ann arbor is overrated. » Blog Archive

An entry.

It’s a tough call, but we’ve decided that Washington between Main and Ashley is the most useless, pretentious block in the city. After brunch at Zola today (after waking up in our Ashley Mews loft and shopping at Kerrytown Market, of course) we looked across the street and saw, all in a row:

A key store.
A restaurant called “Soup du Jour” that’s open only for lunch and looks like the kind of place that 6-year-old girls would love to have tea with their American Girl dolls.
A bright yellow-orange restaurant named “Logan.”
A hair salon called “Salon in the City,” whose windows are decorated with a city skyline and the names of actual cities.
The Earle. Sorry, the earle.

And as if that weren’t enough, on the same block recently we saw a black London-style taxi with un-London-style checkered trim bearing the name of A2-based cab company “A cab.” Capitalized and punctuated thus, if we remember correctly; the period is part of the name.

Except for the earle, most of this stuff seems pretty new. When did all this happen? We don’t remember this block as being a good place to get anything that anyone might possibly need, but at least it was useless in a fairly unobtrusive way.

149 Responses to “An entry.”

Damn those bobos and their key stores. What other totally useless upscale establishments will invade next? A plumber? A hardware store?

Key store = totally old school. I’ve heard that they own their building, hence the ability to stay in that location. That place, the work-wear store on Liberty between Main and Ashley and the Clover Leaf ougtta hang-out sometime.

I agree though, I never patronize anywhere on that block. Sweetwater’s? No thanks. And Grizzly Peak still scares me due because it sounds like somewhere that oughtta be in Denver’s LoDo neighborhood.
posted by Brandon on April 10th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
The A Cab. is a Scion xB. It lives in my neighborhood when it’s not tooling around Ann Arbor (tooling is the only way that Scion xBs can travel).
posted by srah on April 10th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
Isn’t there another cab company that uses Audis? Only in Ann Arbor…
posted by Some Arab Guy on April 10th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
If that’s the same soup place (Does it have ice cream?), it’s been there for a long time. It’s the knid of place that sweetie-pie college women go to klepto the salt shakers.
posted by A Different Jon on April 10th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
Soup du Jour, despite looking like the inside of my grandma’s guest bathroom, has the most awesome chocolate malts. They beat Sweetwater’s shakes all to hell.
posted by Annie on April 10th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
Soup Ju Jour - overrated AND over-priced and NEVER OPEN. Le Dog? Ditto. I refuse to pay over $5.00 for a bowl of soup. Except I have a crush on the eastern european chick who works at the one on Liberty - she’s hot. But the Lobster Bisque is more bisque than lobster.

I hate this town, in case you’ve forgotten.
posted by DrMandrake on April 11th, 2005 at 2:41 am
The key store is the best place in town to have keys made. Awesome service. I had an old Honda - and Hondas are notoriously hard to have key copies made for - and they cut the key on their machine and then came outside to the car and hand-filed it til it worked properly. Go Vogel’s!

Has anyone actually been in that Logan’s place? Used to love the Maui Waui roll at Wasabi (but not much else), but I haven’t heard anything at all about this Logan thing.
posted by Laura F on April 11th, 2005 at 8:12 am
Le Dog is great, despite being pretentious. And that block is where the Del used to be, which balanced out the crap. But that block may very well be the locus of pretentionsness.
posted by js on April 11th, 2005 at 8:49 am
Vogel’s does indeed rock. They were the only place in town that could make a new key for my Subaru. Plus how can you not like a store that puts a “what on earth is THIS?” display in the window?

Logan frightens me. I read an interview with the owner. She is aiming for couples to come in and eat “a nice $200 meal”. Plus, what is up with the name Logan??? Between that and Grizzly Peaks, you’d think that block of Washington was in a tourist ski town in Colorado. I realize it’s close to what passes for a hill in Ann Arbor, but people, we are over 1000 miles away from the Rockies.

And only yuppie ex-californians who move to Montana name their golder retrievers “Logan”.
posted by Lehigh Valley Refugee on April 11th, 2005 at 9:10 am
For a blog that likes to rag on the lack of locally owned/independent stores in A2, you just picked on a block with quite a few of them: Soup Du Jour, Logan (maybe not locally owned, but independent), Sweetwaters, Zola’s (I think), Vogel’s. Quite frankly, I like all those stores mentioned, except Logan, so I’m probably just a pretentious person — which is probably true.

Maybe Ann Arbor DOES need more chains to cleanse the city of its pretentiousness.
posted by James on April 11th, 2005 at 9:49 am
My g/f makes me go to Soup du Jour for lunch sometimes. It’s actually not bad. Their salads are huge and decent. But yeah, it does look like a Grandma’s bathroom, and the whole menu-in-French thing is just silly. But I prefer something like that to say, Cosi. And the Earle is good for one thing and one thing only: $2.99 mussels in white wine sauce at happy hour.
posted by Scott T. on April 11th, 2005 at 10:16 am
i love zolas…that omelette with salmon…the best..

ive eaten at logans…the room is too big and open…not intimate enough for me…the food was average…but they’re working on it and who knows…maybe it can make it.

im almost embarassed to say ive been at howard sterns web site…its not worth a second look, but the reason i bring it up is he has this clock that running down the time until he’s off commercial radio..

im going to set up my own blog….would aaio and drmandrake give me their “how many days until i canleave ann arbor time” so we can all count it down?

ann arbor…i think its a great place to live…but not a great place to visit…thats how i give all those ann arbor haters a break…people who are passing through…spending way too much time and energy on complaining..

whoa…i gotta stop hating on the haters…sorry…enjoy your time while youre anywhere…life is way too short…

ann arbor…actually…i love it.
posted by saa on April 11th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Just because something is independently owned doesn’t mean it doesn’t just suck. The chains just suck a lot more, but at least you expect that from a chain. You expect some degree of individuality from something that isn’t a chain. But seriously - Sweetwaters might as well be a starbucks for how original and unique it is.

I boycott sweetwaters because last year some coffee house girl kicked me off my seat because I didn’t have two people there after 7 PM. This, I informed her, was discrimination against assholes who have no friends. She said she didn’t care. I imformed her I was going to file a class action lawsuit against the corporation, and she would lose the only job she would ever have with that English degree. She let me stay. You see why I am universally admired and respected?

When am I leaving? Right after I get a chance to kick your ass, Saa. Why not say July 1st. I want to leave before Ann Arbor streets become polluted by shitty art from around the country and pretentious dickheads and other yokels who come and stare. Start the party, Saa.
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 11:36 am
I think it’s better for visitin’ than livin’. I don’t mind it here- despite my posting here, it does have its merits- but the visitors aren’t the ones who bitch about Ann Arbor. I used to love Ann Arbor when I was a kid and came out here from the suburbs with a friend on weekends- because it is better than most anything in suburbia. However, being the cool city of Southeast Michigan isn’t terribly impressive.

As for the work-wear store on East Liberty - are you talking about Sam’s? I don’t go there often, but I do like the place for its simplicity (relatively cheap Dickies bags, plain T-shirts) and the roommate used to get Converses there. I can think of plenty other clothing stores I’d like to see go under (Poshh., or whatever it’s called, is first on the chopping block).
posted by Jen on April 11th, 2005 at 11:37 am
Vogel’s, the key store, is now being run by a third-generation Vogel family member. They do own their building, as someone said. Vogel’s is neither useless nor pretentious.

I work downtown, and am a regular at both Soup du Jour and Le Dog. Both are good places for a good, quick, not outrageously priced lunch. And Ika, who runs the Main Street Le Dog, and her assistant are both really nice and friendly.
posted by tom on April 11th, 2005 at 11:38 am
There appears to be a niche, in many places, for a long-established, family-owned, high-quality, low-price downtown locksmith shop. Lansing has Hack’s. Ann Arbor has Vogel’s.

You can go someplace else, pay a lot more, and have an unskilled clerk make you a brightly colored, shiny key that won’t work. Or you can go to Vogel’s, pay half or less, and get a nice solid brass key that always works the first time, and lasts forever.

There are supposed to be three types of products and services: the ones where quality and price are positively correlated, where quality and price are uncorrelated, and where quality and price are negatively correlated. Key making, for some reason, is in the third category.

Old school is exactly right. Vogel’s is, if anything, underrated.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 11th, 2005 at 11:42 am
I agree with you Larry - there is nothing worse than a Ace Hardware key that doesn’t work. I’ve had to go back three times to have new keys made because th acne-faced idiot working the machine somehow fucks up what has to be the simplest task known to man. And at that one Ace - what’s up with the woman with the blue star tattoo on her face? Who in their right mind decides to get a tattoo on their FACE? An Ann Arborite, for sure.
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 11:47 am
And Sam’s on Liberty rocks, too… Chucks, hoodies, dickies, hats, flannel… quality working class garb at close-to-working class prices. Downtown.
posted by Scott T. on April 11th, 2005 at 11:49 am
All right, all right, I shouldn’t have picked on the key store. But as for local businesses, I was over at Shaman Drum the other day looking for a copy of Infinite Jest. “Infinite Just?” they asked. They also weren’t sure if “infinite” was with an -ate or -ite. The person working at Borders had never heard of it either, of course.

But we have to have strong local businesses so blogs about how lame all the businesses in town are aren’t the same all over the country. Otherwise we’re going to end up with a homogenized blogosphere with nothing to bash except Starbucks and Wal-Mart.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 11th, 2005 at 11:57 am
Ace on Stadium really went downhill after they moved into the huge space. Lots of new employees, no one knows where anything is anymore, and those annoying ankle-ramming carts that they give to hyperactive kids!

Thank god for Stadium Hardware. (though they couldn’t make me a Subaru key, they were kind enough to refer me to Vogels)
posted by Lehigh Valley Refugee on April 11th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
Ehnis & Sons is the work-wear place on Liberty between Main and Ashley.
posted by Eric on April 11th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
The owner of Logan named it after *his* young son. I’m biased; they’re friends of ours. It’s a instructive to see both sides of the situation: it has been his and his brother’s dream to open a restaurant for years, and they work really hard (nearly renovating the entire place themselves).

Simultaneously, it is very easy to malign it as yet another expensive place in overrated, overpriced Ann Arbor. But there are plenty of places in this town that are a lot cheaper, so if the clientele exists for a place like Logan, why not take advantage of it?

BTW, to the random table hog: sad that the Sweetwater’s person didn’t laugh at the threat of a class-action lawsuit like the lawyer would have after hearing your complaint. Plz go find a Starbux.
posted by jsanwa on April 11th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
I think Shaman Drum is the most ridiculously overrated “academic” bookstore in the country. I have never been in such a worthless store - there is no selection. Everyone raves about it - but before you prove how stupid you are, first try the Seminary Coop bookstore in Chicago. You will be having multiple bibliophilic orgasms. Shaman Drum just blows.

AAiO - You could kill a small dog by dropping Infinite Jest on it. That book is both long and long-winded. There is a funny Onion article, though, “Woman stops reading David Foster Wallace break-up letter at page 32″
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
She didn’t laugh me off because I think she was too stupid to even to froth milk correctly. I doubt she knew what a class action lawsuit was.

I’ve met one of the two brothers, and I will say I don’t give a flying fuck about his dream. If it smells like shit, looks like shit, and tastes like shit, it’s shit, even if it’s named after his own son, even if he always wanted to do it. If People need to stop excusing poor quality by appealing to emotional stories and start learning how to fucking provide a reasonable meal at reasonable cost.
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Well, my neighbors have this really annoying little dog… Actually, I’d been avoiding it too, but then I heard about how great it was from people whose opinions on books I usually respect. Thanks to the bookstores of A2, though, maybe I won’t get to find out.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 11th, 2005 at 12:18 pm
I second the cheers for Stadium Hardware. The folks there are nice and seem to know what they’re talking about. And I like the Earle precisely for the reason mentioned previously: $2.50 for a plate of mussels is awesome. Especially since I just paid $8.95 to get mussels at Red Hawk and the plate they brought out had exactly 10 of them on it. That’s almost a buck a mussel. What the hell?
posted by Dave on April 11th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
when is happy hour at earle?
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
kick my ass?…shit…this is worse than pickup games at the ccrb…
and i thought we were going to have a beer…youre sounding bipolar…if i compliment you on your humor…you likes me…if i pick you…an ass kicking is coming my way…i dont think youre drinking enough, mandy..

this blog sometimes turns into a ping pong match…who can slam hardest and most satirically..part of what makes ann arbor so special right now…i admit…july 1st will be coming too soon, mandrake…everyone promise to hang around and blog no matter where we are all…
posted by saa on April 11th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
The mussels deal at the Earle is M-F (I think) 5-6:30PM; the drinks part of it (20% off all drinks) goes until 8:00PM.
posted by Dave on April 11th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
Saa - I infinitely jest - I wouldn’t kick your ass. But if you did set up a count-down page - I would buy you a pitcher and mussels, your choice of beer. That would be so awesome. Mandrake
posted by DrMandrake on April 11th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
A nice $200/couple meal? I’ve never been to Logan’s, but is that an exaggeration? A friend and I just ate an overpriced meal in Carmel, CA for a lot less than that.
posted by Anna on April 11th, 2005 at 1:18 pm
I remember reading in the Ann Arbor Observer one of the Logan guys said they priced their dinner entrees at $25 to $30 in order to encourage regular customers.

Either Ann Arbor is even wealthier than I thought, or those guys have spent too much time in NYC.
posted by James on April 11th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
Anna,

I read the comment as including ” a nice bottle of wine” which would definitely bump up the price.

It seemed really wrong to me.
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
I’ve eaten at Logan’s and I thought it was excellent. So at least the block has added a nice restaurant.
posted by David on April 11th, 2005 at 2:31 pm
Shaman Drum = overrated.

At least at Border’s you can look up books on the computer, so you don’t have to depend on the illiterates.

P.S. On Logan’s: I’ve been to most of the pricey restaurants in Ann Arbor, and I think I had the best experience at Logan’s (one time).

Zola’s has definitely disappointed me more than once, but it’s good.
posted by David on April 11th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
Is Shaman Drum overrated? I never hear much about it. It seems like it would be lost in the shadow of Borders. What do they do to stay independent? Are there readings and such?

I can’t imagine spending $30.00 for a dinner in Ann Arbor, or $60.00 total on a date. The Main Street restaurants have a food court quality about them. A single representative for a cuisine, with a lot of bases left unconverted, and the only real difference is the chotchky.

All that money, then you walk out the door, and you’re still in Ann Arbor.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 3:50 pm
The best academic bookstores are either Powell’s in Portland or Labyrinth in New York.

Shaman Drum stays open and independent in large part (if not exclusively because of) its textbook trade and the beginning of each new semester.
posted by Alex(andra) on April 11th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
Did any of you ever have the great good fortune to go to the Hungry Mind in St. Paul before it became Ruminator, before Ruminator tragically (I don’t use the word lightly) went out of business? It was a fantastic bookstore, one of the best. Terrific readings, amazing employees, and a love of and respect for books that I’ve not felt in any other bookstore.
posted by Joy on April 11th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
AAiO, I have a 10 year old copy of the Infinite Jest. I use it as a doorstop…yours for the asking. I do like DFW, however, in shorter form (see The Funnest Thing I will Never Do Again and other stories).

p.s. I think I know that annoying little dog…
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 11th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I work on that very block.

Vogel’s: I’ve never needed their services, but I happen to know that the staff are nice and friendly. Everybody seems to swear by them, and they’ve apparently been open in one form or another for nearly a century.

Cafe Zola: I’ve never actually been in there, and I can definitely see how its presence would make the street seem overrated.

Soup Du Jour: Their cookie bars are the best in the city. Hands down. The owner is redecorating, with a partial name change, an expanded menu, and a more adult decor (the “American Girl” bit was dead on, and I think they realize this).

The Earle: Expensive, yes (this is Ann Arbor, for heaven’s sake), but the happy hour does make it a little better (if you can find a seat) and not just for mussels–their seafood pizza is to die for (and I almost did).

Logan: I hear you do have to take out a loan to eat there, but the owners seem nice (and I know that’s no excuse).

Grizzly Peak: okay beer, great burgers, but overpriced and carrying a distinct whiff of sadness that overwhelms me whenever I walk in there. It might be that I just don’t make enough money.

Sweetwaters: Fuck Sweetwaters. It sucks.

I wish the Del was still around, even with all its problems–it definitely brought… well, not really authenticity, but it was definitely cheap. The price situation makes me wonder whether restaurants on that block have to jack up their prices in order to make the rent–that’s certainly pretty pricey, I’ve heard.
posted by Lazaro on April 11th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
Re: Logan, the one place on that block that hasn’t garnered a lot of comments in this thread… I know a few people who have eaten there, and they’ve been pretty positive in their assessment: Expensive, but worth the price in comparison to other downtown restaurants.

On a related note:

can’t imagine spending $30.00 for a dinner in Ann Arbor, or $60.00 total on a date. The Main Street restaurants have a food court quality about them.

I think that’s probably true about a lot of the Main St restaurants. There’s little to nothing on Main St for good food at a justifiable price (a few exceptions, of course) between William and Washington, really. Gratzi and the ilk are just ridiculous.

But around the corners, the West End Grille isn’t bad, though a menu that varied a little more would be nice. I’ve not been to Bella Ciao or Pacific Rim, but I’ve heard that those two are both excellent. And the Earle is a bit overpriced and suffers from the same Ann Arbor desire to keep a menu constant, but it’s not bad and has a damn good wine list.

Still, I eat most of my big meals out in town at the Heidelberg. Yes, the Heidelberg. I had my wedding rehearsal dinner there. Why? Because Ray and everyone there kick some serious ass and because Mike, the chef, knows what he’s doing and gives you enough food per portion to feed an army. During the fall, look for the wild game specials. Mmmmm.
posted by Evan on April 11th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Oh, I forgot to rag on Shaman Drum and D.F. Wallace.

Whenever I buy magazines or the paper (and that, no more, since Petykiewicz broke that picket line), I usually drop by Shaman Drum, as a way to support local business. Sometimes I wonder why I bother; the only books I can afford are on the bargain rack outside (although I’ve certainly found some good stuff). The selection… it’s a great place to find expensive textbooks, but on the whole, it’s definitely overrated.

Wallace’s THE BROOM OF THE SYSTEM had a great setpiece beginning, and then started sucking from Chapter One and never let up. I never went back and generally think of that guy as the human equivalent of Ann Arbor.
posted by Lazaro on April 11th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Sweetwaters. No WiFi. What’s the point?
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
DFW’s The Funnest Thing… was great. Borders used to have Infinite Jest (I bought Funnest there and almost bought IJ at the same time). Surprised that it’s not there.

[On another note — Alan! What a blast from the past. I’ll drop you a line if your email address is posted on your blog.]
posted by Anna on April 11th, 2005 at 5:06 pm
From what I’ve heard the Del owns that building, so rent wasn’t an issue. Apparently, it seems the employees just kept giving away too many beers and shit and it went under.
posted by Dave on April 11th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
As for “expensive meals in town”, I haven’t been to too many (go figure, the undergrad can’t afford to spend money on food, shock and awe). But I did get to go to a paid-for luncheon at Amadeus, and that was some damn fine Eastern European food. I’m used to paying fast-food prices for great Polish food, but then I have to drive out to Hamtramck. Definitely somewhere I’d go back to, y’know, if someone wanted to buy for me. And they had my favorite Polish beer there. Duly impressed, I must say. I generally enjoy Seva as well - vegan roommate, so I’ve been there a couple of times now.

Gratzi- I’ve had far, far better in New York for half the price, but their alfredo pasta with sundried tomato is pretty good. My family has been there twice, though, and been treated rather shabbily both.

Stadium Hardware rules. I’ve never had anything but a great experience there, and that’s even when I was agnozing about stupid details and they had every right to get annoyed that I didn’t do the math before I got into the place.

As for Shaman: Let’s say that their existence and overwhelming presence in terms of textbooks is one of the top 10 reasons I’m glad I’m not an LSA major. They do order books I’m looking for, which is nice but, um, expected. The last book I picked up from their ordering had a sticker across the spine with my name on it, and the cover tore when I took it off. I like to destroy my books on my own, thanks. Oh, and they rang up another book I bought two times, because I would buy two copies of one book for my class, but not two of the other 6. Grumble, grumble.

It’s a nice day. I think I’ll take leave of this site for a bit.
posted by Jen on April 11th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
We Mac students used to call the Hungry Mind the Hungry Wallet, but I will grant you that both their staff and book selection were incredible. It’s too bad that the college students weren’t able to keep patronizing them once it became so easy to buy cheap used books off of the Internet.
posted by Go Scots on April 11th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
Yes, yes. You hate Ann Arbor. Yawn. What a thin conceit to hang a website on.
posted by Mr. Man on April 11th, 2005 at 6:19 pm
Mr. Man - why do you bother reading this blog if you feel it’s such a yawn. Is this the most exciting thing you can do?
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
It’s not a web site. It’s a blog.

There are millions of them. This one is more successful than most, since it openly takes a position on a topic. It stays on topic. It acts as a router for local events and politics.

AAiO is a hub for discussion, with regulars, who have a sense of humor. Quite possibly, that is what differentiates AAiO from the stock discussion in Ann Arbor.

You know the one that always begins:

I was listening to NPR this morning…
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 7:26 pm
Anna

My e-mail address is alan@engrm.com .

My blog is a work in progress.

Pardon my dust. I’m removing asbestos.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 7:28 pm
“No WiFi. What’s the point?”
Honestly, does everyone really need wifi everywhere? Perhaps I am just bitter and callous, but i feel like i the laptopless am paying some extra change on top of what I’m buying so folks who can afford laptops can have internet access.
posted by yo mamma on April 11th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Yeah, I called it the Hungry Wallet at the beginning of every semester, too, but I nearly cried when I heard it had closed. Of course, there were a lot of factors other than used textbooks on the internet contributing to its demise.
posted by Joy on April 11th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
WiFi costs $40.00 a month.

Chill out. Don’t think so zero sum.

Why is Ann Arbor so keen to keep itself isolated?

I don’t want it everywhere. I simply cannot work in a cafe without WiFi, so I must work at home. Students have their course materials online these days, so I don’t know how they do it. It’s so quant to think that you are somehow more productive without the “distraction” of the internet. However, anyone who has a computer is using it as an internet terminal, not a glass typewriter.

In New Orleans every cafe had WiFi. I could work pretty much anywhere. Less isolation, more socialization. Bigger sanity.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
“I simply cannot work in a cafe without WiFi, so I must work at home.”

Er, you could go to Espresso Royale, Amer’s, or sit in just about any building on campus for that matter. You don’t have to go home if you happen to stumble into Ambrosia or Sweetwater’s, my man.
posted by Brandon on April 11th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
Okay. There’s also Cafe Verde, Ashley’s, and Portofino. So, no, I don’t have to work at home. Still, I say, nuts to Sweetwater’s.

While we are at it. Why don’t we go update the Starbucks Delocator?

http://delocator.net/

There’s only one AA Cafe in it so far.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
For the record, I have a laptop from 1995-ish, and yes, I do use it as a glass typewriter.

It also plays CDs and has Excel. All the better for lab reports not in a godawful computer lab or at my home computer, which is located way too close to my bed.

However, darlin, the hours people with WiFi capable computers spend at establishments that have it probably trumps any sort of inconveinence you have, and probably most of any price hike. Ambrosia is more expensive for certain drinks than, say, Rendezvous.

… and you’re kidding about the lack of WiFi, right? I can’t think of any other cafes offhand that doesn’t have it, even the Espresso Royale on South U that everyone passes up for Rendezvous…
posted by Jen on April 11th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
I’m not sure I follow your “trumps” sentence. Are you saying WiFi users spend money with their time. I think it is generally the case, that WiFi users don’t loiter any more than newspaper readers.

I don’t think I said that Ann Arbor was unwired. I think I said nuts to Sweetwater’s. I implied it, however.

I’ve been living in the OWS, so I’m coming into Ann Arbor seeing WiFi-less Sweetwater’s, and a Starbucks that wants me to join T-Mobile. A pedestrian perception of disconnectedness.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 11th, 2005 at 10:39 pm
I used to work at Sweetwater’s. The owners are total assholes…but I love their coffee. It’s a sin, I know. Really, I do feel bad about the coffee. But only sometimes. What I don’t feel bad about is despising the regulars–and yes, after many years since I was employed by SW–they are still there. Joining them in the past decade are all the GSI’s and LSA students on the wi-fi-less laptops. I hate them. They sit for days pretending to do work. Really it’s a dating service for losers. That beautiful sunset-lit brick corner could be much better served.

It smells ripely of conceit in Zola’s–always has, always will. But their goat cheese/asparagus crepes are seriously amazing.

That horrendous block between Main and Ashley…I grew up on it. I’ve watched it morph in the years, and especially when I wasn’t watching as closely (living in other cities). I think we should stop watching so closely.

Logan sucks. Anything that is robbing me of the spider rolls that used to be devoured at Wasabi (RIP) sucks. I second the notion that the sentiment attached to Logan’s heart tugging ’story’ actually repels me more. Drop your pretentious price and maybe we can talk–but probably not. See, I could tell you a tear jerker about SW too…these two kids, they were highschool sweethearts, and they got married and got degrees, had some babies, and were all set–but they had a DREAM. To open a cafe. And so they did. And now, after three shops and a recent move into franchising in (suprise!) Kerrytown, this little cafe is still managed in the a/m’s by the female half’s mother. Yup. That woman in there every morning for the past 11 years, the one with the totem-pole sized stick up her ass, is female half’s mother. What a dream.

By the way, those folks at Vogels are some of the nicest you will ever meet in Ann Arbor.
posted by jr on April 11th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
Amen to Vogel’s.

They were always there to change the locks the moment I was dismissed.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 12:10 am
I think aaio site needs a forum for posting, these 60 reply threads that turn into 12 discussions are getting out of hand.
soon I’ll be calling this website overrated.
posted by Pottsy Hunter on April 12th, 2005 at 1:35 am
Blog. Not a web site.

Can’t we get this straight? AAiO is a forum. A hub in the blogosphere. Call it overrated if you like, but it’s at the top of my RSS reader. When it twitches, bells go off. Literally.

I’m poised to jump on the next comment that comes along, for good reason.

AAiO is probably the first decent thing to come out of Ann Arbor since, oh, Bob Segar.

In my lurking, Mandrake, Jen, Anna, AAiO, Dave, and Brandon are cluefull, worthy. They don’t suck so much.

Must we end the thread with an eye-rolling dismissal?

That’s so overrated. Don’t you think?
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 5:47 am
Does anyone else find it ironic that the “academic,” “intellectual” bookstore in Ann Arbor is called “Shaman Drum”?
posted by james on April 12th, 2005 at 8:08 am
I actually am glad that there are still some places without wifi in Ann Arbor so I can get work done instead of hitting refresh on my browser to this fucking blog every ten minutes. And I find most of the people here hilarious and more engaged and interested in Ann Arbor as a city than most people who go around wearing the I heart Ann Arbor shirts.
posted by DrMandrake on April 12th, 2005 at 8:56 am
Love it or leave it, Mandrake!
posted by Dale on April 12th, 2005 at 9:02 am
I used to work at the Earle right after I graduated. I took a bag of oysters everyday and banged them on a table. If they closed, they were alive and good. The rest got thrown out. The owner is cool and we could make whatever we wanted for lunch. You also got a free drink after your shift of house wine or beer. But no one seemed to mind that I had three pitchers. One time I woke up in a house next door to where I lived on the stiarway with some guy I didn’t know looking at me. Their food is very good quality and pretty much worth the price. The new Earle (where Escofier used to be) seems overpriced.

Vogels is one of the best businesses in AA. Go in there and you could be in Cody Wyoming. Go in any other store and you could be in Birmingham.

Anyone could see the Del meltdown coming. The place was ripe for spontaneous combustion.

Logan’s will be gone within a year and a half. And I’ll lay a hundred bucks on it for all takers. Remember 328 S. Main? I didn’t think so.
posted by YD on April 12th, 2005 at 9:32 am
>Does anyone else find it ironic that
>the “academic,” “intellectual” bookstore in Ann
>Arbor is called “Shaman Drum”?

Yeah, I do … I thought it was a new age bookstore, with, like dreamcatchers and crystals and stuff, and all the books have covers that looks like they were designed by somebody that just learned photoshop that day, and the community bulletin board has about ten thousand flyers for weird actualization seminars. Not that I”m judgemental or anything. I’m not sure I actually want to go in, now that I know the truth.
posted by mulligatawny on April 12th, 2005 at 10:21 am
The owner blamed Del employees’ tendency to give out beers for the failure of the business.
The Del employees blamed the new wife of the owner who came in as a “manager” and decided that the Del was broken, and needed to be fixed. Out with the co-op, in with rule by fiat. She sparked a strike by firing some girl for some dumb reason, and the strike killed the Del.
The Del is dead. Viva la Del Rio.
posted by js on April 12th, 2005 at 12:02 pm
The service at the Del was so shitty that after three times I never went back. Most people I know had the same experience and reaction. And this was before the Del’s new management. That’s what killed the Del.
posted by Anonymous on April 12th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
I should have signed that last post I guess.
posted by tom on April 12th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
I thought it was a new age bookstore, with, like dreamcatchers and crystals and stuff, and all the books have covers that looks like they were designed by somebody that just learned photoshop that day, and the community bulletin board has about ten thousand flyers for weird actualization seminars. Not that I”m judgemental or anything.

No, no, no ….. that’s Crazy Wisdom.
posted by Frank on April 12th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Booyah, Frank.

I was going to say Falling Water, but you nailed it.
posted by Anonymous on April 12th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
I think what killed the Del was that before the “new management” there was NO management. It was run by the employees, er, proletariat, cooperatively. That worked for a long time but the kids today have no communal spirit.
posted by Eric on April 12th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
oooohhhh. I just looked them both up & must’ve confused the two or something. They should just switch names.

I, uh, just moved here recently. Not impressed with the used bookstores here either. Not enough places to get a bunch of paperbacks for like 20 bucks. Lots of places with saran-wrapped hardcovers that you mess up if you actually read them. You’re supposed to put them on your shelf, I guess. Okay.
posted by mulligatawny on April 12th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
I was just trying to make a little joke, mulligatawny (Crazy Wisdom is just as you describe it). Hope I didn’t come across otherwise. Welcome to Ann Arbor, by the way. I totally agree with you about the used bookstores.
posted by Frank on April 12th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Anything that is robbing me of the spider rolls that used to be devoured at Wasabi (RIP) sucks.

Good riddance to Wasabi. I’d never had a bad piece of sushi until I started going there. I’ll admit the dragon rolls and some of the other specialties were pretty excellent. But really, they were WAY overpriced and more trendy than authentic. Fuji is the place sushi lovers should be mourning, IMHO. God, that was good.

Drop your pretentious price and maybe we can talk–but probably not.

Have you eaten there? It doesn’t sound like it, so if you have, forgive me — but not every restaurant with high prices is automatically pretentious. I’ll pay out the ass for meals at Tribute, the Rattlesnake Club, etc in Detroit because they’re worth what you pay. I’ll be the first to admit that A2 has way more than its fair share of overpriced, cookie-cutter shitboxes in which to pretend to dine well (e.g., Gratzi, the Chop House). But let’s not trash a potentially good addition to that scene — I’ve heard from a few folks that it’s worth the money — just because it’s expensive and it knocked a trendy sushi place out of town.
posted by Evan on April 12th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
Welcome to the town that NPR built, Mulli.

Your little dream catcher quip is spot on dig on Shaman Drum. I’m going to quote it.

More better that it is a new age jargon free-association of a new comer.

A bunch of paperbacks for 20 bucks? What ever happened to the guy with the card tables and the station wagon? Is he just out of season?
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
Ann Arbor used to have a lot more used bookstores. We just lost another one recently (Books In General, upstairs from State Street).

It’s basically my fault. Well, people like me, who buy used books on Ebay. I have bought hundreds of books, mostly legislative/political material to support my web site.

On Ebay, you deal directly with people who are cleaning out their grandparents’ attics, i.e., not trying to pay the rent on a downtown storefront. At the prices I’m willing to pay, nobody is going to get rich selling used books to me.

Somebody told me that I should try abebooks.com, which is an association of used book stores. I looked to see what legislative manuals they had, and was appalled to see a 1951 West Virginia Blue Book, nothing special about it, priced at $35. The copy I already had cost me $2. Professional booksellers, trying to make a living, simply can’t compete with amateur attic cleaners.

I used to wander in to each of the AA/Ypsi used book shops periodically and purchase a few things, but my occasional browsing was certainly not enough to support them. Now almost all of them are gone. And not just around here. It’s sad, but hardly surprising.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 12th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
Evan, I totally agree that high price does not necessarily mean pretentious and overrated. Sadly, however, there is hardly a restaurant in this town that meets my criteria for “worth it.” This includes any Main Street Venture restaurant and particularly Eve (oops, eve) and DiMatto’s. The plates at Dimatto’s are obscenely large, which doesn’t make up for its pricing. I tried to order a half plate once and the vapid waitress said a line which sends me to apoplexy every time I hear it from a server…”Well, you can take the rest home and have it for lunch tomorrow!”

I don’t WANT TO TAKE IT HOME. That’s the point.

If I want to spend a chunk of change on a high-priced meal in this area, I would go to Common Grill in Chelsea (despite the lack of ambiance) or Tribute.

Here in town, I like the earle, Pacific Rim, Fuji (tell me they aren’t closing!), Miki, Casey’s and my neighborhood fave, Kosmo Deli in Kerrytown.

I miss the old Kerrytown Bistro. It was underrated.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 2:48 pm
One can get piles of cheap books at the Recycle-ReUse center on S. Industrial, it’s just that most of them suck.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Blog. Not a web site.

A blog is a specialized website following certain conventions that make it a blog.

Saying Blog. Not a web site. is like saying Ann Arbor is in Michigan, not the United States.
posted by Anonymous on April 12th, 2005 at 2:55 pm
Frank … yeah, I did catch that you were joking, so it’s cool. Since I refuse to use emoticons, I don’t always come across as intended, myself.

Falling Water looks pretty dreadful too, I must say. Alan, feel free to quote away … I’ve wandered by mistake into lots of stores like that, is how I know what they’re like. I didn’t mention the Patchouli Armpit incense burning, nor did I describe the Sounds of Nature soundtrack playing overhead. Stick a mike out the window, make a CD. Yeah.

RE Ebay/Abebooks, etc … it is easier to go online and get the specific books you want. Hunting is still really good, though. You find stuff you never knew you had to have.

Abebooks is horribly overpriced, and I won’t use them. Often, the used bookstores that list their stuff there will also have a z-shop on amazon, or something like that … you don’t have to use abebooks.

I don’t have a car and probably won’t until summer, but are there any other places besides say, Dawn Treader or Davids (or whatever that place is called)? Places that have lots and lots of paperbacks?
posted by mulligatawny on April 12th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
Well, there’s the Ann Arbor library book sale, in the basement at the corner of 5th and William on weekends. They take the summer off, though, so hurry. The first sale in the fall is always huge, because donations accumulate while they’re not selling any.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 12th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
> A blog is a specialized website following certain conventions
> that make it a blog.

No. You are wrong. A blog is more than a web site. Because a web site is one view of blog. There are other views, primarily synication, via RDF, RSS, or Atom. Saying that it is a blog, not a web site is more astute than attempting to classify it by one of the many transformations of a blog, web publication.

Furthermore, you are splitting hairs. The OP said that Ann Arbor is Overrated is a thin conceit on which to base a web site. It was necessary to point out to the pathetic, clueless loser that AAiO isn’t a three-fold brochure, but a voice in vast cacophony, called the blogoshere, that has a person behind it, and thus, AAiO has a personality. (Witness how blog and author are eponymous.) We are attracted to said personality. And that the OP can go roll his eyes elsewhere.

This is a nit of mine. If there’s one thing that gets me Ann Arbor biting mad, it’s the sour grapes refrain. It is so transparent.

Again, a blog is an act of syndication, a platform, a voice, not a web site. AAiO is not trying to sell anything. It’s speech.

Oh, look. Now I have to wipe the spittle off my LCD.

Ah, Manhattans before noon!
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
I actually like Dawn Treader, one of the places I can afford. They’ve got lots of reasonably priced stuff of the kind I usually look for.

The service at the Del Rio was appalling (purposefully so?) but it was more than worth it for the pizzas and the happy hour beer specials. As I usually just like to sit at the bar reading and/or writing while drinking, it was pretty ideal.
posted by Lazaro on April 12th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Alan, I second the Manhattans before noon…

oh, and to the naysayers, this blog is perfectly representative of what makes Ann Arbor the contrarian hellhole/paradise that is is. It’s like a John Kerry for President sticker on a Hummer.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
So I’m assuming the inherent self-parody of this thread is unintentional?

The little block of Washington between Main and Ashley is pretentious, but what of the commenters who hold themselves sneeringly superior to that blundering mass of Ann Arborites who patronize all those lousy restaurants and are too stupid to realize they really aren’t enjoying their food?

Can any establishment in town even come close to the pretension displayed on annarborisoverrated on a daily basis? I mean, c’mon, what’s the story of this blog? Wouldn’t an honest subtitle be something on the order of, “the meeting place for those who are sure they are way too hip for this pathetic little town?”
posted by mw on April 12th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
> but what of the commenters who hold themselves sneeringly
> superior to that blundering mass of Ann Arborites who
> patronize all those lousy restaurants and are too stupid to
> realize they really aren’t enjoying their food?

Touche.

Your comment is work of both flattery and offense.

And might I add, outrageously funny?

Oh, look. Now I have to wipe the spit-take Manhattan off my LCD.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
I am way too something for this town. Call it hip. I call it having discriminating taste.
posted by DrMandrake on April 12th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
“Can any establishment in town even come close to the pretension displayed on annarborisoverrated on a daily basis?”

Now wait a sec…. It appears to me that this discussion has been pretty fair to the businesses on Washington. Lots of people jumped to the defense of Vogels, labeling the store “not overrated” and a good place to get a key made or a lock changed. More than a few people added that they quite enjoy eating out at the Earle.

Sorry if we expect a lot from a restaurant like Logan, but anyplace that’s charging $30 per plate better have some damn fine food. If not, then the place is (gasp) overrated. And if I pay that much for a plate and the food sucks, I’m going to be a little bitter and disappointed.

Just like Ann Arbor. The cost of living here should mean it’s a damn fine place to live. It’s an OK place to live, but it’s sure not what it could be. So I don’t think of the denizens of these discussions as “pretentious” - try bitter and disappointed. We were promised more than this when we came here.
posted by Lehigh Valley Refugee on April 12th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
pssst mw:

I-R-O-N-Y.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
I did have reservations about making sweeping, possibly unfair comments about a whole block of local businesses, but I was in a sneeringly superior mood. I notice no one’s stepped up to defend Salon in the City.

Alan, I always forget that I have an RSS feed and stuff. The website/blog distinction is pretty much lost on me. [twitch]

OFWInsurgent, thanks for the offer, but I actually ordered a used copy of the doorstop from Amazon.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 12th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
Also, I’ve thought of having a threaded discussion board, but I’m not sure if it would change the conversation for the better. I sort of like the current model of one discussion per post that may or may not have anything to do with the post. It’s top-down in that only I can start a new topic, but it’s bottom-up in that the discussion is more or less amorphous and unmoderated (I’ve never deleted anything other than spam or people impersonating other posters.)
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 12th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
Lehigh Valley Refugee - are you from PA? There is a Lehigh valley there.
posted by DrMandrake on April 12th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
I’m not sure who’s hipper, the technology nomenclature experts or the foodies.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m eating a 48-cent loaf of day-old bread from Jimmy John’s at the moment.
posted by Brandon on April 12th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
Now wait a sec…. It appears to me that this discussion has been pretty fair to the businesses on Washington. Lots of people jumped to the defense of Vogels, labeling the store “not overrated” and a good place to get a key made or a lock changed. More than a few people added that they quite enjoy eating out at the Earle.

Well, Vogel’s was defended on the basis that, on second thought, it’s just the sort of authentic, rooted local place that should get a passing hipness grade (unlike, I’m guessing, the nearby Downtown Home and Garden which would be rated hopelessly bobo). Otherwise the Earle was admitted to be passingly OK–but really, you should only go there for discount oysters at happy hour. And the rest of the Main Street restaurants? Glorified fast food. Sweetwaters? Sucks. Shaman Drum? Sucks. Ann Arbor independent establishments in general? They suck–maybe not as much as chains suck…but the chains are honest about sucking so actually, when you think about it, local stores that suck slightly less actually suck more. Because they suck you into hoping they won’t suck. And then they do. Suck. All of this, of course, assumes you’re sufficiently discerning about sucking

I’ve lived here 20 years, and there’s no doubt that Ann Arbor does have a tendency to get a bit full of itself from time to time and puncturing that can be a useful public service, but it’d go down better, I think, if accompanied by a bit of self-deprecation.
posted by mw on April 12th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
OK, I freely admit that I have Chateneuf de Pape tastes, but a Night Train budget (unfortunately).
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
…and I like Downtown Home & Garden.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
Mandrake,

Yes, I am from PA orginally, though I lived in Montana before moving here.
posted by Lehigh Valley Refugee on April 12th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
AAiO

On threaded forums…

If it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. Joel Spolesky, of Joel on Software, makes a strong argument against them. They are only more confusing. People here are very good at quoting and context. I don’t see the need.
posted by Alan Gutierrez on April 12th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
Lehigh - My parents live in Jenkintown, PA, in Abington township! That’s awesome. I used to go to the Lehigh Valley Mall. Cool people come from Philly.
posted by DrMandrake on April 12th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Damn right. Let’s run these places out of town so we can get another Starbucks, Cosi, Noodles & Company and all the other unique stores creeping into town. Let’s make this place just like Sterling Hts.!!
posted by annoyed1 on April 12th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
mw - Your last post did not suck.
posted by KBlow on April 12th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
Hmm. Annoyed1 brings up a fair point. Any nominations for things that could replace Zola, Sweetwaters, Logan, Salon in the City, and Soup du Jour for the better?
posted by Nick on April 12th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Dunkin Donuts and CVS.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 12th, 2005 at 9:27 pm
7-11. Agreement on the Dunkin’ Donuts and CVS although there is a CVS on S. Industrial but that does not count because you have to drive.
posted by Peter on April 12th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
I second AAiO. Nothing wrong with DD and CVS. I mean, seriously, what do you girls do when you need a tampon and you’re stuck at Liberty and Main without a car? I have always wondered this, seriously. Do you knock on random people’s doors?
posted by DrMandrake on April 12th, 2005 at 10:21 pm
Go to the gas station or the party store a block away. Not too much of a hardship there.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 12th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
I got bored of reading this, so sorry if someone got to it before me:

The paperback guy with the tables of books on State Street is still around. Wait til the weather gets a bit nicer. I love that guy, except then I buy a bunch of $1 books and don’t do any of my engineering homework. Damned inner conflict.

Anyhow, the bookstores around here are overpriced as hell. However, the UM library rules. In the past month, they’ve bought two books that I recommended they purchase.

That was pretty cool.

But generally, I go to library sales (like when UM got rid of all the dorm libraries… oh, sweet, sweet, $1 books/CDs/VHS…) or John King in Detroit. I refuse to pay anywhere near half of the original price for a used book, and that seems to be where the people in town start the pricing.
posted by Jen on April 12th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
Mandrake -

Usually we’ve figured out by now how to be prepared for that sort of thing, but if not, ya just kind of ask a girl who’s in the restroom and hope for luck and comraderie.

Liberty and Main, I’d just go to the gas station/party store and pay extra. I’m thinking of Liberty and State, with Decker’s closed… I really can’t think of anything offhand except maybe White Market that could cater to the situationm, and I’m not even sure on that one.
posted by Anonymous on April 12th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Don’t fucking diss Sterling Heights.

Or hell, go ahead. I lived a block from the Warren, Troy, and Madison Heights borders. My brother just told everyone he lived in Warren. Easier to reconcile, I guess, and we went to high school there at any rate.

Lehigh Valley Refugee: well put. That may be the reason why, in some sense, I like Ypsi more than here. Certain parts, and very limited… but my friend was renting a decent place there for 200 a month, no security deposit, and a block from downtown and a gorgeous park. There’s your underrated-ness.
posted by Jen on April 12th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
Clearly tampon street vendors could make a killing in this town.
posted by Dave on April 12th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
I wanna know more about the guy with the used book table. Where does he set up?

The Friends of the Library used book sale at AADL is great, although their selection gets pawed over a lot and you have to contend with a lot of pushy passive-aggressive types who don’t have any other place to vent their aggressions than the aisles of the basement of the AADL. In other words, if you’re standing by the history shelf and someone else wants to look it over, watch out or you may get bodyslammed into the carpet. I was there last weekend and saw a full-on domestic altercation between a couple because the woman wouldn’t let the man look at one of the books she was reading.

By the way, the weekend after next is the last chance before the book sale closes for the summer, so be forewarned.
posted by Frank on April 12th, 2005 at 11:21 pm
Two days late, but for Brandon in the initial post, there’s a bar in Denver called the Giggling Grizzly on 20th (indeed, LoDo). Own/run by MSU grads. Not awful but not great.

The lock place ignored my “Do not duplicate” warnings, which was nice.
posted by Drunkie on April 13th, 2005 at 12:46 am
Thanks girls - I always wondered this. I guess I never went to the liquor store wondering where the feminine products are - usually I’m just looking for a bottle of Kettle One. Regardless, it WOULD be nicer if there was a 24 hour drug store. Are we not all sick of buying condoms at 2:00 AM at the gas station? I am.
posted by DrMandrake on April 13th, 2005 at 1:19 am
In 85 I worked at Campus Corner. A group of Frat pledges came in one night all wearing underwear n the outside and they all had tampon necklaces. There didn’t seem to be a shortage in the old days.

Grass seed is $2.50 a pound at Downtown home and garden, and the 20 year old grass “expert” will tell you it’s not the proper time to plant it anyway. Go to Mantis in Ypsi or anywhere else and the stuff is $1.00 to $1.50 a lb. and some asshole won’t tell you how to plant grass seed.
posted by yd on April 13th, 2005 at 8:27 am
Heard about that book sale. Gonna take a big shopping bag.

Tampon tip: bathrooms in your nicer stores have machines … you just go in there and get one.

Someone else commented that used bookstores were overpriced as hell … yeah, that’s my one beef with Dawn Treader right now … it looks like they often only take the price down about 25%-33%.
posted by mulligatawny on April 13th, 2005 at 8:36 am
Mandrake,

ooh, the Lehigh Valley Mall!!! I lived 6 miles from there. Knew a few people in college (U of Delaware) from Abington and the surrounding areas - it’s a small world, isn’t it?

Fun fact (and sort of on topic) - astoundingly, the Lehigh Valley Mall does not contain a Starbucks. This is a Briarwood-sized mall, for those of you who are unfamiliar with eastern PA. The only coffee kiosk is run by a local company who has held that spot since the mall opened in the ’70’s. Chain stores come and go, but the Coffee Grinder hangs on.
posted by Lehigh Valley Refugee on April 13th, 2005 at 9:21 am
It is a small world, but as Steven Wright points out, I wouldn’t want to paint it. I actually know very few people in the area, as I have been in the midwest for the past 10 years. I go back to visit my family but rarely hang out with people.

I too like the local chains - Bucks County Coffee Co is one I’m most familiar with. In PA, I usually go to the Willow Grove Mall, where there is most definitely a starbucks that put out a small and wonderful little cappucino place. It’s really a shame.
posted by DrMandrake on April 13th, 2005 at 9:40 am
It’s Ketel One. And this from a guy who criticized someone else’s proofreading.
posted by tom on April 13th, 2005 at 9:42 am
Now that you’re onto bookstores, I have to say that After Words, the remaindered book store on Main Street, which is where I buy almost all my books these days, is not overrated. It’s always worth a browse. Somebody mentioned the U of M library. A little known fact is that any shmoe can plunk down $125 and get a library card (for a year). There’s no better bargain in town. They used to call it $65 and put a 5-book at a time limit on it. Okay, that was a better bargain, but it’s not available any more.

Remember Books In General? They went out of business. They had very high prices, ridiculous. And you could never guess when they’d be open. During their close-out sale, I browsed there thinking I could get a few tomes. I overheard the owner telling a customer how if he had to do it over again he’d have a sale once a year, “take less for them” and clear out his stock more often. Yeah, you actually have to sell some books to stay in business. While I was half-way through the fiction section, in the middle of the day, he told me I had to finish and get out, he was going to close up to walk his dog.
posted by DoughKnutKing on April 13th, 2005 at 9:47 am
“Two days late, but for Brandon in the initial post, there’s a bar in Denver called the Giggling Grizzly on 20th (indeed, LoDo). Own/run by MSU grads. Not awful but not great. ”

Holy crap. The Giggling Grizzly is owned by MSU grads!?

For those who don’t know, the Grizzly is a frat-ish bar that opened up right next to a world famous dinky jazz club called El Chapultapec. Chapultapec has been around since the 40’s, long before the area was called “LoDo” (you wanna talk overrated?!).

The Grizzly is also where I stole the idea for “Flip night”….except at the Grizzly if you won the flip, your beer was a quarter (if you lost, it was $4.25 instead of $4.00). They actually had a nice selection of local beers that were really terrific, so if luck was on your side, you could get yourself going at the Grizzly and then listen to jazz all night at El Chapultapec. Such a great little dive bar.

More than you would possibly want to know, but if you’re ever in Denver, there you go………
posted by todd on April 13th, 2005 at 9:57 am
access to a big ol’ university library might be a good thing, but damned if I’ll pay for it.

The Ann Arbor library is … small, but as this is a small town I can’t be too fussy about it. I’ve tried to check stuff out on that network of libraries, but I think I’m doing something wrong because I can’t seem to get it to work.
posted by mulligatawny on April 13th, 2005 at 9:57 am
Tom - Whatever. I don’t claim to provide the world with solutions to your business needs. Since the Indian guy at Main Street liquors doesn’t care whether I say it “Kettle” or “Ketel” I’ll spell it out as I damn well please.
posted by DrMandrake on April 13th, 2005 at 10:05 am
“access to a big ol’ university library might be a good thing, but damned if I’ll pay for it.”

I am not going to twist your arm on this, but for the cost of a library card I can read books that I would typically not be able to get my hands on due to their being out of print, unavailable at the public library, and beyond my means to buy.

As for the AA public library, I think the system is pretty good for a place this size. Small? Compared to what, Salinas CA?

I am willing to go along with the notion that Shaman Drum is overrated. A book store can’t be much better than its stock. I think the combination of big online booksellers + literary blogs (for the heads up) will squeeze the independent books stores even more, no matter how much literary bloggers complain about the big chains and tout the local independents. All they really have to offer is browsing, and that requires lots of books on the shelf. My test for a well-stocked book store is do they have some of Cormac McCarthy’s first three books. All in print with Vintage or whoever. Last time I looked Shaman Drum failed and B&N passed.
posted by DoughKnutKing on April 13th, 2005 at 10:46 am
Dough - All the pretty horses was an amazing novel, I just can’t believe someone fucked up the movie so bad. The next two books were disappointing, I thought. But right on with the ref to Salinas, which, for those of you who might not know, is considering closing down the library in Steinbeck’s hometown.

I think the AA public library is (wait wait - will Mandrake say some snide comment????) horribly underrated. I think it is an amazing library for a town this size considering we have a university library that anyone can browse (if not borrow).
posted by DrMandrake on April 13th, 2005 at 11:16 am
El Chapultepec also had (has?) those giant smothered green chile burritos, and the opportunity to shoot up with Richie Cole from time to time before a set.

Dear dirty Denver.
posted by Santa Fe Exile on April 13th, 2005 at 11:16 am
Mandrake - I thought your blog said you aren’t getting much of anything these days, so why is buying gas-station condoms at 2 a.m. only now getting old?

(Just kiddin’ darlin’. Pretend you’re a student and go into UHS - or even better, find a girl to go into the gyno office. They generally hand over enough free ones, or have them by the front door, where you won’t need to go to the gas station unless you’re really, really, really lucky. Or don’t plan ahead with the scheming since their hours are bad, but it’s free as long as you have no moral qualms about the “only take one” sign. Although not as cool as Cornell. They gave out the unlubricated mint flavored ones as well, there. Even when I went in for a cold, I got them thrown at me. OK, I appreciate your concern, I guess, but I’m here for a cold?…

Someday the stuff I write on here is gonna come back to haunt me.)

My measure of a good boookstore for awhile was if they had any Haruki Murakami- enough of his books were translated and he was popular enough worldwide that it shouldn’t have been a problem. Shaman wasn’t too bad, but other indy bookstores did them better. I guess he’s getting sort of popular now, though, so I probably need a new measure.
posted by Jen on April 13th, 2005 at 11:28 am
RE small libraries: Okay, small maybe not compared to Salinas, but small compared to Portland OR, which is where I just moved from. And as I did say, this is a small town. It’s a pretty good system for a small town, but it’s smaller than what I”m used to.
posted by mulligatawny on April 13th, 2005 at 11:49 am
MW- What would be nice to have in those spots? I dunno. A mexican bakery. Another live music club. A cheap drugstore. A good Thai place. A quick, cheap noodle shop in general. A decent art gallery. Rehersal space for bands. A real hardware shop (DH&G doesn’t count). A good pizza place. Another brewery (can’t have too many).
Hell, I’d even take a pinball arcade over Logan or the stupid fuckin’ salon.
posted by js on April 13th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
In defense of the AADL, it may be somewhat small collection-wise compared to a large city, but compared to towns its size its collection is about right, I think. And the diversity of its collection is pretty amazing considering the fact that they could just pack the aisles with classics and bestsellers and be done with it. I have sometimes been disappointed that AADL didn’t have a book I wanted, but that’s because they’ve so often had so many books I did want, not to mention ones I’d never have thought of looking for but was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon. The AADL is awesome, in my opinion. I hate waiting for the popular stuff, but that’s no unique complaint.
posted by Frank on April 13th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
Wow, Todd… so some MSU folks went to Colorado to start a bar, you came to Michigan to start a bar from Colorado. It’s like you did a bizarro-world parallel universe move. I think I might have rather done it in their direction, though….
posted by Anna on April 13th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
I think AADL’s collection is really good too. I used to live in DC, and the main library there had a pretty mediocre collection, esp. of fiction (of course, if your city is in perpetual debt, you probably wouldn’t be spending tons of money on the library anyway, but I digress).

(PS-I’m glad I can be part of the cool-kids-from-Philly group)
posted by Zigs on April 13th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
What part of philly, zigs?
posted by DrMandrake on April 14th, 2005 at 7:03 am
I have to say, after being born in the U.P. and growing up in a small lake front town, I was overwhelmed by the commercial aspect of A2, be it independently owned or otherwise.

When I was a child (now 28), my poppa would bring me to Ann Arbor, to eat at Seva (back when they still had a nice health food store attached), to play at the children’s museum, (back when it was only that brick building), and to go to the
museum on U of M’s campus.

Maybe it was my young eyes that saw A2 as a different place…then, there seemed a simpler nature to this place. However, admittedly my life has simply become more complicated. So…maybe…
posted by Lee on April 15th, 2005 at 8:06 am
I have lived here about nine months and I must say that most of downtown is filled with, what most people from Ann Arbor feel is wicked trendy crap. One thing in that block’s defense is that Zola has an excellent desert that is actually on the drink menu; espresso, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and spiced rum! Anyplace you can still get into in jeans and a t-shirt is not pretentious just pretending. This town doesn’t need more chain stores, food or otherwise. It just needs to get over itself and realize that no matter how trend setting it thinks it is, it is not Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Paris or Milan. Even LA has a more active living culture.
posted by Andrew on April 16th, 2005 at 1:32 am
That’s my cab you spotted. No period in the name though. It’s just “A cab”. I do like to sit in the taxi stand outside Mongolian, so I’m there a lot. I don’t think that block’s so bad. What about one block south, you’ve got that wine tasting/art gallery place. Come on, that’s more pretentious all by itself than the rest of downtown combined. But then you’ve also got the Art Center and Dragon’s Lair futons?
posted by Samph on April 16th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
That’s my cab you spotted. No period in the name though. It’s just “A cab”. I do like to sit in the taxi stand outside Mongolian, so I’m there a lot. I don’t think that block’s so bad. What about one block south, you’ve got that wine tasting/art gallery place. Come on, that’s more pretentious all by itself than the rest of downtown combined. But then you’ve also got the Art Center and Dragon’s Lair futons?
posted by Samph on April 16th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Sorry about the double post.
posted by Samph on April 16th, 2005 at 8:00 pm
Dearest Andrew, why in hell would you put Ann Arbor in the same sentence with Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Paris or Milan? It’s just a dinky, funky little college town in the midwest for Christ’s sake. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded. Trend setting? Get real.
posted by OFWinsurgent on April 16th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
I am a lifelong Ann Arbor resident. These are my comments. Buttress your thin skins.
Vogels - salt of the earth family-owned institution. You cannot stump them. They know the trade backwards and forwards. Cafe Zoloft - populated by posturers and fashonistas. It’s a joke. Sweetwaters - I don’t understand the $5 coffee thing at any cafe. Cuppa joe for $.50 oughta do anybody. And the laptops - nice pose, we all know you’re not working, you’re just f***ing off. The Earle’s menu doesn’t change much, but the sommelier, Steve is outstanding and the food is always good. The mussels used to be free during happy hour. The grizzly peak is overpriced and the beers are mediocre. Noodles and co. sucks, hands down. Bland tripe. Seva - try say blah. Crap on a plate. Stadium Hardware is outstanding, except when you get some dilletante clogging the counter with inane questions. The Del Rio evolved into a cliquish little hell at the end - the service sucked and the staffers lost the original spirit of the enterprise. Food and drink flew out the door as if on wings. Wasabi had middling sushi, just like every sushi joint in town. I know that’s heresy, but ya gotta get to the coast for the good stuff.
I say bring back the Sun Bakery, the Derby Bar, Joe’s Star Lounge, the Liberty Inn, The Velvet Touch on Fourth Ave., Capitol Mark-up (market), the whiffle Tree, and The Purple Pickle.
posted by LF on April 16th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
LF - I like your style.
posted by DrMandrake on April 18th, 2005 at 9:52 am
OFWinsurgent - The point was, the cost of food and drink (almost arguably cost of living in general) is nearly as high as most of these other cities while the quality, consistency, and variety is not.
posted by Anonymous on April 18th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
I’m absolutely amazed that so many people with so little knowledge of something can agree on complete fiction…you amaze me. Sincerely. I invite you to join me for coffee and breakfast at Zola one morning - which happens to have some menue items that may appear to be “very ann arbor” to some where they are actually what the middle eastern equivalent of Ypsi’s would eat on a daily basis…so I suppose you could concede that its all relative?

Lunch at Soup du Jour, in which I have never seen a six year old playing with dolls nor “sweetie pie college woman”, is actually a place to get reasonably priced homemade soups, salads and sandwiches…I understand your angst, I mean come on! SOUP? SALADS? Only in Ann Arbor!

I’m not quite sure how the author could manage to include a 40 year old key store in his tirade…

Cabby’s…you know things are often much more simple than you might imagine…there is taxi waiting area on that block. A place where Taxis can wait since there is little parking (an Ann Arbor complaint that IS warranted…I’m sure you’ve covered it sufficiently).

Logan…good food, up and coming. a bit overpriced for its menue.

I can’t believe you didn’t manage to slam Sweetwater’s! I mean wwhat is more Ann Arbor annoying than a successful independent coffee house.

I find it striking that the only other two establishments on ” the most useless block in ann arbor” that you failed to sprinkle with pitiful condensation were the two places that likely deserved it the most…Grizzly’s and Mongolian BBQ.

BTW…I really can’t think of anything more Ann Arbor than the following quote from our gracious host:

“I too like the local chains - Bucks County Coffee Co is one I’m most familiar with. In PA, I usually go to the Willow Grove Mall, where there is most definitely a starbucks that put out a small and wonderful little cappucino place. It’s really a shame.”

Very sad…
posted by JAM on April 21st, 2005 at 10:28 am
JAM - I’m not the gracious host. I think you misunderstood: What pisses me off is that a starbucks put out of business a cute little coffee shop in the mall I used to go to when I was a teenager. Sweetwaters is overrated, though. It has no spirit. It might as well be a fucking starbucks for how unique it is.

Soup du jour is overpriced. 6 dollars for a bowl of soup? Where are you from, New York?

I think all of us have bashed BD elsewhere. It always goes without saying that the place sucks more dick than Jenna Jameson. But Grizzley’s? I have no beef to pick with a small microbrew that makes somewhat mediocre beer. They try at least.

And who are you to be such a condescending bitch?
posted by DrMandrake on April 21st, 2005 at 10:53 am
Dr. Arwulf. Dr.Mandrake. Dr.Pepper.

You, Dr. Mandrake, are a condescending PRICK in your posts.

Xavier
posted by Anonymous on April 21st, 2005 at 4:35 pm
Yes, you’re right about that. But I’m certainly better than all of you, so at least I have a right to be condescending. Well, maybe not better than AAiO, whoever he or she is. AAiO is da bomb, yo.
posted by DrMandrake on April 21st, 2005 at 4:53 pm
That key store has been there forever, even before the Flame bar was there!! It has been owned and operated by the same family since it started and the son will be taking it over soon. I believe there is an article in the observer
posted by A2Local on April 21st, 2005 at 10:20 pm
Bowls of soup at SDJ are 4 bucks, not 6.

I think Grizzly and Mongo haven’t gotten such “pitiful condensation” (?) because their suckitude is actually less distinctive than, say, Cafe Zola. So does that mean they suck more?
posted by Lazaro on April 22nd, 2005 at 7:06 pm