Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., C. Gossett, 1962

As foreshadowed in my recent entry about Regent Place apartments, I returned to the vicinity to take a picture in front of Regent Place’s next door neighbor, the Regent Arms apartments. This is on the east side of Regent between Michigan and Kalamazoo (100 block).

The southern stamp.

The stamp is a C. Gossett stamp from 1962. Actually, there are a pair of them, framing a short run of sidewalk (which is interrupted by a later Cantu & Sons stamp in the middle).

Looking north, with the southern stamp closest to the camera. The light colored block two away is a later Cantu & Sons stamp; the northern stamp is past that.

This stamp pre-dates the Regent Arms, which was built in 1966, in case that isn’t obvious from looking at it. When I first lived here, it was painted dark brown and had a weathered sign with its name on the front. Later it got its current paint job, which coordinates it with Regent Place but, I think, suits it less. I think that is also when it lost its identity as “Regent Arms” and just got its street address on the front instead. The landlord’s Web site still uses the Regent Arms name. I’m not likely to stop.

The northern stamp.

I do know what was here when this pavement was stamped. A while back I downloaded a set of real estate cards from the 1950s and 60s for properties on Regent Street, part of the digitized local history collection of the Capital Area District Library. While trying to figure out what house had previously been on the Regent Place site (it turns out no house was ever located there), I discovered the card for a house on the site of the Regent Arms. It was an American Foursquare house, very typical of the east side. The owner was one Ruth Clippert whose reason for selling was “doesn’t need.” The house was vacant. From this I infer that it was an investment property.

(Update half an hour later: I have discovered something that leads me to retract the “investment property” theory. That is this clipping from the Lansing State Journal of January 23, 1941, reporting on a wedding reception held at the home of “Mrs. Martin Clippert” – the address given is the one for Ruth Clippert in the real estate card. Was Mrs. Martin Ruth, or a relative? Either way it seems this was someone selling a family home.)

The neatly typed card has a handwritten addendum written crosswise over it: “Sold 1-5-65.” That was probably the sale to whomever demolished it to build the Regent Arms, as according to the landlord’s Web site, the apartment building “was designed by Architect Howard DeWolf in 1965 and built in 1966.”

The boldly modernist hulk of the Regent Arms. On the right side, the building hangs preciously over empty space, allowing for parking underneath. This allows the building to come impressively close to the boundary of the lot.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., J.A. Iszler, 2004

This is a different (and nicer, in my view) version of J.A. Iszler’s stamp than I posted the other day. It is on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Clemens and Fairview, in front of Toarmina’s Pizza.

Toarmina’s wasn’t there yet in 2004. Instead, this storefront was currently home to Lopez Bakery, the business I still associate it most with. Lopez was a combination Mexican bakery and coffee bar (I think the coffee bar may have been a separate business that shared space with them). They moved in sometime during my early years in Lansing (I moved here in 1999) and closed in 2007. I never got baked goods from there, but I remember that they also shared the location with a coffee bar and I think I got coffee from there once or twice.

I don’t know what was originally in this storefront, but an advertisement in the December 17, 1926, Lansing State Journal gives it as the address of Universal Grocery. They were advertising a moving sale as they were moving to 1220 East Grand River (which has more recently been various party stores and a City Pulse Eyesore of the Week) in what is now called Old Town. I’m if they were the original occupant of the Toarmina’s address or not. The business appears to have become a dry cleaner in the 1930s and ’40s.

The stamp (there is only one, no twin this time) in context, looking west on East Michigan.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., Able, 1999

I ran out of time to seek out a more interesting stamp as it’s crunch time at work, so I thought I would just throw up this Able stamp with apologies. But then I figured I should at least give you a few details about the building it’s in front of. Whoops; went and ate up a bunch of time by discovering something interesting, again. First things first: here’s the pair of stamps, on the east side of Regent Street between Michigan and Kalamazoo (the 100 block).

The northern stamp.
The southern stamp, a few blocks away.

The stamps are in front of the Regent Place Apartments, a small apartment building that is the northernmost property on the east side of Regent. I have walked past these apartments countless times, starting back when I used to walk to the bus stop all the time to get to work. They were harder to date than the aggressively 1960s apartment block next door (about which more in a later entry, I’m sure). I went to the city’s property records to see when they were built. I had a bit of a shock.

Regent Place Apartments.

These apartments, which in my mind have just “always been here,” were built in 1999. The same year I moved to town (and the same year as these stamps, which is probably not a coincidence). I could hardly imagine the street without them. I began searching the Lansing State Journal records to see what was there before and came up with nothing. Searching an address usually yields at least something: old wedding announcements, for instance, or previous businesses. I could not find anything earlier for this address than some classified advertisements from April 1999 promising “BRAND NEW!” units. Evidently, Regent Place Apartments arrived in Lansing only a few months before I did. I was startled by this revelation.

The northern stamp in context.

When I could not find anything else about this address on Regent Street, I began to suspect that the previous house or houses on this lot were numbered something different, and began trying a few guesses, also unsuccessfully. I could have saved myself a lot time if I had found the landlord’s Web site sooner. It turns out they have a short history of the property and according to their research, no house was ever on the lot. Prior to the construction of Regent Place, it was a parking lot for the apartments next door. It also served as overflow parking for the Pagoda restaurant. And, it says, “According to legend a Mr. Parsons who owned the business at the corner of Regent and Michigan in the early 1970s used to land his helicopter, with some difficulty on this site.” I’m not sure what business that would be. I assume it refers to the east corner, which was an A&P for a long time and as late as the 1960s, but that seems to have gone away before the 1970s.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Marshall St., J.A. Iszler, 1990

This stamp is on the east side of Marshall Street just north of Michigan Avenue, next to Mid-Michigan Kidney Specialists. J. A. Iszler is probably John A. Iszler Concrete Contractor, located on West Grand River Highway in Grand Ledge.

The southern stamp of a pair.
The northern stamp.

According to Iszler’s Web site, they are a family-owned business started in 1977.

Looking south from the northern stamp. (It’s next to the spray painted marking.)
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Vine St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1926

As sometimes happens, I had already photographed something else (something on my “to do list”) when I stumbled across this one later on my walk. I decided to bump the other one to another time. This one is on the south side of Vine Street between Fairview and Clemens.

I am quite sure this one is from the 1920s and fairly confident the date is 1926. I thought at first that the contractor’s name was totally illegible, but upon studying the photograph I think I see “E Schullberger.” Searching the Lansing State Journal for that name gets me nothing, so I could very well be wrong. I would welcome alternate suggestions to research. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.

Looking west on Vine Street. That’s Clemens in the distance.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Horton St., DPW, 1919

Here’s a nice, old Department of Public Works stamp on the east side of Horton just north of Michigan, next to the Gabriels Community Credit Union on the corner. I had meant to get this one for ages and finally decided to do it tonight despite it being after dark.

I brought a flashlight with me and propped it up on some gravel alongside the sidewalk. (Flashing a light straight on the stamp usually makes it illegible. You need shadows.) I know from seeing it in daylight that the year is 1919. I had previously been complete unable to read the month, but when I came home and looked at the photo this time I realized I was pretty sure I saw September there. It’s funny how sometimes a photo can see things I don’t see with my eyes.

Looking south on Horton. That’s the Gabriels Community Credit Union on the left. You can see the flashlight I was using to illuminate the stamp on the lower left.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

W. Michigan Ave., Isabella Corp., 2016

It’s another 2016 stamp today, on the north side of West Michigan Avenue just south of Capitol, in front of Lansing City Hall. There are paired stamps on either end of a short run of new sidewalk.

Looking north on West Michigan. There is the Capitol, of course, and the State Holiday Tree on the left.

City Hall is a beautiful, mid-century modern building, evocative of a prosperous time in the city. I am very fond of it, which might put me in the minority (many residents seem to consider it ugly). The city has not always been a good custodian of it and has been trying to get rid of it. One of the last acts of Virg Bernero’s mayoral administration was to broker a deal to sell it for renovation into a hotel, with the plan being to move City Hall into the former Lansing State Journal building. The Schor administration put the brakes on that, leaving City Hall to continue indefinitely in its state of deferred maintenance.

The northern stamp.

I checked the copious pavement all around City Hall in hope of finding a stamp from its glory days, but to my surprise and disappointment, the only stamps I found were these new ones from Isabella Corp.

Lansing City Hall. This photo was taken from the approximate site of the northern stamp.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Horton St., Able, 2016

Able’s most recent stamps are quite minimalist, which is a bit of a shame. They do tend to read very cleanly, though. This one is on the east side of Horton Street north of Jerome.

The southern stamp.

It leads off a run of new sidewalk, and it also looks like the steps of the house this is in front of were redone at the same time. This leads me to wonder if it was done at the homeowner’s instigation rather than the city’s. If you want the sidewalk in front of your house replaced sooner than the city’s replacement schedule would have it, you can do the legwork of getting two bids and then the city will share the cost with you.

Looking north on Horton.

There is a paired stamp on the other end. The stamps may be simple, but I appreciate the orderliness of them.

The northern stamp.
Looking south on Horton.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., illegible name [C.D. Chamberlain], 1950

This stamp is on the west side of the 100 block of Regent Street, next to the office building on the corner of Michigan and Regent. Unfortunately, I can’t make out the name, except that it starts with a C and ends with “lain” and is probably two words.

The northern stamp.

I’ve learned to check for a paired stamp, especially when there are legibility issues. Well, I found it a little way south, but it didn’t help. It’s just as worn and it’s also very muddy at the moment.

The southern stamp.

The building this is next to currently houses a few unmemorable offices, but I have always been rather fascinated by it because of the fact that the one-story storefront part of the building clearly surrounds and nearly hides a two-story building, likely older and possibly a fairly grand house. According to the city’s records, it was built in 1924.

When I first moved to town, a neighbor told me the building used to be a Chinese restaurant. This made sense to me as the roof on the one-story part of the building has jade tiles, but I never learned any more about it. While researching this post, however, I ran across a couple of old Lansing State Journal advertisements for the Pagoda Restaurant at this address. That, I thought, must have been the restaurant my old neighbor was referring to. Then again, was it? In a stroke of luck for me, someone on eBay is currently selling a menu from Gallagher’s Pagoda Restaurant. Dishes on offer include fried chicken, roast chicken, veal cutlets, steer liver, pork chops, grilled ham, grilled sirloin, and various seafood dishes. There isn’t the slightest hint of anything Chinese about it. Still, I would bet that a vague and understandably confused memory (or secondhand information) led my neighbor to describe the Pagoda as a Chinese restaurant.

This driveway leads to the parking behind the office building, the former Pagoda restaurant. The northern stamp is on the nearest sidewalk block (upside down).

I don’t know what was here when this was stamped in 1950, since the earliest reference I can find to the Pagoda was from 1953. On April 24, 1953, an advertisement in the Lansing State Journal promised a “KIDDIE KARNIVAL – Special Family Dinner Rates – Pogo the Clown in Person.”

I also don’t know for sure when the Pagoda closed. I found an obituary for Charles Gallagher in the December 31, 1996, Lansing State Journal; he had died on December 29 at the age of 91. According to it, “Charles may be best remembered as co-owner, with his mother, Ida, of the Pagoda Restaurant in Lansing until 1969.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Pagoda closed in 1969, but it is suggestive.

Update: I finally managed to read this one! It is C.D. Chamberlain.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Aurelius Rd., L & L, 2002

This L & L stamp is on a walking path that cuts down from the west side of North Aurelius Road to Clemens. To the north of this, Aurelius “becomes” Clemens and crosses I-496 as an overpass. To the south, it is an overpass over the railroad tracks. In the early 2000s there was a project that both reduced the number of lanes on Aurelius to try to calm traffic, and made the overpasses more pedestrian-friendly. I would guess this sidewalk installation was part of that.

Looking down from Aurelius toward Clemens. Most people say that Clemens “turns into” Aurelius as it goes south but in some sense that isn’t true because they do exist side by side for a couple of blocks.

I refer to the streets here as “the other Clemens,” “the other Regent,” and so on, or sometimes “the alternate universe streets,” because they seem to be in a different world from the streets of my neighborhood despite sharing their names. It’s always hard to believe that they are just down the way as the crow flies, and once upon a time they would have been been one unbroken street. That ended with 496.

Looking back up to Aurelius.