A History of the Geography of Student Drinking in A2
Drinking alcohol has always been a major part of the University of Michigan experience, but it used to be significantly less convenient for students to lift a glass at a local watering hole.
James Tobin has the story - follow the link to watch his informative history of the geography of student drinking.
Once in a while, you hear somebody say Division Street got its name from a law that made it illegal to sell liquor on the campus side of town, and Division was the dividing line.
That's not true. Division Street actually was named for the line between the properties of the two founders of Ann Arbor.
But Division did become an important boundary in a battle over the geography of student drinking that went on for a hundred years. Here's what happened.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^
"Drinking alcohol has always been a major part of the University of Michigan experience..."
I'm WichitanWolverine, and I approved this message.
It's still very difficult to find a decent bar in AA that isn't packed to the gills on a Friday or Saturday night. I know we've gone over this before, but the student-to-bar ratio in Ann Arbor seems extremely high to me.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^
Sounds like a business opportunity. What are you waiting for?
August 11th, 2010 at 11:33 AM ^
From what I've heard here, it's a liquor license issue. Ann Arbor is much more frugal with their licenses than most cities and that has kept the number of bars down. A bar can only open up when another one shuts down (IIRC).
August 11th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
Until the state gave Ann Arbor 807 liquor licenses in 2008. After that the market for them has gone pretty much belly up.
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/04/ann_arbor_has_807_new_liquor_l.html
The problem isn't getting a license. People always complain about the lack of bars but then places like Mitch's close and it makes me wonder.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
If someone were to gather a collections of stories they deemed to be true, and penned the book "Great Moments in Rick's Hook-Up History" - I would pre-order that sh*t.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^
Anyone who's not signed up to receive the Michigan Today newsletter needs to be. It shows up in my inbox once per month and it has some of the most interesting articles I've ever read on U of M. It covers everything U of M related. Culture, history, athletics, Michigan in the news, etc.
Clicking to the main page of the article Shoe posted will give you the same content, but it's only updated once per month and the newsletter comes out as soon as the site has new content. It's seriously awesome.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^
...your recommendation. It really is a tremendous publication. Bacon and Tobin frequent it and they provide some absolute gems. When the issue of platooning was raised by MGoUser restive neb in MCalibur's superb "Splitting a White Rainbow", I linked to the article on the history of platooning and Fritz Crisler's central role in its development.
I probably should have created a thread about that, because it probably deserves its own discussion.