OT: The 10 Snobbiest Places in Michigan

Submitted by The Mad Hatter on

I think this article fits in nicely with the granite countertop and private school theme we have going on this week.

Their methodology does appear to be somewhat flawed, as Birmingham didn't make the list and Royal Oak is #4.

http://www.roadsnacks.net/snobbiest-places-in-michigan/

 

TL:DR

Northville, Rochester, Plymouth, Royal Oak, Traverse City, Petoskey, Troy, Novi, Okemos, Saline.

ypsituckyboy

August 18th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^

This list is worthless since Grosse Pointe isn't in the top 3.

Also, as a Plymouth resident, I can say that Plymouth isn't that snobby at all. Very friendly, actually. Much better than Ann Arbor.

SFBlue

August 19th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^

Argos and Redux Books, Rose's, Mulligan's, Yesterdog? Hardly dude. EGR is accessible and pretty dope. It has culture, and nightlife, and is nearly Bohemian. Reminds me a lot of Ann Arbor, and there is a ton of support for the University of Michigan in EGR. Pretty much anyone can go to EGR and feel comfortable. 

I would put Forest Hills, or the surrounding suburbs filled with Christian-schooled asshats ahead of EGR for snobbishness. Motherfuckers are obsessed with shit like who's a better Christian, oppressing their young, and repressing dissenting opinions. That is snobbery. 

JohannesK

August 20th, 2015 at 4:45 AM ^

You are combining the Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids and the city of East Grand Rapids. They may be in close proximity, but they are distinct places. The former is the home of the great places you mentioned (and more!). Young people, college students, and young families make up the bulk of its population, hence its bohemian vibe and night life. East GR by contrast is an enclave of the rich and snobby. They may be further to the left politically than their Forest Hills and Ada counterparts, but they are most assuredly a hoity-toity community. Like anywhere else, the groups overlap on the borders and for the most part there is little friction, but you'd never see your average Eastown denizen at the EGR Yacht Club or the opposite bellied up at Mulligan's.

HermosaBlue

August 21st, 2015 at 7:02 PM ^

I grew up there. As the first respondent noted, you're conflating Eastown and EGR.

EGR is (was) old money Grand Rapids industry, banking and law people. The EGR I know was mired in arguments about which country club was better and who had a cooler boat. I spent my summers playing golf at Kent CC, racing C Scows at Spring Lake, and windsurfing. My dad co-owned a business with two planes, not to make money, but so he had a plane when he needed one. He used to fly me home from Ann Arbor airport to keep his flight hours up.

I know snobbery, and EGR was full of it. Myself included, in hindsight.

EGR had its own share of religious intolerance, but that's s different kind of snobbery.

rambouhh

August 18th, 2015 at 4:32 PM ^

It seems like they didn't include Grosse Pointe or Bloomfield Hills in the rankings because they were too small. Bloomfield hills has the third highest income in the country of any city with over a 1000 households. I think it would be on the list.

Blueblood2991

August 18th, 2015 at 5:13 PM ^

Nope not all all. The number one is the City is Northville (population 5,000), does not include Northville Township which has 30,000 residents.

Grosse Point Woods, Park, and Farms all have over 10,000 residents individually.

They listed their data points, and then seemed to rank however they felt liked anyways.  Doesn't make sense.

EDIT: nvm as YpsiWolverine pointed out, they only used cities starting with the letters N-Z in their data set. Idiots didn't include A-M

Don

August 18th, 2015 at 11:05 PM ^

It's an outrage that my hometown of Grosse Pointe isn't on the list. They were world-class snobs when I was there, and I can't believe they've fallen that far. Petoskey my ass.

LJ

August 18th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^

I kinda think A2 should be on that list.  As a resident, I consider our snobbery to be "reasonable snobbery": We think we're better becasue we are better.

lbpeley

August 18th, 2015 at 4:04 PM ^

Might as well have just grabbed 10 affluent places and threw them against the wall - which is probably what was done.

robpollard

August 18th, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^

I have friends in Northville. I like my friends;  they are nice people. I also enjoy visiting Northville -- it's beautiful. And I'll eat at Rebecca's Family Restaurant any time I have a chance.



But I've been to a few dinner parties and social events there and let me tell you, it is snob city. I heard more smack talk about public schools than I have ever heard in my life -- and Northville has great public schools!  If you mention Plymouth-Canton, Livonia, etc schools, forget it.



And someone once regaled me (before I faked a phone call and left them) with how their house was going through a renovation and they can't believe some people live in houses that are less than 2,000 square feet. She was serious.



 

evenyoubrutus

August 18th, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^

I don't really get Plymouth and Okemos, or Petoskey for that matter. I'm actually surprised Ann Arbor did not make the list.  And I think Dexter and Chelsea could each make a case that they are snobbier than Saline.

The Mad Hatter

August 18th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^

in Canton and lived in Plymouth (Old Town) for a bit in my 20's.  Canton is weird.  It used to be as you describe, until they built all of those McMansions west of Canton Center.  Now the people living there (including my in-laws), seem to think that Canton rates up with the Bloomfield's in prestige.

Plymouth is a little art snobby, but not as bad as Royal Oak (where I live now).

billybrown

August 18th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^

I lived in downtown plymouth for a couple years and I can see the snobiness somewhat. Lots of upper middle class people but everyone is pretty nice for the most part. I live in canton now and it's just a suburb to me it's nice but it isn't anything like some of the other cities mentioned.

robpollard

August 18th, 2015 at 4:46 PM ^

Canton is a (fairly) big city and thus has some serious economic diversity to it. To generalize:

- East of Haggerty, you have older homes and even some trailer parks.

- West of Haggerty and East of Canton Center, you have a bunch of houses built in the 1970s and 1980s, and a few McMansions, but not many.

- West of Canton Center? Whoo boy -- it's McMansion city. People from there do have a different take on things.



It will be interesting how these different constiuencies will affect how the city and schools are run.



Plymouth, in my experience, is not snobby at all.

uchi

August 18th, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^

40 miles in any direction of Lansing is just sad. So it's easy for Okemos to feel fancy when surrounded by such decay, low-culture and poverty. Okemos is not in the league of any of the prime Metro Detroit burbs, or Ann Arbor, or East GR. I don't think it's in the same league as Brighton, either. They're in their own delusional bubble.

rsmuckles

August 18th, 2015 at 4:09 PM ^

It seems pretty obvious that the data this dude was working with was incomplete. To not even have Birmingham/Bloomfield/Grosse Pointe in the dataset whatsoever is a pretty big tell.

He doesn't even have Ann Arbor in the full data yet Ypsi is in the teens? Anyone who actually has lived in Michigan would see that and realize that something didn't output correctly.

ommeethatsees

August 18th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^

I agree wholeheartedly. As someone who has lived in this state my whole life the list is almost laughable. To not include Grosse Pointe and Birmingham somewhere in the top 5 shows the writers complete ignorance of our state.



What the hell has happened to me that I'm actually taking time out of my day to comment on this thread. When does the f...ing submarine come up for air!!!