Michigan Meetup

October 24, 2005 7:52 PM

Ann Arbor/Ypsi, I call YOU out!
(More in the innards)
posted by klangklangston to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:52 PM (38 comments total)

I'd like to have a gathering, and when noting Slothrop's email in his profile, I saw that there are a lot of you guys with zips near here. Thus, I call you out.
I'm not very good at organizing things, however, so I need your help in picking a date. Also, since I'm broke, I will put forth that Ypsilanti is inherently superior to Ann Arbor and that all meetings should be held there, preferably at Sidetracks after 10 (or whenever they do that Happy Hour thing). Alternately, Arbor Brewing has happy hour all night on Mondays. And Leopold Bros have some fairly reasonable specials early in the week.

Now you can come and beat me up in person!
posted by klangklangston at 7:55 PM on October 24, 2005

Has the Tap Room started up live shows again? That might almost be enough to drag me out to Ypsi.
posted by Galvatron at 10:31 PM on October 24, 2005

Parking near the Tap Room is a nightmare right now - though they do have music 5 days a week. I would recommend Aubree's (across the street from the Sidetrack) - they have pool tables and darts, NTN, etc. It is also larger than the Sidetrack. Depot Merchants has addresses, etc.
posted by blackkar at 6:27 AM on October 25, 2005

What kind of a city is Ypsilanti? My company's got some sort of a factory down there, and I've known *of* Ypsi for 5 years strictly as an abstract concept. Over the years, I've obtained information that has led me to believe that actual people inhabit this area, and there is a civil entity of sorts beyond the ephemeral factory to the south.

Just asking, I'm in no position (career-wise) to actually go there.
posted by sleslie at 7:46 AM on October 25, 2005

I'd most likely come to a meetup, preferably in Ypsi as well. I'm partial to Sidetrack as I used to be a bartender there. They do have the best happy hour in Ann Arbor or Ypsi, as you get 23 oz of premium imported taps such as Bass or Guinness for $2.50 (although it may have gone up since I used to work there.)

Ypsilanti is a great little town, although constantly overshadowed by our pretentious neighbor, Ann Arbor. We have recently received money from the state as part of Granholm's Cool Cities initiative to encourage and develop the arts. We have several theaters, a brand new library (okay, we can't really compare to Ann Arbor with theaters), a historic district, a downtown area in need of revitalization, Eastern Michigan University, some cool neighborhoods to live in, as well as a few housing projects. I can think of many worse places to live.

This place has a lot of history with some character left over. Hopefully, it won't be suburbanized to hell like the rest of Southeast Michigan, although signs of that are beginning to appear on the south side of town. And if you do get the urge for some high culture or expensive yet exotic and delectable foods, Ann Arbor is only ten minutes away.
posted by Roger Dodger at 8:18 AM on October 25, 2005

It's a smallish college town smushed against a larger college town. There is/was a GM and a Visteon factory here. It is very residential, for all of the employees and students that cannot afford to live in Ann Arbor and others that don't want to live in Detroit. As far as I can tell, the residents are very community minded and there are a lot of summer festivals. The downtown area is in a recovery phase, hence the lack of parking near the Tap Room. Depot town is historical, the houses around it are beautiful. The main campus of Eastern Mich. is also doing a lot of construction. There are definite areas of prosperity and lack thereof, but I don't think the crime is significantly worse than any other small community.
posted by blackkar at 8:21 AM on October 25, 2005

Stupid lack of previewing...
posted by blackkar at 8:22 AM on October 25, 2005

Also, I believe Tap Room only doing open mics on Monday as their only music programs these days.
posted by Roger Dodger at 8:25 AM on October 25, 2005

I must have been looking at an old website. Sorry.
posted by blackkar at 9:31 AM on October 25, 2005

Lack of parking near Tap Room? There's that lot right around the corner, where I park to go to the Elbow Room (which is infinitely sweeter than the Tap Room).
posted by klangklangston at 9:54 AM on October 25, 2005

They are redoing the surface lots right now - the lot over by BW3 is the only one that I knew was still open.
posted by blackkar at 10:05 AM on October 25, 2005

Hmm. I'm in Ypsi now; I'll drive past that on my way home and see...

Any idea on a date? (And parking's not so bad around Sidetracks. They've got that huge lot for the Farmer's market).
posted by klangklangston at 11:40 AM on October 25, 2005

Ypsi does have a few exotic restaurants of good quality such as Fiesta Mexicana (tied for my favorite restaurant in Michigan) and Dalat on Michigan Ave. Normal Park, where I live, is also a nice little neighborhood. Ypsilanti is actually older than Ann Arbor, by the way, but didn't get such a large school plopped in the middle of it.

Sidetrack is actually the only drinking establishment I've been in in Ypsi. I should definitely do the Elbow Room before my grad career ends.
posted by Slothrop at 12:01 PM on October 25, 2005

I'd be glad to meet up with you trash-talking ypsi-ites and hoist a few - Sidetrack, Elbow room, Tap room... whatever's fine with me. I promise that I'll leave my Ann Arbor-issued monocle, top hat, cummerbund and spats at home. Scout's honor.
posted by sluggo at 12:21 PM on October 25, 2005

Fiesta Mexicana allows you to bring your own beer (yeah!) in addition to serving good food, but it is very tiny. How many of us are there? Oh yeah, there is a framed photo of the owner with EDWARD JAMES OLMOS. OMG how sweet is that?
posted by ibeji at 12:26 PM on October 25, 2005

I promise that I'll leave my Ann Arbor-issued monocle, top hat, cummerbund and spats at home. Scout's honor.

I may show up with a Belleville-issued celluloid dickey, but I can't promise anything.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 12:34 PM on October 25, 2005

You might have more takers for your plans if you made this look like a meet-up thread mentioning a place rather than making it look like a possible-callout-not-sure-though thread.
posted by nthdegx at 1:08 PM on October 25, 2005

I promise that I'll leave my Ann Arbor-issued monocle, top hat, cummerbund and spats at home. Scout's honor.

You can have my Ypsi Pride switchblade when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
posted by Slothrop at 1:13 PM on October 25, 2005

I have an "I [heart] Ypsi" button that was given to me by Cheryl Farmer.

Dalat would be a great place to have a meet-up— it's spacious, tasty and serves beer. We could also walk from there to Sidetracks or The Elbow Room.
Oh, and the parking lot across the street from the Elbow Room is totally open (and resurfaced).

Do you guys want to say Dalat, with a move to beering afterwards? It's Vietnamese food of an excellent pedigree (and now that the Golden Wall has different owners, the Wall no longer has the best Vietnamese food in Ypsi). When is a good date?
posted by klangklangston at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2005

NthDeg: You're not coming, then? (I kid.)
posted by klangklangston at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2005

Might do! Still no idea where you're talking about ;)
posted by nthdegx at 2:56 PM on October 25, 2005

I might be able to make that depending on when you schedule it (November?).
posted by tweak at 5:10 PM on October 25, 2005

Full disclosure - Slothrop and dirtmonster hang out with sluggo and ibeji. Sos I'm guessing the four of us could come to Dalat and maybe even beer.

I had no idea about the Golden Wall!
posted by Slothrop at 5:22 PM on October 25, 2005

The Golden Wall's great secret was that it made shitty Chinese food and amazing Vietnamese food, because the family that used to own it was Vietnamese and for some reason just assumed that a Chinese restaurant would fly where one that more accurately reflected their background wouldn't. But now it's owned by a Chinese family, which has increased the quality of their Chinese food but eliminated everything else.
posted by klangklangston at 6:25 PM on October 25, 2005

Saigon Garden has decent Chinese food and better Vietnamese. Does anyone know of *any* good Chinese around here (seriously)? Anyway... so we're talking early November then?
posted by ibeji at 8:31 PM on October 25, 2005

Yes, first week of November sounds good. I love Dalat as well. And I always get my Chinese from King Shing takeout on Carpenter. Nothing spectacular though.
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:21 AM on October 26, 2005

I like Chia Shang, on Packard, but that's because they have a full vegetarian kitchen. There's also The Evergreen on Plymouth, which has a lot of Asians who eat there (though I've never been all that impressed), and my Chinese neighbor said was good.
Mostly, though, I think this town does better on Japanese, Thai and Korean. There's great Bi Bim Bop all over this town, and I can get some great curries about anywhere. Oh, and Indian food too, if we count them as Asian... (When I was in Thailand, it was funny how much of American Thai food was discounted by the locals for being either Chinese or Indian. "Phad Thai, that's Chinese food! Not Thai! Masoman curry? That's Indian food, not Thai! Steaming bowl of black mushrooms and onions? That's Thai food!")
Early in November? Do we want a weeknight or a weekend?
posted by klangklangston at 9:10 AM on October 26, 2005

Great, you guys plan a meetup right after I leave the area.

And for the record, the Chinese restaurant on Carpenter (Great Lakes Seafood or something like that) and TK Wu on Liberty both have excellent Chinese food.
posted by gyc at 11:58 AM on October 26, 2005

I can probably make it.

I do have to confess that, though I lived in Ann Arbor for four years and grew up near there, I have never actually been to Ypsi. You'll have to help me with the directions.
posted by naturesgreatestmiracle at 12:42 PM on October 26, 2005

Gyc: If you're still around now, we can get a beer before you leave.

Nature's Greatest: It's, um, east. If you tell me where you're coming from, I can drop the orientation science on you. Or, you know, you can always use Mapquest or an analogue.
posted by klangklangston at 1:16 PM on October 26, 2005

What kind of a city is Ypsilanti?

The kind that would build a water tower that looks like a giant stone penis.

(Used to live on Ballard.)
posted by kindall at 5:55 PM on October 26, 2005

I used to live on Summit (11 S. Summit, in fact), but our landlord was on Ballard. We gave people directions by telling them to turn at the cock. "You'll know what I mean when you get here."
posted by klangklangston at 6:22 PM on October 26, 2005

November sounds good, as does the "Dalat-then-some-bar" approach... any day of the week will work for me.
posted by sluggo at 3:46 AM on October 27, 2005

you can always use Mapquest

Yeah, but I've been led astray a few times by those sites. A corn field is great and all, but really poor as a substitute for a hotel.

I'll be coming from Milford.
posted by naturesgreatestmiracle at 7:09 AM on October 27, 2005

I'm sorry.
posted by klangklangston at 10:26 AM on October 27, 2005

So what's the plan now?
posted by sluggo at 8:12 AM on October 28, 2005

You wanna say Friday November 4th? Like, 7pm or so?
posted by klangklangston at 2:39 PM on October 28, 2005

Re-announce in a new thread with all the details and get a final headcount.
posted by tweak at 6:51 AM on October 31, 2005