The Woodward Dream cruise’s other side…
it ain’t all about hot rods and handlebar mustaches.

Story Tone G. Williams /// Photography Parrish Lewis

There’s probably not another city out there more in love with cars than Detroit, Michigan. (Go ahead, cue up the hate mail.) The D is a city built on the mighty motor, and its citizens’ passion for their automotive product runs thick through their veins like 10w40. And it’s been this way for a minute.

Flash back to the 1950s, when Woodward Avenue (the longest street in Detroit metro) was packed with nothing but young cats cruising the strip every Friday and Saturday night lookin’ for a spot to post up, chow down and just show off their wheels. Fifty years later, the strip is once again booming with everything from dusted-off classics to new-school screamers, and of course enough hot rods and customs to fill the halls of SEMA.

Officially named the Woodward Dream Cruise, it takes place every August, and is the largest one-day car-culture event in the world. It’s grown to 1.7 million participants, and stretches for 16 miles of legal cruising, from Ferndale to Pontiac. The streets are primarily littered with muscle mania—a reported 40,000 show face—but that ain’t all that shows up. Peep what the others don’t cover.

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