“Viva il-Festa tal-Vitorja!” shouts Leno as he approaches the bar with his friend under one arm and a Kinnie and Hennessy in the other. The smile on his face masks the reality The Maltese American Benevolent Society is facing as Detroit falls victim to gentrification.

It’s Sunday 10th of September and a small portion of the Maltese community are celebrating the Festa of Maria Bambina. Pastizzi, imqarrun u fenek, hot dogs u burgers, Detroit-made ġbejniet u galletti.

Ten days in Detroit, the majority of those days were spent inside one Maltese club or the other, interviewing Maltese migrants and their descendants. The Maltese Motorcity community started to settle from as early as the 1920s – 5,000 strong – in a neighbourhood now known as MexicanTown. They would eventually move into the predominantly Irish neighbourhood, still known as Cork Town, a 15-minute walk from Downtown.

And that is where The Maltese American Benevolent Society is found. On Michigan Avenue, which cuts through Cork Town and ends Downtown. Next door to the now torn down Tiger’s Stadium.

Detroit, or Détroit, originally named by French pelters, refers to the strait of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, across which you can see Canada. It is a city that has seen the power of industrialisation, to the poverty of inflation. A city truly built on the ideals of the American Dream, and equally dashed by its realities. 

General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. The Big Three, were the kings of the City. Sky scrapers, hospitals, factories, schools, parks, roads, all carry their names. They employed the city. Migrants from all over the world flocked to the city, work was in abundance. The golden era of American manufacturing was in full swing, and Detroit was the fastest growing city in the world. 

Within that city there lived a thriving and growing Maltese and Gozitan community. They came by boat, they came by plane, wives, husbands, boys, and girls of all ages, some illegally, others sponsored, many with family, some alone, all wanting a new life. By the 1950s this community slowly bought out the majority of Cork Town from the Irish, with whom they maintain a very strong bond.

Today most of this community lives in the suburban city of Dearborn, yet they still own the majority of the properties in Cork Town. This move from the centre of Detroit to its outskirts was promoted by the Detroit Rebellion or Riots (depends on which side you stood) of 1967, and the more recent economic crash of 2008, both of which laid waste to the city.

“The Maltese American Benevolent Society looks, smells and tastes like a bar in Ħamrun. Whereas the Maltese American Community Club of Dearborn, resembles a 1990’s wedding hall in Rabat.”

The move led to the forming of a new club, The Maltese American Community Club of Dearborn. Far more prosperous and attended than its ailing counterpart in Cork Town.

To provide you with context, the Maltese American Benevolent Society looks, smells and tastes like a bar in Ħamrun, whereas the Maltese American Community Club of Dearborn, resembles a 1990’s wedding hall in Rabat. Some strange rivalry exists between them, even though a couple of the characters frequent both.

The Maltese came to Detroit as workers, and prospered into the great American middle class, with farms and lake-side cottages to prove it. Detroit is bouncing back, areas smell of gentrification. And the Maltese American Benevolent Society is in the centre of it. 

Previously considered an unsafe area the strip of Michigan Avenue, is now the place to be. New bike lanes, and better street lighting, bars and shops opening up around it, the Benevolent Society still stands if somewhat shakily as a throwback to the Maltese’s past. It outlasted the riots and the economic crash, but it seems like it won’t outlast its current members. 

I write this while in Morgantown, West Virginia, sitting on a wooden porch, owned by a 3rd generation Maltese-American, the American flag flapping in the wind, SUVs in every drive, and two white men white washing a barn across the street to Boston’s “More than a feeling.” America.

Next stop Toronto, Canada.

Sebastian Tanti Burlò forms part of a team of artists led by filmmaker Charlie Cauchi who are gathering stories of Maltese people living abroad as part of a documentary called Leaving Latitude 36 being made for the Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture.

The Detroit leg of the trip was funded by the Malta Film Fund (MFF), out of which a short feature documentary is to be produced. The documentary is directed and produced by Charlie Cauchi and co-produced by Rebecca Anastasi, and the crew includes Brighton based photographer Ali Tollervey, First Assistant-Director Nick Woolgar, and Maltese-American researcher Marc Sanko. 

Leaving Latitude 36 is supported by the Valletta 2018 Foundation, the Malta Film Fund, The American Embassy in Malta, the University of West Virginia and PBS.

Tag a friend from Detroit or Toronto!

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Chris Peregin

Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.