Local Brain Gain

We've all heard the story before. Young, highly educated people from Michigan pack up and move to greener pastures, such as the big cities on the coasts or the Research Triangle down south. Meet Jim and Brooks Stevens. They are "those type of people" ...except they went in the opposite direction in 2007.

The 30-something Raleigh natives moved their advanced degrees in creative fields and two young children from North Carolina to Michigan and choose to live in... no, not Ann Arbor. The architecture (Jim) and fabric arts (Brooks) professors at Lawrence Tech and Eastern Michigan respectively make their home in Ypsilanti.

Such a move to Washtenaw County's budding bohemia might not seem right on paper after looking at their resumes and birth certificates. Smart people should go to Michigan's smart capital. But Ypsilanti makes all sense of the world when you meet the Stevens. The hipster-casual couple see more opportunity and authenticity in both Ypsilanti and most of southeast Michigan's Brooklynesque edge than Ann Arbor's collegiate (and aging) Manhattan vibe. It's obvious in how much they smile, and laugh. They're just happy people and it's easy to see how at ease, relaxed and just plain comfortable they are when they sit down and talk about their new home.

Jim and Brooks have the luxury of a newcomer's fresh eyes and attitudes, free of all the baggage we natives carry around. It allows them to see so much potential here, and they are amazed by many of the things we take for granted. It's why they jumped into opening studios in Depot Town (Brooks) and the Russell Industrial Center (Jim), and embracing things not normally trumpeted by the local chamber of commerce, like the Detroit Derby Girls games and the Michigan Central Station.

The region and Ypsilanti's rich history and diversity played key parts in making the Stevens comfortable here more than the blue porch swing and white rocker on the back stairs of Brooks' studio. The collection of old buildings in Ypsilanti's Depot Town reminds them of the old tobacco towns they grew up in. The cat that came with their new house let them know it was home.

But they see things that can improve, too. Things that go beyond the normal complaints about the auto industry and snowy weather. Some are simple like lowering taxes and some are not as obvious to the average Merto Detroiter. For instance, preserving Michigan Central Station (even in its current state) makes a lot more sense to them than razing it.

They sat down with Concentrate's Jon Zemke to give their (fresh) perspective on where Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Metro Detroit and Michigan get it right and wrong.

The conventional wisdom around here says that Ann Arbor should be the best place for young, creative couples like you, but you choose Ypsilanti. Why?

Jim: The house that we purchased, the same house in Ann Arbor was about $100,000 more.

Brooks:  It might not be that now. I like the feel of Ypsi.

Jim:  You could say that Ann Arbor is very similar to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It's a university town and not the same as the rest of the state.

Brooks:  The houses we were looking at in Ann Arbor were too close to the (Michigan) Stadium for our liking. The house we found here in Ypsi is on the perfect street. There are kids around us. We knew we would have to mow the yard this much as opposed to that much. In North Carolina we had bought several houses and fixed them up. We were completely burned out on that. When we moved up here we didn't want to have to come into a house and redo the kitchen and paint the entire house and refinish all the floors. We just wanted to move in, and the house we found here we could just move in. We didn't have to do anything, which was kind of a novelty for us.

You say that you feel very at home here. What about Ypsilanti or Metro Detroit feels like home to you guys?

Brooks:  Everything is very real. There is not a lot of fluff and unnecessary stuff. What I like about it is there are a lot of people who are like minded here whereas what we were around in academia …

Jim:  We have good colleagues. We had good colleagues in North Carolina but since we were not immersed in the culture of the university it didn't feel as comfortable. All of the people at Eastern wanted to go out with us. Our family is not here so we felt like we had an immediate network.

Brooks:  You are around people that have similar interests that like to do the same things and go the same place that we can associate with. We have always seen potential in a building or a place that excites us. We see a lot of potential in this area. Take the Farmers Market here in Ypsi. Look at that building (Brook's studio overlooks the Ypsilanti Freighthouse) and there's funding to fix that. That's very exciting. We've always been excited about living in a place with a lot of history, and that's this area. It has a wealth of history behind it.

Jim:  There is a cultural difference between there and here. We are more socially liberal than most of our neighbors - that would cause tension for us and most of our families. So to come from somewhere, particularly in the last couple of years with all the things that went on, to come here and find that, well, most people actually agree kind of made us feel comfortable. There was a time when we couldn't say anything at all without offending someone or upsetting someone. And here there are people who agree.

Jim goes on to explain how renting a truck to move up here from Raleigh was so inexpensive. It cost them $300 for the truck heading north while it would it would have cost $1,700 to do the same trip but just head south.

Jim:  I was basically doing them a favor by bringing them a truck, because so many people are moving out. The 'one ways' were moving into Raleigh so fast they had a surplus of trucks. They were kind of paying me to get the truck up here. That was my first realization that maybe I am not doing something normal.

Then everyone I would see would say, "What were you thinking?" We started defending our decision to come here to locals. It was irritating. It actually shaped our strong feelings because all I heard the first three months I was here was about how terrible it is here and what a bad mistake I made leaving Raleigh. "Why would you want to do that? You know its cold here, right?" And of course the same thing happened in Raleigh. Oh my God, I can't believe it. We had relatives that almost passed out when we told them. All we heard for months was, 'You know its cold up there?' We said, 'You know it's hot down here?' The weather was the least thing we were worried about.

So, now that you've got the lay of the land, what are some of your favorite places --both in Ypsilanti and in Metro Detroit?

Jim: Probably my favorite place is Depot Town. It reminds me a lot of small town North Carolina because of how small it is and it's proximity to the railroad.
 
I like Hamtramck a lot because of how diverse it is. I like the fact that it's very real, and I believe this about all of Detroit. Despite all of its downs there is something very real about it. There's not a Disney factor to Detroit. If you go to many cities around the country there are a lot that if you go downtown the downtown urban core has been rehabilitated, which is nice, but you can tell it's just a mall that's outside.

Where as in Detroit what you see is what you get, along with the problems. You come to the realization that where you are is a very real place. I think the Russell [Industrial Center] falls under that category. It's a great place to be an artist. The reason is because of the economic conditions and the way the building is set up. I don't know that you can find a place like this anywhere else. First of all it's very inexpensive. It doesn't even come close to prices anywhere else in an urban core. There is tons of electrical power. We can run whatever type of equipment we could ever imagine there. You have high ceilings. You have cargo-sized doors. You have a 15,000-pound cargo elevator that goes onto a truck life, so if a sculptor wants to build a 5,000-pound sculpture he can make it on the fifth floor. I don't know of anywhere you could do that where we were living. They have something like 1 million square feet of space in the building. You can go and rent 20,000 square feet for three months and then as soon as the project is over you can scale down and not worry about a 10 year lease. I don't have to worry about a lease period because it's month to month. They created an economic model that allows artists to feel comfortable. The only thing that you do is put your deposit down and pay month to month and you can modify your space any way that you want.

There are people who have been there for many years and the insides of those places are very nice, and then there are people that come and go in a month. The reality is they set up so its low-risk, high-reward for being there. There are lots of people in there. Sometimes it's hard to see them because it's so big and we're all spread out. There are different types of craftsmen there that I am just starting to meet. There is a studio culture there where people look out for each other.

Brooks: One of my favorite places to go is the Masonic Temple and I like to go there to see the Roller Derby. I am a huge derby fan. It's a really interesting place to go. The building itself is just absolutely magnificent. The materials it's made out of, the fixtures in it. We have never lived in a city that has something like this. There is this really interesting culture that comes out for Derby that I find very comfortable. I kind of feel that these are all my friends from high school. We've been to roller derby in other cities and it's just not nearly as interesting. It doesn't have as much character and it's definitely not as fun.

We went to New York last summer and I was absolutely disgusted the entire time. I was like, 'What the hell is going on?' I was just scratching my head. I was like, 'Seriously, what the hell is going on?' I talked to several of my colleagues and friends who have experienced similar things. Over the past year and a half here I have seen better artwork that is real. I was really surprised because everybody always talks about how cool it is in New York. We've been to New York several times, a lot. It's never been satisfying for me.

Jim: One of the cities I researched was New York. If she didn't get a position we were going to try and go there. Not permanently, but for a year or so to I could work for a firm I would probably never get a chance to work for again. The amount of money it would cost to live there would mean we have to live very, very tight. It goes back to what Brooks was saying about some of the art we have been seeing around here. It has a lot to do with the economic model around it. People who are producing work here are not under the pressure to produce something that sells. They can make something that is very true to themselves.

Brooks: I do get a little sad when I drive through Detroit, but I draw from that. I try to see what it can be. I see it contextually, looking at the city, there are some phenomenal buildings. Some of the best architecture in the country and they've been preserved because nobody has the money to fix them up or tear them down. 

What does Ypsilanti do that Ann Arbor and other local cities should emulate?

Jim:  They have wireless here for free, which is nice. That's brilliant. It was like, "just do it." I love that attitude. Instead of having all of these councils we're just going to do it. It's not that hard.

Brooks:  What I like about Ypsi is the authenticity. There's the Bomber. There's Sidetracks. There's Café Luwak. There are all these individually owned places. There's The Rocket, this toy store filled with all of these little oddities. It's really fun. There is a lot of individualism.

Jim:  You get the small town feel here that you don't get elsewhere. The population in Ann Arbor is mostly transient because of the university. In Ypsilanti the population is more permanent that I can tell.

You both are from the south and relatively new to the area. What do you think of the town's debate over whether to name their bluegrass festival the Ypsitucky Jamboree?

Jim: (laughs) We don't consider Kentucky the south.

Brooks:  I like to say that takes me out of my happy place. I really don't think about it too much.

You both have been quite complimentary of the art coming out of this region. What specifically makes Detroit-produced art special? Is there a regional edge, atmosphere, or essence that comes across to out-of-towners that locals can't see?

Jim:  All of the above I think. All of the art is real, so I think there is a regional edge. I think there is solidarity especially with how negatively this whole area is viewed by the rest of the country. This region gets dumped on a little bit nationally, but so does the south nationally. I think there is solidarity within the artist community because of that. I think it has more to do with that economic model. It's a place where people can actually do something very authentic and the economic ramifications of it aren't relevant if it can't be sold in a gallery in Manhattan. If they [Manhattan artists] do work that way it has to be successful. There is a lot of pressure on you, a lot of social pressure and a lot of economic pressure. This is a unique situation here where you can be very creative and create something that wouldn't work somewhere else. This is one of the few places you can do that and have a community at the same time.

Do they have any ideas for how to ramp up the art & design scene even another notch or two?

Jim:  You need to get the word out nationally that you can come here and have a community space to work.

Brooks:  I think some of that might be happening with the film industry. Within the past year I have seen several things like that. Hopefully, things will move faster now because of that and word will get out.

Jim:  I think there has been phases where there have been pushes to increase the creativity in this area. You have to remember we're new so we come into it completely naive to all the efforts of the past and we're not downing that. I am probably one of the many, many architects that come in and think they'll make a difference and never do, and that's fine. We know that reality. I think when people leave the region they need to stop downing it. They need to appreciate it here, too. I think they kind of do. Most places I have lived the artists galleries are unhappy where they are. They're always saying I need to get out wherever.

Brooks: It's always a situation where the grass is greener…

Jim:  Here, I don’t hear it as much. They may say something about the economy or the auto industry, but I don't hear it very often here. And if they do you can say go get a studio at Russell. They don't have any excuses.

Brooks:  If you want to do it badly enough you're going to do it wherever you can whether its in a corner with a card table and folding chair or in a studio with a lot of different equipment. I think as a community here the people are appreciative of the artists. Maybe there are enough of us to support each other's weight.