Rising Tide 2012
Ellen and Lowell Fisher have lived at 2100 Churchill off Scio Church Rd. for thirty-eight years and never seen anything like the flood of 2012.”I’m watching the hail come down, really big hail,” Ellen...
Read More2012 July
Betsey Armstrong’s Goal
“I expect them to play for and win the gold medal.”U-M water polo coach Matt Anderson predicts victory for the U.S. women in the Summer Olympics in London, where water polo competition starts July 30. “We...
Read MorePotty humor
While there’s plenty of hard work going into the repairs of Dexter Rd., there is some play too. The portable toilet at the corner of Dexter and Doty was occupied by one worker recently when a co-worker, driving a huge CAT...
Read MoreUrban Chic
From a street of wide-eyed front windows, it felt peculiar to descend the dark stairs to Melange’s subterranean recesses. Once seated in a roomy semi-circular banquette, though, we appreciated the intimate sophistication...
Read MoreAn Ounce of Prevention
In a landscape littered with the corpses of well-meaning causes, the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan has quadrupled its staff in the past decade. What’s its secret? “We re-prioritized our core functions to...
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Suspicious Minds
The hottest topic in Scio Township is the fate of the proposed fire department merger. After two years of talks, Scio and Webster townships and Dexter Village and Township have a plan to merge the Scio Township Fire Department...
Read MoreMatt Jones
Local singer-songwriter Matt Jones grew up in Adrian and has been involved in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti music scene for the past decade. He’s played, often on drums, with a plethora of local bands and performers and is...
Read MoreBay Design is Closing
In June, Susan Bay announced the closing of Bay Design Store, her elegant furniture-and-accessories showroom at the Detroit-Division fork. Bay says she’s sold the distinctive, triangular building to Michael Yi in order to...
Read MoreCafe Japon Closes Downtown
Miyoko Honma will close her restaurant, Cafe Japon, at the end of June. She will keep the space open until July 21 as a bakery, but pending approval from Ann Arbor Township, hopes to move that operation to the Washtenaw County...
Read MoreDreamMaker Bath & Kitchen
Engineer Bob Ender is moving his showroom, too. He started DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen eight years ago, after a first career designing industrial spaces and factory layouts. Ender says his company does all types of...
Read MoreHouses for sale on N. Main?
Q: What’s the deal with the four houses for sale on Main north of Summit? Only one has a driveway, so how do people get to and from them? Will they all be sold at once?A: When Italian immigrant Benedict DeFilippi bought...
Read MoreTwo New Farmers Markets
These summery Friday evenings in Dixboro, mandolin- and guitar-picking provides background as folks stroll past canopied stands. Shoppers fill their baskets and bags with pickled eggs, lettuce, zucchini, garlic, beeswax candles,...
Read MorePink Ride’s fundraising cab
A pink Toyota Camry Hybrid appeared on Ann Arbor streets during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October as part of a fundraising and awareness campaign promoted by the national Taxicab, Limousine, & Paratransit...
Read Moree-cigs in Lamp Post Plaza
A Clean Cigarette has traded a Briarwood kiosk for a tiny shop in Lamp Post Plaza. The clinical looking space makes very little effort at visual seduction–if it’s nicotine you’re after, you probably know what...
Read MoreGeorgetown Gifts
Laurie Wicks bought Georgetown Gifts fifteen years ago from Marilyn Harber, who started the store in the 1970s in Georgetown Mall. Now Wicks is hoping to find someone who wants to buy it from her. Though it’s currently...
Read MoreCome Soar with Me
8:30 a.m.: The online weather forecast calls for cumulus clouds, bases at 6,500 feet, visibility of twenty-five miles, light winds. Temperature in the morning will be 40 degrees with a high of 75. It’s a perfect day to...
Read MoreMinerva and Cthulhu
Don’t have the funds to experience a magnificent Baroque-style fountain in Rome? Want to check out a towering artistic interpretation of Cthulhu (generally pronounced “Ka-THOO-loo”), the malevolent high priest...
Read MoreAfter the Super Bowl
For artists selling on the street, which is worse for sales: a tornado warning or temperatures in the nineties?That’s a choice the weather delivered during the 2010 and 2011 Ann Arbor art fairs. And Greg Lawler, publisher...
Read MorePeaceable Obama
Carol Lopez, feisty owner of Peaceable Kingdom, is taking some flack for selling Obama pins and bumper stickers while offering nothing promoting the other guy. But Lopez, who opened her store in the Age of Aquarius (aka 1971),...
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