The El Moore, a sustainably rehabilitated and operated residential apartment building and urban lodge, is a beautiful oasis located in the heart of Midtown Detroit. Situated at 624 West Alexandrine at 2nd Avenue, the El Moore is close to freeways and the nearly completed M-1 Rail line on Woodward Avenue, but just as importantly, is perfectly situated for walking and biking to the many amenities nearby. When you stay at the El Moore, either as a resident or as a guest, you will experience a perfect balance of serenity and community, but if you’re looking for some additional “Om” there are three excellent yoga studios within just a few blocks. Whatever your preferred style of yoga, all you need to do is grab your mat and head out to one of the beautiful nearby studios. All three studios … [Read more...]
The El Moore and Belle Isle: Nature in the City
The El Moore, a beautifully restored 1898 building that offers long-term and short-term sustainable urban living options, has experienced in its “lifetime” the same experiences of beauty, accessibility, decline, and new and ongoing restoration as one of the “jewels” of Detroit, Belle Isle Park. Both the El Moore and Belle Isle Park are shining examples of sustainability efforts and activities in Detroit. Belle Isle is a recreational island park located on the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In the mid-1800s, there arose a movement to develop urban parks, and in 1845, the City of Detroit hired landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead to develop and design Belle Isle. Mr. Olmstead also designed Central Park in New York City, but at approximately … [Read more...]
Biking Around the El Moore: Fun Times in the Motor City!
The El Moore, a sustainably-renovated urban lodge, apartment complex, and bed & breakfast originally built in 1898, is located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Yes, Detroit, the car capital of the world for more than a century. But wait! What’s happening on the streets of Detroit? Bike lanes! One hundred fifty miles of NEW bike lanes! Yes, Detroit, car capital of the world, can now also boast that it is now among the fastest-growing bike cities, according to the League of American Bicyclists, logging a 400% increase in bike riding from 2001 - 2014. At the El Moore, many residents and guests do not even own a car, preferring instead to get around our great city using only pedal power. The El Moore has a beautiful covered bike shelter within the gated community that protects the bikes all … [Read more...]
Ralph Rinaldi remembers a Cass Corridor in full dimensions – Part 1
If you closed your eyes and listened to Ralph Rinaldi reminisce about the Cass Corridor that surrounds the El Moore, the way it used to be before Midtown was barely an idea, you would see it at first, then you would hear it and smell it. Then suddenly you’re there, looking around at a very different place in time. It is a countercultural neighborhood, but also exceptionally tolerant. A diverse neighborhood of artists, students and professors as well as junkies, pimps and prostitutes. But there was room for them all, and somehow they made it work… Because that's what neighborhoods do. An Education for the People “I used to go there in the mid '60s and everything was rip snorting around then. The anti war movement was the most popular thing going around, if you wanna call it … [Read more...]
The El Moore Residents Meet the El Moore Lodge Guests
The El Moore, a fully and sustainably restored 1898 residential complex located at 624 W. Alexandrine in Midtown Detroit, includes a unique mixture of long-term leased apartments and short-term accommodations for guests to our wonderful city. Whether you plan to visit Detroit for one night or a couple of weeks, the El Moore Lodge offers you a place to call home that is so much more the usual corporate hotel room. The El Moore Lodge gives you several choices beautifully appointed rooms that integrate the 19th-century past with the 21-century present: the Rooftop Urban Cabins on the top of the El Moore with a breathtaking view of the cityscape, the Parkview Rooms on the 1st floor right next to the El Moore Parlor, the budget-conscious Gardenview Shared Rooms that harken back to the … [Read more...]
Walking Around the El Moore: Detroit Clothing Circle
The Midtown District of Detroit, located near Wayne State University, is known for its beautiful historic homes and multi-unit buildings, some of them dating back to the 19th century. Looking forward, Midtown and its businesses and residents are working hard to make Midtown and the surrounding Cass Corridor neighborhood into a walkable community. The El Moore, which is located on the corner of 2nd Avenue and West Alexandrine, is one of those 19th century historic buildings that has been beautifully restored as a model of urban sustainable living. The residents of the El Moore are enjoying more and more opportunities to walk and bike to local entertainment and cultural venues and to a variety of retail outlets. One of those very unique retail establishments is the Detroit Clothing Circle, … [Read more...]
Mapping Detroit’s Past
When the El Moore building was first constructed in 1898, it offered a glimpse of a higher density urban landscape that the neighborhood would come to reflect in the following years. At that time, the city's population was a modest 260,000 and its industrial economy was largely focused along the Detroit River. By 1910, this had all changed as the city's population ballooned by to nearly half a million and the automotive industry had taken a stronghold on Detroit. While one of our key goals with the El Moore Lodge is to offer our guests the opportunity to experience a more sustainable future, we're also very interested in honoring our past. The map shown below is an original, 1895 Rand McNally & Co. map of Detroit and the surrounding vicinity. It hangs in the El Moore's parlor room … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving Day Parade – Priceless
My grandson (Tamere, 5 years old) and I attended the Thanksgiving Day Parade along Woodward this year. It was just the two of us. Grandma and Grandson. He was very excited, asking all kinds of questions, including, "Will Santa be there?" I told him that, "He certainly will be there, he is the last one in the parade." This was a concern for him as he wanted to know, "Why does Santa have to be last?" I explained that Santa wants to make sure that all the people that want to see him will be there before he makes his appearance. For a November day in Detroit, there was good weather for the parade, overcast but 50 degrees. So we left the El Moore at 8:45 AM and sauntered down Alexandrine to Cass, then over to Woodward and were right on time for the beginning of the parade. Not only … [Read more...]