Changes in the city of trees.

[netmouse]

In a response to Mrissa from an earlier thread I go on a bit about ways that Ann Arbor has changed that makes it less fun these days for me to show people around town. I grew up here, and find it much less the comfortable, casual, ideosynchratic and hippy college town it was when I was a kid. Borders has changed from a deep and interestingly unique store to a chain clone. I didn't even go into how the Art Fair has gotten less artsy and fun and more commercial. Even Zingerman's sandwiches are not as good as they once were, since they shrunk them a few years back to keep competitive in the face of Amers and other sandwich cafes.

Would you agree that Ann Arbor is changing for the worse?

What changes do you like? (having Trader Joe's and Whole Foods come in could be counted as positives, for instance).

What do you miss?

Comments

[logangrey.livejournal.com]

But some things have gotten better. The Ann Arbor Ultimate scene has grown by an order of magnitude. :-) There are now several places you can go to have LAN parties all night long. The city is growing up instead of out (or at least trying too), so there are and still will be plenty of parks and green spaces. You can play disc golf on the south side of town and go canoeing almost through the center. Those things are pretty cool. There's still a gaming convention every year- which totally blew me away when I first got here in 91, and I think it's just as good if not better than it was then. Pinball Petes is not only still around, but it's bigger than it used to be.

I just feel obligated to try to point out the bright side. :-) Sure some things are lost, but how much of that is just changing what the people here want? I am a firm believer in the idea that affluence beyond a certain level does more harm than good to one's life. This is an example. I also believe Ann Arbor is still a place where one could do great and wonderful things if one were willing to stand up and fight and devote time and energy to making it happen. There are just fewer and fewer people willing to do so.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_earthshine_/]

That's definitely a fair point. I should caveat what i've said with the fact that, relative to many many places, A²'s still got a lot going for it.

I think much of my gripe is, again, the "seeing how it could be and asking 'why not?'" and not liking the hypotheses that seem to best answer that question. I haven't been here as long as some to be able to tell if the A² i dreamed of is also an A² that was, or if it was all just a silly dream and nothing more.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Pinball Petes is not only still around, but it's bigger than it used to be.

Actually, Pinball Petes is something a friend of mine and I were lamenting about just last night. The original location, SFAIK, was upstairs on William on the block nearest State. Not far from an upstairs comics shop. Both are now closed. For a long time there were two locations, now there's just the one. The state/liberty downtown has gotten too pricey for a lot of places.

Pinball Pete's there was a hole in the wall, and was dark and had a pool table in the back and a soda dispenser that cost a quarter -- I always loved to go there during Art Fair, laughing at the hot thirsty people who were paying 2.00 for a can of pop out on the streets because they didn't know.

I dropped hours there playing gauntlet or watching various games. It was only 3 blocks from my boyfriend's house in high school, which was a another favorite gathering place. That Pinball Pete's is gone, and the new version of the second location on South U may be bigger, but it's totally lost the old atmosphere. Too much light, I guess. :)

[chowbok.livejournal.com]

Do you remember its more sleazy predecessor, Mickey Rat's? It was in the same spot, but it had rooms, which was kinda neat. Pete's tore them all out and made it more like a conventional arcade.