Denise Smith is a native of the City of Detroit. She lived on Detroit’s west side at West Grand Blvd. & Rosa Parks. At age seven, Denise moved to the northeast side to Conant Gardens neighborhood where she currently resides. She attended Detroit Public Schools from grades K-12 and graduated from the famous John J. Pershing High School. Denise has been a licensed Hair Stylist in Detroit for 31 years and counting. She is also a certified travel agent with Destiny D travel. Denise is a graduate of College for Creative Studies with a degree in Photography and the proud owner and freelance photographer with ARTicles Photography. Through taking a photography class that was brought back into the curriculum after 30 years called Re-document Detroit, Denise has photography works exhibited in the Detroit 67 Exhibit.
Her love for the city developed as a young girl with her dad working for Chrysler at the Lynch Road Assembly Plant as a mechanic on Detroit’s east side. While laid off for several years, he became Executive Chef at Book Cadillac and St. Regis Hotels. Her mom worked at the original Hudson’s Department Store in Downtown Detroit packing Christmas baskets during the holiday season.
Natalie is a public historian, proud museum person, and overall curious human. She holds a degree in Public History and Museum Studies from Central Michigan University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Museum Studies from the Harvard Extension School. She worked at The Henry Ford & Greenfield Village for almost 6 years, which is where her love for sharing and preserving history grew into a career. Her ultimate passion is conducting historical research and finding fun and engaging ways to share that information with the public.
Natalie often finds herself down research rabbit holes trying to learn all she can about whatever topic sparked her interest on that particular day. She loves to get lost in internet searches, taking strolls through cemeteries and old neighborhoods, and visiting museums and libraries. She is 100% that person who will slow down to look at historic buildings when driving (safely).
Natalie used to work part-time in the collections department of the Detroit Historical Society. Being able to handle, care for, and document the objects from Detroit’s past affirmed her love and curiosity for Detroit history, and she can’t wait to dive deeper into it every day!
Nicole is a local Detroit freelance artist and resident geek. She's passionate about Detroit's French heritage and weird folklores, bike life, art, nerdery, and general tomfoolery. When she's not working on "art" and commissions in her little shop of horrors (a spooky room in the basement of an 1800's queen Anne) she can be found volunteering around town, dressing up in costumes, biking, roller skating, digging around for weird Detroit tales, and never taking a serious photo. Ever.
Our favorite Nicole quote: “A lot of people call me “Pink”, I think it is mostly because of my hair…”
Christina is a 4th generation chili connoisseur, wife, and mother of 2 beautiful boys. She grew her love of all things Detroit from a very early age, working at her family coney island, Red Hots, which was located in Highland Park. Her passion for chili did not stop, when Red Hots closed shortly after their 100th year anniversary, in 2021. Christina carries on the prized secret recipe today; She began her own company, Red Hots Chili Sauce, which is available now at retail stores, bars and restaurants throughout South East Michigan.
Outside of the chili biz Christina was a special education teacher for 12 years, staying late after class to coach volleyball, softball, and unified basketball. Her enthusiasm is contagious, her knowledge enormous, and her love of great, family owned food producers is unmatched.
Make sure to look for Red Hot’s Chilli Sauce in a grocery store near you!
www.redhotsconeyisland.com
Gwyn grew up in Detroit, living first in the Barton-McFarland and then RosedalePark neighborhoods. She attended Detroit Public Schools K-12, and graduated from (the sadly gone) Redford High School. Go Huskies! Her connections to our fair city include teenage jobs at Kresge’s (announcing the Blue Plate Special) and Sanders (slicing cream puffs and pouring hot fudge), and Sunday mornings spent in her childhood church – also where she was married – First UU at Cass and Forest. She credits her Dad for instilling her love of the history of places, and the enjoyment of a good walk through them. A newly retired teacher, Gwyn looks forward to spending more time with her interests, which include: traveling, birding, and concocting homemade cocktail ingredients… plus, of course, MORE time spent in DETROIT!
Our favorite Gwyn quotes: "According to the 1800's map..." and "Can I bring you some homemade limoncello?"
Michael Boettcher is an urban planner with experience working for Wayne and Macomb Counties, the City of Detroit, and running a couple suburban downtown development agencies. He has served on the boards and staffs of a handful of Detroit-area community development nonprofits as well. He’s been creating and conducting tours since the early 1990s, having fallen in love with Detroit architecture and urban spaces while getting lost coming downtown in high school. Michael has sung in a handful of Michigan Opera Theater opera choruses, published a couple dozen poems, loves to show off his collection of antique Detroit architecture postcards and is very slowly building a scale model of downtown Detroit in Legos (brick donations accepted). He remembers seeing the Lions at Tiger Stadium and the Red Wings at Olympia. In May 2021, he finally made it to his 50 th state.
Leslie grew up in the Warrendale neighborhood of Detroit. She is an avid museum-goer, theater lover, and library patron. Always willing to try something new she’s the first to order the fancy new cocktail, wander off the beaten path, or try the great little ethnic restaurant. The mother of two gorgeous daughters she instilled in both of them a love of Detroit, exploration, and information. When it comes to lending a hand there is no one better. Whether it's ripping out carpet at The Detroit History Club, acting as a tour docent, or suggesting the next great tour stop she’s always first to jump in and help.
She also happens to be Bailey’s mom.
Our Favorite Leslie quote “Me too, I’ll go...Where are we going?”
Kevin Walsh is the radio/television productions instructor at Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology and president of the non-profit Digital Arts Film and Television where he is co-director of the Michigan Student Film Festival--the longest running student film festival in the country. He created the blog MyMediaDiary.com featured in Huffington Post and hosts and co-produces and edits Digging Detroit., an historical documentary series. His freelance production company, MMD Productions, LLC, specializes in professional, corporate and event video and photography. Previously, Kevin taught language arts and video productions in Royal Oak and West Bloomfield.
Emmanuelle Perryman works in Detroit and New York as a photographer, film historian and podcaster. A native New Yorker, Emmanuelle spent her childhood summers visiting family in Marshall, MI. Emmanuelle loves film and has taught film history to people of all ages (the youngest were in middle school and the oldest were college professors). She moved to Detroit in 2012 and has worked for the last four years on her recently published celebratory book about Detroit - Finding Detroit: Faces and Places in the Motor City. In 2018 Emmanuelle started a film podcast called The Reel Woman. The podcast focuses on all things cinematic and is available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcast and Stitcher.
Michael G. Smith is a Detroit-area architecture historian with an interest in early twentieth-century building and construction. His lifelong enthusiasm for the fine arts led to an early career as a graphic artist and, more recently, he conducts research and provides photography services for local real estate developers. He is the author of Designing Detroit; Wirt Rowland and the rise of Modern American Architecture, and a number of articles on Detroit's architectural history.
Designing Detroit was a winner of the Michigan History Award, selected as a Michigan Notable Book, and a Forward INDIES silver medal winner in the architecture category.
Our favorite quote of Michael's "when we were leaving Two Way Inn (bar), I saw something I'd never seen before: the letters "WPA" stamped on the sidewalk. I confirmed through a bit of research that this indicates the sidewalk was constructed by the Works Progress Administration. It also suggests that the sidewalk, and perhaps even the street, was first paved during the 1930s."
Augusta Morrison is a community organizer, educator, and musician based in Detroit. She attended Michigan State University and studied Arts and Humanities and Art Education. Upon moving to the city and completing her teaching degree, she started Neue Haus Detroit, a roving arts exhibition series supporting Michigan artists and musicians. She is deeply passionate about music and arts and has worked within the education and programming departments at the Broad Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and Detroit Institute of Arts. Augusta spends a lot of time researching music history, booking local and touring talent, plays in Detroit-based band, Double Winter, and has an experimental music and performance project called Bigabite.
Our favorite Augusta quote “Yeah. Totally.”
Jeff’s love for the city of Detroit began as a youngster at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull with his dad and a bag of peanuts. Since then it has grown into a full-fledged love affair with the city he now calls home. As our official coney dog ambassador, he is overjoyed to point you in the right direction of the nearest, best, freshest, cash-only, or out of the way hot dog joint. When not working his day job as a mechanic, he can be found on a local golf course, shotgunning Stroh's beer at century-old bars, or dining with friends in the basement of Polish Village in Hamtramck (order the pork chops, trust him). His lifelong love of maps has reached a new fever with his discovery of the Detroit Public Library's vast collection.
Our favorite Jeff quote: “Detroit's the kind of place a 6'4'' ginger can dress up like the Vernor's guy and be celebrated for it. I love Detroit."
Leslie was born and still resides in the city of Dearborn. She is an avid traveler, musician, artist, history buff and science fiction geek. Now an adventure-seeking graduate with a degree in Geotourism, Leslie devotes much of her time to running a historic photography booth at art fairs and making full use of her memberships to the DIA and The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village. Her work behind the camera has given our adventure log some of its coolest images.
Her great grandma was the first woman to swim all the way around Belle Isle in the frigid Detroit river!
Our favorite Leslie quote: “Well, if that's the plan we are going to need a lot more chocolate!”
Madelyn has a closet of vintage clothing and a way of turning every conversation into praise for the Dodge Brothers. She manages the collections, exhibits, tours and education programs at Meadow Brook Hall, a 110-room National Historic Landmark that excites her interest in the social history and evolution of functional aspects of residential architecture. There, she plans exhibits about everything from French fashion to horse racing, and in 2014, she opened a major permanent exhibit on the Dodge Brothers Motor Company for their centennial. She co-authored the Images of America history of Rochester and Rochester Hills in 2011. Her Detroit claim-to-fame is that her dad almost bought the kielbasa recipe from Kopytko's... and she wishes every day that he had. RIP, smoked sausage of her youth.
Our favorite Madelyn quote: “I’ll research that but I’m pretty sure it's John Dodge.”
Brad has always known how to arrive without warning and in style; he was born in the front seat of a 1964 Lincoln Continental. From that fateful day to this, he’s been a proud Michigander. His childhood on the East side of Grosse Pointe Woods, gave way to an adulthood spent in varying degrees of drunken, sports tomfoolery, all over metro Detroit, before moving into the city proper five years ago. The only member of our team to have seen the Lions play at Tiger Stadium (We fact checked it, it really happened.), repeal down a Detroit skyscraper, and know all the words to Broadway musicals, he’s followed the Pistons from Cobo to The Palace and now back into the city of Detroit. From “The Old Barn” for Red Wings games to the Southwest side for hot wings, Brad’s seen, done, and loved it all. A proud Detroiter he’s quick with a joke or a restaurant recommendation but never rushes a good story.
Karen Dybis is a Metro Detroit reporter who has blogged for Time magazine, written stories for U.S. News and World Report and worked the business desk at The Detroit News. She is the author of four Detroit history books: "The Ford-Wyoming Drive-In: Cars, Candy and Canoodling in the Motor City," "Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip” about Detroit’s tasty potato-chip manufacturing history and “The Witch of Delray,” a look at a 1931 murder mystery set in Detroit’s Great Depression. Her latest, "Secret Detroit,” is a travel guide to Detroit’s awesome and intriguing landmarks, architectural achievements and historical highlights.
Our favorite Karen quote “So, I just had to learn more about it!”
Greg is a retired Detroit City bus driver with 31 years of service to his good name. An avid sports fan he knows the score, or he’ll find out for you. He has been driving for us since the beginning. It has been a happy marriage because we share the same philosophy of providing safe and reliable service.
Greg’s got one of the greatest watch collections around, seriously check out his wrist when you hop on the bus.
Our favorite Greg quote: “We’ve got construction, a Tigers game, and a parade...Don’t worry about it. I’ve got you.”
Bailey Sisoy Moore is the owner of Detroit History Tours and the proprietress of the Detroit History Club. She is an author, humorist, workaholic, Faygo-loving tour guide from the great City of Detroit. A lover of city ephemera, her most prized possessions include her antique books about Detroit penned by Clarence M. Burton himself, her Library of Congress readers card, her collection of vintage jewelry, and signed pay stubs of Edsel Ford. A frequent essay contributor, her most recent work can be seen in The Detroit Neighborhood Guide Book. Her first children’s book, Rosie A Detroit Herstory, hit shelves in the fall of 2018 from Wayne State Press and is receiving rave reviews. She has appeared on television as a contributor on the Travel Channel’s Tough Boats and Globe Trekker series, is a common guest on history-themed podcasts, and has written op-eds for local papers. She also likes to think her mother is proud. When she isn’t tramping around Detroit giving tours, drinking at century-old bars, and talking history with anyone who’ll join her, she can be found at her home in Highland Park, “a little slice of heaven inside Detroit”. She is meticulous in her research and passionate about historical accuracy, yet she takes great joy in presenting history in the most exciting, playful, and accessible way possible. A passionate connoisseur of all things delicious, she adamantly argues the health benefits of coney dogs and Vernors floats.