A Flower for All Seasons
Where–in Ann Arbor–can you, no matter what your height, stand directly beneath a flower that soars so high that the very clouds in the sky seem lower than its petals? Where–in Ann Arbor–can you see a...
Read More2014 April
A Hockey Superstore
Total Hockey’s location was chosen for its proximity to the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, and already we’re into specialized skating vocabulary: “No, the Cube doesn’t have three rinks–it’s one rink,...
Read MoreSafeHouse’s Budget Crunch
“Sequestration was tough on us,” says Barbara Niess-May, executive director of SafeHouse Center. Cutbacks in several programs that help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault cost the center more than...
Read MoreOld German Bar and Bierkeller
It’s not easy to pigeonhole the newest establishment on the corner where Grizzly Peak has built a brewpub fantasyland. On Ashley just off Washington, a hinged little shingle of folksy old world metalwork reads “Old...
Read MoreDoris Duke’s Shangri La
Upon entering the current temporary exhibit at UMMA, my boyfriend and I said, “This is bullcrap!” Really, it’s an exhibit about Doris Duke, American heiress, once described as “the richest girl in the...
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A Pair of Orange Leafs
Orange Leaf Yogurt franchisees Jason Zalewski and Scott McLean opened their first store in Traver Village on March 8, and are planning to open their second, in Woodland Plaza (near the south-side Busch’s) on April 1. They...
Read MoreA Quick Switch on Washtenaw
On Monday, March 3, Maiz Cantina on Washtenaw closed. On Tuesday, March 4, the location reopened as Los Amigos Fiesta. “It was take it or leave it,” says manager David Corona. They didn’t want to lose any of...
Read MoreAkademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin
More than thirty years ago, musicians employed by orchestras in Soviet-controlled East Berlin began a clandestine collaboration that led to the formation of a collectively run early music ensemble, operating in defiance of state...
Read MoreDriving the Drunken Student
Mark Reddock, a Getaway driver since 2000, says U-M Greek groups often charter buses to take members to drinking parties as far afield as Comerica Park in Detroit and Clutch Cargo’s in Pontiac. Getaway gets fifteen to...
Read MoreMartin Contreras and Keith Orr
Over coffee one morning last October, Martin Contreras, fifty-four, and Keith Orr, fifty-six, discussed whether they should get married that day. “Let’s do it,” urged Contreras. They had been a couple for...
Read MoreLegion on N. Main
“A lot of people in my program wonder why I’m still going to school,” says Michael Kao, who’s about three semesters away from finishing his degree at EMU in apparel, textiles, and merchandising. The...
Read MoreA Trio of Closings
Alice Liberson plans to close her Kerrytown-area store for the soigne dog or cat, Dogma Catmantoo, sometime in April. Liberson says she turned sixty last year, and wants to “retire, take classes. This is the longest...
Read MoreSaddling up the Urban Cyclist
In early March, Sic Transit Cycles was on track to open its new store on Pontiac Tr. behind St. Vincent de Paul on March 15. Michael Firn and Joe Bollinger are expanding the bicycle restoration and sales business from its...
Read MoreTurtle Stewards
Turtles survived the comet that killed the dinosaurs, only to be imperiled by sand volleyball players. The volleyball court is where a snapping turtle laid her eggs a couple of years ago in Scheffler Park. The year before, one...
Read MoreA Circus in the Trees
The plane didn’t have an entertainment system, his computer battery was spent, his iPod was empty, and he hadn’t brought a book or anything to write with. With nothing to distract him for the eight-hour flight, he...
Read MorePleya del Sol
We received 90 entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for “Pleya del Sol” on page 95 of the March Observer. That was an unexpectedly low number for an ad that our nemesis, Dean McLaughlin, dismissed as...
Read MoreWinter’s Redbud at 838 South Main Street
“I Spy Winter’s redbud at 838 South Main Street,” writes Lori K. Wintermeyer, “at the Arcadian II Boutique”–which used to be Wintermeyer’s Ann Arbor Framing Co. It’s...
Read MoreWhat Have I Gotten Myself Into?
“Just paint ‘sucker’ across my forehead,” I told my husband. I had just agreed to be the fifty-fifth president of the Ann Arbor City Club.It’s going to be a lot of work, for no pay, for twelve...
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