The Romance of the Car
The Christmans’ Maynard Battery is in the Allen Creek valley on Miller, just east of the railroad bridge. The blue paint on its sign is so chipped and pitted it’s nearly impossible to read, and the cinder-block...
Read More2010 September
Planting Groundcover News
Ann Arbor’s newest newspaper may not have the budget or coverage of AnnArbor.com, but it does have at least one motivated vendor and a lot of heart.The first issue of Groundcover News came out in mid-July. It has news,...
Read MoreElectric Vehicles, A2 style
Electric vehicles are becoming a reality, and Michigan is in the thick of it, with the Chevy Volt in production in Detroit and a factory going up in Holland to produce the Volt’s lithium ion battery.Ann Arbor has an...
Read MoreJohn Hollenbeck
The jazz and popular music drum set is deceptively difficult to play; you can quickly learn to bash it, but to do it justice and create music requires as much practice and creativity as any other instrument. The great jazz...
Read MoreKeeping Peace 2010
A thin, worn-out-looking woman weeps as she embraces her eighteen-year-old son in the security line at Detroit Metro airport. “My baby going! My baby going!” Exasperated but patient, Ryan Richmond hugs his mother...
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Two Marketplace Exits
“Rents are high over there. They just didn’t have the business,” says Falsetta’s Market owner Wally Mulki. Mulki is speaking of Asian Fuzion, his neighbor in Pittsfield Plaza on Washtenaw, which closed...
Read MoreBaroque in the New World
Jordi Savall will probably not play “La Bamba” when he performs at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on Thursday, September 30–though it’s not entirely out of the question.Acknowledged as the...
Read MorePlaying for Haiti
Haiti had very little classical music before the January earthquake–just two music schools and one small concert hall–and the quake turned them all into ruins. Romel Joseph, the Julliard-trained and blind-from-birth...
Read MoreSo Long, King of Queens
“The economy is bad for small places. It’s been a tough route,” says Naser Derneika, owner of several Coney Islands around town called King of Queens, the last of which just bit the dust. Unlike the others,...
Read MoreWebster Fall Festival
The close bluegrass harmonies wafting through the trees cheerfully set the tone for the day as we park and get out of the car. As my four children and I walk through the old cemetery to get to the Webster Fall Festival, the kids...
Read MoreEye Candy and Candy Candy
The trend in State Street fashion is flashy clothing for tiny undergraduates who go to a lot of parties. First came Poshh, then Pitaya. Allure amped up a notch or two in this direction, and now there’s Pink Pump, in the...
Read More“Sheila Has a Budget, Too”
County treasurer Catherine McClary is trying to interest investors in a 218-condo site in Pittsfield Township, off Michigan Avenue near US-23. The second phase of Wellesley Gardens would be a turnkey project, she says: the...
Read MoreBeyond Big Boy
Big Boy’s branching out. The restaurant chain, headquarted in Warren, chose Ann Arbor to launch a prototype restaurant that, if successful, could go national. It’s called @Burger, and it opened in late July in the...
Read MoreJakob Kolding’s Urban Jungle
Collage is one of the defining aspects of twentieth century art, and its influence pervades our contemporary culture, from the popularity of sampled beats to the increasing use of computer-generated characters in movies. The...
Read MoreFewer Cars, Fewer Dealers
When GM eliminated its Saturn brand last year, Saturn of Ann Arbor owner Mack Johnson found himself stuck with a dealership and no cars. Not a problem–he bought himself another dealership. As of July 1, Jim Bradley Pontiac...
Read MoreGas-Free Lawn Care
On a humid July morning, the owner of Green Wheel Lawn Care bikes up to Bill and Betty Ingram’s house on the corner of Brooklyn and Westminster in Burns Park. On a trailer behind him Jeff Monchamp tows an electric lawn...
Read MoreHigh Rise, High Price
Q. I don’t get why downtown high-rise housing isn’t cheaper than suburban housing.A. There’s one big economy of scale when building downtown, because a high rise puts many more housing units on a given piece of...
Read MoreThe U Pizza & Burgers Opens
If you’re named Schayes and you own a restaurant, you’re probably going to be tempted to name something on the menu “Schayes Rebellion.” James Schayes decided to bestow that name on a pizza topped with...
Read MoreDeNiro’s Mole
Michigan’s film tax credit swept stardust into the life of longtime Ann Arbor cosmetologist Elizabeth Colburn, who’s worked as head makeup artist on four movies filmed in-state. The jobs allowed her to buy health...
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