Wenk’s Wines
Obscured by the greeting cards, candy, and convenience items at Wenk’s Prescription Shop is a little known but carefully selected collection of wine. The space is tight. Bottles are displayed upright in deep shelves,...
Read More2009 November
Delius and Graewe
Many years ago, New Yorker jazz writer Whitney Balliett wrote that jazz was “the sound of surprise,” but in much of today’s mainstream this phrase has become a bit moldy, as tradition and homage have taken the...
Read MorePark Shoe Repair fills a niche
When Kay Kendall retired last year, she sold her shoe repair shop on North Fourth Avenue to Todd Roberts and Duane Thomas. We don’t cover service businesses in this column, so we didn’t write about it. But now we...
Read MoreSex Offender Shuffle
When they moved to Glacier Hills, Henry Vander Kaay and his wife, Doretha, since deceased, gave their home next to Eberwhite Woods to the Salvation Army. Last year, the church put it up for sale, planning to use the money to...
Read MoreRunning Fit’s new HQ
The new headquarters of Running Fit on Jackson Road, which serves as both retail store and warehouse space, is the former Church of the Nazarene. That seems entirely fitting. For Randy Step running is a religion, and the bouncy,...
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Blast from the Past
It’s not easy to find the office of ClassCreator.com on Packard. “We’ve been too busy to put up a sign,” explains founder and CEO Brad Switzer. A 1986 Pioneer High grad, Switzer was asked to do a pro-bono...
Read MoreThe new black
In food fashion, local is the new black. Chef Brandon Johns put his locovore stamp on Vinology before leaving to open his own uber-local restaurant, the Grange Kitchen & Bar, last summer. Since then, Vinology has been...
Read MoreTrophy CSI
On the evening of November 19, 1931, a Cadillac pulled up to the two-level gas station on Washtenaw (today home to Bearclaw Coffee). According to the Michigan Daily, the driver and passengers had obscured their faces with...
Read MoreBerliner Philharmoniker
If you want to start a fight among classical music fans, ask them: “Who’s the best orchestra in the world?’Nationalists will proudly point to the great American orchestras–the grand symphonies of Boston,...
Read MoreLeif Elias
“Mom is the creative one,” says Leif Elias. “I’m more business minded.” Elias, twenty-nine, and her mother Nancy Elias, fifty-seven, are co-owners of Orchid Lane, the clothing and jewelry business...
Read MoreAsian Fuzion Cafe Opens
Phet Young owned Jasmine Thai & China Bistro in Saline for five years. Where was it? “That’s what everybody ask!” she laughs, delighted that her point has been made for her. “We tuck all the way...
Read MoreRed is Now Black
A year ago, the Ann Arbor Art Center was carrying $450,000 in debt. Now the arts education and promotion group is entering its second century with almost $250,000 in the bank.What a difference a well-timed sale makes: this past...
Read MoreCross-Pollinating Media
Here’s a telescope–a time-travel telescope. Set it for eleven years ago, and focus it on senior curator Carole McNamara gazing at Whistler’s painting, Sea and Rain, and wondering how the U-M Museum of Art could...
Read MoreWags to Wiskers
“Mangy mutt” used to be a common expression, but if you’re unlucky enough to have a mutt with actual mange, Dena Gilmore can help you out. Her new west-side pet store, Wags to Wiskers, sells a product to treat...
Read MoreThe Football Economy
“When Michigan’s winning, we get calls from the stadium placing orders,” said Pam Pietryga, co-owner of Pizza Bob’s.On football weekends, Pietryga says, business at her State Street pizza and sub shop...
Read MoreCody Walker
Although I am an avid reader of contemporary poetry, I understand why many people, predisposed to the art because of their appreciation of the great poems of the past, have chosen to ignore its current practitioners. Unless you...
Read MoreCrime Map: September 2009
Click here to view of zoomable map of September crime reports from the Ann Arbor Police Department and the public safety departments of the U-M and Pittsfield Township.Burglaries remained high, with 111 reports (including...
Read MorePJ’s and Gracie
Pop-jazz crooner Michael Buble probably won’t be playing Live at PJ’s anytime soon, but he may be sitting in the audience. His drummer and good friend, Robert Perkins, is now a partner in PJ’s and its sister...
Read MoreDreamland Theater Puppet Show
It’s the day before Halloween, and two sweet little puppet children are lost in a haunted forest. They make their way out, however, and enter a place marked by a huge sign that says “Ypsilanti City” over a...
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