Hamtramck Disneyland

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We were in Detroit for a wedding and I always use Roadside America and Trip Advisor looking for things to see in an area. Hamtramck Disneyland looked right up our alley. In fact you park out on a main street and walk behind to an alley to get to it. It is one mans yard or folk art, Dmytro Szylak. Dymyro was born in the Ukraine and after immigrating to the US worked for General Motors. After retiring he started this in 1992 and spent the next 7 years building it.

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While walking up to the alley I spoke to and was friendly with one of the neighbors sitting on his porch and chatted with him. When we left he called me over, went in his house and got a paper for me. Later, reading the paper we saw that Dmytro had passed on just a few short weeks before we arrived. But that explained why we didn't see any signs of life at his house and why the yard was over grown. Based on all of the links you can find by googling this attraction we would have loved to meet him as he seems to be a real character. It is meeting the people that make places like this real special.

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We love going to visit off beat attractions like this and this was no exception. In some respects it reminds of of the Open Studio tours in the upper desert near our home in CA. Or Leonard Nights Salvation Mountain near the Salton Sea.

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