Peace Powers On
Last year’s pandemic lockdowns and economic dislocations took a toll on everyone’s...
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Archives
Wild Swan Song
Covid forced theaters to shut down mid-season in 2019, but that isn’t why the Wild Swan...
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The Instant Art Fair
Update: The map in the July 2021 Observer missed two important changes: there is no Art-Go-Round...
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ADUs Unbound
Other cities and states have long permitted ADUs–small units attached or adjacent to...
Read MoreBob’s Discount Furniture Arrives
Anyone who’s lived in the northeast is probably familiar with the TV commercials for Bob’s Discount Furniture. The star, Bob Kaufman, who founded the chain in Newington, Connecticut, in 1991, appeared as a Claymation...
Read MoreHomes Selling at or Above Listing Price
Eight million-dollar sales on this month’s map bring the year-to-date total to thirty-two–as many as sold at that price point all last year. According to InfoSparks, which gathers information from the Ann Arbor Area...
Read MoreQuality 16 Is Dark, Again
West siders and people who like to watch movies in comfortable seats were delighted when the Goodrich Quality Theaters group opened Quality 16 on Jackson Rd. in 1999. Along with big studio pictures and independent films, Quality...
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Amtrak Comes Back
On a June weekend, masked folks filled Amtrak’s Pontiac-to-Chicago train both coming and...
Read MoreHard Talks
One of the most difficult conversations people are having these days is about Covid-19 vaccines. What starts as a hopeful conversation can quickly turn into an unproductive argument that damages relationships. One common...
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Caregiver Crisis
Mickey, forty-two, is one of more than 6,600 Michigan residents receiving long-term care and rehab...
Read MoreA Songbird Takes a Break
In mid-June, Jenny Song shut the Jackson Rd. branch of her Songbird Cafe. Her original Plymouth Rd. location remains open. “Due to current staffing constraints, we are unable to open this coming week,” read a sign on...
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The Rackham Building Facade
I Spy “the facade detail on Rackham,” writes Joe Cialdella, where he hopes to return...
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Spruce Knoll Music Center
We received 148 entries correctly identifying the tribute comedy show at Spruce Knoll Music Center...
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Fewer Cops
The new city budget eliminates seven positions in the police department. Is Ann Arbor defunding...
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The Double Steal
It took about 5,000 years from the discovery of glass until a process was developed to...
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Getting In
In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down school buildings across Michigan. No in-person...
Read MoreExiled from Ann Arbor
When the pandemic struck, Caroline Sloss and her husband, Rowan, were living in a brownstone duplex in Brooklyn, New York, with their two-week-old son. “Being near family seemed the safest,” Caroline says, so...
Read MoreBus Stop Benches
Q. Why did they put benches on Huron St. everywhere but at the bus stop in front of the courthouse? And why don’t they have a bus stop on the other side of Huron St. in that block?A. Some bus stops primarily serve...
Read MorePointless Brewery and Bookbound Say Goodbye
The curtain has come down for good at Pointless Brewery & Theatre on Packard Rd. It closed its physical operation last September and tried to make a go of offering its improvisation classes online. (Marketplace Changes,...
Read MoreSalon Refugees Return
“He looked like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber,” Reed recalls. “His bangs were cut straight and short across his forehead, and the hair in back was a blunt cut. ‘It’s a long story,’ he told me....
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