As we continue our journey to tell the impact Detroit churches have had on the history of Detroit, we shifted our focus to the neighborhood of our Greek brothers and sisters created as early immigrants that we have all come to know and love, Greektown. In the few blocks of Greektown sit four iconic churches: Second Baptist Church of Detroit, Holy Family Church Detroit, Old St. Mary's Catholic Church, and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral-DETROIT.

It was the beautiful Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral where we sat down with His Eminence Nicholas. In his role as the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Detroit, he oversees several communities surrounding Michigan. His Eminence shared with us thoughts about the rich history of the Greek community as well as their hard work ethic that drove the development of Greektown.

Later in the day, we sat down with Tasso Teftsis whose family first had a small barber shop where he would cut hair and talk with his Greek neighbors. His mother would open Astoria Pastry Shop, which is where Tasso and his brother Michael fell in love with the bakery business. Today, Teftsis is the board vice president of the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership. Teftsis also owns and operates Red Smoke Barbeque which sits only a few doors from the historic Astoria Pastry Shop.

We closed out the day with a tour and filming of Old St. Mary’s with Father John Owusu-Achiaw. Old St. Mary’s has a rich German history, built by immigrants from Germany in the Bavarian style design and architecture along with unique special grottos that make Old St. Mary’s for sure one of Detroit’s crown jewels.

We will be back to film more of Greektown during this production. We are thrilled we can feature this vibrant unique community in our film, Detroit: The City of Churches.