there are probably no easy answers. things will change. they are changing, but for now, let's just wreck some cars. [intense music] ♪ ♪ detroit's the city of champions. the whole world knows that detroit is the american city whose products have revolutionized our way of living. and only in michigan, when you find the men and women whose talent made us the arsenal of democracy in wartime and the economic pace-setter in peacetime.

♪ i took a walk through this ♪ beautiful world ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la it's where nearly everything american and great came from. the things the whole world wanted made here.

the heart, the soul, the beat of an industrial, cultural superpower. a magnet for everyone with a dream of a better future, from eastern europe to the deep south. american dream, you came here. the one straight ahead with the green roof? >> yep, the big rococo building, completely empty. empty. unbelievable. the white one is being rehabbed. there's some money coming in. the one next to it on the right is completely empty. the gray pyramid with the spire on top sold for $5 million. >> $5 million for that? you can't buy a garage in the hamptons for that basically. >> $5 million for a skyscraper. >> it is post-apocalyptic. i mean, it's like a science fiction film. what the hell happened here? >> well, it is post-apocalyptic except for the fact that there's several hundred thousand people living here. >> detroit 2013. charlie leduff is a writer, journalist, television reporter. he grew up here. >> but it used to be two million people.

that was rubber. that guy was steel. that guy was a doctor. this was what made america. the road started here. the automobile. frozen peas started here. credit on a mass scale started here. >> what was this like just before this? 20 years before. >> it was insane. and this is when it was like twice as many people here. this is a consequence because all the whites went, they took their money, they took their factories. the black middle class maintained for a while. and then it got too rough for them. so there's little pockets of feral hippies and older black folks, a couple white folks, some arabs. but this is 140 square miles. so you're going to get tall grass because it's back to the wild. >> it is one of the most beautiful cities in america. it speaks of those industrialite dreams of an endlessly glorious future. you know, the people who built these structures, they were thinking big. >> they were. >> they were looking at a new rome,

and they built it, actually. it's awesome. ♪

>> maybe the worm started to turn here. the packard automotive plant. opened in 1903, it was considered the most advanced facility of its kind anywhere in the world. huge, epically proportioned. i mean, 3.35 million square feet. now, one man lives here. al hill. >> my name is alan hill. welcome to my home. this room right here was a forage room. it was a former packard motor car company. i started living here about seven years ago. at that time, i was semiapprehensive about the place and the going ons around here. but turns out it's about as peaceful as the north woods. and ah, not having a credit card or mortgage payment or car payment is a real blessing. there's a few nails here so... >> yeah. >> what's happened here in detroit is unfortunate, but it's a sign of the times. we find out that not only does it take a village to raise an individual,

it takes an entire world to support one city. one city is suffering or one community is suffering, the entire world should pitch in and help elevate it instead of sit there and stare at it. people have lost faith in a lot of things. probably had to do with the faith they had in detroit. once the industrial leader of the entire world. >> it's enormous. >> yeah, it is. it's about a mile long, maybe a quarter of a mile wide. i've got a pretty good view from up here. >> yeah. how many people worked here at its peak? >> ah, well, during the war, there were like 33,000 people working here. it went out of business in '56. ya know, they brought studebaker in... ...as a partner and studebaker pulled them down. >> this has been abandoned since the '50s? >> well, actually, what happened, in 1956, they rent it out to various entrepreneurs. ah, a shoe warehouse, there's a trucking company,

there's guys that were storing cars. >> so how long has it been like this though? >> most of this damage happenend within five years. >> within the last five years? >> yeah. >> wow. >> china had this olympia effort. scrap metal went to a high price, so people would come in here and scrap it. they took the windows out, they just destroyed everything. >> the place is pretty much open to anybody who wants to come in. >> sure. a lot of urban explorers. people shooting music videos, taking pictures. oftentimes you see a wedding party come here. and they use this as a backdrop for their wedding, and take pictures, videos. >> wow. you want to take pictures here. the place, like so much of detroit, invites it. urban exploring, as they call it, sifting through the remains of detroit's great american ongoing tragedy, photographing them, posing in front of them, is something of an iiresistable impulse. detroiters hate it. all the visitors like us, i should point out, wallowing in ruin porn.

what was this part of the factory? where are we standing? >> this right here is where the assembly line was. this is a paint booth where they spray paint the cars. you can see on the floor where they have the uh, to wash away the over-spray. the assembly line ended 35, 40 feet over here. there's bridges here between here and the main building. and the assembly line actually came across the bridges. you're looking at a possibility of an assembly line about three quarters of a mile long. >> you're talking hundreds if not thousands of people all working on the process. this is sort of a -- it's not a perfect model for detroit, but a perfect model of when a big factory goes down, it's not just 33,000 people. that's 33,000 families who are going to be eating dinner out less. >> you've got a point there on that. >> most people i would guess have no idea what a packard even was. we're talking about one of the great luxury cars in the world, yes? yeah, it was the kind of car that everybody ah,

ah, would love to have. kings and queens, every president wanted to ride in one. popes and... indian chiefs. a luxury car maker went out of business. little did they realize that was a trend that started here in detroit and when it affected detroit, it affected the entire world because it followed everybody home. it might have been 50 or 60 years later, but it started here and then everybody else experienced the same problem that we're having. in another 20 years, this place probably won't be here and people won't have any idea what went on over here. >> it's hard to look away from the ruin. to not find beauty in the decay. comparisons to angkor wat, macchu picchu, ancient rome, are inevitable. magnificent structures representing the boundless greens of the dead, left to rot. yet unlike angkor, and leptis magna, people still live here. we forget that.

you tell people you go to detroit, and chances are somebody from the home team is going to say, "be sure to get a coney." i never really understood that. i mean, i'm like 30 minutes from a place called coney island where presumably, they know something about freaking hot dogs, right? maybe the early greeks or macedonians who first experienced that golden land by the shore then took what they saw with them to florida, michigan, and beyond. maybe they knew something. they've been doing coneys at duly's for over 90 years. that's almost as long as the hotdog's been around. and i can't tell you how deep this creation runs here. deep dish in chicago, cheesesteak in philadelphia. you'll find some ambivalence. not here. >> how are you, sir? >> good. now, if i were from detroit, would i be eating this with my hands or with a fork? >> probably with your hands. >> all right. i'll do my best.

logistical problems. mmm...that's delicious. this is like the best of my only three coney experiences. you're open 24 hours. >> yes, sir, 24/7. >> i don't know if i wanna watch like, seriously drunk people trying to eat this. >> ah yeah, we have a fun time. >> is it a skill that you learn over time? >> yeah, it takes practice. >> it's like kung fu, you know, you've got to just practice and practice. >> exactly. practice makes perfect. >> that was good. i think i better have another one of these. >> yeah, you should. >> i'll be better at it the next time around. >> one coney with everything. >> it seems like a simple thing. hotdog, chili, raw onion, mustard, steamed bun. but the delicate interplay between these ingredients, when done right, is symphonic.

when you're a leader, the competition is always hoping that you're gonna slip up. so, these suits are here to make sure that anything that i say is legally indisputable. like... apartments.com has the widest variety of variety. apartments.com was the reason that apartments were invented. heck! we got more spaces than space! that's entirely incalculable. incalculable... oh, i think that's legalese for... for true. [laughing] apartments.com the place to find a place. right now get a free footlong at subway. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, get one free.

for freeee. that's what i'm talking about. order in the subway app today. everything looks so good. right?! i'm hearing the new google pixel is really great. and it comes with at&t best deals on all of them. this one looks nice. that's a house favorite... ...and it's served with your choice of plans. thank you. there's gotta be a catch. no catch and no trade-in required either. -ooh. -oh. how do you know all of this? i come here a lot. love the service. at at&t, new and existing customers can choose any google pixel, with our choice of plans, and always get our best deal. at pnc bank, you can find us in big cities and small towns across the us, where our focus is to always support the people who live and work there.

because you call these communities home, and we do too. pnc bank. and there he is. chaz. the rec league's self-crowned pickleball king. do you just bow down? no you de-thrown the king. pedialyte. 3x the electrolytes. detroit's problems are well-documented. a lot of attention has been paid to a history of spectacular mismanagement and corruption. detroit is hardly alone in this. koch era new york, we forget too soon, was a cess pit of mob-influenced corruption.

chicago, boston, machine politics, they wrote the book. but detroit differs in that its scandal seems so comically lurid, so surrealistically squalid. the last mayor, kwame kilpatrick, is currently serving time in the jug for some of his less hiliariously bent behaviors. through all of it, one man seems to have known what's going on. adolph mongo, political strategist, oracle, survivor. he's seen it all. >> i know what i'm having, but i'd love a beer. >> miller, miller high life-- >> man this ain't this kinda place man, i thought you drank, man. you drinking beer? >> uh, what are you drinking? >> i'm drinking vodka. >> i'll have what he... i'll fold under pressure. >> okay. then i'll think about a burger down the way. you having something to eat? >> i may... >> uh, all right, i'll hold back. i will stick with this-- >> i'll get you your drink, and then you can decide. >> thank you.

i have to ask, uh... you're born and raised in the detroit area? >> right. >> an academic star. uh, marine corps. uh, journalism. why didn't you ever run for office? you gotta be crazy. you know what? they don't want straight forward politicians. they don't last. you got to be real cold-blooded. men are elected officials like working for the drug cartel. you can't give anybody any mercy. >> well, it seems that whatever might be in your heart and however pure you might be, when you finally arrive in office, somebody brings you a big dossier and opens it up and says mr. president, mr. mayor, mr. governor, this is the real situation. at which point it's an ocean ah, trying to start making some serious accommodations. >> yes. >> though, kwame kilpatrick. what went wrong there? >> greedy. >> just greed, old school-- >> greedy.

he was greedy. i didn't support him in the beginning. and when he was-- and i was one of his biggest critics. but when he got in trouble... [chuckles] who he call? he called me. i should have listened to my wife. she said, ah, don't be messing with him. are there good guys out there who could presumably... >> there's a lot of good guys, >> ...not just run for office, but will win? there's a lot of guys, yes. but they don't want to run. there's a lot of people. >> why don't they want to run? >> because you've got to take the badge that come along with it. you gotta take the garbage. >> why should a bright young guy fresh out of law school start thinking about running for anything in the city of detroit? >> yeah because sooner or later, it's going to be all right. it's gonna come--it's going to be all right. it's a tough town. >> is detroit going to turn things around? i could lie and tell you yes. but you know what? this city is screwed. only place i've ever been that looks anything like detroit does now, chernobyl. i'm not being funny.

that's the truth. >> abandoned. abandoned. man. >> but you have to admire the bold, proud, ferociously enterprising survivivors who decided to hang on, hang in, and figure out a way to not only survive, but do something extraordinary. there's tyree guyton's heidelberg project, a delightfully loony outdoor community art project that began in 1986 and now attracts 35,000 visitors per year from around the world. [engine starts] >> that was a buck in gas right there, just turning it on. >> ah, i love detroit. >> you know, they got this field mowed last summer, the neighborhood lit it on fire. >> another block and more decay. and a liquor store. for this neighborhood, the only store for miles. >> just be right back. >> how you doing? >> hey, lady.

>> how are you? good to meet you. >> i love you. >> awesome spirit on you, man. god bless you. >> hi, how are you? >> a gentleman and a scholar. ain't nobody do it like you. >> you hear me? >> see you later. >> cheers. >> cheers, man. yup. you want one? >> that's the benefit of a college education right there. people seem to like you in this town. who hates you in this town? >> who hates me in this town? >> nobody. >> politicians? >> i'm guessing there are a number of politicians and former public employees who are not too happy with you. >> i don't know. you know, yeah. [all laugh] >> yeah, but let's face it. there's a whole lot of people out there who would be perfectly happy with just letting detroit go. >> it already went! look at this. see those lilies there? >> uh-huh. i call those the ghost gardens. like they're all over like the houses that used to be,

the gardens still come up. ♪ >> off the main drag-- >> girl, you're wearing the hat and everything! >> a backyard. >> thanks for coming. i never had such a good time. >> a well-tended home surrounded by many neglected ones. an example of detroit-style entrepreneurship.

greedy greg's, a do it yourself barbecue joint started by these two. rochelle and greg. >> hi, i'm tony. >> i'm greedy greg. >> on the menu, absolutely delicious, straight from the grill ribs and rib tips. but the really good stuff is inside. superb smoked pork, loaded collards, and mac and cheese. thank you so much. this is perfect. that's good. >> bro, i'm going to use this spoon here. >> it's unbelievably good. >> which, the mac? >> the greens are incredible. >> oh, those are good. >> so in the greens, is that like smoked ham hoc? >> i can't tell you my secret. i'll tell you those are some of the best greens i've ever had. no doubt about it. >> you serious? >> and this dude's been everywhere. >> i've been all over the south. i've had a lot of greens. and those are some... they're not just delicious. they're luxurious. big hunks of... you won't tell me what in there.

>> i can't give away my secret. >> will this kind of entrepreneurship lead detroit out of its sinkhole? probably not. i can't believe there's not a line of cars around the corner. that was good. but it's no longer about winning, is it? it's about surviving.

wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. except the hours that you're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next level bed, for a next level you. my circadian rhythm is kicking your circadian rhythms butt! it's not a competition. i know, but i'm still winning! so, it is a competition. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only $899. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. shop now only at sleep number. this week is your chance to try any subway footlong for free. like the subway series menu. just buy any footlong in the app, and get one free. everyone loves free stuff chuck. can we get peyton a footlong? get it before it's gone. on the subway app.

there are approximately 80,000 abandoned buildings within detroit's 140 square miles city limits. what that translates to, unfortunately, is about 14 acts of arson a day. nearly 5,000 a year. that's just arson. that doesn't include the thousands of other types of fires and medical emergencies the detroit fire department responds to every day. with an ever-lower valued housing market where you can buy a home for as little as $500, many houses are burned down for the insurance. many because angry neighbors desperate to hang on see abandoned structures taken over by crack heads or drug gangs. with law enforcement stretched ridiculously thin, they resort to burning them out.

they won't say it. i will. the detroit fire department is underfunded, underequipped, often badly and incompetently led, and up against what seems like a neverending war. a city on fire. their safety equipment, their boots, their clothes are often moldering and shambolic. but they fight on. this is the second time they've been to this house. if it happens to be arson, chances are no one will ever know for sure. given the ever-shrinking resources available to the department, most fires can't even be investigated. this fire is out within an hour. and after the fire, dinner. the cliche is that firemen are great cooks. in this case, the cliche is true. lt. mike devons and the boys of squad three are cooking up a family meal. is every firefighter expected to cook reasonably well?

>> if they don't, they catch hell. >> really? >> i mean, in detroit, yeah. >> it's almost a perfect society in that sense. because in a perfect society, i believe, everybody should be able to feed themself and their friends or their family, at least reasonably well. and, if they're not able to do that, they should be shunned and demonized and marginalized. >> well agreed. >> most of the firemen are known for their cooking. we cook some outstanding meals. we learn to shop. we learn to shop with less to feed more. you don't want to be a belly robber. you better bring some food back for the boys. >> firefighters, in my experience, are a lot like the marines i've met over the years. no matter how badly led, ridiculously underequipped, underappreciated, no matter how doomed their mission, they take a bizarre and quite beautiful pride in at least being screwed more than anybody else, and doing it with style. they seem to do what they do for themselves. it's not a job. it's a calling. >> this is where the guys store their gear.

as you can see, the gear is very weathered. >> how old? >> this gear is only a couple years old. >> but it gets beat up quick. >> oh yeah. got one new coat hanging in there, so there's a lucky guy that's got a new coat. but that gear's seen a lot of action. >> where's the fire pole, dude? >> they took them. >> aw, man. >> in the late '90s, management took the poles out. >> what does every little boy, from my age, it was all about sparky the fire dog and the poles. >> you know i used to love sliding the pole in the headquarters was three stories. so when you were sliding that thing, you had to really hold on cause you were going for a ride. the old running board, we put up here. we don't use the running board, but this is how many companies we used to have. >> what percentage of that number now? >> less than half. and we're fighting a lot more fires.

>> you know, i've got to say, the kitchen is looking pretty good. that's one of the best kitchen's in the city. >> tonight's meal is being cooked by paul. he's squad three's best, they say. he's reading the can. that's a good start. >> tonight's menu, crabcakes with a mix of actual crab, and this stuff. sea leg. maybe you know it from such beloved menu items as: california roll. hey, firefighters can't afford 100% jumbo lump crab meat, okay? do you know what this stuff is, by the way? >> it's fish, isn't it? >> it's pollack. >> pollack, right. it's a miracle fish. you can actually make beef out of this too. or beef-like substance, yeah. it should be pointed out that every meal is paid for by the crew on duty. they pool their money and shop as a unit. what's the fire house favorite by consensus? >> ah, steaks, man. >> steaks? if i were the regular cook here, the whole fire house would be in totally open rebellion? >> why? >> first of all, i'd be making stews because they're cheap and i think they're delicious.

plus, i'd be trying out like tripe and guts on you guys. >> i don't know how that would go. >> that would not go. >> you'd be eating like italian peasants every day if i was to cook here. you'd have a big bowl of stew with a big hunk of bread. and i would be about it, i would be pocketing the difference. >>[laughs] >> yeah. lamb chops seared in the pan, then finished over the grill. then caesar's salad with chicken. ever find out like, how are the other firefighters eating around the city? you know, like at a fire i'll say, "what are you guys having for chow?" >> you ever get tempted to just kinda like, mess with the other guys and say, oh yeah, we had like foie gras with truffles and ah... >> all the time. i'm going to be cooking lobster in a minute. >> lobster again. you know, i keep telling the guys no more lobster, i just can't take it. we're free to eat? >> yes. nice job on the crabcakes. >> yeah.

full of meat. >> very tasty. >> so if it's not good, you're not diplomatic about it. >> no, not at all. no. >> we tell them nice try. >> a lot of cooks, they look at that kitchen, there's a lot of room, and there's always a lot of spices, our staples are always loaded. you can pretty much make anything in there. it's a good place to be a cook. >> nice job there, paulie. >> yes, well-done, sir. generally speaking, you eat fast. because you never know. in all likelihood, you are not going to get to finish that meal. >> well, obviously tony's not doing any dishes. >> i'll do all the dishes. >> no. hell, no. >> wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last. >> no way.

wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. except the hours that you're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next level bed, for a next level you. my circadian rhythm is kicking your circadian rhythms butt! it's not a competition. i know, but i'm still winning! so, it is a competition. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only $899. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. shop now only at sleep number.

at this point, you may be asking, what about all the cool stuff i hear about detroit? that's what you're thinking. the vibrant, new do it yourself culture of urban renaissance, young entrepreneurs, artists transforming the city one block at a time. where's that? well, that is happening. young, idealistic true-believing hard-working creative people are indeed doing their best to bring light and hope and beauty to this greatest of cities. you've got to start with the deeply felt and absolute belief that detroit is indeed a great city, and that it is worth saving. as utterly screwed as detroit may be, you have to be a twisted, unpatriotic freak to not believe that. behold the future. >> what, like cooking in a back alley?

>> yes. >> all right. >> chef craig lieckfelt has done what many would call a very unwise thing. after working at gotham grill in manhattan, instead of staying where the money inarguably was, he returned to detroit. he's been working to get a brick-and-mortar establishment going by first doing regular pop-ups here at guns and butter, tucked into the back room of an art gallery under an overpass in downtown detroit. you have a really weird attitude towards food in general. >> yeah. >> what's that? >> you know, you've got liquor, you've got cigarettes, you've got coffee. >> or all of those things. we're going to eat well. charlie leduff may have a pulitzer prize, but his appreciation of fine food and dining is, shall we say-- >> is that cheese? >> lacking. simply put, he's a philistine. warm egg yolk with a generous helping of smelt roe on top. egg with eggs? yes, please.

leduff scarves his like he's at ruby tuesday's. you got all these kids flooding into detriot, which is good, right? how is that going to play out? will there be political leadership in place... ...to manage that fairly? >> it will be fine. everybody likes a nice thing in an egg shell with caviar on top. everybody. it's just all about keeping cool. >> no, it won't be fine, dude. it will not be fine if, if, if there's not political leadership. it will not. >> well, sometimes political leadership grows up out of what's happening. and we don't have any political leadership, and this is happening. >> are you an optimist? >> i'm an optimist. i'm here in this, i'm here in this garage with you. >> chilled summer soup with melon, tomato, lemon verbena broth. >> so we have summer soup. all the melons from the market. the coriander blossoms we actually picked from a farm right here in detroit. >> beautiful. thank you. >> thank you. >> it's good, isn't it?

i would describe that--may i, chef? as a light, airy gaspacho. >> i wouldn't even go that far. leduff sees an opportunity to make a melon gimlet-- >> a little gin in it. >> you're putting gin in your soup? >> well, the soup is delicious. let me try it as a drink. >> you're on your own, dude. you know, when i was chef and you poured gin in my soup, i would have stabbed you in the neck with my fork. i'm dying somewhere inside. your like the worst-case scenario customer. the customer from hell. next up, smoked mussels, lightly steamed in white wine aromatics,and butter, served in a lobster broth with fried onions and honey. quite delicious. baby greek salad with beets, tomato and fennel. all sourced locally. a tribute to the greek diners where craig grew up eating with his family. this guy could be running a 300 seat restaurant in vegas,

and here he is in detroit. >> well, guess what? >> that's a heroic thing. the headaches are less. you're appreciated here. >> no... no. this would be considered a foolhardy venture in the chef world. >> guess what? we like good food too. we're not space aliens. people often say "thank you". we just moved back from chicago. we lived in chicago the last six years. we lived in l.a. six years. thank you, this is exactly what we wanted. >> what you've done is counterintuitive. i mean, there is a sort of conventional career path for chefs. >> right. >> instead... ...you decide... ...to go to detroit. >> hell yeah. not just detroit, come back home. people think i'm crazy for going back to detroit. >> then another tribute to classic detroit: potato-filled pierogi and kielbasa simmered in white wine, thyme and fennel seeds. finished with beurre fondue, and burnt butter pine nuts. followed by locally sourced lamb,

cooked perfectly. topped with sour cherries, mullberries, toasted pistachios, coriander, and yogurt sauce. in what way does opening a fine dining restaurant in detroit benefit the majority of detroiters? >> how is it not making it better? how is sitting back, not doing anything making it better? how is it only buying my products from detroit, or farmers in detroit not helping detroit? i'm supplying from detroit. i'm hiring people from detroit. everybody here lives in detroit. >> if i were asked the same question, i would say i don't know. i'm doing what i do well, >> right, exactly. i'm doing it in a place that i love and i'm demonstrating that... that... ...yet another person gives a -- about detroit and believes in it enough to be here. >> you're 100% right. i never really thought about it. until you asked that question. to me, it's just obvious. >> what will the detroit of the future look like? whatever you may think it should look like, it will probably taste like this.

this week is your chance to try any subway footlong for free. like the subway series menu. just buy any footlong in the app, and get one free. everyone loves free stuff chuck. can we get peyton a footlong? get it before it's gone. on the subway app.

are we a reflection of our places in life, or are they reflections of us? could we have been somebody else if we had taken a right turn instead of a left? or if we had taken the place with the hot tub or the one uptown?

we went downtown. could we be fabulous or fantabulous? yes, yes. we sure could. with apartments.com's multitudes of listings, our possibilities and yours, are truly multitudinous. (echoes) shhhh. apartments.com the place to find a place. somewhere in this unassuming neighborhood, one can sit down for an excellent meal. but you won't find this place on yelp, and unfortunately, i cannot tell you where it is exactly. why not, you ask? it's not exactly a restaurant, you see, which means it's not, strictly speaking, legal. what is this place? >> pupusa house. i call it pupusa house. i mean, like a pupusaria, i guess you could say. >> it's a cultural thing.

traditionally they serve out of houses. and it just something that they bring over and they come. so this is about as traditional as it gets right here. >> it's just like home. >> yep. >> this is what's called a pupusa house. literally, a house. this one serving home-cooked salvadorian meals. once a living room, now the main dining area. the woman running it, we can't show her face, but she's been here for ten years serving a mostly salvadoran clientele, looking for a taste of home. >> tamales. >> first up a staple done a little differently than the norm. tamales wrapped in banana leafs and steamed. mmm. delicious. next the dish of the house, pupusas. tortillas stuffed with ground pork or chicharones. you have pupusas in nicaragua, in guatemala. but for some reason, salvadorian pupusas get the most respect. general consensus seems to be they're the best.

how come? >> i would agree. >> george azar is our detroit fixer. he's been coming here with his friends joe for years. >> this is what makes it right here, this. cortido. >> cortido. >> cortido, it's pickled slaw. >> salsa... >> i'll do this, but i don't know if you're up to this one. >> what are you sayin'? >> i don't know if you can hang, man. >> is it a manly thing? >> it's turning into it, it seems like. >> [laughs] >> mexican, spicy. salvadorian, not spicy. >> that's true though. they don't do it that spicy. >> wow... chicharone? >> mm-hm. >> yeah this is porky goodness, that's for sure. >> chicharone is fried pork. it's fried pork, ground with peppers, onion, and tomato. simple. >> taking the liberty of ordering some indegenous detroit beverages that we've overlooked so far. >> now, vernors, which i haven't had. >> it's like a cross between ginger beer and ginger ale. it's like, not a spicy as ginger beer, and not as sweet as ginger ale. it's in the middle. it's my favorite beverage in the city. >> i needed this to inhance my street cred in detroit.

so that i will be welcome back. then pollo asado, with shrimp and garlic butter. that's shrimp, head-on, thank you very much. this is where it's at. god lives in there. butter, garlic. simple, delicious. >> it's the low-fat butter. >> that's good. >> it's like a big hug. >> how did you find your way here? >> honestly, it's only word of mouth. >> but you have annoying foodie websites, right? >> true. but they're not coming here. >> they're not coming here? >> oh, no. if they walk in the door here... >> there are thousands of a... ...foodies with ironic sunglasses and fedoras and they're just waiting to get in here. >> we don't want this place to come to the foodies--i get mad at him when he >> starts bringing different people. >> really? you'd hate a line of people outside, waiting a two >> yes! >> hour wait to get in here? >> yes. he would. >> i don't want to wait for my food. >> who hates money? >> with her, it's not about the money. it's about keeping the tradition alive. what happens when a city goes bankrupt?

when it's at the point that it's actually considering selling what's left of itself in chunks. in detroit, city services are reduced or cut out completely. fewer buses, fewer cops, fewer firefighters. answer: they turn to each other for help. or figure out how to do it for themselves. detroit has a reputation as a tough town, but that toughness is about resilience, too. the insistence on sticking with it, no matter what. on not giving up in the face of the utter failure of leadership year after year. if the city abandons its parks and leaves them to become overgrown and eaten, like so much of the city by tall grass and weeds, then somebody has got to do something, right? meet the mower gang. started by this guy, tom nardone, with a simple mission of doing what they can to keep detroit's abandonded parks maintained. who are you guys and what are you doing here? >> we're the detroit mower gang.

and we clean up the abandoned parks and playgrounds in this town. >> why would you do that? >> kids need a place to play. i don't care who you are, if you're under ten years old, i think you deserve some justice in this world, don't you think? yeah. >> yeah. >> how did this thing start? >> i guess i started it. i bought a lawn tractor when the city announced they were closing 72 parks. >> what's the difference betweein being opened and close? they're just going to stop maintaining it? >> that's it. or do they actually physically shut it up? >> no, no, they don't physically shut it up. because there's no money in here, ya know. >> to physically shut it up. >> yeah, they just take the trash barrels away and stop mowing. >> crazy. >> it's... it's a strange place, detriot. when we're done here, it will not look like a nice park. >> but still a playable park. >> yeah. and a visible park. so if you had kids, you could see what they're doing in this park. it's safer. >> all right. well, let's cut some grass. >> yeah! come on, you'll like it, it's fun. ♪

>> there's grass in my beer.

everything looks so good. right?! i'm hearing the new google pixel is really great. and it comes with at&t best deals on all of them. this one looks nice. that's a house favorite... ...and it's served with your choice of plans. thank you. there's gotta be a catch. no catch and no trade-in required either. -ooh. -oh. how do you know all of this? i come here a lot. love the service. at at&t, new and existing customers can choose any google pixel, with our choice of plans, and always get our best deal.

(vo) consumer reports evaluates vehicles for car shoppers in... reliability, safety, owner satisfaction, and road-test evaluations... and the results are in. subaru is the twenty twenty-three best mainstream automotive brand, according to consumer reports. and subaru has seven consumer reports recommended models. solterra, forester, outback, crosstrek, ascent, impreza, and legacy. it's easy to love a brand you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru.

in detroit approximately 40 square miles have been reverted to basically unused green space. in many cities, so-called urban farming may be looked upon by cynics like me as an affectation. here in detroit, it's not. with nature taking back the landscape block by block, the urban farm is really the last line of defense. d-town sits on the western border of detroit. where are we? >> we're in the largest park in the city which is called rouge park. >> did you just come in and start digging or did you have permission to come in? >> we had permission to come in. >> was that difficult? >> it was very difficult. we negotiated with the city for two years.

part of the difficulty was they didn't know what hook to hang our request on. they're used to developers saying i want to build a strip mall or i want to build a parking structure. but they're not used to people saying we want land to build a model organic farm. >> malik yakini started growing the farm with the goal providing greater access to fresh produce in areas that grocery stores have completely abandoned. that's basically all of detroit's inner city. other than whole foods, who just came in, >> yes. >> not a single national food chain. >> no. no. in 2007 farmer jack closed his last stores in detroit. and that was kind of the end of the big chains in detroit. >> this is subsistence farming, not cash crop. you're not going to be anticipating selling outside of detroit. >> there's greater demand in detroit than all of the locally farmers can supply. so, first we want to supply that local demand in the city of detroit. >> to what degree do you think this model can be replicated in and around the city?

>> well clearly we think urban agriculture has great potential. and, one of the things we have in detroit is access to huge amounts of land. if we're able to produce even a small percentage of the food which is consumed in detroit and circulate the revenues from that food within our community, then we're able to create a more vibrant, healthy, economically strong community. so we think it has tremendous potential. >> who will live in the detroit of the future? there's no question, is there, that detroit will come back? in one form or another, a city this magnificent, this storied, this american, cannot, will not ever disappear into the weeds. there are too few places this beautiful for it to be allowed to crumble like angkor or rome.

someone will live in a smaller, tighter, no doubt hipper, much contracted new detroit. but who will that be? will it be the people who stuck it out here, who fought block-by-block to keep their city from burning, who struggled to defend their homes, keep up appearances as all around them their neighborhoods emptied. what will detroit look like in 20 years? or 50? that's not just a detroit question, that's an america question. ♪

[crowd clamoring] [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - oh, yeah, this place was a-booming. you couldn't get through this town down there, but it's dead now. we had eight or ten coal mines go down at one time. - come on, everybody in here! have a seat! let's go! - it's the same halftime speech every single week. ♪ ♪