[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by ETSUskier

Sounds great. I have heard really good things about the originally mentioned cities and especially their downtown areas and safety.

You should be fine with Plymouth. It's right next to Livonia and is close to Ann Arbor's nightlife too. If you want to go to Detroit, it is pretty easy as well. I believe it has it's own main street with businesses as well.

plymouth, mi - Google Maps

Sorry I didn't notice the mention of Livonia earlier.

[ETSUskier]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

You should be fine with Plymouth. It's right next to Livonia and is close to Ann Arbor's nightlife too. If you want to go to Detroit, it is pretty easy as well. I believe it has it's own main street with businesses as well.

plymouth, mi - Google Maps

Sorry I didn't notice the mention of Livonia earlier.

Appreciate the info. Keep it coming.

I had actually thought about Plymouth as well but thought the drive may be a little much to downtown if business required.

[Coldjensens]

Within a reasonable drive, you should consider Plymouth, Canton, Northville. Getting out a bit further you could add Novi, Ann Arbor, Trenton, Wyandotte, Grosse Ile, South Lyon. All of these are within half an hour of Livonia and an hour or less from Detroit.

Novi and Canton are basically suburban sprawl (subdivisions and strip malls) with no downtown and somwhat less of a sense of community as a result. Novi is a shopping mecca. There are more malls there than anywhere that I can think of. THere is also a lot of traffic to go tiwth it.

Plymouth and Northville are both quaint old fashioned small towns with a strong sense of community. Plymouth is larger and has a bit more going on. It is also closer to Livonia.


Livonia is not a bad place either. It is basically older (1940s and 1950s) suburban sprawl with some newer subdivisions and lots of stip malls.

Trenton, Wyandotte and Grosse Ile are all on the Detroit River. Wyandotte has the best downtown. It easuly rivals Plymouth, but it is not quite as nice (upscale). Grosse Ile is the nicest cleanest and safest of all of the places that you are considering, but it is quiet, not a "happneing place" and expensive. It is a group of islands accessed by a bridge. Trenton is a nice small very middle class community.

PLaces like Royal Oak, Troy, Birmingham, Ferndale, are too far from Livonia for a reaosnable commute IMO. These are not better than the closer places mentioned above and you have to deal with more traffic, higher prices and you miss out on cities with equal or more character.

However Royal Oak is the happening place for people in their 20s. That commute is not horrid, but it is pushing it. There is no direct route from Royal Oak to Livonia. You have to take a circituous route to get there.

Lookat all fo the citeis as much as you can. There is a lot of very different opporutnities. be sure to tihnk about your daily life and figure out what will actually appeal to you on a day to day living baisis. Sometimes the greatest town to visit, is not the best place for you to live.

[scolls]

696 to 275. Not really a hard route to figure out. The only problem is traffic. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, take Woodward to 8 Mile. The more I think about it, Royal Oak isn't that bad of a drive to Livonia.