Metro Detroit is laid out in a grid! The North/South Streets have consistent addresses!

Ancient Metro knowledge offers this simple 3-step formula for figuring the Mile road nearest an address on North/South Streets in Detroit, i.e.  Schoenherr, Gratiot, Van Dyke, Mound, Livernois, Southfield, Telegraph, etc:

X-5000%2%1000

Example: Let’s say you wanted to go Vern Haney’s Restaurant for their famous “Centerline Cheese Soup.”

Vern Haney’s can be found at 244447 Van Dyke.

1. 24447 -5000=19447

2. 19447 %2 = 97235

3. 97235 %1000 =9.7235

…and indeed, you’ll soon be eating Cheese Soup in Vern Haney’s Family Restaurant, a classic diner in a building that once housed  a Howard Johnson’s, between 9 and 10 mile road,  a little closer to 10 Mile than 9 Mile (9.7).

…this formula was passed down from primeval Metro Drivers, who rode mastodons and did not have GPS devices leading them around like little electronic mommies.