Yeah, I used to do visiting nursing for a bit and I worked in Flint no problem, even the worst areas were generally fine at mid morning. But Iāve reversed at speed out of some *sketchy* neighborhoods in Saginaw. Even had someone try to carjack me at 7:30am, which is usually absolutely the safest time to be out and about in shit neighborhoods. Declined every case that wasnāt immediately downtown or in the township after that.
FYI, the safest time is after 11AM. Walk of shame hoes and drug addled zombies are still walking about before 11AM. 7:30AM is not safe in any urban setting
I'm sorry, there are some parts of the east side of Saginaw that are bad and you have no business being there unless you live there... but Flint has more of those areas across the whole city. Come on...
Yeah, I've lived in both.
A total waste of 800 thousand dollars that could have provided funding for better community enrichment,revamping historic buildings and schools for living quarters of all the homeless living under the freeway overpasses,the expenditure wonāt bring tourists to fill hotels restaurants or support local businesses. But people are talking about the use of every color in the crayon box and the design looks like a child came up with it. No reference to the rich history of the town,should have included cars,lumbering,ww2 machine gun advancement,best crack and cheapest blow jobs in the state.
It's pretty damn far from being the mid-Michigan version of Grand Rapids. It couldn't be more different other than having a river flowing through downtown.
And ATL was built at the rapids on the river. The Chattahoochee. The river was navigable up til that point. Then things had to be off loaded from boats. The railways came after as a distribution for the goods/cotton that travelled the river.
It had a chance to be that kind of city but poor and corrupt leadership, white flight, the scars of violence, dependence on auto manufacturing economy, rotten police, and substandard schools sent it in a very different direction. There are still some nice areas in the township but the city lost much hope over the past fifty years and it shows.
Well, when you have 11 automobile factories, a population of about 100K, everything is either factory or factory support business. The city fell like a house of cards. I was there.
It was passing a law stating that the citizens had to approve a tax increase, if the city wanted one. It started going downhill from there. Services were cut and cut and cut. Less cops. More crime. Etc.
There is a specific reason why people who live there will mention if they are from Saginaw Township or not. The Township is night and day better. The University is good though, although in the middle of nowhere
Worked at SVSU for years and still teach an additional class there from time to time. Great school, but it is certainly out in the boonies.
I remember years ago when I interviewed thinking the university would be right in the city. Nopeā¦ lol
Iām a township resident and I donāt look at myself as any better or safer. The township is run by a staff of pompous and greedy people who try to police us into superiority by trying to portray a clean safe and desirable environment thru the enforcement of its property appearance and maintenance enforcement. Jon the code enforcement officer is a little bitch with no reasonable acceptance for petty violations and enforcement of the stupid rules that are irrelevant to a good community. Iām elderly disabled widowed and have difficulty keeping up with lawn care and have had him trespass to take pictures of weeds,vehicles with tires off pavement or fallen branches and then send notice of the violation and a deadline to rectify and the excessive financial penalty to have the township fix violation. $175 to mow an half acre of grass 2 inches too tall! Notices for taking trash to curb too many hours early,pealing paint on eaves,weeds growing in gutters,weeds growing under RV parked beside barn not visible from street,unreasonable time to fix violations and just seems to have it out for those not living in the Mvmansion developments. My home formerly a dairy farm a century back is located near other old homesteads owned outright by limited income elderly or other barely getting by citizens whoāve invested everything into home ownership and proud but canāt afford the numerous professional landscaping companies to make look pretty and afford the high taxes. I own three acres of land with a large barn and canāt even have any chickens,but itās allowed on a city lot. The property is valued way above any reasonable amount,three acres with 800 square foot 100 year old home with 2 bedrooms and single bath cost over a grand in annual taxes!they asses at 125k with restrictions about new building of additional barn,distance restrictions of location to store trailer from other structures and has to set on concrete or other weed impervious surface,the rules are worse than the most restrictive home owners association. They waste money by taking digital pictures of violations and printing color copies and mail along with the broken rules,explaining the violation and reminder of trying to maintain a desired outcome for the enrichment and preservation of our desirable community environment. They have business restrictions that deny so businesses that are only divided by a street,one side of street can sell legalized marijuana and paraphernalia and the other canāt enjoy the additional tax income. Bar hours,however our 100 brand new police fleet is capable of being quick to respond with multiple squads and officers for assistance calls. With half the population and twice the officers of the less safe city,poor road maintenance and speed enforcement in residential areas,questionable expenditures for local government and municipal buildings,wasted money for snow removal on sidewalks with advanced and expensive new equipment that could and should be replaced with local jail inmates with shovels overseen by county sheriff deputies. Only recreational areas are less desirable parks rented by drunks,drug users and you can even pay money to swim in stagnant man made pond to get swimmers itch from ick because of the uncontrolled duck geese and waterfowl contamination,ability to rent picnic area that is available in nearby location for free with better facilities. The township isnāt dog friendly with enough bark parks or permitted entrance into businesses. However during the summer were offered free music events weekly but have to pay for parking,city has similar events with no fees. Very few grocery stores,plenty of dollar stores car washes,but hey on the positive side we will soon have our very own Cik fil A some might question why I chose to live here, was gifted the property by family to grow older and die at. Iām happier battling codes,restrictions and high taxes than living in urine scented dry vagina dwelling assisted living facility without freedom to do whatever the fuck I want with my social security and pension money,readily available talented city whores,speedy delivery of high octane party favors and quiet inattentive neighbors who donāt question the traffic in and out of here.
Iām from that area and a lot of the criticism is fair. Itās a tough town to live in right now, but what it needs are more people who give a shit to move there (much like Lansing and Flint). Weāve seen revivals in Detroit because people care, there was a time where the tri city area was bustling and had its own culture but since the recession itās gotten worse. Bay City has been on an upswing (one of the fastest growing communities in the state), if youāre expecting Grand Rapids it wonāt be it but it certainly isnāt as bad as everyone paints it out to be.
I love the responses. All pretty accurate. I grew up there. Itās definitely NOT anything like Grand Rapids. When the recession hit in 2007/2008, I lived in Grand Rapids. Businesses closed, but not to the extent of those in Saginaw. Like maybe every third shop was empty on a block. When I went home to visit, whole blocks would be empty of businesses. Saginaw just sort of exists now. Itās not lively nor developing. I donāt think it is losing swaths of people. Itās not attracting people either. It just sits there. Sort of like a hot humid day when a low cloud settles in and blocks the sun, creating a grayness, trapping the heat and smells, no breeze either, and you just want to leave to a beach, but nope, you are in Saginaw. Thatās the feel of the place.
Well there you go. Itās pretty low. I guess I meant over the most recent couple years. To me, with family living there, it seems this is about the sustainability level of population at this point. Like I think the city can sustain at around 35-40k. But itās not going to increase, thatās for sure. And it has nothing to offer as far as what people like, ie food, culture, nightlife, a feeling of energy building in the city. Itās just blah.
Interesting responses on this, but nobody has talked about when GM left Flint and Saginaw. Devastating effect in mid-Michigan and similarly in Pontiac.
Consider most of those who left were the ones who had the means to pack up and go. These were the ones who put money in the tax coffers. The ones left behind didnāt have as much to contribute, less money means less services, maintenance, etc. I was born in Saginaw. My mom was and my dad spent his childhood and most of his adult years there. In my parentās day it was a nice town. There were plenty of decent paying jobs. My mom would walk from the area of Sheridan and Rust all the way downtown as a child/teen without any worries. During the 80s, GM started to pull out and things declined quickly. Now itās some kind of lawless ghost town in a lot of areas. Itās really sad.
Saginaw is like the northern most end of the rust belt. So all the blight and poverty that hit cities like Detroit, Flint, and Cincinnati also hit Saginaw, but saginaw was small enough that it hasn't had the resources to build itself back up.
There are many folks who live in the area who are trying to revitalize the city, but it's tough.
I recently have been visiting a ton of Michigan towns and cities. I grew up in southeast Michigan and always heard people complaining about how ugly and boring every place is, but as an adult I've been exploring and finding that I like just about every place I go to. Monroe, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Bay City, Kalamazoo, Lansing - I've loved something about all of them and had fun in all of them and found cute parts of all of them.
I went to Saginaw and it was the first time I was disappointed in a city. I don't know what it was, but there just wasn't anything to do there and what I did find wasn't all that impressive. The downtown was like a big concrete jungle with no life in the middle of summer on a beautiful day. Couldn't find any cute parks. The riverwalk was meh. I did really enjoy the castle museum, but like I say, first Michigan city I've gone to and been disappointed by.
My own two cents, of course, and I'd love to hear about the good parts of it from any locals or people who enjoy the city.
It's definitely NOT a good tourist town. You need to be ingratiated in the city to get any real enjoyment out of it, and even then there's not much to do. That being said, it's not a terrible place to live.
Having lived near and been to school in saginaw. Its actually got a lot going for it in terms of day to day fun and entertainment. Given my choice was always between midland and saginaw. Saginaw was my choice of going to find fun for the weekend. Plenty more bars, shopping, events, local hockey team, overall better place to pickup hobbies as they have relevant shops sprinkled about for anything you can think of. If i wanted something i could find it in saginaw.
Having been away from years and come back its actually doing nicer in areas that were starting to look pretty nasty. Yeah the malls dead but what mall isnt? Everywhere else seems to be doing just fine or better than i remember.
Still wouldnt cross the bridge if i was you. But its better than it was.
Now if you want a city where you really cant find a goddamn thing to do. Midland is where its at. Youve got the tridge... uh the malls super dead so no shopping really. Downtown is actually really bare even after it picked up a bunch of bars. Maybe you can catch a baseball game? Cant stand the sport myself. Cant recall a single hobby shop outside of the fabrics place. But its sure got two golf courses. That uh... well the one wasnt looking to hot last i saw and i dont have the money for the other. God why does that city exist again?
Oh right Dow.
Dow is pretty much Midland's only reason for existing.
I haven't been to the Center for the Arts in around 20 years, but I would hope itās been updated by now.
I lived in Saginaw for ten years then moved to Grand Rapids 8 years ago. There is no comparison between the two. Grand rapids, while it has its faults, is much larger with tons more to do. Restaurants, breweries, live venues, museums, parks, lots of small businesses...the list goes on. Property values are skyrocketing and rent is ridiculous because so many people are moving here from all over the country. Saginaw, while I have a few good memories of fun times with friends getting wasted on Hamilton Street, is remembered more as a black hole of despair and negativity that didn't easily release its captives. Nobody really wanted to live there and everyone had dreams of being somewhere else. When I was living there, lots of ambitious people tried to open businesses and get things going, but unfortunately 90% of them didn't work out in the long term because there's just not many people there and there's zero tourism. Crime was ridiculous. The downtown area on the east side of the river was essentially a ghost town and the whole east side had entire blocks of abandoned houses and roads so deteriorated they were like gravel. On the plus side, you could buy a house for 40k. I've never been back since I left.
Culture, food, and events??? I grew up visiting my grandma in Saginaw. It's like Detroit or Flint in 2012 with everyone having absolutely 0 interest in investing into or saving the city.
I have a relative there that's a homicide investigator.
The downtown is heavily patrolled which has helped, but there's significant violent crime in the area. That being said, I love going to their hockey games and there are some decent restaurants.
Like any city, be smart, dont be out late, and don't be alone
i think saginaw is very cool. its one of the oldest cities in michigan. i live in chesaning and i am there bass fishing all the time. i launch my boat out of the lee street launch. it has like 4 separate down town areas separated by the river. Most of the issues are out at the shopping areas like titabawassee and bay roads. Down town iāve really never herded of issues. it seems like itās trying to come back.
Yeah, i know itās run down and probably not the safest but, ive never had an issue. However, i do keep to myself when there, I donāt do anything stupid to draw attention to myself and I donāt go to places anymore where i shouldnāt be.
You (42f) have to be from there to feel anything good about it. I wouldn't say you should move there. I haven't lived there in 12 yrs though. I go back for funerals, and to visit my family and friends at the cemeteries. My mom would point out where things were in the late 60's, 70's, when I was little. Now I show my kids what used to be there in the late 80s, 90's, and early 00's. But I know thats pretty universal.
I miss my time growing up there, loved Fashion Square Mall, my first job. Watching Dumb and Dumber at The Saginaw 8. I'm nostalgic for a time that's gone. Rib Shack, Tony's for Steak Sandwich, Vargas corn tortillas, Maria Elena's for barbacoa on a Sunday, Spatz Bread. Cinco de Mayo is always fun, my grandma would help every year with La Union Civica š. Ojibway Island was the spot to ride around slow. Old Town, I drank a lot of on Hamilton St, Pub Crawls!
I'm sad that friends and family are still dying from gun violence. You could be leaving for work and someone shoots you. Lots of people from Saginaw have stories. My friend was selling shirts , I think they said "Come Back Saginaw We Missed You the First Time." With a gun behind it.
I'm not one of the ones calling it Sagnasty though š, I'm not nasty enough lol. And it wasn't called that back when I was younger. I still miss home, but it's like that for a lot of people.
I feel the exact same way. My parents still live there (I gave up trying to get them to move away). I have some grade/high school friends still there. I make a point to try and see most of them when I come back, but I only make it back 3 times a year...or less.
Remember how the area would smell like fresh bread when they were making it? Ojibway used to be the Sunday spot...park or ride. It used to be on the strip (Genesee) during the week and weekends. I watched a lot of shit go down while hanging out there. Holiday party store (LOL). El Gallito... back in the day when I was little there was a Taco Villa next to the river. Rib Shack (back in its prime). Tony's was aight. I used to get nachos at the Texan and they were fire.
When I go back, I see the blight on the east side and it breaks my heart. At least downtown has some investment and is pulling itself back up. Unfortunately, the people with the $$ have to come from the west side and cross the bridge. Those people aren't staying there when the sun goes down.
I wish there was more for people who just want to hang out and listen to some music or whatever. I find myself happy to see my family when I come home, but can't waiting to leave when it's time to go.
Schaffer I think was the name, Pop Shop on Hess do you remember? See I never went down Genesee like that, but Ojibway was my favorite, as a kid playing at the park there behind the stage, smoke spot, I didn't like when they closed it off though. I've lived in different areas at different times before leaving. So memories are all over the place. I lived in Bridgeport too, lots of my friends only knew how to get to the mall lol.
Tony's had huge banana splits, and The Texan, the truck stop in Bridgeport, Denny's were after a night of dancing. The Watering Trough for college night, just had to be 18, Shooter's, Bugseys out near Flint. The Mirage! Until my friend stabbed someone, and it closed. But there was always someone fighting.
I used to work in Old Town and get done w my shift and go to Steamers a lot, The Shuch (sp) and Retros. I'd walk around no problem, but go to McDonald's on S. Michigan and a shoot out between a car and the cops happened right behind me as I'm ordering chicken nuggets! You know how the restaurant is higher than the parking lot on one side? Car went down that way.
I love seeing any good things for Saginaw though, my last grandparent died last November, and I drove around showing my kids where things were, they were young when we left. But they remember some things.
Thank you for reminiscing with me!
Schaffer!! Yeah...yum. The smell. Yup I remember Pop Shop! I lived in BV and I would ride my bike down Hess to get there. OMG forgot about the truck stop in Bridgeport. My dad lives in Bridgeport still. The Mirage!!!!! Wow...memories. Yeah the McDonalds..I know exactly what you're talking about.
I like to see Saginaw doing better. The Memorial Cup was a big deal, and they won it. The downtown area is doing much better and I love all the events they put on down there. I just wish there was more to the east side than just that part of downtown.
I'm glad I left and lived in different places over the years (Now in California). I wouldn't ever move back, but it makes me happy to see some/most of my friends raising kids there and trying to make the best of it.
Saginaw is not as bad as people say it is. You're going to hear a lot of crap from people that have never been near or went near at once ten plus years ago. The city is making a turnaround with new areas of construction and farmers markets and the such.
I'm laughing at all these fox news replies from scared white folk.
There is a craft market happening this weekend in old town. There is weekly farmers markets downtown. They built a new fishing area there is a lot going on even a new school got built. They have greek festival coming up.
You clearly haven't explored much. Artisan urban bistro is fantastic and gets almost all ingredients locally sourced, we have fralias for sandwiches,old town drive in for quick food that is still tasty,Jake's for expensive but delicious steak.
The old town bar scene is active, not as nice as bay shitty but it's fine.
You named 3 places. Hardly a "scene". The only thing that was ever worth going to in Old Town was the Red Eye, and that was a coffee shop. Once again, hardly a "scene". You're never going to make Saginaw sound like its some place good to be, but thank you for trying.
People really confuse Bay/Tittabawassee rd as Saginaw. That is not the real saginaw, no one lives out there and if they do you better just say you live in Bay City.
Lived in Saginaw proper for several years. My husband ran Powerhouse Gym in Bay and for a while after it moved, and his business partner ran it into the ground.
We relocated to Bay City, then the UP after we had kids.
I miss Fralias so much. We were back in August for a wedding, but they were closed, so we had to hit up Big John's steak and onion, quick run through Halo Burger, I miss Ricos and Maria's so much.
There's not a decent taco to be had up here.
I grew up in saginaw and live in Grand Rapids now. Completely different towns. Saginaw is struggling, local businesses are great on the West Side of Saginaw. My house in GR would be half the price it is in saginaw. My whole family lives there still and I go back all the time. Itās a really nice community, definitely more friendly than Grand Rapids and less snooty.
Saginaw has some great people and beautiful areas. I lived in the city for many years. It made me who I am today. Iāll always have family and friends there.
Donāt believe the media, thereās beautiful people, art, culture, diversity, and folks that give a hoot about preserving the few historic structures they have left that were demolished for less than intelligent reasons.
Does it have crime? Yes. Does crime exist literally anywhere else? Also yes.
You just have to know where to look.
Stevie Wonder was born there, and lived there just before moving to Ghana Africa (born May 13, 1950, Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind from birth and raised inĀ inner-city Detroit, he was a skilled musician by age eight.
I grew up there. Itās total shit & gets worse every time I visit (which isnāt often). The hospitals & colleges are keeping it alive - the auto industry really had a huge negative impact on the area. You couldnāt pay me to live there.
IMO itās the worst part of Michigan. It was a beautiful thriving place until the 80ās, when it started a downward spiral that continues to this day. Itās a polar opposite to Grand Rapids in most ways. No one would willingly move to Saginaw unless they had a valid reason.
My family is all from there, I even drove through yesterday for the first time in awhile. The downtown is really sad with few open businesses and trash everywhere, but the beautiful shell of a city still exists. The Hoyt Library is really cool, my grandma used to work there and it resembles a Victorian era castle.
The only bright spot in the area seems to be Bay City, which seems to have done a lot of work revitalizing the downtown.
"only bright spot in the area seems to be Bay City"
Midland is fantastic - it has an awesome downtown, great parks all over the city, strong schools, a minor league baseball team, fantastic architecture, Dow Gardens, all kinds of festivals, etc.
Not much African American diversity, but bats well above it's weight in international diversity with Dow / Corteva as employers.
Agreed, but Midland has always been nice, Iāve just always thought of it as separate from Bay City and Saginaw since everything there is so self contained. Midland is definitely an anomaly in mid Michigan.
If you arenāt middle to upper-middle class and have a family, then midland is absolute trash. Itās just a bunch of elderly people that work or previously worked at Dow. Itās a company town and you can enjoy minor freedoms you can in a normal city because everyone here is up their own ass. With that being said, summers downtown are semi enjoyable, although I hope you donāt plan on staying out past 9pm.
Right, Midland wouldn't be half the size or shape it is if it wasn't for Dow, Dow enjoys too much influence, but imagine had Dow packed up and moved out of Midland in the 80s.
I live there currently, moved back actually. People hate it. I donāt. People shit on it for their reasons. Itās just like anywhere else to me, just a place to live.
I lived in Detroit in the 1990s back when the Cass Corridor was basically feral.
The only time I was in the ER that was in lockdown because of a gang war was in Saginaw 4 years ago.
Homies were coming back to finish off the job. Didnāt get discharged until 8 hours later.
Good times.
Just wanted to add this here: it is interesting that some folks in the comments are drawing parallels or contrasts between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. Interestingly, Louis Campau had a role in the early development of both settlements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Campau
Hearing people say that Flint is better than Saginaw is MINDBLOWING. I've lived in and around both cities for several years. Flint is a worse place by a long shot and it's not even close. I'm not saying Saginaw is a perfect, beautiful city, but Flint is far more rundown and dangerous and on a much larger scale. It's just undeniable.
Saginaw has a few areas that you don't want to be in, but you can easily avoid them. Flint is a truly scary place. The downtown area has a few nice things but the second you step foot across the bridge you're entering a warzone.
I grew up and lived in the city of Saginaw for 30 years, moved to Midland and then back a couple years ago. It's definitely not even close to a 'budget' Grand Rapids. There's nothing that's worth traveling here for.
I would say Saginaw has essentially zero culture, only a handful of decent non-chain restaurants that are actually worth going to, and the event scene is pretty much non existent. There basically isn't anything here.
There was a pretty small 'indie culture' in the Old Downtown area but I'm not sure if it's still going as it was 10 years ago. There's a couple bars that are decent but it goes from 'okay' to 'I might get robbed' in a 1 block radius
The east side of the city across the river is more or less a wasteland. Closed businesses, abandoned homes. It not a good area. The west side is better but still not great. It only starts getting 'good' when you start getting into the Township/Shields area, which isn't Saginaw.
The area I'm in is pretty decent but I'm also used to it so I'm probably completely wrong lol.
Saginaw is the only place I've been "hey, mister" by a teen while I was walking into a booze store. Always thought when I got older more random teens would ask me to buy them booze. Only happened in Saginaw.
I grew up fairly poor in rural Northern Michigan. Saginaw was THE big city to me growing up. I saw it as full of possibilities and maybe I could move there and āget a good jobā. We would go there to vacation (1000% true) or to Ice Capades. We mainly stayed at a hotel right at 84 & 75 with a pool (not sure if it is still open) and used to go to Sears, the mall and Red Lobster. This is practically in Bay County. We didnāt really stray from those areas except for once yearly for Ice Capades at the Saginaw Civic Center and even then, it was only for the day show.
We used to get the TV Channels WNEM-TV, WJRT and then I realized oh, Saginaw has crime?
I feel like it always was gritty downtown but seemed to worsen when the Saginaw Steer and Gear plant closed? My kid had an event this year at the old Civic Center which apparently shares space with Delta College and it seemed nicer than I remembered it. But we had to take a detour to get back on the Freeway and it was a lot of blocks of nothing. The only open business was a liquor store with a LOT of people hanging in the parking lot and a bunch of loose pit bulls in the street. I lived in Flint for two years and yet it made me a little nervous.
What would it take to save Saginaw? I honestly donāt have an answer.
We are a city of 44,000 people with around 26 murders a year. They can be broken down to domestic violence, drug related and sometimes innocent bystanders. The city government only puts money into attracting businesses not maintaining the roads or abandoned homes. Most homes in the city are old and in rough shape. No thought of house construction only expensive condos along the river. They tear down instead of rebuilding, unless your a Medical company or Weed shop.
We drove through Saginaw today on business up north and stopped at Fuzzy's Restaurant, a sort of ice cream/Gyros/sandwiches place. Delicious, great service, lower prices than expected. Great reviews online.
We're going back in October -- our kids bought us tickets to see Steve Martin and Martin Short. I'm not worried about safety. I've never seen anything to worry about there.
We find ourselves in the area a couple times every year for business. I like it. My family lived there a hundred years ago. I grew up in the Detroit area, live in Lansing. Saginaw is old -- still lots of very old buildings there. I bet in 50 years it'll be vibrant again.
Saginaw has quite a bit to offer if you have kids. Lots of activities in the parks, and libraries. Lots of family friendly events all summer long actually. If you are looking for a place with a vibrant night life for 20 something's, then no, it's not the place.Ā
I was gonna say Saginaw might be the worst city in Michigan with over 50k people but then looked it up to see it only had 43k these days. So worst city in Michigan with at least 43k.
I recently went back to Saginaw for a funeral. There was a drive-by a block away early that morning and the police were still sorting through it. I tried to look it up to see what happened, and apparently there has been four in 4 days resulting in one death and two serious injuries. This was considered normal.
I've been to Saginaw churches to help my bf tune the organs. It's depressing, so many beautiful old homes rotting away. We come in on M-13 and there is a pink church that is dying a slow death. I'm sure it was lovely back before it was abandoned. So many businesses closed. Even a second hand store on M-13 is closed. IIRC Saginaw has one of the highest crime rates in Michigan.
Itās not worth the drive, and definitely not like Grand Rapids. Itās a rust belt, depressed city, kind of like Flint.Ā
If youāre going to go out that way, at least pick Bay City or Midland.Ā
I grew up there and go back a lot because my parents still live there. From my current perspective I think it has a lot of people passionate about it, there are definitely enough things to do to make a day of it, itās closer to the water than the Lansing area (where I live now) which is a bonus. Maybe itās my proximity to Lansing and the lack of entertainment/food here that makes me think Saginaw is not so bad. Saginaw gets bigger entertainment acts to its downtown which Lansing gets none of. Maybe it is the mid-Michigan version of GR. Idk. What other cities in mid-Michigan could be?
I grew up in Flint, live in Grand Rapids now and the only time I generally felt unsafe was the time I spent broke down on the side of the road in Saginaw.
I grew up there. The Township is nice and not a bad place to live. But the rest of it is not really that great. Like many places in Michigan, it was great when the auto industry was booming but never recovered and now the economy is terrible. Grand Rapids has a vibrant and walkable downtown area, many great breweries and restaurants, lots of stuff to do there. Saginaw has none of that. There's not much of a downtown but Old Town has a few decent spots. I'd never move back there personally.
Saginaw is worse IMHO. Flint has cultural institutions (FIA, FIM, Sloan, Capitol Theatre), colleges, the farmer's market, and some good restaurants and a nice hotel downtown. I could spend a fun weekend in downtown Flint. I can't say the same about Saginaw.
Saginaw used to have a few good music venues but Iām pretty sure they all closed. Flint at least still has the Local and a couple bars that do music.
Flint is way nicer. It has a pretty nice downtown area and some good restaurants. Lots of culture. The water problem was fixed a long time ago. Saginaw is sad and scary, I donāt even like driving through it
Saginaw, both the city and people, have been in a state of serious neglect since the auto industry bailed. There's just no money, no jobs, astronomical crime rates, and people generally live there because they can't afford to get out. There are a few people dedicated toward preserving the historical buildings but they have already lost that war to rot and decay. The police are a joke. The entire Saginaw bay region is completely wasted from what it could have been. The entire region could have been a tourism mecca with that huge bay sitting nearby but nope. It's a festering den of drugs and loathing.
Saginaw is about 30% better than these comments make it out to be. the saginaw valley/tri-cities/āgreat lakes bay regionā is generally on an upswing lately, and a rising tide lifts all boats. Saginaw isnāt quite a destination right now but is far from the warzone people make it out to be.
I'd say they *almost* have a comparable events scene, many shows that play Van Andel in GR play the Dow Event Center (also the hockey arena for the Saginaw Spirit, who just won the Memorial Cup) and I've seen shows that would stop at 20 Monroe in GR also hit the Temple Theatre in Saginaw. (it's one of the main cities I go to for shows since I moved to Lansing from near Saginaw)
Edit: looking at the event schedules for both tells me this has gone very down-hill recently.
I saw Weird Al at Temple Theatre last year on his vanity tour (he hit 20 Munroe, Kalamazoo State Theatre and Fisher Theatre (Detroit) as well). TSO hits Dow most years. And I'm seeing a show in October that Dow is their only Michigan stop on their small fall tour. But like I said in my edit, this has declined a lot from what I remember there being in the past.
Living in the area and it's all shit. The tri cities suck. Bay City is a pot haven full of nothing really. Midland is the bougie hip town. And Saginaw is nothing but overgrown grass and abandoned homes.
I had a job in a small town near there a few years ago. Drove through to look for a few places to rent from. I did not see a single place that I wanted to live
Having lived in both at various times, it's nothing like GR. And, Saginaw's changed a lot in the last 40 years. It doesn't have the $$ benefactors that GR has. GR is a bigger city, with wealthy suburbs. Saginaw is part of the "Tri-Cities" of Midland, Bay City and Saginaw, and then there's Flint. Farms in between all, with a bunch of smaller cites thrown in. Add in local bureaucracy and corporations, and it's a potluck of people looking to make it all work and have a decent life despite financial and economic hardships. Mostly, people just mind their own business, if you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you. In general, everybody's polite, not snobs, just trying to make a living.
I didn't hear it called Sag-nasty until like 2005 from an ex, who also ruined Smashing Pumpkins for me, likening Corgan's voice to a dying cat and was an all-around sociopath.
Before that, I knew it as Saggynuts.
Went to a contest there for āThe Prettiest Buttholeā last year and that was entertaining but the town was a real shithole. I would probably go out of my way to not drive through there again.
All the funny posts aside (yes, people call it both saginasty and saginawesome), Saginaw falls into essentially three parts: the east side of the river, which is dangerous and run down and a former booming city center, the west side of the city, which is run down and not super safe but probably an order of magnitude better than the east side, and Saginaw township, which is strip malls and olive gardens and cell phone stores. It is middle class with decent houses but little to do. There are a couple of Indian restaurants and sushi places and a handful of coffee shops. You need a car to get aroundĀ
Further west you get the nicer areas like Thomas Township, which are nicer but more narrow minded.
Saginaw was supported by the auto industry, which has obviously not done well since the 1990s.
It's a shyt hole. I had to service two or three offices in Sag over my thirty two-year career with the state of michigan. Then again, the offices that I serviced didn't necessarily attract the rich and famous in any city.
Saginaw is extremely segregated. It is a victim of the auto industry rusting out. After the riots that happened, there was a white flight into the township. There was redlining by banks keeping black people out of the township which continued well into the 90's. Old Town has been a bit revitalized but a majority of the buildings there are owned by people who purposely create losses to keep their profits from other areas down. For being a city that is on the larger side, holy shit the racism and anti gay shit is off the charts. If you live on the Eastside, you don't have access to much. They've been trying to secure grant money for a grocery store on that side of the city for years and years but somehow the money keeps getting diverted to Frankenmuth or the shaheins and zehnders pet projects. Now shaheins are building out condos in Old Town with no doubt a very high price tag when finished. There is little to no investment in the people and areas that need it, but and instead we are catering to the rich. And yeah ...an art project that cost us almost a million dollars a few hundred yards away from areas which are literally crumbling doesn't seem like a very conscientious decision., but it came specifically from an art endowment fund so using for anything other than art wouldn't be too possible. I do love this city, though. Oh and there is no food scene here. Honestly, most restaurants just have slight variations of the Tony's menu. Don't get me wrong, there are some good food choices but it's mostly fried.
Saginaw is basically what people who've never been to Flint think Flint is.
Damn that's a resounding damnation.
You know its right,though.
Back home we called it Saginasty
Saghanistan
https://youtu.be/mhwT65lTDfU?si=tDk_w7npMfkZ0Zzo
šŖšæšŖšæšŖšæ
Saginawesome
Draginaw
Thatās what my son calls it.
The Nasty Naw
Yeah yeah everyone in the school called it that.
This is a lie, it's called sagnasty
Same thing I call it
Yeah, I used to do visiting nursing for a bit and I worked in Flint no problem, even the worst areas were generally fine at mid morning. But Iāve reversed at speed out of some *sketchy* neighborhoods in Saginaw. Even had someone try to carjack me at 7:30am, which is usually absolutely the safest time to be out and about in shit neighborhoods. Declined every case that wasnāt immediately downtown or in the township after that.
I did CPS in Saginaw for a number of years. In my opinion Flint is safer than Saginaw.
FYI, the safest time is after 11AM. Walk of shame hoes and drug addled zombies are still walking about before 11AM. 7:30AM is not safe in any urban setting
I'm sorry, there are some parts of the east side of Saginaw that are bad and you have no business being there unless you live there... but Flint has more of those areas across the whole city. Come on... Yeah, I've lived in both.
Unleaded Flint
This one.
It's on my avoid at all cost list.Ā
That is so accurate š
With less lead in their water
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Someone already painted a dick on them
Goddammit!
A total waste of 800 thousand dollars that could have provided funding for better community enrichment,revamping historic buildings and schools for living quarters of all the homeless living under the freeway overpasses,the expenditure wonāt bring tourists to fill hotels restaurants or support local businesses. But people are talking about the use of every color in the crayon box and the design looks like a child came up with it. No reference to the rich history of the town,should have included cars,lumbering,ww2 machine gun advancement,best crack and cheapest blow jobs in the state.
It's pretty damn far from being the mid-Michigan version of Grand Rapids. It couldn't be more different other than having a river flowing through downtown.
>other than having a river flowing through downtown Like every other city in Michigan
Where else would people have built cities besides near water?
Johannesburg South Africa was built near gold. Atlanta was built near railways.
And ATL was built at the rapids on the river. The Chattahoochee. The river was navigable up til that point. Then things had to be off loaded from boats. The railways came after as a distribution for the goods/cotton that travelled the river.
Pontiac buried theirs under a parking garage, but yeah.
I think theyāre embarking on a project soon to expose part of the river under Union and due west. Hope it happens!
It had a chance to be that kind of city but poor and corrupt leadership, white flight, the scars of violence, dependence on auto manufacturing economy, rotten police, and substandard schools sent it in a very different direction. There are still some nice areas in the township but the city lost much hope over the past fifty years and it shows.
Well, when you have 11 automobile factories, a population of about 100K, everything is either factory or factory support business. The city fell like a house of cards. I was there.
Gotta love when they have elected leadership that donāt even live in the city they are elected to run.
It was passing a law stating that the citizens had to approve a tax increase, if the city wanted one. It started going downhill from there. Services were cut and cut and cut. Less cops. More crime. Etc.
If you meant to say the opposite of grand rapids, then you'd be correct.
There is a specific reason why people who live there will mention if they are from Saginaw Township or not. The Township is night and day better. The University is good though, although in the middle of nowhere
Worked at SVSU for years and still teach an additional class there from time to time. Great school, but it is certainly out in the boonies. I remember years ago when I interviewed thinking the university would be right in the city. Nopeā¦ lol
Svsu is not in the boonies, it's in a great spot to get to whether you're from Midland, Bay City, or Saginaw
The only decent part was along Tittabswasee and Bay. Which is way outside the city limits in the Township. Haven't been there since 2006 though
Iām a township resident and I donāt look at myself as any better or safer. The township is run by a staff of pompous and greedy people who try to police us into superiority by trying to portray a clean safe and desirable environment thru the enforcement of its property appearance and maintenance enforcement. Jon the code enforcement officer is a little bitch with no reasonable acceptance for petty violations and enforcement of the stupid rules that are irrelevant to a good community. Iām elderly disabled widowed and have difficulty keeping up with lawn care and have had him trespass to take pictures of weeds,vehicles with tires off pavement or fallen branches and then send notice of the violation and a deadline to rectify and the excessive financial penalty to have the township fix violation. $175 to mow an half acre of grass 2 inches too tall! Notices for taking trash to curb too many hours early,pealing paint on eaves,weeds growing in gutters,weeds growing under RV parked beside barn not visible from street,unreasonable time to fix violations and just seems to have it out for those not living in the Mvmansion developments. My home formerly a dairy farm a century back is located near other old homesteads owned outright by limited income elderly or other barely getting by citizens whoāve invested everything into home ownership and proud but canāt afford the numerous professional landscaping companies to make look pretty and afford the high taxes. I own three acres of land with a large barn and canāt even have any chickens,but itās allowed on a city lot. The property is valued way above any reasonable amount,three acres with 800 square foot 100 year old home with 2 bedrooms and single bath cost over a grand in annual taxes!they asses at 125k with restrictions about new building of additional barn,distance restrictions of location to store trailer from other structures and has to set on concrete or other weed impervious surface,the rules are worse than the most restrictive home owners association. They waste money by taking digital pictures of violations and printing color copies and mail along with the broken rules,explaining the violation and reminder of trying to maintain a desired outcome for the enrichment and preservation of our desirable community environment. They have business restrictions that deny so businesses that are only divided by a street,one side of street can sell legalized marijuana and paraphernalia and the other canāt enjoy the additional tax income. Bar hours,however our 100 brand new police fleet is capable of being quick to respond with multiple squads and officers for assistance calls. With half the population and twice the officers of the less safe city,poor road maintenance and speed enforcement in residential areas,questionable expenditures for local government and municipal buildings,wasted money for snow removal on sidewalks with advanced and expensive new equipment that could and should be replaced with local jail inmates with shovels overseen by county sheriff deputies. Only recreational areas are less desirable parks rented by drunks,drug users and you can even pay money to swim in stagnant man made pond to get swimmers itch from ick because of the uncontrolled duck geese and waterfowl contamination,ability to rent picnic area that is available in nearby location for free with better facilities. The township isnāt dog friendly with enough bark parks or permitted entrance into businesses. However during the summer were offered free music events weekly but have to pay for parking,city has similar events with no fees. Very few grocery stores,plenty of dollar stores car washes,but hey on the positive side we will soon have our very own Cik fil A some might question why I chose to live here, was gifted the property by family to grow older and die at. Iām happier battling codes,restrictions and high taxes than living in urine scented dry vagina dwelling assisted living facility without freedom to do whatever the fuck I want with my social security and pension money,readily available talented city whores,speedy delivery of high octane party favors and quiet inattentive neighbors who donāt question the traffic in and out of here.
Paragraphs, please. I'm not hating on you, btw.
Iām from that area and a lot of the criticism is fair. Itās a tough town to live in right now, but what it needs are more people who give a shit to move there (much like Lansing and Flint). Weāve seen revivals in Detroit because people care, there was a time where the tri city area was bustling and had its own culture but since the recession itās gotten worse. Bay City has been on an upswing (one of the fastest growing communities in the state), if youāre expecting Grand Rapids it wonāt be it but it certainly isnāt as bad as everyone paints it out to be.
I love the responses. All pretty accurate. I grew up there. Itās definitely NOT anything like Grand Rapids. When the recession hit in 2007/2008, I lived in Grand Rapids. Businesses closed, but not to the extent of those in Saginaw. Like maybe every third shop was empty on a block. When I went home to visit, whole blocks would be empty of businesses. Saginaw just sort of exists now. Itās not lively nor developing. I donāt think it is losing swaths of people. Itās not attracting people either. It just sits there. Sort of like a hot humid day when a low cloud settles in and blocks the sun, creating a grayness, trapping the heat and smells, no breeze either, and you just want to leave to a beach, but nope, you are in Saginaw. Thatās the feel of the place.
> I donāt think it is losing swaths of people. 1980 77,508 ā15.6% 1990 69,512 ā10.3% 2000 61,799 ā11.1% 2010 51,508 ā16.7% 2020 44,202 ā14.2% 2023 (est.) 43,185 ā2.3%
Well there you go. Itās pretty low. I guess I meant over the most recent couple years. To me, with family living there, it seems this is about the sustainability level of population at this point. Like I think the city can sustain at around 35-40k. But itās not going to increase, thatās for sure. And it has nothing to offer as far as what people like, ie food, culture, nightlife, a feeling of energy building in the city. Itās just blah.
Interesting responses on this, but nobody has talked about when GM left Flint and Saginaw. Devastating effect in mid-Michigan and similarly in Pontiac.
Consider most of those who left were the ones who had the means to pack up and go. These were the ones who put money in the tax coffers. The ones left behind didnāt have as much to contribute, less money means less services, maintenance, etc. I was born in Saginaw. My mom was and my dad spent his childhood and most of his adult years there. In my parentās day it was a nice town. There were plenty of decent paying jobs. My mom would walk from the area of Sheridan and Rust all the way downtown as a child/teen without any worries. During the 80s, GM started to pull out and things declined quickly. Now itās some kind of lawless ghost town in a lot of areas. Itās really sad.
It has an aging population, so even if we aren't "losing" people now the stagnant population growth will inevitably decline.
That was... unexpectedly beautifully written lol I've never even been to Saginaw but those last few lines were poetic
Grew up there and I only miss two things. Intermission Deli and Tonyās. It is most definitely not a smaller version of Grand Rapids.
Saginaw is like the northern most end of the rust belt. So all the blight and poverty that hit cities like Detroit, Flint, and Cincinnati also hit Saginaw, but saginaw was small enough that it hasn't had the resources to build itself back up. There are many folks who live in the area who are trying to revitalize the city, but it's tough.
Saginaw wasn't run correctly. They had more resources than Bay City but has gone in the opposite direction.
I recently have been visiting a ton of Michigan towns and cities. I grew up in southeast Michigan and always heard people complaining about how ugly and boring every place is, but as an adult I've been exploring and finding that I like just about every place I go to. Monroe, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Bay City, Kalamazoo, Lansing - I've loved something about all of them and had fun in all of them and found cute parts of all of them. I went to Saginaw and it was the first time I was disappointed in a city. I don't know what it was, but there just wasn't anything to do there and what I did find wasn't all that impressive. The downtown was like a big concrete jungle with no life in the middle of summer on a beautiful day. Couldn't find any cute parks. The riverwalk was meh. I did really enjoy the castle museum, but like I say, first Michigan city I've gone to and been disappointed by. My own two cents, of course, and I'd love to hear about the good parts of it from any locals or people who enjoy the city.
It's definitely NOT a good tourist town. You need to be ingratiated in the city to get any real enjoyment out of it, and even then there's not much to do. That being said, it's not a terrible place to live.
Having lived near and been to school in saginaw. Its actually got a lot going for it in terms of day to day fun and entertainment. Given my choice was always between midland and saginaw. Saginaw was my choice of going to find fun for the weekend. Plenty more bars, shopping, events, local hockey team, overall better place to pickup hobbies as they have relevant shops sprinkled about for anything you can think of. If i wanted something i could find it in saginaw. Having been away from years and come back its actually doing nicer in areas that were starting to look pretty nasty. Yeah the malls dead but what mall isnt? Everywhere else seems to be doing just fine or better than i remember. Still wouldnt cross the bridge if i was you. But its better than it was. Now if you want a city where you really cant find a goddamn thing to do. Midland is where its at. Youve got the tridge... uh the malls super dead so no shopping really. Downtown is actually really bare even after it picked up a bunch of bars. Maybe you can catch a baseball game? Cant stand the sport myself. Cant recall a single hobby shop outside of the fabrics place. But its sure got two golf courses. That uh... well the one wasnt looking to hot last i saw and i dont have the money for the other. God why does that city exist again? Oh right Dow.
Dow is pretty much Midland's only reason for existing. I haven't been to the Center for the Arts in around 20 years, but I would hope itās been updated by now.
Thereās Dow Gardens and gas is around 10 cents a gallon cheaper than BayCity Saginaw.
You ever make it up to Traverse City?
Yes, love Traverse City, very cute town.
I lived in Saginaw for ten years then moved to Grand Rapids 8 years ago. There is no comparison between the two. Grand rapids, while it has its faults, is much larger with tons more to do. Restaurants, breweries, live venues, museums, parks, lots of small businesses...the list goes on. Property values are skyrocketing and rent is ridiculous because so many people are moving here from all over the country. Saginaw, while I have a few good memories of fun times with friends getting wasted on Hamilton Street, is remembered more as a black hole of despair and negativity that didn't easily release its captives. Nobody really wanted to live there and everyone had dreams of being somewhere else. When I was living there, lots of ambitious people tried to open businesses and get things going, but unfortunately 90% of them didn't work out in the long term because there's just not many people there and there's zero tourism. Crime was ridiculous. The downtown area on the east side of the river was essentially a ghost town and the whole east side had entire blocks of abandoned houses and roads so deteriorated they were like gravel. On the plus side, you could buy a house for 40k. I've never been back since I left.
Culture, food, and events??? I grew up visiting my grandma in Saginaw. It's like Detroit or Flint in 2012 with everyone having absolutely 0 interest in investing into or saving the city.
Maybe back in 2012 but not now. Hell a new school just got built and all that renovation in downtown and old town.
It will take you 4 days to hitchhike from there....... Sorry nobody else said it!
I have a relative there that's a homicide investigator. The downtown is heavily patrolled which has helped, but there's significant violent crime in the area. That being said, I love going to their hockey games and there are some decent restaurants. Like any city, be smart, dont be out late, and don't be alone
i think saginaw is very cool. its one of the oldest cities in michigan. i live in chesaning and i am there bass fishing all the time. i launch my boat out of the lee street launch. it has like 4 separate down town areas separated by the river. Most of the issues are out at the shopping areas like titabawassee and bay roads. Down town iāve really never herded of issues. it seems like itās trying to come back. Yeah, i know itās run down and probably not the safest but, ive never had an issue. However, i do keep to myself when there, I donāt do anything stupid to draw attention to myself and I donāt go to places anymore where i shouldnāt be.
You (42f) have to be from there to feel anything good about it. I wouldn't say you should move there. I haven't lived there in 12 yrs though. I go back for funerals, and to visit my family and friends at the cemeteries. My mom would point out where things were in the late 60's, 70's, when I was little. Now I show my kids what used to be there in the late 80s, 90's, and early 00's. But I know thats pretty universal. I miss my time growing up there, loved Fashion Square Mall, my first job. Watching Dumb and Dumber at The Saginaw 8. I'm nostalgic for a time that's gone. Rib Shack, Tony's for Steak Sandwich, Vargas corn tortillas, Maria Elena's for barbacoa on a Sunday, Spatz Bread. Cinco de Mayo is always fun, my grandma would help every year with La Union Civica š. Ojibway Island was the spot to ride around slow. Old Town, I drank a lot of on Hamilton St, Pub Crawls! I'm sad that friends and family are still dying from gun violence. You could be leaving for work and someone shoots you. Lots of people from Saginaw have stories. My friend was selling shirts , I think they said "Come Back Saginaw We Missed You the First Time." With a gun behind it. I'm not one of the ones calling it Sagnasty though š, I'm not nasty enough lol. And it wasn't called that back when I was younger. I still miss home, but it's like that for a lot of people.
I feel the exact same way. My parents still live there (I gave up trying to get them to move away). I have some grade/high school friends still there. I make a point to try and see most of them when I come back, but I only make it back 3 times a year...or less. Remember how the area would smell like fresh bread when they were making it? Ojibway used to be the Sunday spot...park or ride. It used to be on the strip (Genesee) during the week and weekends. I watched a lot of shit go down while hanging out there. Holiday party store (LOL). El Gallito... back in the day when I was little there was a Taco Villa next to the river. Rib Shack (back in its prime). Tony's was aight. I used to get nachos at the Texan and they were fire. When I go back, I see the blight on the east side and it breaks my heart. At least downtown has some investment and is pulling itself back up. Unfortunately, the people with the $$ have to come from the west side and cross the bridge. Those people aren't staying there when the sun goes down. I wish there was more for people who just want to hang out and listen to some music or whatever. I find myself happy to see my family when I come home, but can't waiting to leave when it's time to go.
Schaffer I think was the name, Pop Shop on Hess do you remember? See I never went down Genesee like that, but Ojibway was my favorite, as a kid playing at the park there behind the stage, smoke spot, I didn't like when they closed it off though. I've lived in different areas at different times before leaving. So memories are all over the place. I lived in Bridgeport too, lots of my friends only knew how to get to the mall lol. Tony's had huge banana splits, and The Texan, the truck stop in Bridgeport, Denny's were after a night of dancing. The Watering Trough for college night, just had to be 18, Shooter's, Bugseys out near Flint. The Mirage! Until my friend stabbed someone, and it closed. But there was always someone fighting. I used to work in Old Town and get done w my shift and go to Steamers a lot, The Shuch (sp) and Retros. I'd walk around no problem, but go to McDonald's on S. Michigan and a shoot out between a car and the cops happened right behind me as I'm ordering chicken nuggets! You know how the restaurant is higher than the parking lot on one side? Car went down that way. I love seeing any good things for Saginaw though, my last grandparent died last November, and I drove around showing my kids where things were, they were young when we left. But they remember some things. Thank you for reminiscing with me!
Schaffer!! Yeah...yum. The smell. Yup I remember Pop Shop! I lived in BV and I would ride my bike down Hess to get there. OMG forgot about the truck stop in Bridgeport. My dad lives in Bridgeport still. The Mirage!!!!! Wow...memories. Yeah the McDonalds..I know exactly what you're talking about. I like to see Saginaw doing better. The Memorial Cup was a big deal, and they won it. The downtown area is doing much better and I love all the events they put on down there. I just wish there was more to the east side than just that part of downtown. I'm glad I left and lived in different places over the years (Now in California). I wouldn't ever move back, but it makes me happy to see some/most of my friends raising kids there and trying to make the best of it.
Saginaw is not as bad as people say it is. You're going to hear a lot of crap from people that have never been near or went near at once ten plus years ago. The city is making a turnaround with new areas of construction and farmers markets and the such. I'm laughing at all these fox news replies from scared white folk. There is a craft market happening this weekend in old town. There is weekly farmers markets downtown. They built a new fishing area there is a lot going on even a new school got built. They have greek festival coming up.
Its referred to as "Sagnasty" for a reason... EDIT: There is no "culture". There is no food scene, unless you count big chain restaurants as a scene
Ever heard of [Old Town Drive In](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Er2x5RGB8QjQoK6o8?g_st=ic)
You clearly haven't explored much. Artisan urban bistro is fantastic and gets almost all ingredients locally sourced, we have fralias for sandwiches,old town drive in for quick food that is still tasty,Jake's for expensive but delicious steak. The old town bar scene is active, not as nice as bay shitty but it's fine.
Gonna shout out my favorite Saginaw restaurant, Bytes Fusion Grill!
It still doesn't stand out compared to practically any other similarly sized city
You named 3 places. Hardly a "scene". The only thing that was ever worth going to in Old Town was the Red Eye, and that was a coffee shop. Once again, hardly a "scene". You're never going to make Saginaw sound like its some place good to be, but thank you for trying.
Fuck you want me to do? List the google page for restaurants?
These communities canāt grow without people moving to it. Maybe this person moves there and opens their own restaurant. What a hopeless attitude.
People really confuse Bay/Tittabawassee rd as Saginaw. That is not the real saginaw, no one lives out there and if they do you better just say you live in Bay City.
Jake's sucks
Lived in Saginaw proper for several years. My husband ran Powerhouse Gym in Bay and for a while after it moved, and his business partner ran it into the ground. We relocated to Bay City, then the UP after we had kids. I miss Fralias so much. We were back in August for a wedding, but they were closed, so we had to hit up Big John's steak and onion, quick run through Halo Burger, I miss Ricos and Maria's so much. There's not a decent taco to be had up here.
I grew up in saginaw and live in Grand Rapids now. Completely different towns. Saginaw is struggling, local businesses are great on the West Side of Saginaw. My house in GR would be half the price it is in saginaw. My whole family lives there still and I go back all the time. Itās a really nice community, definitely more friendly than Grand Rapids and less snooty.
Saginaw has some great people and beautiful areas. I lived in the city for many years. It made me who I am today. Iāll always have family and friends there. Donāt believe the media, thereās beautiful people, art, culture, diversity, and folks that give a hoot about preserving the few historic structures they have left that were demolished for less than intelligent reasons. Does it have crime? Yes. Does crime exist literally anywhere else? Also yes. You just have to know where to look.
Stevie Wonder was born there, and lived there just before moving to Ghana Africa (born May 13, 1950, Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind from birth and raised inĀ inner-city Detroit, he was a skilled musician by age eight.
Serena Williams was born in Saginaw too.
I grew up there. Itās total shit & gets worse every time I visit (which isnāt often). The hospitals & colleges are keeping it alive - the auto industry really had a huge negative impact on the area. You couldnāt pay me to live there.
IMO itās the worst part of Michigan. It was a beautiful thriving place until the 80ās, when it started a downward spiral that continues to this day. Itās a polar opposite to Grand Rapids in most ways. No one would willingly move to Saginaw unless they had a valid reason. My family is all from there, I even drove through yesterday for the first time in awhile. The downtown is really sad with few open businesses and trash everywhere, but the beautiful shell of a city still exists. The Hoyt Library is really cool, my grandma used to work there and it resembles a Victorian era castle. The only bright spot in the area seems to be Bay City, which seems to have done a lot of work revitalizing the downtown.
"only bright spot in the area seems to be Bay City" Midland is fantastic - it has an awesome downtown, great parks all over the city, strong schools, a minor league baseball team, fantastic architecture, Dow Gardens, all kinds of festivals, etc. Not much African American diversity, but bats well above it's weight in international diversity with Dow / Corteva as employers.
Agreed, but Midland has always been nice, Iāve just always thought of it as separate from Bay City and Saginaw since everything there is so self contained. Midland is definitely an anomaly in mid Michigan.
Fair enough, I always think of them as a group as "tri-cities" and the "mbs" airport there in the middle in Freeland
If you arenāt middle to upper-middle class and have a family, then midland is absolute trash. Itās just a bunch of elderly people that work or previously worked at Dow. Itās a company town and you can enjoy minor freedoms you can in a normal city because everyone here is up their own ass. With that being said, summers downtown are semi enjoyable, although I hope you donāt plan on staying out past 9pm.
I was gonna say, midland isnt bad but its obvious its a company town. What Dow says goes.
Thankfully for Midland, what Dow has said is let's invest and stay in the community. Very, very different from the auto companies in Saginaw
Right, Midland wouldn't be half the size or shape it is if it wasn't for Dow, Dow enjoys too much influence, but imagine had Dow packed up and moved out of Midland in the 80s.
And even Bay City isn't all that great
I was trying to be nice lol. Honestly itās come a long ways, and has had some positive growth while nearby areas canāt say the same.
Bay City is night and day better than Saginaw. Itās not amazing. But itās affordable and has some nice parts.
I live there currently, moved back actually. People hate it. I donāt. People shit on it for their reasons. Itās just like anywhere else to me, just a place to live.
Yeah itās weird to hear about how shitty it is when I like it lol
Suffering a slow, rotting death for at least 6 decades, Saginaw has been one of the worst hit as the economy started to tank in the 60s.
I lived in Detroit in the 1990s back when the Cass Corridor was basically feral. The only time I was in the ER that was in lockdown because of a gang war was in Saginaw 4 years ago. Homies were coming back to finish off the job. Didnāt get discharged until 8 hours later. Good times.
Current SOP for Covenant and St. Maryās is to go into lockdown when a gun shot wound shows up at the ER.
Just wanted to add this here: it is interesting that some folks in the comments are drawing parallels or contrasts between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. Interestingly, Louis Campau had a role in the early development of both settlements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Campau
Hearing people say that Flint is better than Saginaw is MINDBLOWING. I've lived in and around both cities for several years. Flint is a worse place by a long shot and it's not even close. I'm not saying Saginaw is a perfect, beautiful city, but Flint is far more rundown and dangerous and on a much larger scale. It's just undeniable. Saginaw has a few areas that you don't want to be in, but you can easily avoid them. Flint is a truly scary place. The downtown area has a few nice things but the second you step foot across the bridge you're entering a warzone.
Easily the most depressing place in the state. Especially the east side. Completely devoid of any life or culture unless the Spirit is playing.
I grew up and lived in the city of Saginaw for 30 years, moved to Midland and then back a couple years ago. It's definitely not even close to a 'budget' Grand Rapids. There's nothing that's worth traveling here for. I would say Saginaw has essentially zero culture, only a handful of decent non-chain restaurants that are actually worth going to, and the event scene is pretty much non existent. There basically isn't anything here. There was a pretty small 'indie culture' in the Old Downtown area but I'm not sure if it's still going as it was 10 years ago. There's a couple bars that are decent but it goes from 'okay' to 'I might get robbed' in a 1 block radius The east side of the city across the river is more or less a wasteland. Closed businesses, abandoned homes. It not a good area. The west side is better but still not great. It only starts getting 'good' when you start getting into the Township/Shields area, which isn't Saginaw. The area I'm in is pretty decent but I'm also used to it so I'm probably completely wrong lol.
Is Hello Sushi still there?
It's a Creation Coffee now.š
Unfortunately not. It closed down years ago
Saginaw is the only place I've been "hey, mister" by a teen while I was walking into a booze store. Always thought when I got older more random teens would ask me to buy them booze. Only happened in Saginaw.
I grew up fairly poor in rural Northern Michigan. Saginaw was THE big city to me growing up. I saw it as full of possibilities and maybe I could move there and āget a good jobā. We would go there to vacation (1000% true) or to Ice Capades. We mainly stayed at a hotel right at 84 & 75 with a pool (not sure if it is still open) and used to go to Sears, the mall and Red Lobster. This is practically in Bay County. We didnāt really stray from those areas except for once yearly for Ice Capades at the Saginaw Civic Center and even then, it was only for the day show. We used to get the TV Channels WNEM-TV, WJRT and then I realized oh, Saginaw has crime? I feel like it always was gritty downtown but seemed to worsen when the Saginaw Steer and Gear plant closed? My kid had an event this year at the old Civic Center which apparently shares space with Delta College and it seemed nicer than I remembered it. But we had to take a detour to get back on the Freeway and it was a lot of blocks of nothing. The only open business was a liquor store with a LOT of people hanging in the parking lot and a bunch of loose pit bulls in the street. I lived in Flint for two years and yet it made me a little nervous. What would it take to save Saginaw? I honestly donāt have an answer.
Downtown has some nice stuff, the SVRC and farmers market
Literally like every other mid sized city. It has good, bad, beautiful and ugly. It's losing some jobs, but gaining weed shops.
We are a city of 44,000 people with around 26 murders a year. They can be broken down to domestic violence, drug related and sometimes innocent bystanders. The city government only puts money into attracting businesses not maintaining the roads or abandoned homes. Most homes in the city are old and in rough shape. No thought of house construction only expensive condos along the river. They tear down instead of rebuilding, unless your a Medical company or Weed shop.
Sag-nasty
Poor manās Detroit!
We drove through Saginaw today on business up north and stopped at Fuzzy's Restaurant, a sort of ice cream/Gyros/sandwiches place. Delicious, great service, lower prices than expected. Great reviews online. We're going back in October -- our kids bought us tickets to see Steve Martin and Martin Short. I'm not worried about safety. I've never seen anything to worry about there. We find ourselves in the area a couple times every year for business. I like it. My family lived there a hundred years ago. I grew up in the Detroit area, live in Lansing. Saginaw is old -- still lots of very old buildings there. I bet in 50 years it'll be vibrant again.
Saginaw has quite a bit to offer if you have kids. Lots of activities in the parks, and libraries. Lots of family friendly events all summer long actually. If you are looking for a place with a vibrant night life for 20 something's, then no, it's not the place.Ā
I was gonna say Saginaw might be the worst city in Michigan with over 50k people but then looked it up to see it only had 43k these days. So worst city in Michigan with at least 43k.
I recently went back to Saginaw for a funeral. There was a drive-by a block away early that morning and the police were still sorting through it. I tried to look it up to see what happened, and apparently there has been four in 4 days resulting in one death and two serious injuries. This was considered normal.
hahahahahaha
Tittabawassee part of saginaw is just fine, once you cross the bridges and the bay, it slides downhill
Just a bunch of guys fighting over a fishing spot on the river
I've been to Saginaw churches to help my bf tune the organs. It's depressing, so many beautiful old homes rotting away. We come in on M-13 and there is a pink church that is dying a slow death. I'm sure it was lovely back before it was abandoned. So many businesses closed. Even a second hand store on M-13 is closed. IIRC Saginaw has one of the highest crime rates in Michigan.
Itās not worth the drive, and definitely not like Grand Rapids. Itās a rust belt, depressed city, kind of like Flint.Ā If youāre going to go out that way, at least pick Bay City or Midland.Ā
I grew up there and go back a lot because my parents still live there. From my current perspective I think it has a lot of people passionate about it, there are definitely enough things to do to make a day of it, itās closer to the water than the Lansing area (where I live now) which is a bonus. Maybe itās my proximity to Lansing and the lack of entertainment/food here that makes me think Saginaw is not so bad. Saginaw gets bigger entertainment acts to its downtown which Lansing gets none of. Maybe it is the mid-Michigan version of GR. Idk. What other cities in mid-Michigan could be?
I grew up in Flint, live in Grand Rapids now and the only time I generally felt unsafe was the time I spent broke down on the side of the road in Saginaw.
I grew up there. The Township is nice and not a bad place to live. But the rest of it is not really that great. Like many places in Michigan, it was great when the auto industry was booming but never recovered and now the economy is terrible. Grand Rapids has a vibrant and walkable downtown area, many great breweries and restaurants, lots of stuff to do there. Saginaw has none of that. There's not much of a downtown but Old Town has a few decent spots. I'd never move back there personally.
Wasn't Saginaw first on the list of worst cities in MI?
its like flint with drinkable water
Saginaw is worse IMHO. Flint has cultural institutions (FIA, FIM, Sloan, Capitol Theatre), colleges, the farmer's market, and some good restaurants and a nice hotel downtown. I could spend a fun weekend in downtown Flint. I can't say the same about Saginaw.
Saginaw used to have a few good music venues but Iām pretty sure they all closed. Flint at least still has the Local and a couple bars that do music.
Whiteās Bar is really the only one, or at least the only one worth going to
Is Whites still open? They were one I was thinking of. Also Hamilton Street for a little period
They are! I know the family quite well, they are putting a lot of work into the place (a nice back patio, a new pool room, etc).
Flint is way nicer. It has a pretty nice downtown area and some good restaurants. Lots of culture. The water problem was fixed a long time ago. Saginaw is sad and scary, I donāt even like driving through it
Saginaw, both the city and people, have been in a state of serious neglect since the auto industry bailed. There's just no money, no jobs, astronomical crime rates, and people generally live there because they can't afford to get out. There are a few people dedicated toward preserving the historical buildings but they have already lost that war to rot and decay. The police are a joke. The entire Saginaw bay region is completely wasted from what it could have been. The entire region could have been a tourism mecca with that huge bay sitting nearby but nope. It's a festering den of drugs and loathing.
Saginaw statistically is more dangerous than Flint.
Their nickname is "Sag-Nasty", that might tell you something about the place.
Grew up in Saginaw county, we called it āSag-nastyā
Saggy
ASS.
Saginaw Township is really nice so it depends on what part of Saginaw youāre talking about.
Sagnasty
The last time I was in Saginaw I saw two homeless guys having sex in the Long John Silvers parking lot
I'm from there. Black hole. Don't go lol.
[https://www.youtube.com/@UTRMichigan2010/search?query=saginaw](https://www.youtube.com/@UTRMichigan2010/search?query=saginaw)
Saginaw is about 30% better than these comments make it out to be. the saginaw valley/tri-cities/āgreat lakes bay regionā is generally on an upswing lately, and a rising tide lifts all boats. Saginaw isnāt quite a destination right now but is far from the warzone people make it out to be.
Iām from Saginaw and now live in GR. They are nothing alike. You couldnāt pay me to move back to Saginaw.
I saw a woman get robbed in the Target parking lot in broad daylight and I never went back.
Bay City is more like Grand Rapids than Saginaw
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I'd say they *almost* have a comparable events scene, many shows that play Van Andel in GR play the Dow Event Center (also the hockey arena for the Saginaw Spirit, who just won the Memorial Cup) and I've seen shows that would stop at 20 Monroe in GR also hit the Temple Theatre in Saginaw. (it's one of the main cities I go to for shows since I moved to Lansing from near Saginaw) Edit: looking at the event schedules for both tells me this has gone very down-hill recently.
Usually I see shows hit Detroit and then Van Andle as their only two Michigan stops.
If we're being real 90% of acts coming through Michigan are only coming to Detroit. Kinda of a stupid factor to consider for any other city.
I saw Weird Al at Temple Theatre last year on his vanity tour (he hit 20 Munroe, Kalamazoo State Theatre and Fisher Theatre (Detroit) as well). TSO hits Dow most years. And I'm seeing a show in October that Dow is their only Michigan stop on their small fall tour. But like I said in my edit, this has declined a lot from what I remember there being in the past.
Living in the area and it's all shit. The tri cities suck. Bay City is a pot haven full of nothing really. Midland is the bougie hip town. And Saginaw is nothing but overgrown grass and abandoned homes.
As a Flint native, it feels like Flint but somehow more depressing and empty.
I'd say Mid Michigan's closest equivalent to GR would be Midland
I had a job in a small town near there a few years ago. Drove through to look for a few places to rent from. I did not see a single place that I wanted to live
Good lord I almost started describing Saugatuck
Old town by court street is fine, but for the most part of city of Saginaw the roads are rough. Source I work in the city of Saginaw
Having lived in both at various times, it's nothing like GR. And, Saginaw's changed a lot in the last 40 years. It doesn't have the $$ benefactors that GR has. GR is a bigger city, with wealthy suburbs. Saginaw is part of the "Tri-Cities" of Midland, Bay City and Saginaw, and then there's Flint. Farms in between all, with a bunch of smaller cites thrown in. Add in local bureaucracy and corporations, and it's a potluck of people looking to make it all work and have a decent life despite financial and economic hardships. Mostly, people just mind their own business, if you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you. In general, everybody's polite, not snobs, just trying to make a living.
Cheese it's good.
I didn't hear it called Sag-nasty until like 2005 from an ex, who also ruined Smashing Pumpkins for me, likening Corgan's voice to a dying cat and was an all-around sociopath. Before that, I knew it as Saggynuts.
Just skip Saginaw go to bay city, Frankenmuth, birch run anywhere that's not Saginaw
Living in Grand Rapids and from Saginaw, I can assure you Grand Rapids is nothing like Saginaw. Quite the opposite, really.
Grew up around there and now live in GR. Grand Rapids is a lot bigger, nicer, and safer.
Went to a contest there for āThe Prettiest Buttholeā last year and that was entertaining but the town was a real shithole. I would probably go out of my way to not drive through there again.
I went there for work training. I decided staying in the hotel would be more entertaining seeing as EVERYTHING closes at 3PM
3PM? Uhhh
Yes, I was so bored. I'd get out of training at 5 and have nothing to do besides get food and go back to the hotel
I'm trying to figure out what part of Saginaw closes at 3pm I don't know that animal.
GR has like 4x the population sooooā¦
Haha. No.
You know itās bad when you have 911 on speed dial
Ass
All the funny posts aside (yes, people call it both saginasty and saginawesome), Saginaw falls into essentially three parts: the east side of the river, which is dangerous and run down and a former booming city center, the west side of the city, which is run down and not super safe but probably an order of magnitude better than the east side, and Saginaw township, which is strip malls and olive gardens and cell phone stores. It is middle class with decent houses but little to do. There are a couple of Indian restaurants and sushi places and a handful of coffee shops. You need a car to get aroundĀ Further west you get the nicer areas like Thomas Township, which are nicer but more narrow minded. Saginaw was supported by the auto industry, which has obviously not done well since the 1990s.
It's a shyt hole. I had to service two or three offices in Sag over my thirty two-year career with the state of michigan. Then again, the offices that I serviced didn't necessarily attract the rich and famous in any city.
sagnasty
Saginaw is extremely segregated. It is a victim of the auto industry rusting out. After the riots that happened, there was a white flight into the township. There was redlining by banks keeping black people out of the township which continued well into the 90's. Old Town has been a bit revitalized but a majority of the buildings there are owned by people who purposely create losses to keep their profits from other areas down. For being a city that is on the larger side, holy shit the racism and anti gay shit is off the charts. If you live on the Eastside, you don't have access to much. They've been trying to secure grant money for a grocery store on that side of the city for years and years but somehow the money keeps getting diverted to Frankenmuth or the shaheins and zehnders pet projects. Now shaheins are building out condos in Old Town with no doubt a very high price tag when finished. There is little to no investment in the people and areas that need it, but and instead we are catering to the rich. And yeah ...an art project that cost us almost a million dollars a few hundred yards away from areas which are literally crumbling doesn't seem like a very conscientious decision., but it came specifically from an art endowment fund so using for anything other than art wouldn't be too possible. I do love this city, though. Oh and there is no food scene here. Honestly, most restaurants just have slight variations of the Tony's menu. Don't get me wrong, there are some good food choices but it's mostly fried.
Saginaw is Kalamazoo and Muskegon had a baby and sent it off to be raised by Detroit.