Metro Detroit Wayne County City
Harper Woods
A small suburb on I-94 where Bob Seger and Ted Nugent played a 1960s teen club
- People (2025 estimate)
- 14,860
- Land area
- 2.6 sq mi · 6.8 km²
- From downtown
- 9.5 miles · 15 km · northeast
- Incorporated
- 1951
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Harper Woods matters
Harper Woods hugs Detroit's northeast corner; across 8 Mile Road you're in Macomb County, and I-94 slices through its east side. It was formed in 1951 out of what was left of Gratiot Township and grew into a classic postwar suburb next to the Grosse Pointes and St. Clair Shores.
It's small and young, but it keeps popping up in Detroit pop culture. The area's first drive-in theater opened here in 1938; in the mid-1960s a teen club called the Hideout booked Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, Ted Nugent, Glenn Frey and Suzi Quatro; and the city shows up in novels by Jeffrey Eugenides and Elmore Leonard.
For decades the Eastland Center, a 1957 mall built by Hudson's, defined the town. It closed in 2021 and demolition started in 2022 to make way for warehouses. As a visitor you'll mostly pass through, but if you care about the roots of Detroit rock, it's worth knowing where some of it started.
02 / Known for
What Harper Woods is known for
The Hideout, the Harper Avenue teen club where Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, Ted Nugent, Glenn Frey and Suzi Quatro all played in the mid-1960s.
The East Side Drive-In, Metro Detroit's first drive-in theater (1938–1977).
Eastland Center and Marshall Fredericks's “The Lion and Mouse,” which lost at least six mice to thieves over the years; the original was returned by the person who took it in 2007.
It gets mentioned in Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex.
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Harper Woods
Nothing on our calendar in Harper Woods right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
5 places on our site in Harper Woods
05 / History
Harper Woods through the years
- 1938
On May 26 the East Side Drive-In opened on Harper Avenue, the area's first drive-in. It closed in 1977 and was torn down a year later.
- 1951
On February 19 the city was incorporated from what was left of Gratiot Township, and its charter took effect on October 29.
- 1957
Hudson's opened Eastland Center, one of the first outdoor malls in the Midwest.
- 1975
Eastland Center was enclosed.
- 2021
In November Eastland Center's interior closed; demolition began in April 2022 to make way for warehouses.
06 / People
Famous names from here
- Dave Coulier Full House's Joey graduated in 1977 from Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, where he played hockey.
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Harper Woods city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Woods,_Michigan
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastland_Center_(Michigan)
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Coulier
- harperwoodscity.org
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −4.2 percent.
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