M-1 (Michigan highway) in the context of "Cruising (driving)"

Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to the west, Interstate 75 (I-75, Fisher Freeway) to the north, I-375 (Chrysler Freeway) to the east, and the Detroit River to the south. It may also be used to refer to the Greater Downtown area, a 7.2 square mile region that includes surrounding neighborhoods such as Midtown, Corktown, Rivertown, and Woodbridge.

The city's main thoroughfare M-1 (Woodward Avenue) links Downtown to Midtown, New Center, and the North End.

Midtown Detroit is a commercial and residential district located along the east and west side of Woodward Avenue, north of Downtown Detroit, and south of the New Center area. The area includes several historic districts. In addition, it contains a residential area of some 14,550 people and covers 2.09 sq mi. The community area of neighborhoods is bounded by the Chrysler Freeway (I-75) on the east, the Lodge Freeway (M-10) on the west, the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) on the north, and the Fisher Freeway (I-75) on the south.

New Center is a commercial and residential district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles (5 km) north of Downtown. The area is centered just west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard, and is bounded by, and includes the Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) on the south, John R Street on the east and the Lodge Freeway on the west. New Center, and the surrounding areas north of I-94, are sometimes seen as coterminous with the North End, while in fact separate districts.

The heart of New Center was developed in the 1920s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that New Center may be the original edge city—a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core. The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center; before becoming a division of GM, Fisher Body was headquartered in the Fisher Building. Both Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks. In addition to the government and commercial offices along Woodward and Grand Boulevard, New Center contains the Fisher Theatre, the Hotel St. Regis, the Henry Ford Hospital, restaurants, and residential areas.

The North End is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan. It is located in the Woodward Corridor, a densely populated region along Woodward Avenue that stretches from Downtown Detroit to the suburb of Highland Park. The North End has been home to several development initiatives, seen by many as an area for future development extending from Downtown and Midtown.

The North End is approximately bound by East Grand Boulevard to the south, Woodward Avenue to the west, bordering New Center; the City of Hamtramck to the east; and Woodland street to the north, bordering Tennyson street in Highland Park.

The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the tallest department store in the world in 1961, and, at one time, claimed to be the second-largest department store, after Macy's, in the United States, by square footage.