This number is written (or maybe painted) on the sidewalk at the northeast corner of North Foster and East Michigan Avenues. I found it curious. It’s written neatly, albeit at an angle. My first thought was that it reminded me of a ZIP code, but even if that made any sense to write on the sidewalk, it’s not a recognized ZIP code.
This is the last of my photos from the expedition into the Pinecrest neighborhood. I had walked into the Coolidge Court strip mall to take some sunset photos of it. There’s something about the architecture I have always found appealing, even though it’s quite dated.
Perhaps not “even though” but rather, in part, because it’s dated. It reminds me a lot of the station of a roller coaster that was my favorite when I was young, Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. Iron Dragon was built in 1987. So was Coolidge Court.
While poking around the plaza, I noticed a winding little sidewalk tucked off in a corner, not drawing much attention to itself. I was surprised and delighted to see that it was a cut-through between the shopping center and Rolling Brook Lane. I have always liked these kinds of “secret” pedestrian ways.
When I got home I did some searching to learn a bit about Coolidge Court, and that’s when I found it: a listing on Loop.net announcing its imminent redevelopment and inviting new tenants. The concept drawings remove everything I find likable about the building. All the better that I took pictures, I suppose. The listing also trumpets, “Now with Sunday hours!” What’s that all about?
I soon found out from East Lansing Info. It turns out that when Coolidge Court was built, it required a zoning change, as it was originally vacant residential-zoned land. The residents of Pinecrest were persuaded to go along with a zoning change as long as several conditions were placed on the development. These included that end of Rolling Brook would be capped off so traffic could not cut through the subdivision (leaving the cul-de-sac that caught my attention as I drove past), that a pedestrian walk be installed between Rolling Brook and the new development, and that no Sunday sales or food service would be permitted.
The developers proceeded to try to have the Sunday sales restriction removed in 1987, 1989, and 1995, and finally in 2020. Despite the written objections of several residents (note that some of them spell the street name “Rollingbrook”), the Planning Commission recommended the restriction be removed, which evidently it has been. It also appears that the developer is trying to prod at the restriction against food service in order to have a coffee shop or similar. The original language disallows “the commercial cooking or baking of any food” and explicitly prohibits fast food establishments, but it could be argued that a coffee shop doesn’t violate the letter of the restrictions.
Continuing on my stamp-collecting expedition into the Pinecrest neighborhood, I found this stamp on Rolling Brook Lane north of Red Leaf. At the time it was totally illegible to me, but I took photos in hope that they would make the name visible. Sometimes that works, and this time it did. Once home, I was pretty sure that the first word was Fessler and the second started with a B – likely Bowman, since I am already familiar with Fessler & Bowman. The difference is that all the previous Fessler & Bowman stamps I have found were quite recent, from 2016 and 2017. This one is from the 1960s and based on being able to make out a flat line on top of the last number I am pretty sure it is a 5.
According to the company history on Fessler & Bowman’s Web site, the business started in 1963, so this is one of their early works.
Here, by the way, is the corner of Rolling Brook Lane and Red Leaf Lane. You can see why I initially noted the name of the street as “Rollingbrook.”
A little further south on Rolling Brook from my last entry, still on the west side, I found more LPW stamps. This one is on the sidewalk proper and this time the date appears to be 1966 or 1968 – thanks to the curvy font it’s hard to be sure. I have noticed that stamps from this era often use this same typeface for dates even when it’s a different contractor and even when the typeface used for the name is dissimilar. Sadly, I still have no insight as to who LPW is.
The house this stamp is in front of was built in 1967, according to East Lansing’s online property records.
I continued further south after finding the C.E. Schneider stamp from my last entry and finally hit something entirely new to me, again on the west side of the street, north of Red Leaf Lane. This is on a driveway apron and the date is unfortunately mostly illegible.
If it were in Lansing I might suspect LPW was another variation on Lansing DPW/DPS (Department of Public Works/Public Service) but as this is in East Lansing that can’t be it. I really don’t know who or what LPW is. After noticing this one, I went a bit further and found several more houses with the same stamps on their driveways, arranged on either side of the seam between the two blocks making up the large driveway apron.
Apologies for missing my usual Monday entry this week. It’s midterm grading season and I’m run ragged, which also accounts for why this post is coming at 3:30 in the morning.
Continuing with last week’s exploration of the Pinecrest neighborhood near Lake Lansing and Coolidge, I tried walking further south on the curiously dead-ended street. I discovered its name to be Rollingbrook Lane, or so I thought based on the street sign, which appears to render it as one (cramped) word. Google Maps says it is two words and so does the city’s online property database. I was hoping to find some older and possibly unusual stamps. I knew the 1980s and 2000s stamps I had been finding could not date to the development of the subdivision, since the houses had a 1960s look to them.
Once I got south of Red Leaf Lane, I found a stamp of the appropriate vintage on the west side of the street. It’s hard to read but I recognize it as a C.E. Schneider stamp. I find a lot of those from right around this same year, 1968, which is also the year of the house this is in front of. I always like when I find a stamp of the same date as the building it’s in front of, suggesting it dates to the original construction. Still, I continued walking in hope of finding a new-to-me stamp.
Courtesy of the @ClassicStrips Twitter and my husband, who pointed it out to me, here is another episode of The Outbursts of Everett True about bum walks.
According to @ClassicStrips, this comic ran October 13, 1917. So-called artificial stone sidewalks were plentiful in my part of Lansing by then. I’ve found walks dated back to 1907, and 1910-1911 stamps (mostly Minnis & Ewer) are common around my neighborhood.
The previous Everett True strip I talked about was from 1908 and the drawing made it clear that the sidewalk in question was a boardwalk. I would have thought that by 1917, True’s city would have installed artificial stone walks, but I’m not so sure. Six hours isn’t very much time to get concrete poured and finished. It feels more plausible as a span of time for getting loose boards replaced.
While neither strip is an exemplar of subtle wit, I think the earlier one is superior. The silent second panel is a better punchline and a funnier drawing.
I more or less randomly picked a new neighborhood to look at today, mainly because it was on my way home from work. Originally I wanted to see if there was anything interesting on Harrison near West Lake Lansing Road, but on my way there I happened to see a cul-de-sac I hadn’t noticed before. Its dead end is so close to the south side of Lake Lansing that they almost intersect. I made the next turn and wove my way through seemingly endless meandering subdivision streets until I eventually found my way back to it. It turns out to be Rollingbrook Lane. I walked around near the end of it a little, but the only stamps I found were several 2007 Able stamps. They were on obvious replacement slabs. Most of the neighborhood, however, had the pebblier style of concrete I’ve come to associate with midcentury stamps. Disappointed, I walked up to Lake Lansing Road to see if I could find anything interesting there.
There I found an older stamp from E.R. Premoe (and lots more Able 2007), but nothing too interesting. I did get a nice sunset view of the Coolidge Court strip mall and its modernist architecture. Though Rollingbrook does not intersect Lake Lansing as far as cars are concerned, the two streets do have a corner – a sidewalk corner.
I saw this BBRPCI stamp on the east side of Jones Street, between Kalamazoo and Prospect, on my walk tonight. It’s not very interesting. There are similar ones all over the neighborhood, and I’ve covered lots of them in the blog. It’s definitely not the most interesting stamp in the vicinity, since there is a Minnis and Ewer stamp dated June 1910 one lot north.
But this is the real reason I stopped here for photos. The rambling old house this stamp is in front of – while checking the address in the city’s property records, I noticed it was built in 1898 – is decorated to the nines for Halloween. The big street tree out front is festooned with caution tape and haunted by a black-cloaked phantom. There are decorations on the porch and on the adjacent yard (the house seems to be on a double lot). I wish people on my block decorated, but I’m the only person who does much.
Here, enjoy a few photos.
I try to walk different streets throughout the spooky season in search of decorations I haven’t seen yet, and this was a new display to me. When I walk around this neighborhood, I usually stay on Prospect and miss anything south of there, so I’m glad I tried checking some of the north/south streets for displays. I also found a nice one on Virginia.
I noticed a city worker spray painting a low area on Regent Street’s sidewalk recently, and subsequently I’ve seen quite a lot of spray markings on uneven sidewalk edges around the neighborhood, including this impressive sequence of them on the west side of Lathrop Street between Kalamazoo and Marcus. I wonder if the recent activity is the work of Ryan Kost, who is running for City Council largely on a platform of “clean up trash and fix sidewalks.” A recent campaign Facebook post by Kost brags about how many bad sidewalks he’s reported to the city.
I don’t know that the paint indicates the city’s intention to do anything about it or if it’s just a warning. There are so many uneven sidewalks on the east side that they could never mark all of them. When I walk after dark, I look at my feet just about all the time. When an area is particularly dark, either due to a street light or a tree, I slow down to a creep. All that caution didn’t stop me from taking another fall the other night while walking along Prospect Street somewhere around Magnolia. As I stumbled, I knew I couldn’t stop the fall from happening, so I tried to launch myself at the grass for a softer landing. It was a good idea, but I fell just short. Luckily it wasn’t a very hard fall compared with some that I’ve had.