In Chelsea, the Joy of Books and Painting
“It was completely bonkers!” recalls Michelle Tuplin, owner of Serendipity Books, about how her store’s April move from Middle St. to Main went viral.
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A Woodshop in Chelsea
On a September morning, Susan Kizer opens the door to the cheerfully cluttered brick carriage house behind her Main St. home. There’s a light layer of sawdust on her work tables, and wood of all varieties—from South American purpleheart to a maple burl she discovered in an antique shop—surrounds her. Anchoring the space is “Tinkerbell”—her nickname for the 750-pound lathe she uses to create her one-of-a-kind wood pieces.
Read MoreDexter Brunch House Replaces Dexter Riverview Cafe
A longtime breakfast and lunch destination is in new hands this year, and “we’ve been super busy since the day we opened,” says Nela Shahinllari. She manages the front of house, while her husband Enzo is the main chef at Dexter Brunch House. Nela, twenty-five, emigrated at age eighteen and soon met fellow Albanian native Enzo, whose family moved here when he was five.
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“It’s Really a Time Machine”
Otto’s Arcade & Club, headquarters for Mitch Rohde’s curation of vintage video games, serves several purposes: museum, social club, event space, and public gaming venue.
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A Classroom in Saline
Stomping, clapping, and chanting—“Kona, Kona, Kona!”—thundered from the two front rows of the bleachers. The family, friends, and students of fifth-grade teacher Kaylee Harmon’s eight-year-old Shepherd mix cheered on the winner out of five canine contenders in Saline Community Fair’s Fifth Annual Dog of the Year Contest. Kona took home a first-place blue ribbon, plaque, and $150 gift card from Saline’s Tractor Supply Co.
Read MoreClay + Code Stimulates Both Sides of the Brain
Salinians Tara and Hardik Joshi are combining their respective skills in pottery and robotics for Clay + Code, their new learning center and retail store.
Read MoreCourageous Books Comes to Dexter
It’s more than just her own lifelong love of literature and language that led Jen Stevenson to launch Courageous Books.
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A Tale of Two Houses
Over the summer, a neighborhood vanished. In the hilly rectangle bounded by S. Division, Hill, Fifth Ave., and E. Madison, backhoes methodically crushed scores of wood-frame houses, a handful of small apartment buildings, and the old Fingerle Lumber sales room.
Read MoreThe New Dorms
Clearing the blocks south of Madison kicked off Phase 2 of the U-M’s Central Campus Residential Development. It was a signature project of ill-starred former president Santa Ono.
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Sign of the Times
The September ceremony featured speeches both lofty and bitterly political; a serenade from a transgender singer; the dramatic lifting of a white sheet from the marker; and a steady parade of attendees snapping selfies with DeGrieck and Kozachenko. (Wechsler, who lives in Boston, could not attend.)
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Ballet & Books
“I was really fascinated by the fact that all these kids were really great storytellers but weren’t really good readers,” recalls Bailes, now a U-M medical student. Once back in the United States, she began working with a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to better understand how to keep kids who are falling behind on track to learn to read. She thought, “Why can’t dance and literacy come together to get kids excited about reading and learning?”
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T.D. Usdull, CPAS
We received 161 entries correctly identifying last month’s Fake Ad, which featured an old joke about accountants being dull.
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Kristin Seefeldt
It was an experiment: give 100 citizens on the margins monthly cash payments of $528 for two years. No strings
attached—they would decide for themselves how best to spend the additional income.
The Mighty Fitz
The “Mighty Fitz,” the biggest ship on the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958, went down with all hands in a storm on Lake Superior in November 1975. Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot immortalized it in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and now it’s the subject of Bacon’s latest book: The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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The Observer’s Next Leaders
My first Ann Arbor Observer article appeared in the October 1980 issue. This October will be my last as editor. Our deputy editor, Brooke Black, is already planning her first issue as editor-in-chief in November. Publisher Patricia Garcia is also retiring and will be succeeded by our media director, Danielle Jones.
Read MoreAugust 2025 Ann Arbor Home Sales
University Commons’ first $1 million sale: Praxis Properties CEO Bill Kinley sold his 3,500-square-foot, three-bed, three-bath unit for $1,040,000, a record for the complex of ninety-two condos built in 2000.
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921 E. Huron St.
Twenty-two years ago, Bob Materka stood on the balcony of the three-story bed and breakfast he and his wife, Pat, had recently bought, facing the lawn by the Rackham Building. It was Christmastime, and he found his yard lacking. “Gee whiz,” he thought, “we should decorate this in some way.”
Read MoreEnrollment Threat
The federal government’s demands for cash payments from universities have made headlines around the country. In August, when the Justice Department fined UCLA $1.2 billion for allegedly tolerating antisemitism, California governor Gavin Newsom called it “extortion.”
Read MoreWho Asked for a Four-Way Stop on Earhart?
Q: On my daily commute I noticed that the intersection of Earhart Rd. with Old Earhart and Goss has been made a four-way stop. This has definitely caused more traffic backups at the intersection: three to five cars line up before crossing with stop-and-go speed that causes less fuel economy and more pollution. How was the decision made to make this change?
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