Kiddie Land
“Us Ann Arbor long-timers know that this is a Fake Ad for a non-fake business, perhaps with some poignance.”
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Ann Arbor
Pickleball NIMBYism
Ann Arbor’s parks and rec department has opened multiple courts at Leslie Park, two at Burns Park, and single courts at several others. Hunt Park is not among them—yet several years ago, pickleball lines appeared on its tennis court.
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Margaret J. Bien
Margaret J. Bien, age 95, died under hospice care on February 28, 2025 after a lengthy illness. Family and friends will long remember her lasting influence in their lives, and sorely miss her.
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The Guldals’ Family Pharmacy
Nestled between Baskin-Robbins and Little Caesars in the West Stadium Shopping Center, a new independent pharmacy aims to provide a personal touch in an increasingly commodified industry. Ann Arbor Drugs is a mom-and-pop shop run by pharmacist Levent Guldal and his wife Stacy, an Ann Arbor native (“Lawton, Slauson, Pioneer”). She’s likely the first face entering customers will see.
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Judith “Judy” Shapiro
Judith “Judy” Sarayda Shapiro, age 62, passed away in a Clearwater, Florida hospital on February 22, 2025, after a long illness.
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Thomas E. Kauper
Thomas E. Kauper, Ann Arbor, age 89, died peacefully on February 9, 2025.
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Salty Streams
It was a snowy winter, and Ann Arbor used a lot of road salt to clear its streets: 4,057 tons as of March 19, according to city communications specialist Robert Kellar. That’s 656 tons more than last winter, though still around 1,800 tons shy of the most recent high in the winter of 2021–2022. Along with ice-melter applied by contractors and homeowners, some of it ends up in storm sewers and the Huron River tributaries they feed.
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Echelon Kitchen and Bar
March’s photo shows “a column outside the new Echelon Kitchen and Bar that just opened,” writes Dyke McEwen. It’s on the “southwest corner of Main Street and Washington,” says Debbie Onderdonk. “The building in the background is Cafe Zola.”
Read MoreForever 21 Ages Out
Liquidation sales are well underway at Forever 21’s large storefront next to JCPenney in Briarwood Mall. The long-troubled fast-fashion chain is winding down operations both locally and at its approximately 357 stores nationwide.
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“We May Be the First, But We Won’t Be the Last”
This year, the U-M saw a 24.5 percent increase in applications from first-generation students; they currently make up 12 percent of the undergraduate population. But the university’s relationship with first-gens hasn’t always been supportive.
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BO’s Bagels Arrives
Sporting the initials of cofounder Andrew Martinez’s now-grown children, Brody and Olivia, BO’s Bagels is boiling and baking eighteen varieties of bagels—four to five thousand of them daily—on the ground floor of a South U highrise.
Read MoreMoon Cafe Closes
Moon Cafe, on S. State between Hill and Packard, closed at the end of February, according to an Instagram announcement expressing gratitude to its student-heavy customer base.
Read MoreMix Will Close at the End of April
Mix, the women’s artwear and accessories boutique in Nickels Arcade since 2014, will close at the end of April.
Read MoreNew Owners at Wolverine State Brewing
After fourteen years on W. Stadium, Wolverine State Brewing Co. has temporarily closed its taproom. CEO Matt Roy says he expects it to reopen this fall under new ownership.
Read MoreFrom Mallek’s Service to the Ann Arbor Party Center Station
The longtime Mallek’s Service Station at the Dexter-Jackson fork has reopened as a self-service gas station and convenience store called Ann Arbor Party Center Station.
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Constructive Eating
If Jackie Malcolm had told her construction-obsessed toddler to stop playing with his breakfast cereal on the living room floor with his toy bulldozer in 2005, children and parents might never have found mealtime peace through the forklift fork.
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Modern Love
To this day, the stream of applicants from the recovery community has not abated. They are like our very own LinkedIn and Indeed all rolled into one. Over the ensuing ten-year period, while owning and operating a growing vegan food business that now includes a restaurant, a bakery/cafe, and an events venue, I have hired more than 150 people in recovery. As their employer, I have had the privilege of joining them on their life-changing and lifesaving journeys
Read MoreFebruary 2025 Home Sales
Burns Park “bargains,” Bryant homes cross $300K, Inglis House heading back to market, and This Old House of the Month.
Read MoreThe Hen Is Stray No Longer
A Chicago native, Fronimos is feeling more at home since moving here to open The Stray Hen in 2021. So he recently dropped “stray” from the name, further differentiating it from the full-service establishment he co-owns back home.
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