Birmingham is a small city in
Oakland County in
Suburban
Dertroit Michigan. It is located about 15 miles from downtown Detroit and centered along Woodward Avenue, one of Detroit's main thouroghfares.
Birmingham, with its small but recognizable pedestrian friendly downtown is an anomaly in metro Detroit and was for a while one of the default urban-type hang-out places in the area. The downtown was and is home to several expensive shops, but has been overtaken as a destination by nearby Royal Oak.
Birmingham is the easternmost of a continuum of upper middle class and wealthy suburbs in Oakland county, some nearby ones being Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, West Bloomfield Township, Franklin, and Beverly Hills. Birmingham is rather unique among these wealthier suburbs, being at one time a separate city and with suburban development dating from the 20s and 30s rather than more recently. To the south of Birmingham lies Royal Oak, formerly more working class but now becoming more trendy.