Experience the best of Motown with a Motor City road trip

Beautiful inside and out, Detroit’s historic Fox Theatre is one of the city’s top cultural icons. It draws visitors from around the world, some who come simply to admire the art deco architecture adorned with Indian, Persian, Chinese, Hindu, and Burmese motifs. Now a National Historic Landmark, the Fox Theatre opened in 1928 as a movie hall and was later transformed into a live music and performance venue. Over the decades, it has hosted some of the biggest music stars of all time, including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Iggy Pop. Perhaps most famously, it was home to Prince’s final Detroit show and the last performance of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell.

One of Detroit’s newest musical landmarks is Aretha Franklin Way. The street designation can be found on Madison Avenue between Brush and Witherell streets. It was created in honor of the Queen of Soul, who passed away in 2018, and pays homage to the Memphis native who became one of the biggest voices in soul music of all time. Unveiled in 2017 while Franklin was still alive, Aretha Franklin Way officially debuted during the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend. Visitors can stop by to take a photo with the sign and remember the Queen of Soul at this Instagram-popular hotspot.

With or without a tour, Submerge Techno Museum is worth a visit—even if just from the outside. It’s here—at the homely structure that looks no different than any other on its block—that one of the biggest music movements of all time was developed, planned, and recorded in the basement below the museum. Submerge Techno Museum is an off-the-beaten-path place you likely wouldn’t know about unless a local clued you in. Detroit’s “secret” techno museum is also the home of techno collective Underground Resistance and their Submerge record label. The first floor of the recording studio is dedicated to Detroit’s vast electronic music history and the people who made the now-world-renowned music genre come to life.

Nearly a century ago, Detroit had a teeming jazz scene that rivaled those of Chicago and New York. Often overshadowed by the growth of Motown, Detroit was influential in the growth of jazz across the country, and later, the entire world. Today, visitors can pay tribute to that significant era of music history and relive jazz’s glory days at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, an intimate music venue keeping the sound alive and well. Since 1934, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (which claims to be one of the oldest jazz clubs in the world) has been serving up dinner with a side of jazz. During nearly 90 years in operation, Baker’s has hosted dozens of jazz legends, including Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis.