The United Nations of Main St.
Inty Muenala, owner of the recently opened Native Kichwa Arts on Main St., might not be the greatest speaker of English–it’s his third language after Kichwa and Spanish–but he can speak “artist”...
Read More2014 November
Fear and flu
In mid-October, an elderly couple stopped by the U-M’s Briarwood Medical Group for flu shots. They waited for forty-five minutes on a line that went up a long hallway and almost out to the street.”More people have...
Read MoreTax dollars at work 2014
“Before 2005, the city never had any real program to monitor and inspect sidewalks,” recalls former city project manager Homayoon Pirooz. But in 2004, the Center for Independent Living sued, arguing that bumpy...
Read MoreWhen Lawyers Go Bad
Asked if he’s ever fazed by the misdeeds he sees as chair of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, Jim Cameron laughs. “Yes, I am,” answers Cameron, a practicing attorney in Michigan for thirty-seven years....
Read MoreSaline at the Crossroads
The Michigan Department of Transportation planned to reconstruct Michigan Avenue through Saline in 2008, but the funding dried up during the Great Recession. MDOT rescheduled the work for 2018–but this past summer it...
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More Biggby’s
“Biggby makes it easy for you” to open a franchise, says Henry Lin, who with his wife, Justine, just opened one on Jackson Rd. The East Lansing company now has around 222 stores.Lin and his wife are involved in...
Read MoreLisa Roberts Opens Bed & Butter
On the Friday before a home game, Lisa Roberts pointed to the sidewalk traffic out in front of her new store Bed & Butter, on the 300 block of S. Main St., and said: “My other store is only a block away, and...
Read MoreA Dog Named Bo
According to one national survey, Bo ranks forty-first among male dog names. But when Affordable Vet Services in Ann Arbor ranked the frequency of names of their canine patients, Bo came in twentieth. Staffers at other local...
Read MoreHyper-Local Microbusiness
On a brisk October morning, ninety-five-year-old Martha Ebinger walked to Real Baked Goods, in the triangular space next to Arbor Vacuum on Packard, from her home two blocks away. We found her there, sharing a pecan roll with...
Read MoreLeaving Middle Earth
Middle Earth is closing at the end of December. Owner Cynthia Shevel and her partner Elaine Selo closed their Selo/Shevel gallery on Main St. earlier this year when they sold the building. Shevel says they’ve bought a...
Read MoreSid Gilman’s last stand
In an astounding feature, “The Empire of Edge,” the New Yorker last month chronicled the bizarre tale of how the U-M Alzheimer’s expert leaked secret drug trial results to Wall Street trader Mathew Martoma....
Read MoreWhat Price Fame?
Blimpy Burger reopened Oct. 3 in its new downtown spot next to the Fleetwood. Among the torrents of effusive, grateful, even (one gets the impression) tearful five-star “welcome back” raves on its Facebook page, one...
Read MoreJoybox Express
Mark Braun’s nearly 2,000-mile bicycle ride along the Mississippi River almost didn’t happen. Ann Arborites have long known Mr. B for his boogie-woogie, blues, and jazz piano concerts, including, for the past...
Read MoreChange of Seasons
Mark Hodesh bought Downtown Home & Garden–then Hertler Bros.–for $140,000 in 1975 “including all inventory and two trucks,” he says. A steal, right? Actually, Hodesh says, the old feed and grain...
Read MoreSharon McRill
Sharon McRill’s office is illuminated by a pair of vintage-style lamps, so pea green and oddly shaped that any vintage shop would be envious. But McRill, forty-eight, didn’t pay a dime for them–or for the...
Read MoreFootball in Chaos
This year, the Wolverines seem to have found most of them. They opened the season at 3-4, losing to average competition (Minnesota, Utah, Rutgers), and beating only one top-100 team (dismal Penn State). Against Minnesota, the...
Read MoreTillerman’s Tea
We received 168 entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Tillerman’s Tea on page 71 of the October Observer, with the name of the previous month’s winner, “Jennings,” hidden in one of the varieties...
Read MoreGrave of the Fireflies
Studio Ghibli is to Japan what Disney is to the U.S.: a box-office powerhouse beloved for its children’s cartoons. Where Disney has Cinderella and Frozen, Ghibli has My Neighbor Totoro, in which two little girls befriend...
Read MoreContrarian for Mayor
Ann Arbor elects a mayor every two years. But because local voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, the only election that usually matters is the August primary. Mayor John Hieftje won the last four general elections with at least...
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