2 minute read
FERNDALE IS MY DOWNTOWN
Fern dale I s M y Do wn to wn
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photo ©2021 David McNair
I DON’T THINK I’M TOO DIFFERENT FROM RESIDENTS OF OTHER SURROUNDING SUBURBS who flock to the Nine Mile and Woodward area for food, beverages, and services. Although for a year, public congregating has been on major hold or done with the necessary inconvenience of a mask. Many, including myself, haven’t been to a restaurant in over a year. I remember the exact date. It was March 7, 2020. We celebrated my wife’s birthday at Pop’s for Italian on Nine Mile. To be sure, cities like Oak Park, Berkley, Hazel Park, and others are undergoing a vibrant refashioning of their image and reality. The city where I live is doing an amazing job of transforming Oak Park from a bedroom community to one that rivals Ferndale as a magnet for social life, as are the other towns. Each of these municipalities have ambitious plans to create destination locations, many already brought to fruition. The challenge each faces, however, is not having a traditional, walkable downtown, such as enjoyed by Ferndale and Royal Oak. Ferndale had a bustling downtown in 1950 when a lot of Oak Park was a wetland that they called a swamp back then. One could stand a little west of the Ferndale border and see the traffic on Greenfield until the porous land was filled in (something that would never be allowed today) and thousands of tract homes erected. I’m just far enough from downtown Ferndale on Oak Park’s East Side that it’s a bit too far to walk. So I drive, or bike on the city’s new Nine
Shhh! Don’t tell Marian McClellan, the wonderful
Mayor of Oak Park, Mile Road bike lane. I also drive to spots in the other suburbs, but the city in which I live, what is attractive about Ferndale’s center is that you can casually stroll the streets, some times having nothing planned until you pop but Ferndale is my into Howe’s Bayou for a catfish po’ boy, sushi at Inyo, maybe grab a pre-meal cocktail from Valentine’s or a beer at Woodward Avenue
downtown. Brewery.
Some mornings, it’s a coffee from Java Hut with a pastry from The Red Hook. Or, I mail copies of my book at the Ferndale post office (don’t let them close it!), and get lunch from the venerable Bangkok Café. I’m making myself so hungry writing this that I’m pausing to get a snack! The particular appeal is that you don’t go to just one location to get what you want, but that after eating or drinking or shopping at one of the great stores, it’s an interesting enough terrain to just drift along Woodward or Nine Mile Road, maybe walking over to get an ice cream at Treat Dreams. I’ve mentioned only a scant number of the establishments featured in this Guide, all of which are worth driving or biking to. This last year reflects the Joni Mitchell song. We take most of our lives, or did, pretty much for granted. As things return to normal, we need to give a greater appreciation for what we thought was the same old same old. We know now that it was and is what constitutes our lives. n
