Torya Blanchard's Version

Torya Blanchard owns and operates Good Girls Go to Paris, a creperie with two locations in the city of Detroit. She was featured in the New York Times just yesterday.

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Did you see correlation between your experience of Detroit and the media's depiction in 2009?

No. Among the millions of little articles about Detroit, few are able to articulate the nuts and bolts of why people choose to live here. It's interesting to watch the majority of writers try to understand Detroit.

What'll be different about 2010- for the city? For you personally?

New city council. And for me personally, hopefully I'll be getting a new house to renovate in Brush Park and a GGGTP location in Grosse Pointe Park.

Why do you live in Detroit? How's it different from other places?

It has taken my entire life to cultivate and tame the city. I can only quote Milton by saying "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of hell and a hell of heaven." Detroit's not so different from other places. We just have a lot of space.

Why not open GGGTP in Royal Oak? in Chicago? in NYC?

Royal Oak has a lot of restaurants in it's downtown already. But I would love for someone to open up a GGGTP in Chicago. Ditto for New York.

What's your favorite thing that happened here in 2009?

I rediscovered my new favorite store in Detroit, the "Big" Book Store on Cass near Wayne State. Bill, the shopkeeper, has been working there since ever I was in high school. That place makes me deliriously happy.