My new town has a donut-based holiday.
I first learned about Paczki Day when I was visiting Detroit in February of this year. I went to Small’s, a Hamtramck rock venue, to see a show. I got carded at the door, and when I presented my out-of-state ID, the doorman asked, “Missouri? Really?”
“Yep.”
“What are you doing in Hamtramck?”
“I’m thinking about moving here.”
I instantaneously became the recipient of an enthusiastic two-bouncer bear hug. “It’s the best decision you’ll ever make! I love Hamtramck! Are you going to be here on Tuesday?”
“No, I’m leaving before then.”
“Is there any way you can change your plans? Tuesday is Paczki Day.”
“What’s that?”
Where New Orleans has its massive Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras debauchery, and St. Louis has its own formidable boozefest (complete with dog parade), Hamtramck has Paczki Day. It’s celebrated in other cities with large Polish-American populations, but here it is legend. On Paczki Day, you do two things:
1. Eat massive amounts of enormous Polish donuts called paczki, and
2. drink drink drink.
Hillary Cherry, one of the geniuses behind Hamtramck Star, tells me that Paczki Day was instated by a 1980s mayor of Hamtramck around the time that the Dodge Main plant was being torn down. Spirits were down and moths were flying out of pocketbooks, and so it was a way to get people from all over the metro area to come to Hamtramck and buy paczki and alcohol. What a great idea.
I am told that I will need to take the day off work.
I’m sure this isn’t news to Detroitlanders, but for folks elsewhere who are curious, here’s a video of Mo Rocca visiting Hamtramck on Paczki Day.
It’s a couple of months off yet, but I can’t wait. Innards, I’m sorry in advance.
Coffee half full, or empty
A thought for this morning:
The coffee is from Telway. Whether the message is encouraging or discouraging is up to you.
The deliciousness that needs no introduction: Detroit Cliches Drinking Game
It’s making the rounds, but just in case you haven’t seen it yet:
Helloooooooooooo new readers!
Hi! My name is Claire Nowak-Boyd and I just moved from St. Louis to Hamtramck a couple of weeks ago. On purpose. Long term. Without a job in hand. Because I love Detroit. Because I was looking for an awesome neighborhood with a strong sense of community but low rent, and I found it in Hamtramck.
Because Detroit needed another unemployed person! Because I can singlehandedly turn around decades of pain and distrust with the sheer force of my naîve hope! Because I know better than you people about how your town works! So I can bring people in from out of town and show them Michigan Central and the Packard Plant and tell them with a poker face that it’s totally emblematic of Detroit’s current affairs! I hope you realize I am kidding in this paragraph! But I really did move here on purpose and I really do like it!
I am trying to be a more reliable blogger than I have been in the past. No promises, but I’ll give it a shot.
I’ve been tinkering around with the design of the blog. I realize a proper about this blog page is in order, but in the meantime…. Here you go.
Questions, comments, tips on fun events and organizations I should know about (less for blogging than for hitting up myself!) can be posted, or directed to clairelovesthecity {at} gmail.com.
If I may quote Stuckey’s, “Y’all come back now, y’hear?”
Parking lot marker, Oakland Mall
Rollaqatsi
The 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi expressed the vast scale of human endeavor. It focused on long, stationary shots of busy infrastructure, accompanied by the minimalist yet awe-inspiring music of composer Phillip Glass. The film is locally known in St. Louis because it features footage of the demolition of the maligned, failed Pruitt-Igoe public housing project. (Said footage starts around 2:50 in this YouTube video. It’s very near my old neighborhood, so much so that I see buildings I know in the background.)
Rolla, Missouri, resident Max Tohline has produced a parody about life in little Rolla, Missouri, called Rollaqatsi. It’s pretty funny. Check it out here.
I am kind of wondering what Hamtramckqatsi would entail, besides all the requisite images of production at the American Axle plant and other industrial sites in town. Shots of frantic Paczki Day donut production at New Palace, perhaps? A sped-up shot of the liquor bottles behind a bar getting lower and lower as a Saturday night progresses? Hmm….
(Thanks to Frippy for the tip on Rollaqatsi!)
Holiday Closing
Looks like I wasn’t the only one surprised to find the Parkman Branch of the Detroit Public Library closed yesterday.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department paid a scheduled visit on the same day. It appears the DPL will be getting a $30 bill from them for missing their appointment. Ouch.
(DPL, if you’re reading this, please post holiday closures prominently on the front page of your website, and on the page that lists the hours of branches! I was not the only one who checked the branch hours page and headed out. I told a young woman I ran into on the way back to my car, “It’s closed today” and she responded, “But I checked the hours online!” Other than that, carry on, DPL! You rock!)
Edited to add: It seems the DPL has holiday hours posted on the branch hours page now. Not sure if I missed them before–if I did, my apologies! Either way, glad they’re there.
“You can’t get anything in Detroit.”
Piñatas and produce at Honey Bee Market, Mexicantown, Detroit, MI.
It smells like heaven in this store (and yes, my idea of heaven involves corn tortillas and chile powder).
