Say Yes to Michigan Message Board

I was a teen in Escanaba, lived in Marquette for six years, and worked at Oakland U. in Rochester until moving to Sacramento back in 2001.

I miss pasties, hockey, Bronner's, the Lakes (my heart belongs to Superior), and Mackinac Island fudge ice cream. I don't miss snow, -40 wind chills, or mosquitoes.

oooohhh Pasties! My poor poor children have never seen snow..sniff...sniff...pass the sun tan oil...my poor babies, have never known the joy of Frankenmuth, chicken dinners, glockenspiels, or late spring on Mackinac Island. I'm a horrible mother...forcing them to go to the beach, swim in the pool, but never taken them to the UP, or the Great Lakes, or Angelo's in Flint. ;-) I do miss Michigan. Real Grass. Fireflies. People who won't make fun of my Michigander Accent.

Poor us in Tampa!

What accent?

I've lived in Michigan my whole life. Have done the Frankenmuth thing several times. Done pasties, hockey, Bronner's, all five lakes, Mac fudge ice cream and Vernors.

But where is Angelo's? I grew up in the Thumb. Now live in Sterling Heights.

I love T Falls, hate the mosquitoes there.

Angelo's is in Flint. I lived in Flint, Saginaw, Grand Blanc, and Ann Arbor. See wikipedia for The Northern Vowel Shift. I have a slight accent. Mom is Mawm...and my poor children living here in the south, have changed it to mawmma-Momma. But only with family, I seem to enunciate clearer around non-family which usually makes it disappear.

Michtelassn: Grew up in Detroit, I mean Detroit, not some pansy suburb. Mother's family is from Manistee. I now live in a log cabin my grandfather built in what is now the Manistee National Forest. I work in Cadillac, wife works in Manistee. Staying in NW Michigan is a career-killer, but worth it.

I'm currently living in exile in hoosierland, only just too far away to get home as often as I'd like. I'm a Detroit-suburban kid (bland the burbs may be, but a great place to grow up) - and UM alum. What I miss most is the lakes: where I live now we have creeks that flood when it rains and are dry when it doesn't; and ugly murky flood-control pools that the locals call "lakes". Ugh.

Also near the top of my homesickness list: the DSO. Albert Kahn architecture. Sanders. Good newspapers. XC skiing in mid-michigan forests, and spending nearly every summer & winter weekend "up north" -- that is, anywhere north of Clare. The reading room of the grad library in Ann Arbor (lovely, high-ceilinged, well-lit, quiet paradise!). At least I still get to visit....

i lived in Ann Arbor for five years~i hear you about the reading room, the architecture, and the lakes, i miss just about everything

I grew up in Big Rapids, but I currently live in Grand Rapids - how are people enjoying today's blizzard?

I'm going to be driving into lake-effect-land tomorrow afternoon...hope it's calmed down by then!

Good luck...we're supposed to get snow for the next week. The blizzard warning ended at 10, though, so hopefully it won't be as awful as it was today - Grand Rapids basically shut down.

no blizzards in the south central part of the mitten... got to over 50F in my area!!

(but this message is more than a month after the last postings)

my how michigan weather can change!!

Currently reside just outside of Seattle, but grew up in Deeeetroit (in the city, not the pansy suburbs), went to college in the grand U.P., and they hardly ever make fun of my Michigan accent anymore. Once, long ago, I was on a bus and the driver was talking to someone and I could tell just where in Michigan he was from (Gaylord).
Took my 9 year old daughter to Michigan 2 years ago-UP, PastyFest in Calumet, Tourist Trap in Marquette, Sea Shell City, Mystery Spot, White Castle and Art Institute and Downtown Library in Deeetroit, Greenfield Village, Frankemuth, Lindell's in Lake Linden...she's 11, and can't wait to go back next year for a big family reunion. Neither can I!

Libraryguy, your tourist list made me laugh! Apparently I was taken to Sea Shell City when I was very small, but I only remember it as the source of endless preteen mirth on the long drive up I-75 to Mackinac ("Say it ten times, fast!"). The DIA has now had a major, much-lauded renovation, and I'm hoping I can fit in a visit over Christmas break.

Wow, great thread. Pasties, Vernors, the big tire on i-94, greek town, all kinds of cafes in ferndale and royal oak that are sadly no more... Going back for a visit at Christmas and hoping to get a chance to check out the museum of contemporary art.

From Sterling Heights, now living in San Francisco.

Calumet has a Pasty Fest???

You can come back here, you know. Cheap homes, but not much work. Plenty of foreclosed homes available.

Another great way you can tell someone who lived in the Detroit area in the 80s... Say, "My lines, my lines! I can't remember my lines!!" and see what the person responds. I actually said this to my husband while we were on the bus to the airport from the car rental place in Denver, and I heard someone whisper to his wife, "My makeup, my makeup!"

Yah Sure, you betcha Calumet has a PastyFest! Although we didn't know it until we were up there. If you want a taste, go to www.pasty.com (natch) and view the PastyCam.
Speaking of da UP, I was on my way to work (here in the library) and I stopped at Goodwill (my other addiction) and lo and behold, I picked up a Yoopers CD, with Christmas songs, no less! And then, I saw that someone in this county is getting an inter-library loan for a book about the Detroit Grand Prix. Michigan is everywhere!
Okay I moved to Oregon in the early 80's, so I don't get the "My lines!" reference.
So now, is there a good history of Detroit out there? Especially during the 20th century?

poulsbolibraryguy, it was a Detroit Zoo commercial. It won national awards and stuff, I think. (Here it is from youtube )

They should still be showing that commercial, IMHO.

Yes! Okay, yes, I saw that commercial. Well, who didn't in Detroit? Thanks for the jogging of the brain cells. I'm gonna go watch it right now, even though I'm working (in the library) and don't have sound (of course!)

cheri0627 & co: some more for ya "just dial diamond: D-I-A-M-O-N-D...;" "Me and dog wantya to go to Telegraph Rd...right now...get a good deal...;" "You've got an uncle in the furniture business...;" "..And they cannot fly either!" and of course "You gotta have arrrttt!!!"

Mr. Belvedere "I won't be undersold!" Rita Bell and Dialing for Dollars...the 4:30 Movie...and, or course, Faygo Redpop (and the old commercial, on the Bob-Lo Boat, is on YouTube).
My gosh, all these brain cells I haven't used in soooo long, dusted off and woken up....

#20 pulsbolibraryguy - speaking of Faygo (Rockin' Rye! Moonmist!), remember Towne Club?

twacorbies-yes! yes, I do remember Towne Club. Between that and Faygo Rock'nRye, Redpop, Boston Coolers, and those big square blocks of bubblegum we could get from the bread delivery man (remember Twin Pines? Milky the Clown?) it's a wonder we still have teeth left.
Here's a non-fiction recommendation that'll be near and dear to the hearts of Southern Michiganders: Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food, by David Gerard Hogan. Fun, interesting history. Whenever we go back to Michigan or Cleveland my daughter wants to go to White Castle, not for the burgers, but for the Freezes (grape, of course).

Back to commercials: "I've come a thousand miles for this here Strohs beer!"

poulsbolibraryguy- i can't believe you pulled Milky the Clown out of your hat- hilarious! he was definitely more creepy than Safety Pup (i think that was his name), but clowns always seem creepy to me. That book sounds interesting...

compskibook- righto- back to the commercials! i just got back to san francisco from detroit and i was having tons of flashbacks- "dietrich furs...."

"Say Twin Pines, Please!!"

Oh boy, for all you Deeetroiters out there:

http://www.detroitfirefighters.net/old_time_detroiter.htm

Happy New Year to Michiganders, wherever we may be!

thanks for that list, poul. I'm over at my mom's house, and while I'm a little young for some of the things on the list, she was singing along and finishing lines before I had a chance to finish reading it to her. I did learn things though, like they had a coal chute on the house she lived at in Detroit. That her house was in Detroit 49.

These messages are making me hungry for chicken and breaded noodles, and of course Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream...yum!

I've lived in Virginia for three years now, and I'm getting sick of explaining that Michigan and Michigan State are NOT the same :-) I also have to laugh when just a forecast of snow closes the elementary school where I work. I miss real snow! And people who know how to drive in it.

#28 said: "I miss real snow! And people who know how to drive in it."

I miss seeing people who know how to drive in snow, too.... and I live in Michigan!!!

So where are the people who know how to drive in snow???

And where are the people who know how to clear it?

Ya sure, dere all up in da UP, doncha know!

#28 - jennyifer- i went to michigan and my sis went to michigan state. and we never let anyone confuse the two ;)

hahaha, don't worry, I don't let them get confused either! It was just a surprise to come here and realize that I actually had to correct people about it!

I moved to Kentucky this summer after having grown up in Iron Mountain...who knew that I would miss the fairly regular blizzards and below zero temps? Now I just get to deal with tornadoes in January and February, and people who don't know how to drive in any sort of precipitation.

I miss Faygo Red Pop...and hearing people say pop. You win some, you lose some.

#33 - if i wanted "soda" water, i'd ask for it thank you very much! i want a pop!

although i always did like how my relatives in the south would use "coke" for "pop." for some reason it wasn't as grating to my ears as "soda." "do you want a coke? what kind, we have 7up or regular coke?" awesome.

when i first got to san francisco i had trouble with "skim milk." no one knew what i was talking about. they'd ask "what kind of skim milk- nonfat or 2%?" also ordering something "to go." i guess people here say "take out" more often.

I can eat food from Michigan any time I want to. I never left. Sanders has a shop crawling distance from my house. Faygo Redpop and Vernor's are in the grocery store, near the Better Made potato chips. Ball Park hotdogs make summer.

I moved to New Hampshire a couple of years ago - no more Michigan specialties for me. You know what I miss most right now? Sparkling grape juice, especially pink catawba. Sparkling juices exist out here, but they're lousy, and pink catawba is a midwest-only drink, far as I can tell.

From Westland (one of those pansy Deeeetroit suburbs). Now living in Arizona. I laugh when I see people walking around in sweaters and pants complaining how cold it is around here in the winter. Sixty degrees is not cold. Earlier this year my mom and I had to hunt down panczkis for Fat Tuesday. Nobody had even heard of them! When I visited MI back in April I had almost forgotten what rain and lakes looked like. Good times.

dman, did you go to JG, WM or CH? or one of the Livonia schools?

Glenn from '01-'05

Lived in Michigan for 45 of my 50 years - the last 21 in the U.P. There is a serious dearth of readers in my area! At least, of readers interested in the same subjects as I am. I read nonfiction as much as fiction, I tend to get passionate about a subject, read everything I can about it, and move on to the next. Right now I am reading true cases of law agents infiltrating motorcycle gangs. I am interested in true accounts of living in rural poverty, but these are hard to find. As for fiction, I read detective mysteries mostly. My favorite fiction authors are John Sandford, Nelson DeMille, Sue Grafton, and Nevada Barr. Love to hear from you all!

My parents and I lived in an upper flat in Detroit until I was 9 months old. Then we got a house (thanks to VA loan) in Royal Oak where I lived until I was 16. During those years, I went to Emerson elementary for kindergarten, Shrine of the Little Flower grade school first to eighth grades, and Shrine High School ninth through eleventh grades. Then we moved to Shelby Township. I went to a public school, Eisenhower, for my senior year. I loved my year at Eisenhower. I had a part-time job at Mitzelfeld's in Rochester. I went to Oakland University in Rochester and had a part-time job at Michigan National Bank at Adams and Walton until the last semester of my junior year when my car was hit head on by a drunk driver at the intersection of Hall Road and Garfield (which I think is Clinton Township). I was in a coma for 2 months at St. Joseph Hospital (which is now Ford Hospital). When I came out of it I had to relearn every move I made. Eventually I finished college at Oakland University. I was an English major and had a teaching certificate for secondary education, but I'm now a technical editor of manuals for the army. General Dynamics moved me to San Diego, California, where I lived for 20 years. But I moved back to Michigan with my husband and cat, both Californians, 6 years ago. Now I work for another military contractor in Sterling Heights. I live in Romeo.

Wow, techeditor, you have a storied past--all great Michigan memories, but very sorry about your accident. I like it when Mitzelfeld's was in Rochester. After they left, it never seemed the same. I, too, worked during college days at the Michigan National Bank, 6mile and Greenfield...three teller windows with no glass...a different time, for sure. Have an army connection. Thanks for your work.

I have lived in lower Michigan most of my life (daughter of a yooper). My son gave me a shirt that reads "I'm Smitten with the Mitten." Lived in Detroit - ok the Cabbage Patch of GPP - back in 1984 and was there when the Tigers clinched the pennent. Sparky would be proud this year! Although I now live in SW Michigan, all the posts here brought back great memories!

I'm so happy I found the only store in Western Washington that carries Faygo!
And, for a short time, there was a restaraunt that sold real pasties. They were wonderful. Alas, they closed last year.
Still my daughter (now 15) and I will be in the Mitten this Summer. Frankenmuth, Greenfield Village, White Castle, John K. King Books, and anything else we can get to!

oooo, John K. King Books!! I'm extremely envious!!

Whole family lives in Detroit. Off of 20 mile.

I however live in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul)...Love it here but facing some life issues, reading gets my mind off of them.

I like the cold and the snow. I guess I'm weird.

Fago!!! Where, where,where? I live in the GR area. What genre does John K King write?

John K King Books is a humongous used book store in Detroit off of the Lodge Freeway & Lafayette(?)!!

It is absolutely heaven, if a little cold in the winter.

http://www.rarebooklink.com/cgi-bin/kingbooks/index.html

http://www.rarebooklink.com/cgi-bin/kingbooks/about.html?id=7PngqKFJ

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20061012/BIZ/610120354/1148/rss25

and one pic of the outside:
http://bodylit.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kingbooks.jpg?w=768&h=1024

with more here:
http://bodylit.com/2011/08/15/four-floors-of-fun/

don't drool too much or you will ruin your keyboard and possibly your computer....

If they live off 20 Mile Road, they're not in Detroit. I know what you mean, though, the Detroit area. That's pretty far north of Detroit, though.