All eventsConcerts, festivals and markets, tonight and this weekend
Annual festivalsJazz, techno, cars and parades: Michigan’s year, festival by festival
Holidays & seasonsPumpkin season, Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, the Fourth
Sports: games & scoresLions, Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers: live scores and trophies
ItinerariesReady-made day plans, stop by stop
Places to exploreMuseums, parks, neighborhoods and icons
Free museum daysFlip the calendar: when museums let you in for free
Metro Detroit mapWhat Metro Detroit is, and what every town is about
The Henry FordRosa Parks’ bus, Greenfield Village and the Ford Rouge Factory
RenCen: live trackerThe Renaissance Center’s past, present and future, up to the minute
Gordie Howe BridgeThe new bridge to Canada: live waits, tolls, and yes, you can walk it
ToursBy boat, by bike or on foot, with a local guide
Escape roomsOne hour, one lock and your crew
Plan a meetingVenues, hotels and what’s on in town on your dates
Detroit A–ZFrom limos to chambers of commerce: every business and service in one place
ShoppingDetroit-made brands, markets and shopping streets
Detroit with kidsZoo, science center and rainy-day ideas
Motor City cultureFactories, museums and car events
Wellness & rechargeA riverside sauna, spas, yoga and running trails
My tripYour flights, your events, day by day, with an itemized budget in dollars and your own currency
Plan your tripWhen to come, how to get here, where to sleep: all in one place
Weather & seasonsWhat it’s like right now and month by month
Coming from abroad?Entry, money, phones, power, Canada: what you need to know
TransitBuses, trains and ferries with live departures
Driving in MichiganLicenses, rental cars, the rules and the yellow school bus
Lanes and left exitsKeep right? Here people pass on the right and exit on the left
Road work and potholesOrange barrels, detours, 45 mph: driving Michigan’s work zones
Mile roads: mile zero and 8 MileWhere the city counts from, and which Mile you’re standing on
People MoverThe free elevated loop above downtown
QLINE streetcarThe free streetcar on Woodward Avenue
DTW airportRed or blue terminal? We’ll show you.Your license in MichiganRental carsSpeed limitsMiles, gallons, MPGThe Michigan left and the rulesSchool busesTraffic lights, a Detroit inventionPulled over by policeDrinking and drivingWinter drivingWildlife on the roadGas and parking
DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
23 people
Clear filters
Science & invention · 1847–1931
Thomas Edisoninventor, businessmanAmerica's best-known inventor, who grew up in Port Huron, sold newspapers on the Grand Trunk trains to Detroit, learned telegraphy at Mount Clemens, and whose Menlo Park laboratory Henry Ford rebuilt in Dearborn.
Music · born 1972Eminemrapper, songwriter, record producer, actorDetroit-raised rapper who came up through the city's open-mic battles and became one of the best-selling artists in music history.
Film & TV · born 1930Clint Eastwoodactor, film director, producerDirector and star of Gran Torino (2008), shot entirely in metro Detroit, from Highland Park to Grosse Pointe Park and Royal Oak.
Politics · born 1984Abdul El-Sayedepidemiologist, public health official, politicianMetro Detroit-raised epidemiologist and Rhodes Scholar who rebuilt the Detroit Health Department after the city's bankruptcy and became Michigan's 2026 Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate.
Architecture & design · 1907–1978Charles Eamesdesigner, architect, filmmakerAmerican designer who came to Cranbrook in 1938, began his furniture experiments there with Eero Saarinen and met his partner Ray Kaiser.
Science & invention · 1918–2011Robert Ettingerphysics teacher, author, founder of cryonics'Father of cryonics' who taught physics and mathematics at Wayne State and Highland Park Community College and founded the Cryonics Institute, now in Clinton Township.
Sports · born 1984
Jonathan Ericssonice hockey defencemanSwedish defenceman who was the very last pick of the 2002 NHL draft, yet spent his entire NHL career with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup in 2008.
Architecture & design · 1893–1969Harley Earlautomotive designer, GM's first head of designHollywood coachbuilder whom GM brought to Detroit in 1927 to create the industry's first styling studio; he gave America the tailfin and the Corvette.
Music · 1943–2018Dennis EdwardssingerDetroit-raised lead singer who replaced David Ruffin in the Temptations and fronted their psychedelic-soul era, from “Cloud Nine” to “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone.”
Sports · born 1955James Edwardsbasketball playerReliable low-post scorer nicknamed "Buddha" who came off the bench and started for the Pistons' back-to-back championship teams of 1989 and 1990.
Sports · born 1997Henry Ellensonbasketball forwardFirst-round pick of the Pistons in 2016 who spent his entire rookie contract with Detroit, splitting time between the NBA roster and the Grand Rapids Drive.
Sports · born 1971Todd Eldredgefigure skater1996 men's world champion and six-time U.S. champion who trained at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills.Eshamrapper, producer, label founderOne of Detroit's first hip-hop artists, who released his debut at 16 in 1989 and pioneered the dark “acid rap” that inspired horrorcore and Insane Clown Posse.
Music · 1918–2005Sixten Ehrlingconductor, pianistSwedish conductor who led the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1973, premiered 24 works with it and helped found its summer festival at Meadow Brook.Virgil Exnerautomotive designer, creator of Chrysler's Forward LookAnn Arbor–born designer whose Forward Look gave Chrysler its soaring 1955–1963 tailfin cars and set off a styling race with GM.Ruth Ellisprinter, LGBTQ rights activistBlack lesbian printer whose West Side Detroit home was a refuge for Black gay and lesbian Detroiters for decades; she lived to 101, and the Ruth Ellis Center for LGBTQ youth bears her name.
Music · born 1983Jimmy Edgarelectronic producer, sound designer, visual artistDetroit-born producer who played the city's raves at 15, signed to Warp at 18 and set out to “capture the essence of Detroit” on his debut Color Strip.
Literature · born 1952Loren D. Estlemancrime and Western novelistMichigan crime writer whose Amos Walker private-eye novels and multi-volume Detroit series retell the city's 20th-century history through its underworld.
Music · 1956–2021Deon Estusbassist, singerDetroit-born bassist, taught by Motown's James Jamerson, who played with Wham! and George Michael and had a 1989 top-five hit with “Heaven Help Me.”ElzhirapperDetroit lyricist who sharpened his skills at the Hip Hop Shop, joined Slum Village after J Dilla left and won acclaim for albums such as Elmatic and Lead Poison.Esther Gordy EdwardsMotown executive, founder of the Motown MuseumBerry Gordy's eldest sister, a Motown executive who organized the Motortown Revue and in 1985 turned Hitsville U.S.A. into the Motown Museum.Clarence Eddinsnightclub ownerOwner of the Blue Bird Inn on Tireman Avenue, who with his wife Mary ran Detroit's legendary west-side bebop club and booked Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Art Blakey.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
