Melody Baetens

Melody Baetens has been tending bar and booking bands for the Hamtramck bar The Belmont since 2003, which was about the same time she moved to the city from St. Clair Shores. But that's not her only gig. She's also a bartender and soon to be a partner of Small's, another Hamtramck bar. On top of that she is the booking agent for the band the Meat Men, a Detroit News staff writer, and plays guitar in the Detroit bands the Sirens, the Swat Sisters, and the Coronados. Whew.

So, with six years behind the bar and living on Edwin Street in Hamtramck, she's got to know the city that she says she loved from day one. "Hamtramck felt very familiar to me, it was very urban – that's a positive term – or maybe it was my Polish connection to the place, but it felt good to be here," she says. "Every house was different, they were all cute. It was affordable and really a cool place."

Ask The Bartender

Music is an integral part to this 29-year-old's life. When she isn't playing it she's watching it or writing about it or talking about it.

"I spend most of my time in bars with live music," she says. "The Belmont, the Painted Lady, Small's, all great places to hear and see live music. And not just local bands, but regional bands, regional bands come through this little town, too."

Baetens says that the Belmont has some of the best sound in Detroit. And there aren't many spaces like Small's, a neighborhood bar, where national and international acts – for example the Norwegian punk band Turbonegro came through here a two Septembers ago – pass through.

"Maybe Brooklyn," she says. "We're lucky we have something like this in Hamtramck."

She says catching the Polish Muslims, a Hamtramck group that twists and turns lyrics to popular songs so they are oozing with Polish or Hamtramck references, at the New Dodge Bar is a must. For something a little louder and in your face head up Jos. Campau to The Painted Lady.

For a quiet drink and a good laugh or conversation head on over to Baker's Streetcar Bar and talk with Rocky the owner or the bartenders there. And they always have the pistons game on, she says.

"I always thought Baker's was an old man bar, and it is in a way," she says. "But I like it and the people are great there."

To get away from the live music, if you want, you can always go over to the Whiskey In The Jar, Baetens says. But it's still not very quiet, she warns. "I don't think that place is ever quiet."

Shopping and Eating

"I'm addicted to olives," Baetens says. "And Al Haramain has an amazing olive buffet bar that is three dollars per pound cheaper than any place around." Al Haramain is an international food market on the corner of Gallagher and Caniff. It's packed with fresh bread, fresh meats, fresh produces, and, apparently, the most amazing olives ever.

Across the street is Bozek's, a Polish market that was remodeled and expanded a year ago. Among the things they added was a cooler strictly for their meat selection.

"The Bozek's meat cooler has everything," she says. "We could go there and get all the meat for a huge barbeque and it was still cheaper than going out to dinner."

East of Bozek's and Al Haramain, on the corner of Caniff and Conant, is the aptly named Conant-Caniff Market. However Baetens has another name for it.

"We call it the rock 'n' roll market," she says. It's not uncommon, during the summer, to pull into the parking lot and have the market blaring the radio station through an insanely loud outdoor speaker. "Every time you go there it's like a circus. You can buy fish" – as a pet – "and two bottles of Boone's farm for five bucks. Not many places have that combination."

Baetens says that the Polish Village is where it's at for Hamtramck cuisine.

"Getting the Polish plate, it has a bit of everything" – one stuffed cabbage, piece of kielbasa, one peirogi, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut – "and a goblet of beer – that's Hamtramck," she says.

And for Hamtramck gifts, the Polish Art Center on Jos. Campau is unparalleled, she says.

Last Word

Hamtramck has a number of events throughout the year to which Hamtramckans set their calendars. There is the Metro Times Blowout where hundreds of local bands descend on Hamtramck to fill the bars with friends and fans for three days in March. There's the Paczki Day festival, which is like a Hamtramck Mardi Gras – though not as much flashing since it's during the cold month of February. And, of course, there is the Labor Day Festival, a tradition in Hamtramck that shuts down a section of Jos. Campau with rides and food and bands. These are all things Baetens looks forward to during the year. "I love these events," she says. "The whole city hangs out with each other."

Asking Baetens to prioritize what do in Hamtramck when you're there is futile.

"You have to do everything 'cause it's easy to do everything, it's all right here, and the city is so small that you can do everything," she says. "Go to the New Dodge, ask Cathie" – Cathie Gordon, owner and city councilwoman – "about their prohibition history, you have to meet Suzy, owner of Suzy's bar, you have to see Pope Park, and go to the Polish Village on a Sunday."

But, for starters, she says, you must enter Hamtramck in a particular way.

"Get off 75, take it down to Holbrook, turn left and drive into Hamtramck with the big Kowalski sign in the horizon," she says. "That is a great way to be introduced to the city."

The Kowalski sign is the Kowalski Sausage Co. sign that displays a giant, neon lit sausage being skewered by a fork. Definitely the best way to be introduced to Hamtramck.