Have a free day and an appetite for good food, drinks, culture, and history? Head to Dearborn and transport yourself to the 19th century at Greenfield Village, or take a trip to the Middle East with a taste of baklava at Shatila bakery. Here are a few of our recommendations to get a feel for the city’s diverse selection of museums, eateries and long-standing establishments.
Start off your day with a visit to The Henry Ford, Dearborn’s most well-known destination that brings in more than 1.6 million visitors each year.
It was originally founded by automaker Henry Ford as the Edison Institute in 1929 and has since evolved into a campus that includes the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, among other attractions.
“Our mission is to inspire through stories of American innovation, resourcefulness, and ingenuity,” says Kate Morland, museum manager.
The eight-acre Henry Ford Museum focuses on the history of innovation in all forms, from technology to everyday life. Notable artifacts include its collection of cars and aircraft, the Rosa Parks bus, the limousine where President John F Kennedy was assassinated and the chair President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot.
Morland noted that the museum is increasing its focus on hands-on activities and will host The Science Behind Pixar exhibit from Oct. 14 through March 18.
If the weather is nice, head over to Greenfield Village, an outdoor living history museum where you can experience life as it was in the olden days through historic homes, buildings, farms, and vehicles. Stop in Thomas Edison’s laboratory and take a ride in a Model T or horse-drawn omnibus. Watch artisans demonstrate how they create pottery, spin silk and cook using historical methods.
After a long history-filled morning, stop by the historic Miller’s for lunch. Nearly as old as The Henry Ford, Miller’s was opened by George Miller in 1941 as a “shot and a beer” place. After the war, his brother Russ Miller added the now-famous ground round burgers and other food items to the menu.
Miller’s runs on an honor system where customers don’t get bills, they just go to the counter and say what they had to eat and drink.
“It’s always been a Cheers-type place,” says Russ Miller’s son Dennis Miller, who runs the restaurant with his brother Mark.
“We get all types of people,” he says. “From Ford workers, street sweepers, you name it, teachers, everyone. It’s just a local hangout.”
Miller’s is regularly ranked among the state and country’s best burgers and has attracted famous clientele including Hillary Clinton and Mark Cuban.
Stop by from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday at 23700 Michigan Ave.
Once your belly is full, satisfy your shopping appetite with a visit to Stormy Records, a store that Windy Weber and her husband Carl Hultgren opened 18 years ago. With more than 20,000 LPs and 10,000 45s in stock, they focus on used vinyl records, but they also carry cassettes, CDs and a selection of hard-to-find unusual experimental music records. The pair are musicians themselves — their group, Windy & Carl, creates ambient music.
“Our main goal besides helping people find music that they’re going to love is helping records that previously had a home, find a good new home,” Weber says.
She said the store attracts people from a broad area and a wide range of ages.
“Anywhere from kids who come in with their parents and have their record player and want Van Halen’s Jump on a 45, to people who are in their 80s,” she says.
Visit Stormy Records from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 13306 Michigan Ave.
Take a three-minute walk down Michigan Avenue from Stormy Records to visit the Arab American National Museum to learn about the stories of Arab Americans, including their immigration, businesses owned and work they’ve done in the United States. The collection includes artwork produced by Arab Americans, some artifacts from the Arab world, and a library with about 4,000 to 5,000 volumes by and about Arab Americans.
“We like to think of ourselves as a repository for the Arab American community,” says Matthew Jaber Stiffler, the museum’s research and content manager.
The museum opened in 2005 and is run by ACCESS, a Dearborn-based human services organization. The group raised funds for several years to open the museum. After 9/11, there was a fear that fundraising would drop off, but the backlash against Arab Americans galvanized the community nationwide and brought additional support from both individuals and corporations, Stiffler says.
Most museum visitors are not Arab, and many comment that the Arab American immigration story looks a lot like their own families’ stories, he says.
The museum also features an auditorium with world music performances. It hosts an annual book award ceremony and Arab film festival and holds culinary walking tours of Dearborn’s Arab American food district. It offers maps for a self-guided tour or guided tours on most Saturdays when the weather is nice.
Once you’ve learned about Arab American culture, get a taste of it at Shatila, a Middle Eastern bakery known for its baklava and other pastries.
“What sets our bakery apart is we use only the finest highest quality ingredients,” says Vice President Nada Shatila, whose parents founded the bakery in 1979 after moving here from Lebanon. “We import Grade-A pistachios from places like Turkey, cashews from Brazil, California walnuts. We don’t skimp on our ingredients.”
Shatila ships its baklava and other products worldwide. The bakery also offers European pastries, cakes and homemade ice cream in flavors like rosewater, mango, and pistachio.
The bakery, decorated with palm trees, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday at 14300 W. Warren Ave.
Cap off your day with a cool beer at Dearborn Brewing. The two-year-old establishment is the city’s first microbrewery and offers 10 beers on tap. Selection varies based on the season but can include Belgian, amber, brown, porter, stout and specialty brews like Moctoberfest.
Owner John Rucinski, a Dearborn native, had been home brewing for many years and his friends suggested he open his brewery, said Jessica Bridges, operations manager. So he and his wife, Sheila, did just that.
The business remains connected to the Dearborn community. The mug club features hand blown glass mugs from the Glass Academy in Dearborn, and the spent grain leftover from the brewing process goes to feed animals at Greenfield Village.
The taproom doesn’t offer food, but it’s carry-out friendly, and some local restaurants will deliver.
Ford employees, first responders, active military, and veterans receive 10 percent off their bills. Everyone gets $1 off pints during happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. The taproom is open from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday at 21930 Michigan Ave.