Weird Side Effects From Growing Up In Detroit

[Lowell]

I'm not a fan of click bait list-icles but I bit on this one, found it entertaining and one with which, I dare bet, the over 50 crowd will pretty much be in lock step. Here is the quick list:

1. Craving Vernors during an illness.
2. A perpetual desire to defend the Lions.
3. A strong urge to be near the river.
4. Total tolerance for potholes.
5. The uncanny ability to select a perfect layered [winter] outfit.
6. An insatiable appetite for coney dogs.
7. An unshakeable preference for square pizza.
8. The urge to dance to every Motown song ever written.
9. A sense of pride for being "almost Canadian."
10. The thickest skin imaginable.



IMO 4 & 5 could have been dropped for being too generically Michigan rather than purely Detroit.

Pictures and explanations here:
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/michi...fects-detroit/

[313WX]

#4 is so true. Dodging potholes is an art form here.

For me:

1. Strong loyalty to Ford / GM cars and the tendency to side eye anyone who owns / drives a foreign car.

2. Thinking that mass transit is only for poor people who would like to drive but can't.

3. Referring to carbonated soft drinks as "pop."

4.

[SammyS]

11. Only walking on treadmills

[archfan]

Thanks, Lowell, for braving the many ads for each list entry. I never get past #3 before I give up.

[waz]

- Going to a party store with the intent to buy alcohol, not balloons and streamers.

[jcole]

-Owning a house rather than renting apartments or a house.

[Lowell]

Thanks, Lowell, for braving the many ads for each list entry. I never get past #3 before I give up.

For some reason the display I got was all on one page. They must of messed up otherwise I would not have bit further.

[Onthe405]

12. Believing there are only two places in the USA to vacation and/or retire:

A.) "Up North"

B.) Florida

[preserve]

just now learning what Detroit neighborhoods are called - always referred to the neighborhoods by the Catholic schools folks attended.

[p69rrh51]

I will never accept number 7, but the rest are on the money.
I was at a wedding a few years ago on Cape Cod and the band was from Boston. It was the first time I heard Motown as wedding standards outside of Detroit. The women there loved it as I danced with many of them to all the Motown songs the band played that evening while many of the male attendees sat in the "corner."

[Cincinnati_Kid]

-Owning a house rather than renting apartments or a house.

How is this weird?

[Bham1982]

How is this weird?

Detroit historically has had one of the highest homeownership rates in the country. It's also the only place I've lived where people think you "have to" own a home, or you aren't a success.

Even people who aren't settled, don't have kids, don't have much money and the like, are very likely to be homeowners in MI. In places like CA and NY, homeownership is usually just for people who are settled for the long-term, financially strong, have kids, and no one thinks less of you if you're a renter.

[jcole]

How is this weird?

Detroit is/was known for having houses with yards as opposed to most cities having brownstones, apartments, etc.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Detroit historically has had one of the highest homeownership rates in the country. It's also the only place I've lived where people think you "have to" own a home, or you aren't a success.

Even people who aren't settled, don't have kids, don't have much money and the like, are very likely to be homeowners in MI. In places like CA and NY, homeownership is usually just for people who are settled for the long-term, financially strong, have kids, and no one thinks less of you if you're a renter.

Well, I'm sure that perception has changed considering all the abandoned houses in Detroit.

[jcole]

Well, I'm sure that perception has changed considering all the abandoned houses in Detroit.

No, because there still aren't many apartments/brownstones/condos in the city. It's still widely home ownership/rentals.

[EastsideAl]

When I lived in NYC for several years, one of the things my friends there found strange was that I had been a homeowner - of an actual house - in my 20s, before I left Detroit. Unless one inherits a house, or comes from a lot of family money, that is unheard of there [[and in most other cities on the east and west coasts). Even buying an apartment in the NYC area is generally reserved for people in their 30s and older who have worked for many years and made a fair amount of money. The majority of people are renters, often for their entire adult lives.

I rarely had the heart to tell people there what I paid for my far east side house in the mid-80s - or the even more pitiful amount I sold it for.

[MicrosoftFan]

A few additions...

-Thinking $300,000 is a lot for a house when it's entry level on the coasts.
-Walking is for poor people.
-Treating 60 degrees as warm weather.
-A hatred of the state government and Lansing itself
-The tradition of "going up north" becoming almost a religion
-If you're from the west or south sides [[or suburbs) rarely if ever visiting Macomb County, the Eastern Suburbs or East Side.
-A universal loathing of I-94

Any more?

[softailrider]

No, because there still aren't many apartments/brownstones/condos in the city. It's still widely home ownership/rentals.

I would say conservatively that 70% of the apartment buildings in Detroit now compared to 40 years ago are gone. The ones that are left are survivors, had good management / owners.

[ggores]

Every time I hear an ice cream truck blasting "Pop Goes The Weasal", I get an irresistible urge to run out into the street while wrestling a buck or two from my blue jeans pocket, screaming, "wait! wait! stop! stop!"

[ct_alum]

A few additions...

-Thinking $300,000 is a lot for a house when it's entry level on the coasts.
-Walking is for poor people.
-Treating 60 degrees as warm weather.
-A hatred of the state government and Lansing itself
-The tradition of "going up north" becoming almost a religion
-If you're from the west or south sides [[or suburbs) rarely if ever visiting Macomb County, the Eastern Suburbs or East Side.
-A universal loathing of I-94

Any more?

Where, pray tell is the "south side"? There is the east side, the west side and downriver. The only "south side" I know of is Windsor.

[Honky Tonk]

Weird Side Effects From Growing Up In Detroit

Constantly looking over your shoulder even when in low crime areas.
Hiding everything out of view when exiting your vehicle.
Not making eye contact when passing others on the street.

[MicrosoftFan]

Where, pray tell is the "south side"? There is the east side, the west side and downriver. The only "south side" I know of is Windsor.

The often-forgettable Downriver

[313WX]

-If you're from the west or south sides [[or suburbs) rarely if ever visiting Macomb County, the Eastern Suburbs or East Side.

The reverse is true also.

Eastsiders I know rarely have a reason to venture Downriver, unless they're driving through to go to Toledo.

I can count on one hand how many times I'm in that part of town during the year.

[EastsideAl]

I still catch myself saying "go 'head on".

[Jimaz]

Despite persistent doubt, you repeatedly discover that you can consistently, intuitively and correctly, spell and pronounce "Schoenherr."