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In this age of non-local communities, it’s amazing to be able to make connections with car enthusiasts the world over. Still, there’s nothing like making a personal connection with those who share your passion. In that spirit, and as promised, TTAC invites its community of readers and commenters to come down to the Detroit Beer Company this Tuesday (January 11) at 6:30 to meet TTAC’s NAIAS team. I will be joined by our Detroit staffers Michael Karesh and Ronnie Schreiber, as well as the infamous Jack Baruth at the downtown brewpub for an evening of beer, grub and car chatter. If you’ve got a spare moment, we’d love to have you join us.
29 Comments on “TTAC Detroit Meet-Up: Tuesday, January 11 At 6:30 PM...”
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I wish I could come. You all have provided a wealth of interesting journalism and I would love to meet you all in person. I am half a country away, though. Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
And Jack’s personal assistant, Vodka?
…will be there.
I can be there and it looks like a decent eating/drinking establishment, but where is the secure parking there? Sorry, suburbanite here, only go downtown to park at RenCen or Cobo.
Face palm.
mtypex, if you go to the Detroit Beer Co.’s web site you’ll see that they’ll validate your parking stub for reduced rates at the Detroit Opera House parking garage, right across the street from the pub. I called them to double check and there’s another secure lot right next door to the bar but you’ll have to pay full rate there.
Frankly, I’m more likely to get mugged buying gas where in live in Oak Park than I am on Broadway a block off of Woodward.
Sometimes, there is only Facepalm. Anyway, I feel no problem parking in downtown Cleveland, and all shite goes on there, but I can’t get myself to go into Detroit. I’m in Ann Arbor on weekends (on a clear day, no can see General Motors here, except for Buick Regal GS in road testing). My dad loves parking on the street in The D. He was a ‘city boy’ (also claims to have been a sailor)!
I take it no Bertel? A no show, like Nissan @ NAIAS again this year? (Still trying to convince Sajeev to visit again in winter.)
Well, anyway, need a new burger joint, penciling TTAC on Tuesday on my calendar. See you then. I have met Michael previously, looking forward to the rest of the crew.
Yes, park across the street at the Opera House deck. I was in that area last weekend and all parking was full due to a Lions game and the opera house had Mary poppins going too. I parked around the corner from the Beer Co on the street with my 3 kids who are all under 17 and it was perfectly fine.
As Ronnie said, any parking around there is safe, just depends on how much you want to spend.
If you don’t feel safe parking in such a touristy area, park at your accustomed lot and take the People Mover. The station is at Broadway and John R, not even half a block away.
And thank you for providing the fascinating glimpse into the Oakland County mindset.
Rocketrodeo, it’s not an Oakland County mindset. I live in Oakland County and I go into the city frequently. I ride my bicycle in Detroit.
Not long ago I was driving on the east side, on my way to Elmwood Cemetery and to be honest things didn’t look scary, they just looked deserted.
Park at Greektown Casino garage, (free) and take the People Mover for a dollar round trip.
Sounds good – any extra press passes to make it more worth my while to come downtown? I’ll gratefully accept that in lieu of my ill-gotten gains from Jack’s “What’s Wrong With This Video: Holding Up A Super-Citizen” challenge.
Actually, for a short period it looked like I was allocated more than I needed. Since a few years back, the Detroit News brought focus groups of different age group consumers in through the NAIAS during the media preview I thought it might be interesting and fun to get a non-insider’s look at a big auto show press preview and was going to pitch Ed on letting one of the B&B use the extra creds. Just to be sure, though, I asked the nice lady at DADA handling my credentials this year and she gave me a firm “No way”.
So I said to her, “The Detroit News brought in some non-journalists. So I guess I don’t have as much juice with you guys as The News.”
She replied, “No, you don’t.”
I like her honesty.
Since I’d be pretty much screwed if I didn’t get credentialed to the NAIAS, I go out of my way to try to cooperate with the staff there. They still make me go through the same song and dance every year – it’d be nice to get on the pre-approved list. This is my 10th year, I’ve never been turned down, but I always have to send in the full application packet, complete with business cards and hard copies of three articles I’ve written within the past 2 years.
There are people that I’ve become friendly with over the years from seeing them at the NAIAS or Chicago or even Toronto the couple of times I’ve been there. Some of them have a harder time getting creds to the Detroit show than I do and they ask me what my secret is. I tell them that I’m polite to the folks who process the applications and when I do ask for a favor, I make it clear that I’m asking for a favor, not demanding service.
I think it works. Over the years I’ve gone from creds for a single person, to full access to a couple of people and limited access for a couple, and now this year they gave me three full access for both days and two full access for Monday, when all but one of the car company pressers will take place. So I guess I’m moving up in the world.
This year I’ll be covering the show for two other web sites besides TTAC plus I have to gather photos and video for another project that will be announced in about a week (Ed knows about it, is cool with it and has graciously offered to help hype it so I’m not doing anything disloyal to TTAC, just trying out an idea whose time has come – watch TTAC and hopefully other car sites for more details in 7 or 8 days).
It helps to have a crew to help out at the NAIAS – it’s a big show and there’s a press conference every 40 minutes or so. Though thumb drives are proliferating, there are still plenty of hard copy press kits and a little bit of swag that need to be stashed in the car so you don’t shlep it around all day long. Though it’s been cut back since carmaggedon, there’s still enough free food and drink, plus all those pretty women, that it’s not too difficult to find helpers.
Still, I had to hustle this year to make sure that I had some help. My son, my only son, whom I love, Moshe, and his buddies used to help me but they’re grownups now (well, sorta kinda) and have their own responsibilities so they can’t just take a couple of days off to work the show – particularly since they don’t start the show on Sunday morning anymore. Moe’s getting married soon, so is Danny J who’s helped me more times than Mosh actually.
Come to think of it, it was easier getting a crew together when Chrysler had their Firehouse bar ‘n grill across the street from Cobo. Free beer has a way of attracting young adult males.
Actually, one of the cool things about the big shows are the human touches. How away from the press conferences, when you get a chance to talk to car company folks, including a lot (but not all) of the executives, you get to see them more as real people than just as powerful industrialists or celebrities. You also get to meet a fair number of real celebrities, automotive and otherwise. You find out that many of those who work in network tv are just working stiffs, doing a job. You realize that Spanish language tv stations and networks prefer really hot looking women for on-air talent. You see that most of the union riggers and stagecrafters setting up and tearing down the show seem to be working conscientiously. You realize that most politicians aren’t stupid, just clueless about most things they aren’t personally involved in.
Speaking of which, John Dingell invited Nancy Pelosi and some of their colleagues from Congress to the NAIAS on Monday. GM & Ford & Chrysler and Daimler and the rest of the car companies pay a pretty penny to hold press conferences at the NAIAS but John and Nancy get it for free. If Pelosi has a press conference, I’m going to try to get the mic to ask her:
1: How frequently are you driven by a chauffeur? When was the last time you drove yourself somewhere?
2: What, if any, cars do you and your spouse own or lease?
3: What was your favorite car? Why?
4: If you could drive any car made in the past 50 years, what would it be? Why that car?
That sounds like a lot of work Ronnie! I think I’ll just lean on some OEM PR friends.
@Ronnie,
In that order? I’d probably go 3,2,1,4 if I was guaranteed all four. But if I only had one shot, it’d be number 1.
I’ll go if Jack gives me a ride from Dayton.
Sounds good Ed, if I can get away from the lab and traffic is ok from Ann Arbor (weather permitting) I’ll hope to be there!
See you there. Looking forward to it.
Sadly, I’ll be most of the way home by this time on Tuesday night, but I’ll look forward to seeing you kids around on the show floor. Safe travels, everyone!
Looking forward to seeing you at NAIAS as well, Chris.
Don’t worry Chris- I’ll be
Don’t worry- I’ll be there to represent Autosavant in Chris’ place. Looking forward to it.
I’ll try to get down there. I like the choice of venue.
It’s a little too far down the road for me too. Any chance of a debriefing in Eugene afterwards?
Too bad i live on the wrong side of the Atlantic..
Me too. Too bad, I would have enjoyed meeting each of you gents!
good idea, I’d like to join you if possible.
Since you guys picked my favorite place down there, I’m going to have to try and make it.
This and my other comment on this thread are probably my fifth and sixth posts on TTAC ever. But with 3 years of lurking under my belt, I might have to come out to meet some of the regulars.