, ClickOnDetroit reports, and the city says a new study looks at adding a coffee shop, a gift shop and dining.

The fort at 6325 W. Jefferson is open daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with free parking. The city runs guided tours on Fridays, and the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition runs two-hour tours on select Saturdays at 1 p.m. through November for $10, booked online.

Last year the city returned the fort's 0.58-acre burial mound to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi. The Joe Louis Greenway will connect to the fort when it is finished.

Stevie Wonder is playing "Songs in the Key of Life" start to finish at the Fox Theatre on December 8 and 9, for the albu...
09/25/2026

Stevie Wonder is playing "Songs in the Key of Life" start to finish at the Fox Theatre on December 8 and 9, for the album's 50th anniversary.

The 1976 double album won him his third Grammy for Album of the Year and includes "Sir Duke," "I Wish," "Isn't She Lovely" and "As." A front-to-back show means the deep cuts get played too, in the order he sequenced them.

The Fox holds about 5,000 people. The last time he played Detroit, in October 2024, it was Little Caesars Arena. Wonder played the Fox as a Motown kid during the Motortown Revues of the 1960s.

Both shows start at 8 p.m.

Detroit Harvest Fest returns to the Detroit Riverfront October 3-4! 🍂The two-day festival takes over Ralph Wilson Park w...
09/25/2026

Detroit Harvest Fest returns to the Detroit Riverfront October 3-4! 🍂

The two-day festival takes over Ralph Wilson Park with 40 food trucks, adult beverages, 4 stages of live entertainment, trick-or-treating, a pumpkin patch, grown-up fun and more.

New this year - outdoor movies on the DTE Summit!

đź“… October 3-4
⏰ 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
đź“Ť Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park
🎟️ $5 in advance | $8 at the gate

Kids 3 and under, adults 65+ and active military with ID get in free.

Comment "HARVEST" and we'll send you all the details

09/25/2026

Detroit Harvest Fest returns to the Detroit Riverfront October 3-4! 🍂

The two-day festival takes over Ralph Wilson Park with 40 food trucks, adult beverages, 4 stages of live entertainment, trick-or-treating, a pumpkin patch, grown-up fun and more.

New this year - outdoor movies on the DTE Summit!

đź“… October 3-4
⏰ 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
đź“Ť Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park
🎟️ $5 in advance | $8 at the gate

Kids 3 and under, adults 65+ and active military with ID get in free.

Comment “HARVEST” and we’ll send you all the details.

Henry Ford Health is building a 20-story hospital tower on West Grand Boulevard, directly across the street from the hos...
09/24/2026

Henry Ford Health is building a 20-story hospital tower on West Grand Boulevard, directly across the street from the hospital it opened in 1915.

The steel topped out in May and the tower will open in 2029. It costs $2.2 billion.

Inside: 432 private rooms, 28 operating suites, five floors of intensive care and an emergency department twice the size of the current one. The top three floors are a 72-bed rehab unit run with Chicago's Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, paid for largely by a $130 million gift from the Gilbert Family Foundation.

It anchors a $3 billion New Center plan with the Pistons and Michigan State. The MSU research center across the Lodge opens first, in 2027.

Cass Café reopens full-time Nov. 6 at 4620 Cass Ave., with a gallery, a performance space and a radio studio inside.The ...
09/24/2026

Cass Café reopens full-time Nov. 6 at 4620 Cass Ave., with a gallery, a performance space and a radio studio inside.

The Chalfonte Foundation, a Michigan nonprofit, bought the building and plans to run the café as a community-owned social enterprise. On Nov. 6 the kitchen and bar open, along with evening concerts and performances. The radio studio is the Detroit home of Village Radio, WEIE 99.7 FM, the foundation's low-power station based in Elk Rapids.

Chuck Roy opened Cass Café in 1993, and it closed as a regular restaurant in 2022. Work by more than 20 Michigan artists is already on the walls.

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