In an Ann Arbor Minute
Maybe A2 really is the Manhattan of the Midwest. From the Overheard in New York blog: “Guy on cell: Yeah, yeah, it’s pretty cool out here I guess…you should totally come visit…It’s just…sometimes I feel like New York is just one big Ann Arbor.”
It’s just like Manhattan without the tall buildings, museums, professional sports teams and good food….
posted by Kozzie on October 17th, 2005 at 10:58 amKozzie, be fair - Manhattan doesn’t have sports. The Yankees are technically in the Bronx and other venues are as far away from Manhattan as Ann Arbor is from Detroit.
posted by FAA on October 17th, 2005 at 11:48 amWhere’d the “Manhattan of the Midwest” moniker come from, anyway? I like Ann Arbor, but I find that comparison ludicrous in the extreme.
posted by Dave on October 17th, 2005 at 11:49 amDave, a while back it used to be on t-shirts. Beyond that, I don’t know where it comes from. It is definitely ludicrous. Ann Arbor isn’t even the St. Louis of the mid-west.
posted by Anna on October 17th, 2005 at 11:54 amAnna, oh, sort of like that other ludicrous t-shirt I saw shortly after I moved to town: “London, Paris, Rome, Ann Arbor.” Who comes up with this stuff?
posted by Dave on October 17th, 2005 at 11:59 amIf AA is so great it really does not say much for the rest of Michigan. The slogans are just embarrassing
posted by murder on October 17th, 2005 at 12:04 pmThat’s kind of the point: it DOES say a lot about Michigan that AA is unarguably the nicest town in it. I’m just not sure AA should take that as a compliment.
posted by Nick on October 17th, 2005 at 12:52 pmAnn Arbor as the nicest town in Michigan is a compliment like “You don’t sweat much for a fat chick.”
posted by js on October 17th, 2005 at 1:55 pmOh, what a charming comment.
posted by Mike on October 17th, 2005 at 4:26 pmNo professional sports teams? I think the Lions would love to have both the ticket revenue (not to mention the payroll) of the Wolverines.
Ann Arbor as the nicest town in Michigan is a compliment like “You don’t sweat much for a fat chick.”
It is true that Manhattan and Ann Arbor aren’t much alike, but the thing is, we yokels (being yokels) count that in Ann Arbor’s favor in many respects. Not only do we inexplicably prefer life in a smaller, quiter, less-crowded city but we also (being yokels) don’t realize that the all of Michigan sucks and, say, enjoying the beaches in the Sleeping Bear Dunes is just pathetic.
I even know somebody who live in Manhattan for many, many years, now lives in Ann Arbor and wouldn’t go back to N.Y. She must have some kind of syndrome, I suppose, but I’m not sure which.
posted by mw on October 17th, 2005 at 4:40 pmUh, guys? I think the slogans are supposed to be, you know, ironic…not that they pull it off very well–I’m just saying…
posted by Mike on October 17th, 2005 at 5:13 pmI don’t think Michigan as a whole sucks, but maybe that’s just me. I like fresh water and the general lack of natural disasters. Save all those pesky invasive species.
posted by Jen on October 17th, 2005 at 6:45 pmIf the slogans were meant to be ironic then yeah, they really didn’t pull it off. And as a native Michigander, I have to defend my state’s honor, at least somewhat. If you haven’t been up north to enjoy summer/late fall, then you’re definitely missing out.
posted by Dave on October 17th, 2005 at 7:19 pmAnn Arbor is nuttin’ like Manhattan…or Brooklyn, for that matter. That’s why I’m here. Ann Arbor is more like Summit, NJ but not as well-dressed or monied (i.e., Republican); and far too educated for its own good.
posted by Bklyn NY on October 17th, 2005 at 8:37 pmFor the price of a small Manhattan one bedroom apartment with maybe 700-800 sq ft, you can get a gigantic (to me) Ann Arbor house with a yard and a garage. No more tipping the doorman to make sure your packages arrive. No more tipping the parking attendant to make sure your car is “taken care of”. No more wasted time waiting for the bus to the subway to the other subway to the other bus. On the other hand, no more great and cheap restaurants, and no more wondering what to do at 7 pm on a Sunday night, mainly because everything is closed here.
posted by JCP2 on October 17th, 2005 at 8:52 pmAnn Arbor is 40 square miles surrounded by reality.
posted by Buck on October 17th, 2005 at 10:29 pmAw, MW, you beat that straw man half to death!
posted by js on October 18th, 2005 at 1:09 amMaybe because, you know, you’re a yokel, you don’t realize that SE Michigan is a vast wasteland of sprawl, and that while it’s nice to visit dunes, actually living near them tends to deprive you of, say, restaurants that aren’t serving hamburgers. I suppose that’s all right if you don’t have any sort of penchant for variety, or are some sort of Being There simp who can make the most of anything.
Oh, and on that “Well, it’s got dunes and freshwater…” Yeah? And? Every state has nice natural features. Hell, I’m sure that the tundra is beautiful in September, as the earth freezes over and the sun shines on the vast white spaces, but that doesn’t mean that living there is at all a decent thing. And I realize that you’re putting up some sort of mythic defense of the small town, and are comparing Ann Arbor through anecdote to Manhattan, but there are better places without your fallacy of undistributed middle. The dunes might be a little further from Madison, or from Austin, or from Athens, or from Ithica, but there are a hell of a lot of arguments for choosing any one of those over Ann Arbor.
Maybe because, you know, you’re a yokel, you don’t realize that SE Michigan is a vast wasteland of sprawl
But no more so than the suburbs of Chicago or, pretty much, the suburbs of almost anywhere. True, the Chicago area has Chicago in the center while SE Mich has Detroit. But if we want to spend a weekend in the city, we go to Chicago (which is almost as close to most of Michigan as Detroit is).
while it’s nice to visit dunes, actually living near them tends to deprive you of, say, restaurants that aren’t serving hamburgers.
You obviously don’t spend much up there. There’s money up there and where there’s money, there are decent restaurants. I could live in or around Traverse City and not suffer greatly.
Every state has nice natural features.
They do? I lived in Illinois for many years and somehow missed them all (the Chicago lakefront excepted). Pretty much everyone in the Chicago area who wanted to do something outdoors for the weekend drove to Wisconsin or Michigan.
The dunes might be a little further from Madison, or from Austin, or from Athens, or from Ithica, but there are a hell of a lot of arguments for choosing any one of those over Ann Arbor.
Sure, I suppose you could move to Madison and complain about how much Milwaukee sucks and how the state has no world-class city (and then go to Chicago for the weekend). Doesn’t sound like a big change to me, but…
posted by mw on October 18th, 2005 at 8:39 amI don’t remember anything great to eat in Traverse City, but in general I’m pretty sure that there’s lots of money in Grosse Point, MI, Harbortown, Hilton Head, SC, Druid Hills, GA, Kent, CT, Lewisboro, NY, Blue Hill, ME and Beverly Farms, MA, and I challenge you to find more than one (if that) decent restaurant in any of those places. Actually, I don’t know about Grosse Point — that one is just a guess.
posted by Anna on October 18th, 2005 at 9:01 amI had an absolutely awesome meal at the City Park Grill in Petoskey. That’s a good restaurant, in a small town, on the shore of Lake Michigan. Traverse I know less about, but I seem to recall they had at least one good brewpub. And I agree that every state does NOT have nice natural features. One drive through the aforementioned Illinois or Ohio (although the hills toward W. Va. get cool) or Mississippi or one of the western rectangle states should counter that claim.
posted by Dave on October 18th, 2005 at 11:05 amPretty much everyone in the Chicago area who wanted to do something outdoors for the weekend drove to Wisconsin or Michigan.
Don’t remind me.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 18th, 2005 at 11:22 amI don’t remember anything great to eat in Traverse City
Well, here’s one that gets all the accolades, but we haven’t managed to get up there yet:
http://www.tapawingo.net/
We’ve had some very nice dinners at the Bower’s Harbor Inn, though. Gorgeous setting (we like to anchor the boat off the beach and row in–tastes better than if you just drive there). Menu isn’t terribly adventurous (fish/pasta/steak) but good. Done with fresh herbs from the garden behind the restaurant (which you can wander through after dinner).
But there are a lot of places up there we like. There’s a little Jewish Deli in Beulah (no I don’t know what it’s doing in Beulah either) that I’d take over Zingerman’s (not ridiculously priced and food’s a bit more interesting in some ways). There’s a restaurant in Elberta in an old warehouse on the water with darts, pool tables, and live music. A pint or two of Oberon and a sirloin or side or ribs hit the spot there. We like to drive out to Arcadia Bluffs — not to golf but just for lunch at the grill. Food’s nothing special (brats, burgers, grilled chicken) but sitting on the front porch of the club house looks like this:
http://www.arcadiabluffs.com/course_hole_5.php
After a morning of cross country skiing, a bowl of clam chowder, a whitefish sandwich, and a beer go down great at Joe’s in Empire. Ok, ok, it’s not exactly this:
http://www.starpeakcabin.com/ashcroft.html
But it’s entirely possible to enjoy both - once you stop worrying about whether or not you *should* like the like the food, about whether it deserves to be enjoyed because it is elite and hip, then that bowl of hot creamy clam chowder tastes fantanstic on a cold winter day after a couple hours on the trails.
posted by mw on October 18th, 2005 at 11:48 amThe Rowe Inn in Ellsworth is another great spot, not quite as fru-fru as Tapawingo. Either one blows the doors off anything available down here.
posted by OFWinsurgent on October 18th, 2005 at 2:25 pmmw and OFW are different people?
posted by Anna on October 18th, 2005 at 5:12 pmmw -
I’d like to second that “every state does not have nice natural features” bit, specifically, pointing towards Indiana.
Maybe Indiana has something I missed… but Christ. Fuck Indiana. If the state could build 20 foot tall walls on either side of the freeway to obstruct the view while driving past Gary, I sure would appreciate it. They have cheap fireworks and cigarettes, and since I have a good feeling that if you lit a match in the air around Gary something would explode, I’d like to suggest that the new state motto be “caution: flammable”.
Michigan can be gorgeous. The sprawl around Detroit, not so much. I grew up around 14 mile, and although suburbia is hell, at least I could ride my bike to Vietmanese, Chinese, Thai, Polish, Arabic, Japanese, and Indian restaurants and shops. And Royal Oak before it got yuppie-fied. Anyone remember the days when you could go into Royal Oak at midnight and find a ton of random teenagers and 20 year olds on the streets, playing hackey-sack or guitar or just talking? I met so many lovely people randomly in those days. Now the city is dead to me. I know exactly when it happened, actually - when a few of the coffeeshops started banning teenagers in groups of more than 2, or altogether without an adult (although Caribou to its credit never did, and didn’t bother us when 3 of my friends passed out on a countertop after a concert).
Ohio sprawl is the worst I’ve ever driven past. I’ve gone through the state many times, not always just on the turnpike, and I’ve generally seen nothing but suburbs an overwhelming majority of the time.
Where the hell was I going with this?
posted by Jen on October 18th, 2005 at 8:08 pmI agree - Ohio, Indiana and Illinois - I guess save Chicago are DEAD states. They make Michigan look like an oasis. We just spent a week in the UP in the Porcupine Mountains. God the whole entire UP is gorgeous to me. Lake Superior and Michigan lakeshore, primal forest, the colors were great last week. Not many people, cheap prices. Hell I don’t even mind the winters - I lived up in Houghton for more years than I am going to admit to while in college. It was great. And it is all Michigan. Where else can you live in an “overrated” great place like Ann Arbor and drive to wilderness areas that span 300 x 75? miles and be in the same state? I have to admit I love Michigan. But I hate all of the road construction. Christ I will be glad when the Superbowl is over. I hear that is why we are scurrying to fix our roads.
posted by trojanhorse on October 18th, 2005 at 8:18 pmAnn Arbor — not too far from somewhere better.
posted by Dale on October 18th, 2005 at 8:42 pmIf I could print a shirt, it would have one of my two *favorite* quotes used by Ann Arborites on newcomers…
“Ann Arbor…don’t cha just love it more *every* day?”
My other favorite quote is from the guy who was recruiting us to come here (from Seattle). When I remarked that, in fact, our next door neighbors in Seattle both were from Ann Arbor, he broke in with a big grin saying “And they can’t stop talking about it???” I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but I wanted to scream “Uh, NO, because they live in SEATTLE…”
Whew. I feel better.
posted by Fran on October 18th, 2005 at 8:58 pmWhere else can you live in an “overrated” great place like Ann Arbor and drive to wilderness areas that span 300 x 75? miles and be in the same state?
Maine (Portland), New Hampshire (Portsmouth), New York (NYC), California (San Francisco), Oregon (Portland), Vermont (Burlington), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Philly). I’m not sure about exact mileage, but those states all have significant state and federal forests and towns that are worth living in. And if you don’t mind if the wilderness isn’t forested, there are also states like Arizona and New Mexico.
posted by Anna on October 18th, 2005 at 9:01 pmNext time you’re in Chicago, drive down to Starved Rock (about 90 miles sw) for some natural features. Amazing place. Not so great for restaurants, but you can’t have everything.
And southern IN & OH both have some nice scenery if you get off I-94.
posted by Sandy on October 18th, 2005 at 9:25 pmWhy I could never live in Arizona or New Mexico:
I’d want to cut someone every time I saw a golf course in the middle of the goddamned desert. A Michigan friend moved out to an area outside of Mesa and their family could choose between a pool and a small patch of grass, just enough to have enough room for a picnic. That I’m ok with. But golf… ugh. Flying over Phoenix, those just stuck out like sore thumbs over the landscape.
As for New York, upstate is quite gorgeous, as is the drive from Ithaca to the city. I quite prefer it to the Michigan landscape, if only because the rolling hills make for great views the whole way through. However, from AA I can drive for ten minutes and get to two decent lakes, for example. It takes quite a bit of work to get out of the city in New York, or Philly (those being the only 2 I can speak on with any authority).
… don’t take this as a defense of Ann Arbor so much as more a defense of Michigan. I’m still in a weekend-road-trip blissful haze; this may change next week, we’ll see. Granted, I forgot about Brighton and the new mall being built up 23…
posted by Jen on October 18th, 2005 at 9:26 pmI don’t believe that foodies (usually found in or near major metropolitan areas) and non-foodies (for lack of a handy antonym) will ever understand each other. Some people have sharp palates; some don’t.
I can see why foodies might suffer in Ann Arbor. The tireless promotion of mediocre restaurants (like the ones on Main Street) must intensify the pain. I wonder, though, how many self-described foodies are really just dull-palate poseurs desparate (as always) to attach themselves to urbane pursuits like gourmet dining. Hmm?
The poster mw made note of this: “… once you stop worrying about whether or not you *should* like the food, about whether it deserves to be enjoyed because it is elite and hip…”
Here’s another restaurant of note in the Traverse City area: http://www.kejarasbridge.com/
posted by Kevin on October 19th, 2005 at 8:30 amHuh? How do you figure that Philly & NYC are harder to get out of than Ann Arbor?
posted by Anna on October 19th, 2005 at 12:54 pmAnna, I can’t speak for other people but I’d be willing to wager that it’s a lot harder to get out of Philly and NYC due to their size - that is, they’re just *slightly* larger than Ann Arbor.
posted by FAA on October 19th, 2005 at 1:16 pmWhat FAA said.
posted by Jen on October 19th, 2005 at 1:38 pmAnna, I agree with FAA. When I lived in NYC (both Manhattan and Queens), it took me a good 45 minutes in traffic just to make it to the NJ turnpike, from where I would go to other places. To make it to Long Island past Garden City also took 45 minutes. I could take a plane, but it’s 30 minutes to LaGuardia, an hour to JFK, and longer to Newark. The stations for Amtrak, NJ transit, Metro North, and LIRR are central to Manhattan, but it still takes time to get there and then wait for the train. Working in Philly was no joy either, with traffic on both the bridges across to New Jersey or a twenty minute walk to Penn Station for Amtrak. Here, in less then 5 minutes, I’m on I-94, M-14, or US-23, well on my way to escaping football Saturdays.
posted by JCP2 on October 19th, 2005 at 1:48 pmOh by the way, my assumptions are that you have access to a car.
posted by JCP2 on October 19th, 2005 at 1:51 pmFYI: Anna just can’t make a comment to this blog unless it is a negative statement…she’s not wired to be rational, just reactionary. It’s amusingly predictable.
posted by OFWinsurgent on October 19th, 2005 at 2:25 pmOFW can’t make a comment unless it’s stupid. She’s can’t help it, she’s just a moron. It would be amusing, if her IQ were about 30 points higher. As it is, I just feel guilty for picking on her.
posted by Anna on October 19th, 2005 at 2:29 pmWendy (aka OFWinsurgent) laughs and laughs.
posted by OFWinsurgent on October 19th, 2005 at 2:45 pmI love Ann Arbor, and I’m not even from Michigan!
posted by jwc on October 19th, 2005 at 7:11 pmThat’s probably why — but back to the “I can get out of Ann Arbor fast” putative plus-side of Ann Arbor, I suppose it depends on some combination of how fast you can get out, and how close anything worth doing is to where you start. Plus, if you assume no car, it is definitely easier to get out of a major metro area than it is to get out of Ann Arbor.
posted by Anna on October 19th, 2005 at 8:44 pmI think it is easy to get where at least I need to go outside of Ann Arbor. Hop onto 94 or M 14 to get to Detroit, onto 23 to 96 to get to Lansing, or 23 to 75 to go up north. I don’t get that it is hard to get out of Ann Arbor. I think this has gotten to be a dead end topic on this blog.
Have we answered the original blog question - is Ann Arbor the Manhatten of the Midwest? Has this blog reached its end of life?
posted by trojanhorse on October 19th, 2005 at 9:27 pmOkay, maybe I was wrong; maybe it is easy to get out of AA, which is apparently a selling point…which would suggest that AA is definitely not the Manhattan of the midwest.
posted by Anna on October 19th, 2005 at 10:39 pmit’s not even an island!
posted by peter honeyman on October 19th, 2005 at 11:10 pmYou know, there are things “worth doing” in Michigan. People here talk like this state is some dump like Indiana or something, but it’s just not.
posted by Dave on October 20th, 2005 at 11:02 amI wasn’t saying there weren’t things worth doing, I was just saying that they aren’t close to Ann… oh nevermind.
posted by Anna on October 20th, 2005 at 12:43 pmI moved to Philadelphia from Ann Arbor a couple of years ago. I don’t have a car and can easily go to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Providence, etc.
If I hadn’t had a car in Ann Arbor, I could have easily walked to Ypsilanti. Whitmore Lake, if I had a free chunk of a day.
posted by rjwhite on October 20th, 2005 at 4:07 pm