Rochester, MI - how's the downtown area? (Detroit, Rochester Hills: sales, salon)

[Tiger Beer]

How's the downtown area of Rochester?

From researching sounds like we have several downtown-oriented choices... Royal Oak (best for young singles), Ferndale (gay community), Birmingham (wealthy), and Rochester (which I can't find any info about).

Ideally, having lived in NYC and SF and PDX...all great walkable communities with enormous positives to them. It sounds like ROYAL OAK might be the closest to what I'd like....however, I am also married with a young son. But I like the 'style' of the city and the 'mindset', seems appealing.

However, one poster referred to Royal Oak as 'mini-Windsor', which makes me think even the better downtown of all Detroit might not even be that great or liveable if Windsor would beat it out! (Never been to Windsor to know how great that is though).

Back to topic, how is Rochester's downtown?

[tabbcat]

Rochester's downtown is small but upscale. It really only consists of one street (Rochester Rd) and goes for a mile or two. Consider it Birmingham-lite. Rochester is very family-friendly, but I wouldn't consider it as trendy/small as Royal Oak. Royal Oak has more college kids around, but there are a lot of young families in the area too. We actually just moved from there and loved it. Prior, we lived in Rochester Hills, and loved it too, but we didn't spend much time downtown. Just depends what you're looking for. Royal Oak has smaller houses (bungalows!), a more rockin' downtown.... Rochester has more subdivisions, more land... it really feels like a suburb.

[Coldjensens]

Rochester has considerbly better schools than RO. It your child is in school, there will no be much room for dicsussion.


Rochester has a small town atmosphere. It is quiet and nice and quaint. RO has a lively metropolitan atmosphere. It is lively, and loud, but still old fashioned and quanint.

[jeanniepep]

Rochester also has some nice amenities outside of the "downtown" area. Further south on Rochester Rd you'll find tons of businesses (grocery, retail, restaurants, movie theaters, etc). Many are chains and probably won't be part of your walkability plan, but are handy to have around nonetheless. Also, over by Oakland University there is a corner with an outdoor shopping center (upscale shops & restaurants), plus a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. I live about an hour north of that area now, but make a trip to Trader Joe's every chance I get!!

You'll also find a few nice parks that are convenient to Rochester. Rochester Park is just north of downtown and is small but nice; in high school we used to get some ice cream and walk around there at least once a week. Bloomer State Park (east of town, if I remember correctly) is larger and has some pretty fun hikes. I haven't been there in over a decade but have GREAT childhood memories - my folks took me there for picnics and hikes in the summer and sledding in the winter. I hope it hasn't changed too much!

Paint Creek isn't too far either...beautiful little cider mill with a nearby park and trail system.

[percula]

Royal Oak has a substantially livelier more upbeat downtown, full of kids and at times lots of teenagers. RO is off 696 highway making it easy access for most of metro detroit, lots of small housing.

Rochester is more upscale, quieter and mature. Lots of middle aged families, and more room to grow.

My wife and I now live in Royal Oak and are moving to Rochester or nearby Oakland Twnshp.

[GalFriday]

I just moved from the Rochester Area after living there for four years.

Some things to note:
Rochester and Rochester Hills are DIFFERENT. It's a bit of a political thing. Roch. Hills used to be Avon Hills or Avondale or something like that. I always got the feeling that RH piggybacked onto Rochester and used their name to ride on the "fame" (for lack of a better word) that Rochester has for being a great community. Don't be fooled into thinking there is love between the two. Rochester is Rochester, and they don't want RH creeping in on them. (I actually lived in RH, and I do volunteer work in Roch.)

That being said, if I could have found a house that I could have afforded, I would live in Rochester. I love the area. It offers "small town charm" while you're down there, yet still has a lot of "elegant" amenities for an upper class feel.

The schools are great - no doubt about that. There are some problems (Reuther Middle School), but in general, the system is academically sound. Also, they do not allow anyone outside the district to come in. You MUST live in the Rochester School District in order for your child to attend.

Library - Nice library. They offer a lot for a "smaller" town. I am always amazed at how full the library is with patrons. Seriously, I've gone in there during the week around 1pm and the parking lot is FULL. The library offers books, DVDs, CDs, Video Games, tons of computers, a great kids area, a large print area, a store and lots of events like a teen video game day (PACKED), musicians, speakers, etc. Something for everyone.
www.rhpl.org

Food Shopping - Within a few miles of downtown you can shop at: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Papa Joe's, Nino Salvaggio's, Meijer, Kroger, Hollywood Market, Super Walmart...am I forgetting any. Papa Joe's is GREAT. Now, I can't afford to shop there for all my grocery, but I go there for the amazing produce. I can get a lot for a very reasonable price, and the quality is OUTSTANDING. They have people constantly weeding out the older, "ickier" looking veggies and fruits. I love just walking through the place. Their sales are great, too. (NOTE: Royal Oak has a Trader Joe's and Birmingham has Papa Joe's, both on Woodward not too far from each other.)

Other Shopping - The downtown has many "one of a kind" stores. Of course there are strip malls and outdoor malls surrounding the area which contain everything from the typical Target and Best Buy to more upscale like Ann Taylor and Pottery Barn. (The Village of Rochester Hills - yes, it's RH!) And I'd be remiss if I didn't get a shout to my favorite store of whimsy: Catching Fireflies - Whimsical Gifts & Unique Home Decor (also one located in Berkley)

You'll never won't for a salon in Rochester. I think it is a city requirement to have one every ten feet or so. (Salon Monaco ROCKS!)

Restaurants - Great to garbage. TONS of places to eat. I still haven't eaten everywhere downtown. The newest arrival on scene is Mind, Body & Spirits. Mind Body & Spirits - Inspired Dining in Rochester, Michigan You've got upscale, you've got generic. You've got oyster bars, thai, indian, polish, deli - you name it, it's around. They even have their own brew pub/restaurant.

Hospital - Crittenton Hospital about a mile or so from downtown. I had to go there for some testing and have also had the pleasure of using their emergency room once. Emergency was okay - friendly, but I wasn't wowwed. General day-to-day - very efficient. They have a system for getting people in, through, and out without much hassle. I was surprised.

Festivals, Etc. - Rochester has a LOT of stuff going on for a small place. I'm sure I'll forget a few, but here are some of things that happen downtown:
Fire & Ice Fest (January)
Farmer's Market: Welcome to Downtown Rochester (http://www.downtownrochestermi.com/market.html - broken link) (May - October)
Rochester Area Heritage Festival: Rochester Heritage Festival Home (Memorial Day weekend)
Movies in the Moonlight (family fun movies shown in a parking lot downtown - July)
Arts and Apples Festival: Art and Apples Festival (September)
Lagniappe (An awesome one evening "event" where the businesses downtown give out freebies to everyone as a "thank you" for their patronage. Lots of fun, and THOUSANDS of people. They turn on the lights then (see below). November)
Big Bright Light show ( The downtown is COVERED with a million lights - it's really cool to see. Welcome to Downtown Rochester (http://www.downtownrochestermi.com/brightlight.html - broken link) November)
Christmas Parade (This is "the" parade. It is televised by Channel 7 and Rochester is PACKED to the brim with people.

I'm sure I've missed a lot more. Lots of things going on during the summer, car/hot rod shows, art events, night time shopping....

Anyway, there is what I know and like about Rochester. If you ask my husband, he'd probably prefer Royal Oak. RO is okay in the right areas. You may also want to look at Berkely. I'm not big on Ferndale. Birmingham is nice, but expensive - probably the most expensive out of all of them.

[ladolcevitabella]

I currently live in downtown Rochester and just got a condo downtown Birmingham. I've lived in Rochester for nearly 3 years.

Rochester is a great city. The downtown area (Rochester Road or Main Street) is small but hosts a plethora of goodies. I would suggest taking a day to drive around downtown and familiarize yourself with it. I call it my little bubble- everything I need within a ten mile radius. Whole Foods, The Post Office, Nightlife... great food. The dining is fantastic. Try Andiamo's on a Saturday night. They usually have a live band playing and the Gnocchi is fantastic!

Rochester is known for it's food and festivals. The parks are great but if you have any pets make sure you register with the city and get a park permit, the cops are like flies and they'll find you!

I prefer Birmingham to Rochester simply because Birmingham has more to offer. I'm a city girl. I love living downtown in a high rise, even if I'm not in Manhattan lol.

I would hit up 220 in Birmingham and order the portobello.. as well as The Corner in the Townsend Hotel for drinks if you get a chance on a weekend. Also.. shopping is the cat's meow in Birmingham.

Take advantage of the trails in the summer in Rochester! Best biking around

[alwaystraveling25]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

How's the downtown area of Rochester?

From researching sounds like we have several downtown-oriented choices... Royal Oak (best for young singles), Ferndale (gay community), Birmingham (wealthy), and Rochester (which I can't find any info about).

Ideally, having lived in NYC and SF and PDX...all great walkable communities with enormous positives to them. It sounds like ROYAL OAK might be the closest to what I'd like....however, I am also married with a young son. But I like the 'style' of the city and the 'mindset', seems appealing.

However, one poster referred to Royal Oak as 'mini-Windsor', which makes me think even the better downtown of all Detroit might not even be that great or liveable if Windsor would beat it out! (Never been to Windsor to know how great that is though).

Back to topic, how is Rochester's downtown?

I don't have an opinion on Rochester's downtown, having never lived in Oakland County, but I just wanted to let you know that you will ABSOLUTELY need a car to live and work in Metro Detroit. There is no public transportation system that would compare to the MTA in NYC or the BART in San Fran, so you (and your kid) will both require a car to do most things. You may be able to walk around downtown Royal Oak or Rochester, but to go to the grocery store, gym, school, work, you will have to drive in order to do any of these things.

Having grown up in Michigan, every family I know had an equal number of cars for the licensed drivers there. As soon as I turned 16, I purchased a car, since you need one to get around anywhere.

Just wanted to let you know about that, in case you weren't aware about it. As a matter of fact, I saw an article a while ago that Metro Detroit is the largest metropolitan area in the country where people do not depend on public transportation. Something like 97% of people commute to work via personal vehicle.