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B M & T ••• November/December 2022 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 31 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DETROIT Berry Gordy established Motown, aka, Hitsville USA, on January 12, 1959. Motown is the birthplace of the Motown Review. Motown gave the world some of its most famous and now classic R & B original singers, songwriters and musicians the world has ever seen. The Motown business model was designed loosely around the mass production system made famous by the automo- bile assembly line design. Berry Gordy was a former factory work- er prior to creating Motown and felt the mass production model was perfect for his vision of the best way to run a record company.. He was spot on! Some of the most famous artists out of Motown were: Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson & the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Lionel Richie and many more. The famous Motown Review, held at the historic Fox Theater, was ACTUALLY a deliberate marketing tactic to sell records. That also Worked. When the meetings are over for the day, planners and their attendees will have plenty of things to do and see, everything from the Motown Museum, housed in the original recording studio that produced the world famous "Motown Sound," and Greenfield Village, a museum and oasis for car enthusiasts and fanatics alike, to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), which houses original murals personally painted by Diego Rivera and 65,000 other works of art from all over the world, and the Charles H. Wright Museum, one of the world's oldest independent African American museums. Detroit is known as "The Comeback City" for good reason. From the ashes of the 1967 riots came unprecedented opportuni- ties for African Americans including appointments to public serv- ice roles and more fair hiring in the private sector. The Renaissance Building, the People Mover, the Grand Prix on Belle Isle, the major chains and unique restaurants and hotels popping up frequently are solid indicators of a City's Comeback. There is a new housing construction boom happening in Detroit as well. VisitDetroit.com is the online hub created by the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau (DMCVB) to educate vis- itors of the many attractions and services available. Detroit has over 250,000 square feet of convention space available through- out Detroit. VisitDetroit.com is the go to site to locate hotels, concierge services, learn about attractions, current or future, coming to Detroit. Go to VisitDetroit.com and learn about the available meeting spaces for any size event and to get recommen- dations to the newest and best restaurants in Detroit. Be sure to ask about Baker's Keyboard Lounge, the oldest Jazz Club in the country.