Ferndale / Royal Oak for Liberal Diverse Gay Community? (Detroit, Ann Arbor: apartment, rentals)

[cyrinex]

I am looking to possibly relocate from Sacramento, California to Michigan for a job in Bloomfield Hills. I have researched the forums here extensively, looking primarily for a diverse and gay friendly community within commuting distance to Bloomfield Hills. Are Ferndale and Royal Oak the two realistic destinations?

My first option would be to rent a house in either community, until I settle in and adjust to my new surroundings. I have two large dogs and apartment living does not suit them, since I own a home in Cali and we are all used to having our own space. Any areas in particular that would be worthwhile to look into?

Granted, I'm not looking for the San Francisco of Michigan, but a bit of an idea on where to look from the experienced posters on this forum is a big help. Thanks for any advice you can give!

[jeanniepep]

Ferndale Ferndale Ferndale!

We have a very strong gay community, several gay bars downtown, and there's even a gay community center downtown called Affirmations. In my experience, most of the straight people like the fact that it's diverse here and get very protective if some out-of-town homophobe starts acting up at the bar ("It's Ferndale, idiot, if you don't like gay people go somewhere else!"). Even our conservative Republican buddies down the street love their gay friends! BTW conservative Republicans are in the minority here, but we wouldn't be diverse if we ONLY had liberals, right?

Downtown Ferndale has two "chain" restaurants (Buffalo Wild Wings and Rosie O'Grady's) and a bunch of independent bars & restaurants. Many have live local music several nights per week, a lot of them have awesome food; everything from Cajun, Italian, Middle Eastern, sushi, to pizza and burgers. For some reason "brunch" is huge here so a lot of the bars/restaurants also serve very popular breakfasts! We have two local comedy troups, at Go! Comedy and The Ringwald. There are a couple of small markets downtown; Western Market has wonderful produce and hard-to-find fancy ingredients, while Ferndale Foods has grumpy help and shady customers. We also have a handful of small local stores and boutiques, a few small galleries, and a psychic reading place(!) just opened up. It's an artsy little community that loves beer and parties! There is some kind of festival here almost every warm weekend - this weekend we have two: Ferndale Art Fair and DIY Street Fair, also featuring local bands and Michigan microbrewerys. Haha, NOW how much would you pay? Clearly I love living here, moving to Ferndale was easily the 2nd best decision I ever made (#1 was my husband).

Don't get me wrong, Royal Oak is nice too. I don't get quite the same vibe downtown; it's a little bit more upscale and the restaurants seem geared more toward upwardly-mobile families (although on weekend nights the bars seem full of fratboys looking to get laid). They have a few more chain-type restaurants like BD's Mongolian Barbecue, Noodles and Company, Mr. B's, Coffee Beanery, Starbucks; also a few chain stores (Barnes & Noble, Gamestop, Dale and Thomas Popcorn). They still have a nice variety of local bars, shops, and boutiques. They have a FANTASTIC Farmers Market on Saturdays!! Honestly, Royal Oak is better if you have kids, because they have a ton of parks and the schools are better than Ferndale. For the young, childless hipster, I'd say Ferndale all the way.

I go to Bloomfield Hills all the time and it takes me less than 30 minutes via the surface streets, and it would probably be less depending on where in Bloomfield Hils you're going. There are a lot of things I like in Royal Oak too (Farmer's Market, Trader Joe's) and it takes me about a 5-10 min car ride or 15-20 on my bicycle. It's really easy to get to downtown Detroit, too, took us about 20 minutes to get to the ballpark via I-75. Detroit has a lot of great bars, fun sporting events, and the Detroit Institute of Arts is not to be missed. I don't know that I'd want to live in the D, but being right next door works perfectly for me.

As far as WHERE in Ferndale, you will definitely want to pick a place on the west side of Woodward. We live west of Woodward and south of 9 Mile which is a GREAT neighborhood (although once you get west of Livernois or Pinecrest, things start to get slightly shadier). North of 9 Mile is more upscale and more expensive, but a really nice neighborhood. If you must go east of Woodward, stay north of 9 Mile but not TOO far north; up near I-696 the neighborhoods aren't as nice. The good news is that there are tons of rentals around here! I'm not exactly sure how to look them up online but surely there must be some way. There are quite a few rental dwellings on Marshall St (apts, houses, duplexes, etc) but I know that's not the only place. If I see a For Rent sign with a website listed, I'll post it!

(P.S. Almost everybody has dogs here, too!)

[Coldjensens]

Ferndale or Ann Arbor are pretty much your options where you are likely to feel comfortable. There are some really nice communities in Detroit with a signficant gay population (Palmer Park is one I think). Ann Arbor is probably too far away to drive, it woudl be miserable.

You could try living in Howell (grin and duck).

[Wingnatic]

I grew up on E. Marshall and have very fond memories of my hometown of Ferndale . This was in the 50's-60's before the city became gay friendly , the city has improved quite alot since my days in Ferndale , it's still a very friendly little city . Whenever the media wants an opinion on gay issue's , they almost always interview someone at Affirmations . Let's just say it's no big deal being gay and living in Ferndale to people who aren't gay .

Hey you forgot Como's jeannie lol ! If you get a chance jeannie drive by 515 E . Marshall (white house) look at the porch roof and the window above it . That was my bedroom window , when I was about 5 I opened the window and climbed out on the roof So the lady across the street called my mom and asked her '' do you know your son is sitting out on the roof ''? My mom just dropped the phone , ran upstairs , poked her head out the window and smiled and said to come in she just baked some cookies . So I climbed back inside where my mom put a whooping on me , and my dad nailed the window shut when he got home from work
btw my mom did not make cookies , she was lying hehehe

[Wingnatic]

Better yet here's Affirmations info , give them a call and they should be a big help to you . Good luck to you

Welcome: Welcome

[michsnowlvr]

Cant say anything that hasnt already been said, but yes, Ferndale is VERY gay-friendly!

[tjay]

royal oak is not far from ferndale......do live in ferndale and enjoy what royal oak has to offer and go back home:} i'm actually kind of excited for you, i think ferndale would be a perfect fit.

[cyrinex]

Thank you so much for the terrific responses. It's difficult moving from California to just about any other place. I've grown so accustomed to certain things and attempting to locate a comfortable area in a state I have only visited is tough.

Before I finalize the move, I definitely plan on checking out the towns and figuring out the travel time to the new office. A simple question, how long does it take to figure out how to drive in the snow? Those of us from the golden state only drive in the snow when we're headed to the slopes and then we are fully equipped with tire chains. I'm certain those of you native to the state laugh at that, but it's true! Snow tires, 4WD, etc.. how do you do it when commuting?

Again, thanks for the great input, I'm tracking down rentals as I type this!

[chiroptera]

I've heard nothing but good things about Ferndale and briefly dated a guy who lived there...my impressions of it remain positive, especially after reading Jeanniepep's post.

cyrinex - it's been many, many moons since I learned to drive in snow. And I have been a professional driver in the past, driving semis and buses all over the country. I remember going out to building sites and intentionally putting my car into a spin, so I could feel what it was like and practice getting out of it.

Here's a good piece of advice for snow and slick road driving, don't forget this: Pretend there's a raw egg between your feet and the pedals. in other words, slow, easy, no panicky braking or fast moves. (Not so slow you're going 20mph in the fast lane though.) And turn your headlights on in bad weather! Also clear snow and ice off tail lights please. (These are pet peeves of mine.) You'll be fine.

PS, if you are moving from out west to Michigan - I did - be prepared for everyone and their uncle to ask you "Why?" Michiganders seem to have a real inferiority complex about their home state. NB: That is obviously a generalization and there's people who don't. Merely my impession, and I've lived in several states and other countries. For the record, I like it here.

[Wingnatic]

Ferndale is basically at the intersection of Woodward Ave. and 9 Mile Rd.
Bllomfield Hills starts at what Woodward Ave. and 16 Mile (Big Beaver Rd.)
so it's approx. a 7 mile trip . Woodward Ave . is a major road (not a freeway) and its all flat land for the most part in this area of Michigan so no need for tire chains . Also the roads will get slick from time to time , but the county road crews keep Woodward Ave. in pretty good shape for the most part . I think safe driving practices like keeping a good distance from the car in front of you , drive alittle slower when conditions are slippery . I see 4WD vehicles in the ditch all the time along freeways in the winter simply because they were driving too fast . We get our snow during the winter , but its nothing like say Buffalo , NY So rule of thumb is if there is snow on the roads , it won't be for too long , we plow the snow and lay down salt after .