Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
It's the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise. Every year, on the third Saturday of August, the stretch of Woodward Avenue between around 8 mile road to the south and the city of Pontiac to the north turns into a kind of rush hour for cool cars, with spectators lining the road. If you live on the south end of Woodward, it's Woodward. If you live on the north end, it's Wood-erd. 'Wood-erd' is the same regional dialect that puts an "s" after all the store names, like Krogers, Wal-Marts, and K-Marts.
We go up, and down. Up to maybe 16 mile road, then turn around and go back down to 8 mile. These "mile roads" they have in Detroit are, as the name suggests, a mile apart. Woodward starts in downtown Detroit, near the river, and heads north, north-west to Pontiac, ticking off mile roads on the way. Wood-erd, uh, Woodward, has the distinction of being the first mile of concrete-paved roadway in the United States.
Woodward is what is generally known as a strip--a section of road that goes off of the downtown of someplace and out to another place. I suppose all roads go somewhere and a road out of town doesn't HAVE to be a strip. But when such a road gets lined with hamburger stands and motels, it's a strip. Like Van Nuys Boulevard or the Sunset Strip in LA. Or the strip in Las Vegas. Or ten-thousand other places. When young people with the keys to dad's car wanted to go out to see and be seen on a Friday night, they didn't go downtown, or into the neighborhoods, they went to the strip. And the cruisin' scene was born. This event is, of course a celebration of that. One of the earliest destinations for Woodward Avenue cruisers was the long gone and sadly missed Ted's on the north end, in Bloomfield Hills, almost to Pontiac. It opened in 1934 as a lunch wagon called "Ted's Trailer." Though of humble beginnings, it turned into quite the respectable place in later years. It had a fine dining room, a casual dining room, and car service. It was great. So of course it's gone. They're all gone. But you can't go twenty feet in this town without being offered pizza.
And now, a nice assortment of cars holding up the north end of the Woodward Dream Cruise. We're enjoying the last of the sunlight looking over what the Pontiac locals have brought to show. A nice Buick. A three-holer. And the Pontiac GTO. A local favorite. Lots of hoods are up here. Pontiac is a hood-up kind of town. Less about the styling and more about the performance. And so here's where you find the hot rods--the custom creations of guys with 10W-40 in their veins.
It's the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise. Every year, on the third Saturday of August, the stretch of Woodward Avenue between around 8 mile road to the south and the city of Pontiac to the north turns into a kind of rush hour for cool cars, with spectators lining the road. If you live on the south end of Woodward, it's Woodward. If you live on the north end, it's Wood-erd. 'Wood-erd' is the same regional dialect that puts an "s" after all the store names, like Krogers, Wal-Marts, and K-Marts.
We go up, and down. Up to maybe 16 mile road, then turn around and go back down to 8 mile. These "mile roads" they have in Detroit are, as the name suggests, a mile apart. Woodward starts in downtown Detroit, near the river, and heads north, north-west to Pontiac, ticking off mile roads on the way. Wood-erd, uh, Woodward, has the distinction of being the first mile of concrete-paved roadway in the United States.
Woodward is what is generally known as a strip--a section of road that goes off of the downtown of someplace and out to another place. I suppose all roads go somewhere and a road out of town doesn't HAVE to be a strip. But when such a road gets lined with hamburger stands and motels, it's a strip. Like Van Nuys Boulevard or the Sunset Strip in LA. Or the strip in Las Vegas. Or ten-thousand other places. When young people with the keys to dad's car wanted to go out to see and be seen on a Friday night, they didn't go downtown, or into the neighborhoods, they went to the strip. And the cruisin' scene was born. This event is, of course a celebration of that. One of the earliest destinations for Woodward Avenue cruisers was the long gone and sadly missed Ted's on the north end, in Bloomfield Hills, almost to Pontiac. It opened in 1934 as a lunch wagon called "Ted's Trailer." Though of humble beginnings, it turned into quite the respectable place in later years. It had a fine dining room, a casual dining room, and car service. It was great. So of course it's gone. They're all gone. But you can't go twenty feet in this town without being offered pizza.
And now, a nice assortment of cars holding up the north end of the Woodward Dream Cruise. We're enjoying the last of the sunlight looking over what the Pontiac locals have brought to show. A nice Buick. A three-holer. And the Pontiac GTO. A local favorite. Lots of hoods are up here. Pontiac is a hood-up kind of town. Less about the styling and more about the performance. And so here's where you find the hot rods--the custom creations of guys with 10W-40 in their veins.
