A2’s Very Distorted Mirror Image
Geoff Larcom makes a case for supporting Seattle, “Ann Arbor’s soul mate,” this Sunday. Among the parallels:
Residents there have the Space Needle, which defines their skyline. We have Burton Tower, which defines our skyline.
Seattle has Pioneer Square, we have Pioneer High School.
Seattle has Puget Sound and Mount Rainier and we have Argo Pond and Mount Brighton.
Seattle has great seafood, we have the Real Seafood Company.
But there are more uncanny similarities. For instance, Nirvana is from Seattle, and Taproot is from Ann Arbor. Seattle has Microsoft, which undoubtedly uses a lot of tree data structures — and Ann Arbor is known as “Tree Town.” Kind of scary.
Hmmmmmm… Ted Bundy attended university in Seattle, Ted Kaczynski attended in Ann Arbor.
posted by FAA on January 30th, 2006 at 12:50 pmPsychotic Teds…that’s actually a pretty good parallel.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on January 30th, 2006 at 1:38 pmIt rains a lot here too…this is SO amazing. That Larcom guy - what an intuitive fellow! Now, if only we’d invented Starbucks…
posted by Michael McC. on January 30th, 2006 at 2:12 pmSeattle has Starbucks, Ann Arbore has Starbucks!
posted by leighton on January 30th, 2006 at 2:15 pm“Seattle has Starbucks”, Ann Arbor has Borders
posted by Urbanchords on January 30th, 2006 at 5:39 pmyes, but how’s their drinking water? award-winning?
posted by ellen on January 30th, 2006 at 6:04 pmAnother parallel: Seattle has a useless downtown monorail, Ann Arbor has the AATA.
posted by Nick on January 30th, 2006 at 7:28 pmNirvana is from Seattle? Hey, I heard Nirvana once played at the Blind Pig!
posted by Jen on January 30th, 2006 at 8:38 pmAnn Arbor has overpriced restaurants; Seattle has overpriced restaurants.
posted by just me on January 30th, 2006 at 10:55 pm“Each city has…challenging parking?”
posted by Lisa on January 31st, 2006 at 9:30 am…I guess Ann Arbor is the next Manhattan!
Barf.
posted by Transplant on January 31st, 2006 at 12:49 pmLarcom is the same columnist who once published a paean to the alleys of Ann Arbor, in which he repeated the clause “I love the alleys of Ann Arbor,” interspersed between bits of prose poetry specifying noteworthy (?) things about a couple of downtown alleys. It was a classic bit of inanity from the News, about 4 years ago, and I would love to read it again.
Ann Arbor’s true soul-mate is Brighton, MI, but they broke up in the 1980s–it seems AA was getting a little fat.
posted by morbidly midwestern on January 31st, 2006 at 5:29 pmYea, I like to cut through the alleys downtown. Its the only time you can actually pretend you’re not really in Ann Arbor
posted by murder on January 31st, 2006 at 9:03 pmWow, some amazing comparisons there. They both have mass transportation, Starbucks, and expensive restaurants. Last time I checked, every major city in this world has those. Next, lets chalk up roads, people, and cops… profound.
I do like the Ted comparison though..
posted by Anonymous on February 1st, 2006 at 3:09 amRE: Post above this…
So Ann Arbor is kind of like Detroit?
posted by Big John on February 1st, 2006 at 12:41 pmSo what’s your favorite alley in Ann Arbor …? There used to be a tiny alley-driveway near Hill Auditorium (on the same side of the side street as Escoffier), which led to a small parking lot that hardly anyone seemed to know about, and which almost always seemed to magically have a parking space, even during a concert at Hill or Rackham. It was like the Secret Garden of parking lots … not even the traffic cops knew where it was, so they couldn’t give tickets.
Wait, I think the University took over that lot too…
posted by daniel on February 1st, 2006 at 3:55 pmAnd besides, with its narrow, romantic alleyways, everyone knows that Ann Arbor’s soul-mate/city is Tuebigen, Germany…
And for the last time, why is Ann Arbor even taking notice of the Superbowl (other than in an individualistic, stay at home and watch the game sort of way…).
posted by daniel on February 1st, 2006 at 3:59 pmDetroit doesn’t have enough hotel space to house everyone, so MANY people are staying in Ann Arbor during their trip (every place I called is booked for the weekend). I think they’re going to try to clean off Detroit’s grit with some tea tree oil.
posted by Dale on February 1st, 2006 at 4:27 pmHa I wonder how many celebrity sightings there will be in Ann Arbor as Ticket holders get suckered in to a day trip to the Manhattan of the midwest.
posted by murder on February 1st, 2006 at 5:09 pmdoes this mean that Mayor Kilpatrick’s insidious plan - outlined in his inaugural address last month - to get the cities of the region involved in the doings of Detroit is actually working?
posted by daniel on February 1st, 2006 at 5:23 pmI swear I saw Bill Ford on State St. Sunday with a 10-or-so year old boy. They were eating ice cream by Stucchi’s/Ben&Jerry’s.
posted by Dale on February 1st, 2006 at 6:22 pmBill Ford lives in Ann Arbor (Barton Hills, of course).
posted by OFWinsurgent on February 1st, 2006 at 8:37 pmIt’s a bit late to be weighing in on this thread, but a former Ann Arbor resident, who now lives in Seattle, just emailed some responses to the Teeter Talk sample questions, which are now posted here: www.homelessdave.com/tt20060201tplesco.htm
He actually makes the case for the cement turtles as his favorite playground equipment, in addition to throwing in his two cents on what’s overrated about Ann Arbor. HD
posted by HD on February 5th, 2006 at 5:43 pmIn regards to the very first comment (where someone said that Seattle had Ted Bundy), Ted Bundy actually stopped in Ann Arbor, during one of his escapes from jail. He stole a car here, which he later abandoned in Georgia.
posted by Madison on September 1st, 2008 at 5:50 am