A few years ago my wife and I were visiting Detroit. Having
a little extra time we decided to drive over to the Grosse Pointe area and drive along Lake Shore Drive. This is an affluent area of Detroit with beautiful homes. We then drove west off Lake Shore to gain access to I-94. Just a few blocks in off Lake Shore Drive we drove thru areas that were completely blighted ... what struck us was the contrast between Grosse Pointe and the area immediately west of it ... the contrast was shocking.
Detroit, at one time, was one of the most architecturally interesting cities around, with absolutely beautiful homes. It's a real shame. There is a website devoted to photographing abandoned nutcase asylums and factories, underground tunnels and similar urban wilderness, and has a sort of cult following. Detroit landmarks feature rather prominently, it might be interesting to use Google Earth to pan around some of the areas a bit more safely.