Source: PalladiumBoots.com | Posted By: Dan Geer

Palladium Boots, well-known for producing “hard wearing” footwear – such as the famous “Pampa Boot” that the French Foreign Legion used back in the day to trek through the rugged terrain of the Atlas Mountains and the North African deserts – states on its website that it is a company dedicated to making quality boots to “help you explore your street, your city, or the world.”

As a part of its marketing campaign, the site contains a documentary section that essentially “explores” various underground movements, historical sites, DIY projects, etc., around famous cities and other sites that you won’t typically find in a normal tourist guide. They travel all over the world, and this time they’ve enlisted the help of Jackass‘s very own Johnny Knoxville to help interview the residents of Detroit, MI to find out if the public perception of the city is true and what people are doing about it in a documentary entitled Detroit Lives.

Believe me when I say that this documentary is not what you’d typically expect from Knoxville, and is actually quite inspiring to say the least – especially to people like me who live in the Detroit area and frequent the city on occasion. I am a little late to the game in posting this, but whatever. If you haven’t watched this yet, put your boots on and hit the jump to go exploring!

Detroit Lives Synopsis from Palladium Boots:

Once the fourth-largest metropolis in America—some have called it the Death of the American Dream. Today, the young people of the Motor City are making it their own DIY paradise where rules are second to passion and creativity. They are creating the new Detroit on their own terms, against real adversity. We put our boots on and went exploring.

Thanks to Joel for the heads up on this!

I do have to say that Detroit is not everything the press says it is. Sure, the auto industry is not nearly what it once was, and yes there are run down buildings, murders, etc. But the downtown scene still thrives, and the film industry is loving Detroit right now because of the recent generous tax incentive for films that Michigan now has. I mean, it’s crazy! Tons of big films are being made here now like Transformers 3, Real Steel, Scream 4, etc., and more keep coming. Look out, man. Detroit is a force to be reckoned with!
🙂

Head on over to PalladiumBoots.com for more of the Exploration series