I assume this is graffiti, though the name/date format and the placement almost suggests a handwritten contractor marking. But, for Little Christmas, please enjoy the well-lit house I found it in front of. It’s on the west side of North Hayford Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw.
This stamp is from the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Jerome. T L Contracting isn’t one of the more common stamps in the neighborhood, although I have covered one in the blog before. This block must have been a singleton when it was laid, since it is stamped twice, one facing either way.
It also happens to be in front of a wonderfully decorated house, so I really chose it to showcase some neighborhood holiday lights. Happy holidays to both of my readers!
We finally had a little bit of snow (now long since obliterated by the weather turning warm again) and I took a walk in it to get photos of Christmas lights. I also found some beautiful snow-frosted sidewalk stamps. I love the way snow settles into the lettering; in some cases, as in the B.F. Churchill stamp below, it even makes it more legible.
In honor of the holiday, here are some of the photos I took of Christmas lights on my walk. I have really come to enjoy walking alone in snowy quiet after night falls, stopping to stand in front of Christmas displays and admire them. Driving around to admire lights is nice, and I do that too, but there is something special about the intimacy of doing it on foot. Being a pedestrian is underrated.
Happy holidays from Capital City Sidewalks!
I have been walking Allen and Lathrop Streets a lot recently as they are a hot spot of Christmas lights right now. This cryptic message is on the west side of Allen between Kalamazoo and Marcus.
The date is obvious; what to make of the rest? C-R-U5? That last digit is a 5, right?
There’s actually something else I want to get from Allen Street but by the time I got going tonight it was too dark. That will probably be next time.
This is the last of the new stamps I collected while walking back to my car from the Silver Bells 5K race downtown. It’s in front of the former Troppo restaurant, now apparently something called “The Gov.” It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Washington and Grand.
I assume this was done by ACD (Advanced Communications and Data) the broadband Internet company while doing utility work for businesses in the area. And that’s it for my banked stamps, so I’ll have to start finding some more. I actually spotted one more possible new stamp on that walk, but someone was milling around it messing with their phone and I would have felt weird walking close to him to take a photo of the sidewalk, so I had to give up on that one.
Somehow I walked by at least three contractor names I had never seen before on my way back to my car from the Silver Bells 5K. I was parked in front of the Lansing Center and the race was downtown, so that wasn’t a very long walk. I like the lettering style on this one. It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Washington and Grand, in front of the former Troppo (now apparently something called “The Gov”?).
So go on. Guess what part of the state Dykstra Cement Contractors hails from. Write your guess down. I’ll wait. If you at least guess the area code I’ll give you partial credit. The answer is after the picture.
Dykstra Cement is headquartered in Hudsonville, metro Grand Rapids. They’re still in business, but their Web site doesn’t give a company history, more’s the pity.
Today’s stamp is new to me (and this blog). I found it – and a few others, which will make their appearances in the next entries – while walking back to my car after participating in the Silver Bells 5K. It’s on East Michigan Avenue at the northwest corner of Michigan and North Washington Square, in front of the beautifully ornate former City National Bank building now occupied by a Comerica branch. The date is a little hard to read but I think it is 1994, which does fall within the timeframe during which I can ascertain that John C. Wallace Cement Contractor was in business.
The earliest reference I can find to the business is in the 1985 directory of the Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners. An advertisement places them on Van Dyke in Utica (Google says the address is actually in Shelby Township). The latest I can find is in a 2011 bankruptcy petition by Bing Construction Company of Bloomfield Hills; they are named as a creditor.
Tonight was Silver Bells in the City, which I haven’t missed attending in years, and while walking between the Lansing Center (where we parked) and the car, I found another 2023 stamp, this one from BWL (the Board of Water and Light). It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue, west of the Lansing Center and east of the river.
This stamp matches the style of one I found that had a somewhat obscured date that I took to be either 1987 or 1997. I ended up settling on 1987, but now I wonder if it wasn’t 1997 after all. Other 1980s BWL stamps have a bolder, rounded typeface that I find much more pleasant.
Here it is: some brand new sidewalk! The Consumers Energy utility work that has closed a lane on East Kalamazoo Street off and on for months has finally reached the stage when a lot of the torn-out sections of sidewalk are being replaced. And, while it’s not the most exciting design I’ve seen, it is all properly stamped. This is just one of many examples, in this case on the southeast corner of Kalamazoo and Regent, in front of the vacant former Lucky’s/Pure Options.
I am assuming that the responsible party is EPM Professional Grounds Services of Jackson, Michigan. The name stands for Executive Property Management, referencing the fact that they specialize in commercial properties.
On a pleasant early-afternoon walk in search of Halloween decorations, I came across these stamps from a contractor I haven’t noticed before. They are on the west side of Kipling Boulevard between Lasalle and Fernwood. There are two, a short distance apart, which means they probably marked the beginning and end of a section of new concrete.
One of the stamps has a date stamped underneath, though faintly enough that I thought it was undated until I looked at my photo afterward. My phone tends to put a lot of contrast on photos and that popped it out. Curiously, the other stamp has a much clearer but handwritten date.
I don’t know anything about Brown Construction, but I wonder if it is this contractor in Grand Ledge that Yelp reports as closed.
