From ArborWiki

User:Murph finds himself frequently asked for tips on moving to / living in Ypsilanti. The following is a listing of some of his favorite pieces of Ypsi-living, so that he doesn't have to recreate it every time he's asked. The list is not meant to be exclusive - there are plenty of great places in town that I just don't end up spending much time at (because there's too much else to do). I fully expect that other ArborWikiers would have other lists, if they created them... (Ahem.)

And, for the record, the mental map of Ypsi used is one based on walking from the downtown/Depot Town/campus core. Sure, there's sushi as close as Ellsworth & Hewitt, but it's unpleasant enough getting there on foot that I don't consider there to be any sushi "in Ypsilanti".

Eat: Golden Wall, at West Cross Street and Ballard Street, has an excellent menu of vegetarian/vegan (seitan-based) Chinese "chicken" and "beef" dishes. But, they're not listed on the take-out menu - just a sheet of paper hanging off the cash register. Try Dalat, downtown at Michigan Avenue and Huron Street, for Vietnamese food, also highly vegetarian/vegan friendly. I like the $4 lunch specials, #67, and the (not veg.) catfish in brown sauce. Abe's Coney Island, Michigan Avenue and Hamilton Street, is my 24-hour breakfast of choice. Hippie hash, feta, no meat, eggs over easy, rye toast, hot sauce. I like the enchiladas poblanas at La Fiesta Mexicana, on West Cross Street, enough that I haven't branched out much through the menu. Dom Bakery, on Washtenaw Avenue, pushes the limit of the "pleasant walking" criterion from my neighborhood, but mmmmm, donuts.

Groceries: The Ypsilanti Food Co-op, on River Street in Depot Town, is the (solar powered) place to buy bulk goods, coffee, cow and soy dairy products, and totally awesome River Street Bakery bread, as well as locally-produced everything from flour and milk to pierogi and corn chips. Supplement with Mexican grocery Dos Hermanos, downtown next to Abe's, which, among other things, has a very good meat counter. In season, there are two Ypsilanti Farmer's Markets - one by the Freighthouse in Depot Town, Saturdays (and sometimes Wednesday mornings), and one downtown, Tuesday afternoon/evenings, in the Key Bank Building parking lot. I like the downtown one - I can stop on my way home from work without even going out of my way. Both markets have produce, bread, meat, flowers, herbs, and plants.

Drink: Arbor Brewing Company's Corner Brewery is a family-friendly microbrewery and beer garden as well as de facto community center, hosting everything from weddings to political fundraisers to Mittenfest and the Shadow Art Fair. Metro Times has declared the Elbow Room, The Tap Room, and TC's Speakeasy, at Michigan Avenue and Washington Street, "the best dive bar strip with music" in metro Detroit. Eagle's Market, at West Cross and Ballard, looks like (and is) a sketchy campus party store, but has the best selection of wine and Michigan microbrews in town, and surly clerks who are actually pretty cool to those patrons not stumbling in already drunk. The Ugly Mug is the coolest coffee shop in town, and also has the best espresso in Washtenaw County (or further), but Bombadill's is where I go almost daily, take my family, etc. (We're just not hip enough, nor fond enough of second-hand smoke, to be regular Mug patrons, though it is now smoke-free.)

Go to the libraries: The Ypsilanti District Library, 229 W. Michigan Avenue, is small, but requests from the YDL warehouse (that big building out on Whittaker that they call "the main library" and where they store books, but you can't bike, walk, or bus to) can be made online, with e-mail notification when they show up a day or two later. And be sure to check out the "Museum Adventure Passes" - all you have to do is ask, and you can get free passes for 4 to the DIA or other Detroit institutions! Amazing! Eastern Michigan University's Bruce T. Halle Library is open to the public, to the point where any resident can get a library card to check materials out. (Just don't miss your due dates, because the non-campus late/lost fees rack up pretty fast.) Check out the journals on the second floor (or JSTOR), and don't get discouraged by needing to "request book from storage" - unlike Ann Arbor's university, the Halle Library's "storage" is in the basement, so requests arrive in a few minutes. The Ypsilanti Historical Archives, in the Historical Museum at 220 N. Huron Street, have an amazing amount of material on the people and places of Ypsilanti.

Go to the park: Frog Island Park, by Depot Town, hosts my community garden, has a well-used soccer field, and is a generally nice place to laze around. Peninsular Park, on LeForge Road, is beautiful, but unkempt and underused. North Bay Park, which includes the string of islands and bridges in Ford Lake that you can see from the freeway, is harder to get to, but a nice walk - Ypsi's equivalent of Gallup Park. By foot/bike, enter off of Grove Road, just south of the freeway overpass.

Go to a show: The Elbow Room hosts a wide variety of local indie types. I like the Michigan indie-folkie nights. Dreamland Theater is primarily a puppet theater, though I've never actually seen a puppet show there, and also has live comedy and (frequently experimental) music.

Special events: I swear I'll actually make it to the Michigan Summer Beer Festival this year, as well as to some of the Friday night live music downtown on Washington Street. Both are a mere four blocks from my house, after all. The fifth Shadow Art Fair will be held this summer (June?) at the aforementioned Corner Brewery; SAF has lots of cards, buttons, indie record labels, and t-shirts, in addition to the only art pieces I've ever paid "real art" prices for. Brandon Zwagerman's annual homecoming blowout, Mittenfest, has so far done a very good job of giving me a whole day's worth of birthday entertainment.

Be responsible: When you need to spend your Saturday fixing your house, Congdon's Ace Hardware, downtown on Pearl Street, is a nice, helpful, general hardware store, and also occupies one of my favorite buildings in town. Ypsilanti has a credit union, but it's off in an industrial park; Ypsilanti Bank of Ann Arbor, downtown on Michigan Avenue, is my walkable locally-owned bank.