Chris Cuddy

Chris Cuddy's family has been in Dearborn since the 1940s. His great grandma and great grandpa owned a picturesque drive-in diner in East Dearborn. His uncle still lives in the house that the great grandparents called home. Cuddy went to elementary school here, then middle school. Now, for the last five years he has called West Dearborn his home. "I've lived here since I'm 22 but I've hung out here all my life," he says.

Cuddy, now 27, is the singer in The HandMe Downs, a Detroit-based punk band along the lines of Rancid and Against Me! The group has been together for four years and has toured the country. On top of that, and a little less glamorous, he is a vending supervisor for Ford Field. Yes, he was there for the 0-16 Lions. "The 0-16 season definitely hurt my paycheck," he says. "It hit my commission check and what I made drastically." So, you may be upset with the Lions, but Cuddy actually lost money on it – and not just his patience.

But, to make the time pass, and to forget about the Lions, he has Dearborn. He and his mohawk are more times than not found hanging out in West Dearborn. So, if you're looking for Cuddy 'cause you like his band or he owes you money or you want a punk rocker's perspective on one of the Detroit area's oldest cities, check out what he has to say.

Bar

"Going to bars, getting some drinks, that's my specialty," he says. "And it's great 'cause everything is six to ten blocks away, so I always walk to the bar."

Like the Biergarten, in West Dearborn, on Michigan Avenue. That's where, he says, he spends a lot of his hangin' out time. But don't let the German-ness of the Biergarten fool you. It's just a regular, watering hole.

"It's kind of like a dive bar. I go there a lot," he says. "Sometimes I go in and it's filled and sometimes I go in and there are only five people there. That's what I like about it. And the food isn't bad, the prices are good, and Monday nights are dollar pints."

Another dive he likes is Howell's. A corner bar that's always packed right up to the end.

"Howell's has an older crowd," Cuddy says. "The Biergarten, on the other hand, has a much younger vibe to it. But Howell's is the corner neighborhood bar. My favorite thing about Howell's is that where most bars do last call at 1:30, Howell's does their last call at 1:55, or even 2. And you can usually drink for another half hour if you time it right."

Cuddy says Baileys on a Tuesday is a good spot to grab an expensive import because they bar has a special:  Two bucks for a pint of anything.

And though West Dearborn has a number of clubs and swankyness for swanky people, you won't find Cuddy hanging out in them.

"I used to go to the Double Olive a while back," he says. "But it's just not my scene. I'm not much of a club goer."

Eat

"Miller's Bar," he says. "Miller's Bar for cheeseburgers. There is no menu, just burgers, fries, and onion rings. It's like a dive bar, kind of, but better and with great burgers. You have to go to Miller's. That's the first thing anyone should do."

After that, or if you're not into the whole burger/bar thing and want something a little nicer, Cuddy has a few other places he likes. However, he says, he's not much for "crazy" food. "I’m kind of Americanized, a meat and potatoes guy." It is the Midwest after all.

"Kiernan's is a nice place with good steaks," he says. "And Parisian Bistro is pretty good. They have a lot of Mediterranean cuisine and a lot of crazy dishes."

For breakfast, which is something Cuddy doesn't do too often, he says Leon's Family Dining has great morning specials.

Shop

"The coolest store in Dearborn is Merchant's," he says, referring to Merchant's Fine Wine. "They have a huge selection of wine and beer. Every single beer you can think of is there, from all over the world. Aisles and aisles of wine and beer. They also have this mix and match six-pack special. You can grab Japanese, German, check out different stuff." He says one of his favorites is the Kirin Ichiban Beer from Japan.

For music, when he does shop for music, he goes to West Dearborn's Dearborn Music, which has been in Dearborn for 50 years, ten years longer than Cuddy's family.

"Dearborn Music is pretty cool," he says. "It's not a chain store and it's one of the last independent music stores around." Stormy Records, another independent record shop, is in East Dearborn, but since Cuddy likes to walk everywhere, he doesn't get out to that side very often.

Last Words

Once upon a time there used to be plenty, now, in this area, there is only one. No, not unicorns, but drive-in theatres. The Ford Wyoming Drive-In is one of the last around. And you can't beat an open-air movie with some friends in the summer, Cuddy says.

"A whole bunch of us will get together, open up the back of the pick up trucks, bring some beer, though you're not supposed to do that, and hang out," he says. "We do watch the movies, but it's really a social thing. And we do it a couple of times a summer."

He also says to check out the Home Coming Festival at Ford Field Park in Dearborn in August. It's a three-night festival of rides, food, and fireworks. "It doesn't have to do with high school. It means something about everyone coming back from vacation and this is the one last event before the kids go back to school. It's pretty great."

But, beyond all the bars and restaurants and shops, best thing about Dearborn, for Cuddy, is something else completely.

"The beauty of living here, in Dearborn, is that I can walk everywhere," he says. "I can walk to the bar, to the store, to the restaurant. Everything is walkable. You don't get that in places like Westland or Garden City or other suburban areas. There it's mini mall, mini mall, mall, mall. Here you can walk to all these different places."