The first time I came here in April and there were no flowers or green and everything was brown!…read more I came back on the last day of May with my husband and it looked completely different!! There is a lot of green everywhere and soo many different flowers (especially the peonies before they were vandalized)!! We parked in the back where it is about a 15-20 min walk to the peonies. It was a nice and mostly shaded walk. We even saw a new bird (Great Crested Flycatcher)! I think it's only worth coming for the peonies but otherwise, it's free (unless you park in the front and then you have to pay).

We spent two days in AA and this was my favorite activity! What a beautiful time to…read morewitness the thousands of peonies in the peony garden. So many different variations and colors. We stopped by the visitor center and got a guide to the different types of peonies. They also had a restroom which was nice. We took the 2.7 Nichols Walking Trail and really enjoyed the nature, wildlife, scenic city overlooks, and the Huron river views. I would say it's a medium level of hard given that most of the path is easy walking but some steeper inclines and steps that get your heart rate working. It was incredibly pleasant, we spent a little over 90 mins exploring. Also, we learned there is free parking in the Blue M28 lot on the weekends and were able to utilize it! Looked like dogs were welcome, met some friendly pups. Saw people having a picnic in the park and a cute little free library! Such a wonderful place, really glad we came!

The Michigan Theater is genuinely one of my favorite places in Ann Arbor. Watching movies here…read morefeels special every single time. Whether it's a new release or seeing classics like Star Wars, LOTR, or The Big Lebowski on the big screen, the experience is incredible. The theater itself is breathtaking too. Around 1600 seats, the balcony, the chandelier, and the nearly 100-year-old organ that rises up before the movie starts while someone plays it live. It honestly feels magical in a way that no modern theater does anymore. Even just seeing the marquee glowing outside at night feels iconic. The whole place has this timeless energy to it that makes going to the movies feel important again. Whenever someone asks me my favorite place in Ann Arbor, this is my answer.

Historic needs to never be demolished…read more Good popcorn Good red velvet. Good choice in indie showings just go to one

Hard to miss this 212 foot tall tower on the campus of the University of Michigan. They do offer…read moretours but not in the late afternoon when I was here. Instead, you can sit in the courtyard and listen to the carillon ringing. The Burton Tower was built in 1936 as a memorial for University President Marion Leroy Burton, who was president from 1920 to 1925. The carillon itself it the world's fourth-heaviest and has 53 bells weighing 43 tons. It has a concrete shell with a limestone facing. [Review 11121 overall, 894 of 2019.]

Overlooking State Street in downtown Ann Arbor,Michigan is the landmark Burton Memorial Clock Tower…read morelocated on the campus of The University of Michigan.It houses a grand carillon built in 1936 as a memorial for University President Marion Leroy Burton (presidency: 1920-1925). This beautiful carillon is the world's fourth-heaviest, containing 53 bells and weighing a total of 43 tons.It stands at 192 feet it is used for housing education offices. The high-rise tower was designed in an interesting mixture of art deco and art moderne architectural styles The design was greatly influenced by Eliel Saarinen. . . . . #universityofmichigan #burtonmemorialclocktower #burtonclocktower #seetheusa #photografxworldwide #waynesalvatti #michigan #annarbor #uofm #goblue #marionleroyburton #carrillons #belltowers #M #annarbormichigan #ilovemichigan #iloveuom #wolverines #bells #elielsaarinen #architecture #architecturalphotography #historicallandmarks #uofmcentralcampus

I Arbor some feelings of resentment towards this town…read more I'm still waiting to have an amazing experience here, I'm still waiting for a town that has done me wrong on a few occasions, to do me right. Whether it's annoying traffic, unfriendly locals, or a corporation based here coming for me as an indie artist and trying to take me down. It doesn't matter, it's been nothing but negativity here. Not a huge fan of their sports teams either. Been here 10 times now, #11 won't be too soon sadly. Three stars is just for Nicoletta Koulos, the best Michigan athlete ever.

I always try to take a vacation for my birthday each year and this year Nate and I decided to do a…read moresmaller trip closer to home - we ended up reserving a room at the Graduate hotel in Ann Arbor for a couple of nights. I've been to Ann Arbor many times as I have family in the area, but hadn't really spent much time in the city exploring. Of course I had a large collection of places saved here on Yelp to check out! We ended up hitting up a lot of bars and spent a lot of time outside walking around. I like that there is a centrally located spot with many different places to see all at once. Walking around University of Michigan's campus was fun too. The majority of people we encountered were super friendly and very nice which made a great experience. I loved that the city is also very dog-friendly - I don't have a dog but it was so fun to dog watch the whole time. I'm really glad we got to spend some time exploring Ann Arbor and definitely didn't get to see everything on my list, so we'll have to visit again soon!

I hosted a Meetup for photographic artists on a cold, snowy day here recently, and the photos we…read morecaptured were amazing. Prior to coming here, I had heard that it was overrun with homeless and could be potentially dangerous, but I looked into it and felt it was more than safe, particularly in the winter, when there are less people in the actual alley, if any at all. It's a great spot for something different to add to your portfolio, and we'll likely make it a yearly Meetup here.

Such a cute, fun vibe! So colorful and great to just walk in, but also has great photo…read moreopportunities. Also love to see the local community expressing themselves freely.

This is my happy place. I love coming to the library to see what they have on their express shelf…read moreand to ask the kind, helpful librarians for recommendations. They also have miscellaneous cool stuff for checkout like board games, music instruments, even art. The website is easy to use in terms of reserving books. If you reserve a book and clear the wait list, they will pull it for you. I wish they had a method of deferring (eg if you clear the wait list when you're on vacation) so that you don't have to go back through the queue, but understand how this could be complicated. Their "shelf service" is amazing. You put in your reading preferences and they select a handful of books that fit. It's wild that this is something you can access for free. It's a nice physical space with plenty of bathrooms, reading areas, wifi, etc. I love this library and coming here makes me so grateful to live in AA

I can't believe that I came here for the first time last weekend, even though it's been 8 years…read moresince I was a student in Ann Arbor! Ann Arbor offers an abundance of things -- not just books -- and it's one of the most impressive libraries I've been to because of that! I came here last weekend because I heard they had an art exhibit for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month of a collection of artwork made by various Taiwanese artists. As a Taiwanese American, I knew I had to check this out immediately! And while I came to see this collection (and was so impressed by it!), I stayed for all the other things the library had to offer! I perused it's rows of artwork (including the Taiwanese artwork!) that you could check out and display in your household for 2 months on end! What a ingenious idea, I thought, as someone who is constantly switching out the artwork I have hung around my house depending on my mood haha! I also perused their aisles of equipment you can check out for every reason under the sun - starting a podcast? need some hardware? lighting? DJing? hosting a big party and want some giant chess? want to try a new instrument? The list goes on and on and the opportunities are endless! It's a shame that I am neither an Ann Arbor resident nor work in the city, so unfortunately I can't get a free library membership (and a paid one costs $150 a year!), and the librarian I spoke too also mentioned that the University of Michigan doesn't collaborate with the AA District Library either, so I'm not entirely sure if you're able to even get a membership here as a student, if you don't change your address to something in Ann Arbor, which is a bit of a bummer! But if you live or work in Ann Arbor, definitely don't sleep on the district library and make sure to take FULL advantage of all this place has to offer!

Ann Arbor SPARK is an organization that helps local businesses and entrepreneurs. They also help…read moreconnect local job-seekers with companies that need talent. I'm a fan of what they do, and they were very helpful back when I was doing intensive job-hunting earlier this year. I ended up finding a job through other venues, but they helped me make a lot of connections and helped keep me from getting discouraged during that time. They do all sorts of workshops and lunches for start-up companies and people who want to go into business for themselves, as well as general regional economic education. The two things they do that I found extremely helpful as a local job seeker were putting out a couple of newsletters and hosting "Hot Shots" career gatherings. They have two newsletters with different focuses (Weekly Event Calendar and Talent Search). If you sign up for them, you'll get an email newsletter about 4-5 times a week. They contain information about recent job openings in the area, workshops sponsored by SPARK, and job fairs around the region sponsored by all kinds of organizations. They also contain just loads of miscellaneous information about things to do and see in and near Ann Arbor. I went to two different Hot Shots meet-ups, both held at Vinology in Ann Arbor. They do hold them at other locations sometimes- the next one is at Melange. Here, you can drop off a resume for the general job bank, and then you can network face-to-face with area organizations and companies that are looking for talent. I got to talk one-on-one with someone in recruiting for the University of Michigan (and got a first interview from this) and also someone with Borders, for instance. You have to pay for wine, but there are lots of free (and tasty) appetizers during these evening networking sessions.

Local in A2. Very interesting time to be here because the foot traffic downtown explodes. The art…read morebooths are fun to see but a lot of it is stupidly expensive. Food options are also super limited; it's a few food trucks with local businesses selling overpriced iterations of some of their fare. A couple of happy hour spots I like in town shut their discounts down for the weekend. Most art is unexceptional. I really don't feel like anything is worth purchasing but it is fun to browse. With that said. It was fun to see the variety of works on offer. The La Croix booth (free la Croix seltzers) and pickle booths ($8 for a small, $11 for a large), were some of the most popular stands I saw. Perhaps there could be more of a consumable stand next year.

AA Art Fair is one of the best events of the year in AA and definitely one I look forward to every…read moresingle year! My challenge to myself each year is to visit every nook and cranny of art fair because it is EXPANSIVE! My strategy is to go more than one day (obviously a little difficult to do if you're coming into town for this each time, but still completely worth it) so that I can spend at least one day looking at everything, MARINATE on it all, and then come back another day in the same weekend to buy everything in a less impulse-centric way! The AA Art Fair goes on for a whole weekend in July each summer, normally ranging from Thursday to Sunday! There are well over 1,000 vendors to look at and it basically spans across many of the streets throughout all of Ann Arbor (Main, Liberty, State, South U, East U, University, Washington, and more!). It's not only Michigan's, but the WHOLE NATION'S, largest JURIED art fair and it worth checking out a thousand times over! I've been checking out the art fair basically every year since 2010 and I've loved to see how it has evolved over the years! Obviously there are some vendors that keep coming back and that I have gotten to know over the years, but there's also so many new and incredible vendors that show up from year to year just waiting to be discovered and it's absolutely the funnest thing ever! The only downside to the art fair is how HOT it can be given that it takes place at the peak of Michigan summer, so take precautions with sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, and PLENTY of water breaks and/or duck into shops throughout AA for brief respite as needed! It's wonderful because there are also tons of the AA storefronts that you can check out during art fair as well because they'll put on massive deals knowing that art fair is going on! AA Art Fair is truly the best! I hope everyone gets to check it out at some point in their lives and am eagerly looking forward to next July's art fair again!