I think it's been about a year since I posted any pictures, and I hope to engage in a flurry of activity in the next week or two so I can get caught up. My wife and I took a midsummer trip to visit some breweries -- and relatives -- in Kalamazoo, but we made stops in Battle Creek, Jackson, and Ann Arbor, which is the subject of this post.

 

Well, isn't this a fine how-do-ya-do?

 

I'll start with downtown and environs

 

Such as the amazing Zingerman's Deli

 

And a view of downtown and the farmers market from the deli

 

 

Obligatory mid-sized Michigan city Art Deco tower

 

... and surroundings

 

Newer stuff, closer to U of M campus

 

 

 

Pretty street

 

Lunchtime activity

 

 

Street view

 

Near the heart of downtown

 

Again

 

Nice alley

 

Nice older stuff in Art Deco shadow

 

Beginning the transition to the campus district

 

 

 

Repurposed houses between downtown and campus

 

 

Liberty Street, I believe

 

State Street, at the front door of U of M

 

State Street looking southwest

 

So many, many things about State Street are so far superior to High Street at OSU -- even the CVS

 

... and the Walgreen's

 

... and most other buildings

 

But nothing compares to the Nickels Arcade -- one of the main things I wanted to see in Ann Arbor. This is the State Street entrance

 

... and this is the Maynard Street entrance

 

... and these are glimpses in between

 

 

 

 

 

On State Street -- one of two campus theaters that render anything at OSU utterly laughable

 

The other, on Liberty Street

 

Another view of the Michigan theater on Liberty -- with the State in the background

 

More views from along Liberty

 

 

Nice photos.  A2 is a fascinating small diverse university city.  It almost seems like Cleveland in miniature... I'm sure your comments, however, will go over well with OSU UOers... 

I also enjoyed these A2 photos, especially of the Nickels Arcade.  Nevertheless, please be advised to either don a flak jacket or seek a bunker for protection.  You already know why.  :laugh:

Well, I'm not talking about the school, and certainly not about the football team. But in terms of the campus strip, Michigan clobbers OSU.

I've never been to Ann Arbor- but that arcade is sweet :-)

 

Nice pics!

I loved Ann Arbor when I visited last Fall/Winter for the OSU-Michigan game. It's a really vibrant and cosmopolitan feeling small city, and I agree that it feels much more cohesive and put together than the High Street strip adjacent to OSU. However, being a small city, everything is kind of clustered together in the downtown and campus areas, whereas OSU students obviously have the Short North and High Street and all that.

If you think Ann Arbor is a nice lady, then you don't know Ann Arbor

Not enough bars

I loved Ann Arbor when I visited last Fall/Winter for the OSU-Michigan game. It's a really vibrant and cosmopolitan feeling small city, and I agree that it feels much more cohesive and put together than the High Street strip adjacent to OSU. However, being a small city, everything is kind of clustered together in the downtown and campus areas, whereas OSU students obviously have the Short North and High Street and all that.

 

Ann Arbor seems to be more constricted in its layout than most places, and with more of a 6x6 or 7x7 block downtown rather than a strip, despite an obvious topographical explanation. 

 

Here is the planned light rail line:

http://aaconnector.com/

 

 

^Yeah, you really can't compare Ann Arbor with the University District for that reasoning.  The University District is simply a (long) commercial strip for a very large university; Ann Arbor is a small city which includes a large university.  Much like comparing, say, Boulder or Athens, GA with University District in Seattle or The Drag in Austin.

 

With that said, I like Ann Arbor very much (and yes, I graduated from OSU).  It's compact, walkable, and has some great buildings/theaters.

But the size of the city and the shape of the strip has nothing to do with whether architecture and history are preserved, or whether buildings are left to rot by rapacious landlords, or whether old buildings are replaced by soulless boxes.

Bloomington, IN has a nice downtown that runs into the University, just on a smaller scale.  Ann Arbor is a good size city for a college town so it's got decent size all around.

 

Another decent sized college town is Iowa City.  About the same size as Bloomington where it's a "mixed" downtown a bit.

 

Both Bloomington and Iowa City have metros of around 180k.  Ann Arbor is at 350k so much bigger.

 

Madison is another place that is a college town but is quite a bit bigger than Ann Arbor and also is the capital of Wisconsin.  You could say it's similar to Lansing / East Lansing but I don't think they are that compareable.