If you haven't walked through downtown Royal Oak in a while, you might want to look up. Then down. Then all around.
Because while the charm of Royal Oak has always been its walkable, livable pulse—mom-and-pop shops by day, nightlife by dusk—there's something new catching eyes and shifting the vibe: murals. Bold ones. Bright ones. The kind that stop you mid-sentence and make you point.
"Downtown Royal Oak's vibe is very everyday lifestyle mom and pop meets vibrant nightlife," says Downtown Manager Daniel Solomon. "During business hours, you’ll see families and office workers enjoying over 40 boutique retailers and restaurants. But at night, it becomes a destination—young professionals out for drinks, live music, comedy shows. There’s energy here."
And now, there’s art. Literally, on the walls.
Thanks to a mural grant program through the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority (DDA), our city’s becoming more colorful by design. In fact, the DDA offers up to $5,000—or 50%—of mural costs for participating businesses. North End Taproom was the first to take advantage of the program, working with an artist of their choice and seeing their mural dream come to life.
But that's just the beginning. In fall of 2024, the DDA launched the Painting Downtown Murals program, where they selected muralists directly and placed them at key downtown spots. Noir Leather and Cacao Tree Cafe are now part of the open-air gallery. More are coming—including the MRI bay at Henry Ford.
"We’re using murals to turn blank walls into conversation starters," Daniel says. "They add personality. They reflect our community. And they make people want to stop and stay."
That’s the goal: more people and more liveliness. Not just in the form of art, but in walkable plazas, shaded benches, better lighting, and connection points between Royal Oak’s growing districts. Under the city’s 2050 master plan, downtown Royal Oak is being reimagined as four overlapping areas. The conversation’s just beginning, but for now the areas are known as Arts & Culture, Main Street, Transportation, and the Community College district. The idea is to build each one up with a unique identity—and make it easy to move between them without needing a car.
"Post-pandemic, people want to be outside, to connect more intentionally," says Daniel. "So we’re creating spaces that welcome that. Places to gather, to pause, to play."
One of the city’s biggest upcoming shifts? The creation of a downtown plaza where West Fifth Street is closed to cars. The plaza will convert the busy area into a fully pedestrian zone, with green space, live music, seamless access from parking garages and nearby neighborhoods—and a whole lot of walls just waiting to be turned into works of art.
You know how the perfect Saturday in Royal Oak pretty much writes itself? You start with coffee and produce at the Farmers Market; you stroll through Centennial Commons, grab lunch on Main, sip a cocktail in the social district, browse boutique retail shops on Washington. And you finish with something live: music, comedy, even an outrageous kind of bingo. Well, now that perfect Saturday has been rewritten—or should we say redrawn. Because you’ll have to make time for a walking tour of the wall art that’s once again putting our city on the cutting edge.
Simply put, in Royal Oak right now, life isn’t just playing. It’s being painted.
Royal Oak City Lifestyle publisher Amy Gillespie took the stunning mural photos you see in this article—and they, in turn, took her breath away.
"The visual impact that the murals have around town gives inspiration to everyone in the community," Amy says. "I love how art enhances everyday settings."
So look around. Our walls are talking.
"Post-pandemic, people want to be outside. We’re creating spaces that welcome that."