mexicantown_safari-12_01_07 (160)_edit1, photo by Ross Sandelius.

Ross is one of the many great photographers in the Exposure.Detroit group on Flickr. Their latest “photo safari” was to Detroit’s Mexicantown last Saturday. You can check out Ross’s Mexicantown Photo Safari Set (slideshow) and be very sure to spend some time with the group’s awesome slideshow from the outing.

Mexicantown is located in Southwest Detroit near Porter and Bagley, just north of the Ambassador Bridge. Model D’s guide to visiting Mexicantown details the restaurants and shops in the area and begins:

Mexicantown is a place where vibrantly colored buildings, decorated with even brighter murals and hand-painted signs, dot the main thoroughfares of Bagley and Vernor Streets. One might guess there are more restaurants per square foot than any other neighborhood in Detroit — but the smell of fresh tortillas and baked goods floating down the street provide the only proof. On any given day, the sounds of salsa or merenge come from Discoteca La Rancherita, and in the summer, people sit outside at restaurants—like the side patio at Los Galanes, where dangling plastic chili peppers and a live musician set a festive mood—sipping the best margaritas the city has to offer.

The Mexicantown Development Authority history page says that the neighborhood began with the first Mexican church in the 1920s.