2014 November

Grover’s Corners

Looking back, it had the simplicity of Grover’s Corners in Our Town. Not that Grandma and Grandpa Mann lived on the typical square block. No, think isosceles triangle–or a piece of cheesecake, a small, narrow...

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From fantasy to tragedy

Ann Arbor comics artist Jerzy Drozd has spent most of his career drawing robots, monsters, and other imaginary creatures. So he had to grow some new muscles to pen a graphic novel about the death of president John F. Kennedy.The...

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Washtenaw in WWI

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns on the western front of the Great War fell silent, ending four of the bloodiest years in the history of the world.The war demolished empires and...

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A New Porsche/Audi Showroom

At the other end of town, the other place dealing in fine German engineering–Germain, formerly Howard Cooper, is getting a new building to split off Audi and Porsche from VW. General manager JP Lammers says the large...

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Free at Last

On a bright and brisk Sunday afternoon in mid-October, Paul Bishop of the Dexter Area Historical Society did what a lot of people watching from the lawn of Gordon Hall would probably love to do for their own homes: he set fire...

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Suburban’s Growing Car Collection

Dave Fischer collects auto dealerships like baseball cards. He has over 100–the Suburban Collection is one of the largest privately held dealerships in the country. With his recent acquisition of BMW of Ann Arbor and...

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Power Politics

Deb Ellison lives on 240 acres near Manchester, with a view of the River Raisin. But she’s concerned that her waterfront idyll is threatened. At the end of June, Ellison received a notice in the mail from ET Rover...

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Warner Bros. Cartoons

I don’t have Thanksgiving plans, but I know exactly what I’m doing the day after. I’m bundling up my three-year-old and taking her to the Michigan Theater to watch their annual screening of Warner Bros....

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Miya

Spend enough time around the U-M’s Central Campus, and you start to have a sense of where to go for lunch based upon specific cravings, bouts of weather, dining companions (or lack thereof), and how much time you have. The...

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Shadow Season

November is a month in which our natural surroundings become progressively more stark. The transition from the splashy colors of fall to a more monochromatic environment sends us looking for something visually satisfying.One is...

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Plaid Melon Cafe Opens

In September, Manchester resident Dave Gallinat opened the Plaid Melon Cafe in Chelsea’s Clocktower Complex–offering breakfast, lunch, specialty coffees, and desserts. Although he took over the lease from Gourmet...

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Carrigan Cafe

“This is a new place to call home,” says Karen Carrigan, sitting with husband Jason in their Carrigan Cafe four days after the grand opening. Brian and Lori Sun used to own the space, formerly called My Favorite...

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Lost in Briarwood

“How do I get to JC Penney?” is not an unusual question at Briarwood–but until recently, is was rare to hear it at Sears at the opposite end of the million-square-foot mall. But Sears staff have been fielding...

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Power Pruning

Mundane as it sounds, pruning dead and overgrown branches is the number-one goal of the city’s first-ever urban forestry plan. The trees lining city streets and in parks have “been under a tremendous amount of...

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What’s the Null?

There’s a big, new pub in Dexter–the Null Tap House–in a place you wouldn’t expect to find one–the industrial park off Dan Hoey Road.In addition to its out-of-the-way location, Null has an...

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A Bike Shop’s Bitter Blow

On September 29, Dennis Pontius, owner of Two Wheel Tango, “found out that we might be losing our relationship with Specialized,” the only brand of bike Pontius carried at all three stores–two in Ann Arbor, one...

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Another Plum Market

A second Plum Market will be going into the former Cleary College building on Plymouth Rd. Plans submitted to the city in late September call for a 5,000-square-foot addition to the 20,000-square-foot building. Plum also...

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The Ben Daniels Band

Three things that need immediate attention concerning the Ben Daniels Band: 1. Yes, Ben’s father is in fact Jeff Daniels. Now that’s out of the way, 2. The band is really good, and 3. Daniels clearly understands the...

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Herring Gulls

Q. Often, I think maybe around this time of year, I see a large flock of seagulls, a.k.a. herring gulls, looking for food on the big Pioneer High School lawn southwest of the Main/Stadium corner. You rarely see those birds this...

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Curating the U-M’s Cast-Offs

The department handles property that has completed its useful life at the university. A small fraction is recycled, sold for scrap, or thrown away, but the vast majority winds up for sale at “Dispo’s” retail...

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