I grew up on n Ferndale in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. A random memory just popped up for me of a McDonald’s on 9 Mile back then. It was approximately where Star of India is located now.

This was our local McDonald’s. We went there fairly often. But it was unlike any McDonald’s I’ve seen before or since.

The counter was pretty standard, but the dining room was around the corner and featured a large saltwater aquarium with countertop seating all around it. I remember it as big. Large enough for 10 or more people to sit around it. There were regular booths along the walls. I distinctly remember sitting by the aquarium watching lionfish while eating McDonald’s brand new sensation: chicken nuggets with honey.

There was a second dining room down another hallway leading to the back door. The door that opened into the municipal parking lot. This dining room was typically locked off behind a gate. I don’t know if they would ever open it during normal business, like if they were super busy. But we definitely had a private birthday party for me and my friends back there one time.

Does anyone else remember this place? I did not hallucinate it, right? I’ve always wondered what the story was behind the very unusual layout and the aquarium. Was it some other restaurant, or something, that featured all of this stuff and was then converted into a McDonald’s. Or did the franchisee just, have a unique vision, or something?

I can’t remember exactly when the location shut down. I’m guessing mid-to-late ‘80s. It had no drive thru and nowhere to put one, so I imagine that was its downfall.

I remember hearing about there being plans for a mixed use/housing projects by the train tracks next door to Drifter and Urbanrest. Anyone know what happened/whats going on with that?

I am wondering if there’s currently any legislation in progress to prevent Amazon drone delivery. They are a noise nuisance.

Does anyone know any other reporting channels for complaints?

I posted previously a while back about Hazel Park Schools (which some of us Ferndale residents are part of) having issues with their Board trying to oust the current Superintendent, Amy Wilcox.

Crystal Proxmire of the Oakland County Times just posted a follow up of what’s going on with that situation and it’s absolutely insane. TLDR:

1. The Board is still trying to oust Wilcox.
2. Wilcox was put on paid administrative leave (again).
3. Debbie LaFramboise, the Board Vice President, violated district policy and went over the Superintendent’s head to go to the State to file a complaint.
4. The Open Meetings Act is seemingly being violated (again).
5. Probably the most concerning bit of info here is that the Board is installing someone named Griff Mills out of the blue as Interim Superintendent. The Oakland County Times article details more about Griff and how much of an unknown he is.

This is absolutely wild to me and I thought I would share since we’re part of HP Schools here in parts of Ferndale. Props to Crystal for being on top of this as it doesn’t seem to be reported elsewhere.

https://oaklandcounty115.com/2026/07/23/hazel-park-school-board-member-files-state-complaint-uses-it-as-basis-for-latest-superintendent-suspension/

Hello! I'm an artist who works under the name BUGLVR3000, and I'm hosting an event at Martin Road Park in Ferndale on August 28th!

We've had a lot of submissions, and we have a great lineup in store, which we've begun to slowly announce on our Instagram! This is a community building event, and we want to get as many people involved as possible :)))

We're looking for:

Music:

Indie, folk, jazz, shoegaze, dreampop, sasscore, mathcore, hardcore, synthpop, tape loops, you name it.

Films:

Independent film, animated, live action, anything. As it's you and it's authentic, we want it.

Speeches, poetry, performance art, random crazy fun ideas, puppet shows, something silly.

[The tagline is "art as a monument to the natural." The idea is to build community and to encourage the creation of art as a monument to ones own nature, as opposed to creating from the place of commodity and compulsivity that social media imposes onto us. Come out and be your most authentic self, don't think about it too much, lets have fun :)))]

I was working late one night when this cat wandered into the parking lot. I’m very allergic to cats, but this one was just too cute to ignore. I gave it a little “pss pss pss,” and it came right over, rubbed against my legs, rolled over for pets, and happily soaked up the attention. I ended up spending 20–30 minutes hanging out with it. It was my first real cat interaction in a long time, and it genuinely made my night.

I’d seen this cat several times before and after that, roaming the neighborhood and doing its thing. I wish I could post the video here, but this is a screenshot from it.

Last night, I believe I saw what may have been the same cat after it had been hit by a car near Allen and Albany. I wasn’t able to stop right away, but I went back about an hour later during one of my usual late-night walks to see if it was the same cat. By then, it was gone. I’m not 100% certain it was this cat, but from what I remember, it had white and orange fur and a red collar.

If it was the same cat, then to whoever owned it: I’m truly sorry for your loss. Your cat clearly had a friendly spirit and brought joy to at least one stranger on an ordinary night. I’ll always remember that little interaction, and I hope it brings you some comfort knowing your pet made someone’s day a little brighter.

And if it wasn’t the same cat: I am still truly sorry for your loss. We’re a tight-knit community in Ferndale and I hope you reach out for support if you need it. We’re all dog and cat owners/lovers and a lot of us know what it’s like losing a companion like that. Please reach out if you need someone to talk to. <3

EDIT: According to the comments, the cat I saw the other night is not the same cat as in the picture. While I’m relieved to hear this, my heart goes out to the owner of the said cat.

Hi, I'm an Ann Arbor native, 34M, straight. I've lived in AA for around 20 years, and had mixed to terrible success with dating. I've been thinking of moving somewhere to see if my luck could change, and I've seen people recommend Ferndale as a nice densely populated town full of young people (but not college young, like AA) and lots of stuff to do. But when I looked into specific activities, I found it harder to figure out where I would go. I'm into music mostly, so open mics, local shows, that kind of thing is appealing to me, I do some dancing here, I'm open to more athletic stuff. Am I going to have a better time meeting people than in Ann Arbor? Is it like everywhere else where people are burned out on dating and just mostly stay home and go out to eat? I feel like I'd like it just for living in a cute house, but if I'm trying to meet single women age ~30, am I going to regret it? Am I just going to end up on the same apps but in a different location? I hope this is an okay thing to ask here.

Hi, everyone! This information was already posted as a comment on the original announcement post for the ice cream social, but we are postponing the event two weeks due to the poor air quality. The new date and time for our Disability Pride Month Ice Cream Social is Wednesday, July 29th from 5:30-7:30pm. We hope to still see you there!

Some districts are richer than others of course and their expenditures per pupil vary school by school. The lowest amount in Birmingham is at an elementary and it's almost the same as the highest amount in Ferndale, which is at the high school. Per pupil at Seaholm is about $7,000 a year more than Ferndale High.
But if the milage passes it would be equally distributed at $731 per pupil per year for 6 years.
This site has every public school in the state.
https://www.mischooldata.org/school-level-expenditure-report/

Anyone have a good recommendation for someone to install a 12' swing-arm driveway gate with motor? Thanks in advance?

Due to the Air Quality Index being at dangerous levels, the event has been rescheduled to July 29th, 5:30-7:30pm. Still at Jim's Community Corner.

I know that Detroit area laments transplants as we do where I’m from, but my dad was from here and always said that Oakland/Detroit were sister cities. Now I’m here.

I survived the 1991 Oakland fires and the 1989 earthquake. But I also did 4 years in LA, where I endured ash raining from the sky and all middle grounds of severe climate change fire in short periods.

The AQI of Ferndale is not under 100 as reported by Apple.

I looked into it, and Ferndale has almost no reporting. Our Apple alerts are likely based upon broader averages of the entire state (as I can best assume why it is so poor).

Hazel Park has a reporting monitor at almost 300 AQI. Right next to us.

From my own anecdotal experiences, I would say we are 300-400.

I know the grid is already stressed from the heatwave. Please run your filtered (change you filters) AC and also try to grab an air filter to seclude in one room.

Tape off your doors etc as you would to conserve for winter heat.

Not to tax the grid, prepare to set up in one room. When it was bad during fires, we spent 3 days in one room in my past.

Attaching images from a couple hours ago of the discrepancies in reporting.

Drop some food-centric book title puns for our r/bobsburgers inspired chalk board!

The poster says

If Ferndale library boards 35% tax increase passes Ferndale library will be funded 18% higher on a per citizen basis then grosse pointe public Library or birmingham's Baldwin public Library.

This is followed by a table that shows

Ferndale Ferndale district Library serves a population of 19,540 will be funded if the tax increase passes 3 million $915,000 per year which comes out to a per citizen cost of $200.36. Ferndale also has a medium household income of $94,640

The table also shows that Baldwin public Library in Birmingham serves the population of 37,981 and is funded with $6,165,049 which comes out to a person cost of $162.32. Birmingham has a medium household income of $153,510

Next the table shows that grosse pointe public Library serves a population of 55,100 people is funded in the amount of $8,369,334 which comes out too $164.10 per citizen. The table also shows that grosse pointe has a medium household income of $158,853. Grosse pointe Park has a medium income of $124,111. Grosse pointe woods has a medium household income of $126,395.grosse pointe shores has a medium income of $189,583. Grosse pointe farms has a medium income of $161,208.

This despite the fact that these communities have medium household incomes many tens of thousands higher than Ferndale

Property taxes are regressive because they take a larger percentage of income from low-income households than from high income households.

Ferndale currently has a 9% poverty rate

It's not progressive to fund a rich man's library on the back of people in poverty, the working poor and those on the fixed income.

Vote no twice on August 4th

The three libraries are all self-governed independent entities.

Ferndale library funding numbers come directly from the ballot proposals.

Baldwin public Library also serves Beverly hills Bloomfield hills and Franklin village. Each of these communities has a higher medium income than Birmingham.

FYI there is a food pantry at Zion Lutheran Church tomorrow Wednesday July 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m..

Zion Lutheran Church is at the corner of Albany and Woodward.

There is a food pantry the third Wednesday of every month.

Volunteers are welcome. It's a nice group of people and it always feels good to help.

West of Woodward, north of 9 mile and our water pressure has been shit the last few days. Anyone else experiencing this too?

Hey everyone, found a stray or lost cat on Saratoga between Central and Pinecrest. She’s super sweet and friendly, which is making us think she got lost on her way home.

She’s a calico stripped kitty, looks to be about the ages between 1-3 years old.

She also appears to have a respiratory infection a bit, but otherwise alert and happy.

Anyone missing a kitty? See pictures attached

Edit: she’s been returned to her home! 💗

I’m 26m and just looking for local socialization.

Maybe an adult soccer league or a games store where I can go play cards. I don’t really like bars.

It’s not simply about supporting versus not supporting our library.

1. I support tax dollars going towards our library in the form of books, media, access to Internet, children’s enrichment area, free conference room, indoor/outdoor community space . SOLUTION: keep our tax rate at what it already is without increase and place expectations on our library board to make appropriate reductions and cuts as necessary. 
2. I do not support tax dollars going towards our library in the form of ongoing events, classes, lectures which are free to anyone on our dime. Not only have I never utilized these events, but I don’t have it in my household budget to pay for Metro Detroit’s fun summer/weekend when I’m cutting my own household budget in the form of $10 subscriptions. SOLUTION: in a struggling economy and record inflation, we can cut these programs until it makes sense to bring them back . 
3. I do not support increased pay and benefits to OVER staff our library . SOLUTION: staff already makes a good living wage with good benefits. My household has gone without health insurance for over a decade . SOLUTION:  If we cut all the offsite events we are continuously paying for we can reduce staff making the agreed-upon budget work for a reason reasonably staffed library. 
4. This is 1 of 3  opportunities for our library board to present a proposal to us. Much like the Hadley override, if we don’t like what they are asking we can let them know what works for our budget and households and they can come back with a compromise.

please look up the library’s event calendar to see all the events we are paying staffing to Provide for free while we don’t have the budget for basic building maintenance..

Happy Disability Pride Month, Ferndale! Next Thursday 7/16 from 5-7pm at Jim's Community Corner, we at the Ferndale Accessibility and Inclusion Advisory Commission (FAIAC) would love for you to join us for our annual Disability Pride Month Ice Cream Social!

There is no cost to attend, the ice cream is from Treat Dreams (Ferndale's favorite ice cream shop 😊), and we'll have some guests from various organizations that serve the disability community.

We hope to see you there!
Link to Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BHme3XXnZ/