For an unexpected taste of Detroit, visit Palmer Woods, a leafy neighborhood in the city's northwest corner. Many of the historic district's 300 or so homes — mostly neo-Georgian and Tudor Revival — were built in the early 1900s at the behest of auto-industry barons. Now they house a diverse mix of doctors, attorneys, auto executives and teachers. In 1955, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a massive home in the neighborhood; today, the long-neglected 4,000-sq.-ft. Dorothy Turkel House is undergoing a million-dollar-plus renovation at the hands of two local businessmen — Norman Silk and Dale Morgan, co-owners of Blossoms, a flower boutique in nearby Birmingham — who bought it in 2006. Also worth visiting: the Sherwood Forest neighborhood, right next door to Palmer Woods.

• 1. Palmer Woods
  Detroit, Mich. 42.4342905-83.1233482
• 2. Sherwood Forest
  Detroit, Mich. 42.4316093-83.1414156
• 3. Detroit, Mich.
  42.331427-83.0457538