Harmonica Master
Peter “Madcat” Ruth was fifteen when he first heard blues duo Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry on...
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Chelsea
Chelsea Gets a Starbucks
Starbucks opened in mid-September in the new three-building retail development next to Culver’s on S. Main. A couple days after opening, store manager Timothy Lowery—with his headset on and drink order labels stuck to a few of...
Read MoreTwo Space Swaps in Chelsea
Before Dana McGrath announced the closing this summer of La Maison, her furniture and home decor boutique on Main St., she shared the news with her building neighbor, Deborah Coy. Coy had always wanted to move her women’s...
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Selling the Dream Kitchen
A lot has changed in the appliance industry since Jake Heydlauff’s great-grandfather Lloyd sold...
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Peanut’s Neighborhood
Tucked away at the end of a long dirt driveway near a pond in what Marsi Parker Darwin calls “the...
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The Survival of a Small-Town Paper
“Every community deserves a local newspaper that covers high school sports, civic affairs, local...
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Diva Royale
Jeff Daniels lives in Chelsea and commutes to work on both coasts. While appearing on Broadway, an...
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A Jukebox for the Algonquin
The Purple Rose bills A Jukebox for the Algonquin as a “serious comedy about sex, drugs, and...
Read MoreRobin Hills Adds a Restaurant
The Nest Cocktail Bar & Kitchen opened in mid-April at Robin Hills Farm on M–52 north of Chelsea. Husband-and-wife chefs Vanessa and Phil Coulson had been parking their food truck, Sanich Union, at area venues, including...
Read MoreTrading Spaces
“This is where I wanted to be,” says Culture Creations owner Laura Scriven from her new location between Bumble’s Dry Goods and the Common Grill. The space became available in February when Scriven’s friend MaryAnne Thomas...
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Chelsea Outfitters
On a weekday afternoon, Mack and Lilly Trenary munch on an after-school snack in the back of their...
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From Nepal, With Love
Curt Winans describes his wife Menuka as “a magnet” for people. When she moved to Chelsea in 2016...
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Dingell’s View
Interviewed two weeks before the election, “the mob mentality” topped Debbie Dingell’s list of...
Read MoreDems Dominate
“It’s a beautiful day,” says Ann Arbor state senator Jeff Irwin two days after Michigan Democrats won the executive, legislative, and judicial state elections on November 8. “We have a whole new set of opportunities to make our...
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New Life on Main St. in Chelsea
The former Vogel’s and Foster’s clothing store on S. Main in Chelsea is now home to two retailers...
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New Pathways
If you stand on the corner of Freer and Dexter-Chelsea roads, at the northwest edge of the Oak...
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Susan and Palmer Morrel-Samuels
“It’s the kind of neighborhood that draws people out,” Susan Morrel-Samuels says over coffee in...
Read MoreQuestion Corner, August 2022
Q. Can you explain Michigan’s rules for ordering wine shipments? A. Michigan’s laws governing alcohol sales are labyrinthine. When the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933, the state set up a three-tier regulatory system: a...
Read MoreLong Covid
It’s called “Long Covid,” and Smith is a member of a particularly susceptible population. In a new U-M study, one in four women reported symptoms lasting more than ninety days, compared to one in six men. “I didn’t need to be...
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Overdose Deaths Rise Again
As recently as twenty years ago, the county saw only a few heroin deaths a year—mostly older men...
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