Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
I was talking with a former longtime resident of Grosse Pointe who told me that part of the problem with rehabilitating the reputation of the Pointes is the area's reputation for being restricted and WASPy. One joke that came up in the conversation was the idea that the best thing that could happen to the area would be for 10,000 wealthy gay couples to move into the Pointes and lavish their disposable income on those beautiful old homes. But there's the rub, as my friend saw it: The sort of young and well-to-do people the Pointes need don't necessarily like the idea of living in that kind of exclusive enclave, with the kind of baggage it carries.

Bear in mind, this was a conversation about perceptions. I'd be interested in actual statistics from, say, 2010 vs. 2000.
Well, here's my perspective as gay former Oakland County resident now living on the West Coast [[for the past 20 years). I grew up in Royal Oak, went to college in MI, then left for good. If I were moving back to the Detroit area, GP would be top of the list. When I was growing up Birmingham was upscale but still had a pleasant small town feel. Well, no more. Too busy, too dense. On a recent visit [[my parents still live there) I was dismayed to see all the McMansions that replaced lovely older homes around Quarton Lake. GP has better housing stock, is more walkable, has a lakefront location, and is closer to downtown. I'm not a shopper so the frequent complaint that GP is too far from a good shopping mall doesn't mean anything to me. GP will get more diverse and sooner or later the downtown/midtown crowd is going to find it very appealing--probably as soon as they have kids.