Top 10 Stops to Make in Ypsi

by Kody Klein

There’s just something about Ypsilanti. Sure, once and a while Ypsi gets a bad rep, but the town has the kind of heart and soul that other towns wish they had. Next time you’re around your alma mater, take some time to check out these sites—it might just have you seeing the city in a whole new way.

1.) Sweat it out at La Fiesta Mexicana

As soon as you walk through the door, you feel as though you’ve crossed the border (or perhaps into a Robert Rodriguez film). Flamenco guitar flutters from the speakers above the faint buzz of the neon red lights that line the windows. The food is superb. Everything is made in-house from scratch: the chips, the salsa, the beans—everything. It’s a mandatory stop if you’re a fan of authentic Mexican cuisine.

2.) Let Loose at Frog Island and Riverside Park

These adjacent parks stretch over half a mile along the Huron River, connecting downtown to Depot Town. This is a great place to spend an afternoon, especially in the warmer months. There’s plenty of room to run around and do whatever you want: throw a Frisbee, walk your dog, lie in the sun, slack-line, or just stand around and enjoy the riverside scenery.

3.)Have a beer (or two) at the Corner Brewery

Corner is the distribution headquarters for Arbor Brewing Company, which makes high-quality craft brews in a wide range of styles. It has the raddest vibe of any bar I’ve ever been to. You don’t feel the typical claustrophobia of barroom chaos because the place is massive and the vibe is warm, jovial even. It’s a fun, laid-back bar for fun, laid-back people. The food is exemplary. It’s not elitist gourmet, but it’s artisan; even staple munchies like nachos are thoughtfully prepared with exceptional ingredients. And no matter your dietary ethics, the menu has a wide range of delicious options for vegans, vegies and carnies alike.

4.) Buy some ethical groceries at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op

The Co-op is a quiet treasure of Ypsilanti. It’s a small shop that sells highquality, ethically produced products. They’ve got organic food, handmade soaps, fresh baked bread, eco-conscious toilet paper and trash bags. You can even buy coffee in bulk or mix and match different types of herbs and teas to make specialty drinking concoctions. The best part of this stop? Your purchases help support the local economy, sourcing many of its items from local merchants. (Not to mention they have artisan coffee and gourmet soup sold hot-and-ready every day.)

5.) Shop for doodads and nonsense at The Rocket

Nowhere is Ypsi’s unique eccentricity stronger than at The Rocket. It’s called a shop for candy and gifts, but it would more accurately be called a fun house of magically nostalgic fiddle-faddle. Seriously. It’s hard to even explain. It’s a flamboyant celebration of kitschy pop culture from the last half century. You can find anything from specialty lunch boxes, to glow-in-the-dark stars, to novelty Tshirts. It’s the kind of shop that makes the little kid in you come alive.

6.) Grab some late-night grub from Abe’s Coney Island

Proper diners are magical for two reasons: never-ending coffee and 24-hour service. But not all diners are created equal. Abe’s Coney Island is a cut above the rest. They not only do all of the diner staples better than anywhere else, but they also let you customize some of those classics in ways other places won’t. Plus, if you sit in the corner by the front door at night, you can gaze down Michigan Avenue at the city aglow in orange fluorescence. The view can’t be beat.

7.)Go on an adventure to the abandoned paper mill

The paper mill is an iconic part of Ypsilanti. The tired letters of its rusted sign peer up to campus, quietly beckoning students to come explore the mill’s surroundings. If you shimmy along the side of the building or look over one of the walls, you’ll find that many have—as evidenced by the decades of graffiti that line the interior. It’s a somewhat dangerous expedition, but well worth it for those daring enough. You can gaze out across the dam and toss rocks down to the river.

At night, the moon shines down milky and magical across the water. And remember if you want to play it safe—the view is just as pretty from afar.

8.)Go see live music at Woodruff’s

Woodruff’s is a bar named after Woodruff’s Grove, the village that begot Ypsilanti, and it’s hands down the best place to see live music in town. Quality acts come through on a weekly basis and it’s pretty easy to see why. Although it’s a bar, the stage and the vaulted ceilings make it feel more like a theater. The set up is a difference you can hear as talent from near and far grace your eardrums.

9.) Get your fix at the Ugly Mug

For java lovers, a visit to the Ugly Mug is mandatory. It’s a delightfully haphazard blur of thoughtful human quirk. Decapitated robots stare at you from the wall as you sit on secondhand furniture and sip on some coffee—some really good coffee. The Mug roasts its carefully sourced beans in-house and their coffee doesn’t just taste good—it looks good, too.

10.) Find yourself at North Bay Park

Located on the Southern boundary where the city ends and the township begins, North Bay Park takes up a corner of Ford Lake near the mouth of the Huron River. What’s truly remarkable about this park are the bridges that connect the mainland to several small islands offshore—visitors can walk out until they’re virtually surrounded by water. The beauty is somewhat marred by the proximity of I-94, but the juxtaposition is surreal and oddly peaceful. At sunrise, if you watch the light spill over the horizon and listen to the morning traffic rushing by—you’ll feel as though the whole world were waking up at that moment.