This particular stretch is unsigned, but it’s part of the construction on East Kalamazoo Street that I’ve been cataloguing for the last several blog entries, which is peppered with plenty of MacKenzie 2022 stamps. On my previous foray into the area, I had noticed that they appeared to be preparing to lay sidewalk in front of Dagwood’s. When I returned, I was eager to see how that had developed.

The new sidewalk at the edge of Dagwood’s parking lot.

Previously, the sidewalk on this, the north, side of Kalamazoo had petered out in front of a house a little west of Detroit Street. A well-trodden path across the grass led the rest of the way east to Dagwood’s. In front of Dagwood’s, there was (and still is) a little stone wall, presumably to stop drunks from stumbling straight out the front door into the street. To pass by Dagwood’s on foot, one would have to walk up a couple of shallow steps onto the bar’s little front porch and down the other side. Then, on the other side, one would be in the Dagwood’s parking lot, which was separated from the curb with a metal guard rail. From the position of the steps, my guess is that the wall was a later addition.

I previously wrote about the fact that a curb cut had been made at the corner of Dagwood’s parking lot, meaning the corner of Kalamazoo and Howard, despite the fact that it made no sense because it pointed straight at a guard rail. I wondered at the time whether it was there in case they ever installed a sidewalk in the future.

The curb cut at the northwest corner of Kalamazoo and Howard.

The big news here is that they have put in sidewalk in front of Dagwood’s, both on the side as noted previously, and now in the front too. The guard rail is temporarily gone, but when it returns it will have to be further from the road than it was before, meaning that Dagwood’s has apparently been obliged to give up a bit of its parking lot. The curb cut is now much larger and has a traction plate. The previous one had been installed in vain, since it’s gone now that there’s actually a sidewalk to use it with.

The new approach to Dagwood’s.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the steps in front of Dagwood’s have been removed, at least as far as passing traffic is concerned. There is still a small step up into the bar from the porch area, but the steps that passersby had to traverse are gone.

A closer look at the area in front of Dagwood’s, showing where the step used to be.

I am genuinely impressed that this stretch of Kalamazoo is getting so much sidewalk work done, and doubly so that they were clearly thinking about accessibility and safety in this case.