Quote Originally Posted by nain rouge View Post
I've wondered that, too. The "fake" downtown of Partridge Creek on 20 Mile is doing great, for example. It has all the brand name shops and restaurants people north of 20 Mile in both Macomb and Oakland worship [[North Face is one of their current gods, right?), and it's a very short drive away from a bunch of bars. Considering that most that choose to live out there are very comfortable with the automobile lifestyle, I could see how all the development on 20 Mile could be a drain, and Mt. Clemens itself doesn't have a big enough population to support that kind of downtown.[/COLOR]
The car dependence is all-consuming in Macomb. Also places like Rochester, Royal Oak, Ferndale, and the Pointes are successful in part because it is fashionable among fashionable people to go hang out in cutesy downtowns, and, to be blunt, Macomb County isn't chalk overflowing with fashionable people. Hall Road and cheesy fake downtown malls are just awesome for them, as we can all readily see by their success.

It really is too bad. There was a lot of potential for Mt. Clemens. It could have really been an alternative to the bland yuppie dirge of Ferndale and Royal Oak - probably not a lot unlike the old blue collar Detroit commercial streets.

Nice collection of churches, too. Has a very American small-town feel to it.