I agree. I once had the pleasure of visiting with a group of artists & neighbors from Detroit and after just a short time mingling with the locals we all felt ill and were immediately rushed back to modernity we all caught a cass of " BAD VIBES " - W.A.
Joe | Lansing, MI | Report Abuse

I agree. I once had the pleasure of visiting with a group of artists & neighbors from Detroit and after just a short time mingling with the locals we all felt ill and were immediately rushed back to modernity we all caught a cass of " BAD VIBES " - W.A.
Joe | Lansing, MI | Report Abuse

Totally true. I'm a Philly guy and had to move their due to poverty in rent going up on the Main Line like 500%. I am also autistic but not "weird" overtly due to years of agonizing therapy. Additionally, I am 6' tall, 155 lbs, have olive skin, blackish hair -- the things women seemed to like every place else I've lived. I haven't made a friend in 5 years and am too poor too move because my condition can throw me from as productive as a mathematician writing a Abel-Prize (Nobel for math) paper to crying and sobbing for hours in literally 1 to 5 minutes. Yes, obviously I have mild bipolar disorder if you armchair folks are thinking "aha - he's just a nut." Well therapy has helped that too, and I go to downtown and spend at most 5 minutes shooting the bull with people (all travel in friend groups usually all couples as I am 33), but they then have something else to do. I guess I wasn't interesting enough to head to the next block (its usually just to bar-hop). Confusing as hell - the fake smiles, the prosody incongruency (inflection and body language not matching), and hatred of any even mildly contemporaneous news topic (I'm hard liberal so I stay in the middle and still get some beardsman with blonde hair yell at me wasted.) Possibly its because I can't drink or I would die due to two separate absolute contraindication drugs with ethanol (I tried once 48 hours after skipping a dose and threw up two sips of beer). What to do!?
Evan | Kentwood, MI | Report Abuse

Wow. Someone is accurately describing Grand Rapids in 1985. Much has changed since then. Bizarre that this person lives on the very edge of metro Grand Rapids in one of the most homogeneous boring suburbs- Byron Center. My advice to the Byron Center person - move 10 miles north to the city and live in east town- a radical difference from Bryon Center. Sure there a big segment of Christian reformed in western and eastern sides of town. They really dominated the GR vibe in the 1980s and 1990s. Back then the nickname was bland rapids. Since then, GR has attracted many young progressives, artists, and hipsters. They have driven a huge renaissance in the art, coffee, and beer scenes ( over 50 brewers here and counting in the city of Grand Rapids. Lots of diversity in the neighborhoods of east town, near North Side and near west side. GR has some great new. Also new venues bringing in all kinds of National quality bands. Food scene is spotty. Some good places includeing cheese and wine and downtown market run by the national winner of the cheese monger award for the top cheese expert in the us. Head downtown on a Saturday night. My friends from Detroit and Chicago visit and comment on the vibrant nightlife downtown. It’s not Chicago, but it’s very vibrant for its size. My friends say the city vibe feels like the Portland of the Midwest. The GR metro area has 1.2 million people. So yes it has its wealthy and pretentious areas ( east Grand Rapids and Ada ) Bur it has blue collar areas, hipster areas, etc.. like any other city this size or bigger. The many neighborhoods are very different in look, vibe, and composition. I live here now but I am not a native so I don’t have a home town bias here. But this persons description of the area seems very narrow. GR is great for families, hipsters, it’s fun, close to Lake Michigan and affordable, the billionaire s here have spent hundreds of millions making the cities health and cultural institutions great. It does have its negatives - bad weather, grey and wet, 10 billionaire families give a lot but also control and own a lot of the city Food scheme is ok and improving but still a weak spot compared to the beer, spirits and coffee scenes, no high quality college prep schools here like Latin in Chicago or DCD or cranbrook in Detroit, it’s isn’t beautiful. The airport is new and nice but not many direct flights. Crime is skyrocketing. 2 years ago we had 8 murders a year but in 2020 we had nearly 40. Also, Grand Rapidians are clannish and aren’t very welcoming to new families that move in. Acclimating socially can be difficult in some neighborhoods. I do hear this from some transplants.
Alfred | Grand Rapids, MI | Report Abuse

I am glad to hear that there are other like minded people when it comes to Grand Rapids. I am a native of the Detroit Metro Area. I 1997 I took a promotion and moved to Atlanta GA. In 2002 the company was purchased and I was downsized. I accepted a job in Grand Rapids rather than returning to Detroit. Big mistake folks. The are several negatives about Grand Rapids and West Michigan in general. I have listed a few below: 1) The food. People do not call this city “Bland Rapids” for no reason. It is not at all surprising to read yearly in Grand Rapids Magazine that several favorite restaurants are chain restaurants. 2) The Snow. This one needs no explanation. 3) Chicago Worship. West Michigan people are enamored with all things Chicago. One particularly disturbing result do this is the fact that many natives of West Michigan are fans of Chicago professional sports teams over Detroit teams. This is one thing that I will Never understand. To a native Detroiter that represents nothing less than blasphemy. Grand Rapids is not a suburb of Chicago!!! 4) TV and Radio. I find the reporters and reporting very small time and hokey. WOOD radio morning DJs are basically silly and unbearable. Not professional in the least. 5) No Soul. The city of Grand Rapids has no soul, no identity. 6) Boring, Boring and more Boring. Again, self explanatory. 7) “White Bread”. The area has an over abundance of Christian Reformed zealots. I could go on but why bother. As soon as I can find a job in Detroit I am soooo out of here!
Max | Rockford, MI | Report Abuse

'Uptight/irritable, arrogant/self righteous' may be common everywhere, but; there does seem to be something to that macho, thin haired, football, thinking youre reformed and dont need any more reforming type in west Michigan; it makes you long for more fun people that are not so stuck; But east Michigan is worse in a different way, and Chicago. I've lived here since 1999; and I long for more sunshine!
Nik | Spring Lake, MI | Report Abuse