Liberty St. Dunkin’
“Dunkin’ … for breakfast?” questions Mary Adams. “Nah—leave it for the kids. Why have Dunkin’ when the Dairy is less than a five-minute walk away?”
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Community
Kiddie Land
“Us Ann Arbor long-timers know that this is a Fake Ad for a non-fake business, perhaps with some poignance.”
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Echelon Kitchen and Bar
March’s photo shows “a column outside the new Echelon Kitchen and Bar that just opened,” writes Dyke McEwen. It’s on the “southwest corner of Main Street and Washington,” says Debbie Onderdonk. “The building in the background is Cafe Zola.”
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Modern Love
To this day, the stream of applicants from the recovery community has not abated. They are like our very own LinkedIn and Indeed all rolled into one. Over the ensuing ten-year period, while owning and operating a growing vegan food business that now includes a restaurant, a bakery/cafe, and an events venue, I have hired more than 150 people in recovery. As their employer, I have had the privilege of joining them on their life-changing and lifesaving journeys
Read MoreFebruary 2025 Home Sales
Burns Park “bargains,” Bryant homes cross $300K, Inglis House heading back to market, and This Old House of the Month.
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Bookseller Gene Alloway
“I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I liked books,” Gene Alloway says, seated at his desk in the middle of a shop full of them on a rainy afternoon.
Read MoreObserver Cover Art Exhibit
An exhibit of fifty original paintings from the covers of the Ann Arbor Observer is on display at Office Evolution in Ann Arbor. An Opening Reception open to the public will be held Saturday, April 12 from 1 – 6 p.m. Come meet...
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Doomsday Planning
“We’re dealing with an insane amount of mental health issues and anxiety from our residents,” says Derrick Miller, executive director of the Community Action Network. CAN’s seven community centers provide everything from after-school programs to housing support and emergency food pantries, and its clients are reeling from the Trump administration’s budget cuts.
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Rose Valley Nursery
This month, Janine Shahinian was drawn as our Fake Ad winner for a record-breaking third time. Her response, while delighted, was also selfless.
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Sugar Shanty
After dusk on a cold, starry night, guests can easily follow the enticing aromas of a wood fire and a sweet treat across patches of snow to Elsi and Bob Sly’s sugar shanty. Open the door, and a fog of evaporating sap and an array of hot dogs, baked beans, and salads promise a one-of-a-kind winter picnic.
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17 Blocks
A Community High and U-M grad, Rothbart has worked as a ticket scalper and pizza delivery driver, created a magazine, and won an Emmy. This year, a Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship brought his family—wife Margaret Box and their kids, Desi, six, and Birdie, three—to a rented house on the Old West Side. And this month, he’s reuniting with his second family—the one featured in his documentary 17 Blocks—in an event at the Michigan Theater.
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Marty Somberg
On Sunday nights, Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub reverberates with the sounds of guitars, flutes, fiddles, bodhráns, harps, accordions, harmonicas, whistles, bouzoukis, and uilleann pipes. Often, the toe-tapping, soul-searching tunes are led by Marty Somberg on the Irish fiddle.
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Furniture as Art
Since establishing her Ann Arbor studio in 2016, the U-M art grad has won nineteen international design awards for the ingeniously styled furniture she builds at Maker Works, the nonprofit south-side workshop. Often custom made for her interior design clients—she also has an interior design degree from EMU—they include colorful wall-art Squiggles made from PVC, acrylic, and wood, and Bolts, wooden cocktail tables threaded on marble bases. “The furniture work has a monolithic nature that is somewhat serious and whimsical at the same time,” she says.
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The Old City Building
“This month’s I Spy is an imposing building on N. Fourth Ave. that was called the ‘City Building,’” writes Ken Koral. Built in 1893, it “housed city offices until city hall opened,” in 1907, shares Dyke McEwen.
Read MoreJanuary 2025 Home Sales
The return of a familiar name, timing is everything, and are older condos the new starter homes?
Read MoreQuestion Corner | March 2025
How often are Ann Arbor’s restaurants inspected?
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Ella in Furs, Forrest Tucker in the Parking Lot
I was sorting hotel room keys one afternoon in 1978 when I looked up to see Ella Fitzgerald approaching the front desk at the Campus Inn. “Miss Fitzgerald would like to check in,” a man accompanying her announced.
Read MoreSummer Camps and Activities
Let’s get ready for a summer of play! The Ann Arbor Observer is here to help you find the camp perfectly suited for your camper, with overnight, full-, and half-day camps in Washtenaw County and surrounding communities. Explore...
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