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.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Shepard St., L & L, 2000

This is just another L & L stamp; at least, I assume so, though they seem to have lost the ampersand this time. The truth is that the other stamp I photographed on tonight’s walk turned out to be one I had done before (which I am now fairly sure is 1952 rather than 1957 by the way), so I have to deploy a less interesting backup. My walks have been limited due to my recent surgery and tonight I had to walk after sunset, so you’ll take this L & L stamp and you’ll like it.

This is near the driveway that leads behind 1700 East Michigan Avenue from the east side of Shepard St. It’s alongside the vacant commercial building that until recently, and for years, was Discount One Hour Signs.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Holmes St., L & L, 1985

I went out in search of Halloween decorations on my walk tonight and I found lots of them in the blocks east of Sparrow. It gave me a nice little bit of Halloween spirit in a year where I haven’t gotten to do much. Anyway, I found this L & L “curb walk” on the east side of North Holmes Street between Vine and Jerome.

The house next door to this one also has a curb walk, although most of the houses on this block do not.

Looking southwest across Holmes.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Foster Ave., L & L, undated

I have been mulling over the idea of starting a new blog feature called the Hall of Shame, documenting sidewalks which were clearly installed relatively recently without any identifying stamp. With that in mind, I stopped to observe this patch of new-looking sidewalk on the northwest corner of North Foster Avenue and East Michigan. (Whether you consider this to be on Foster or Michigan is, I suppose, a matter of interpretation.)

Looking southeast from the corner of Foster and Michigan.

Upon looking at it more closely, I spotted something. What’s this?

Oh, come on, L & L. You can do better than that.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., L & L, 2000

Here is the other curb walk on Regent Street. (For those new to my blog, “curb walk” is the totally invented name I came up with for the bits of pavement that lead from the sidewalk to the curb as I don’t know what they’re actually called.) It is on the west side of the 200 block between Kalamazoo and Michigan. The stamp comes from L & L, already well represented in this blog.

Good old Y2K! I don’t remember seeing this one made even though I was walking this street to the bus stop quite a bit back then. But then, why would I remember something like that? Of course, now I’m very curious about the origin and purpose of these bits of sidewalk, so I have questions. Was there one there before and this was a replacement of it? Or did the owners of the property have one made new, and if so, why? It can’t date to the building of the house and isn’t nearly as old as the Minnis & Ewer-stamped one.

The stamp in context, looking southwest. I’m sorry I didn’t capture the house it’s in front of, but according to neighborhood rumor, recently someone got the cops called on them for taking photos of street trees, so apparently people get jumpy if a camera is aimed toward their property.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., L & L, 2000

At some point after the 1980s, L & L Construction apparently decided not to bother getting another fancy stamp and switched to this more home-made looking one. It’s a pretty common sight around my usual blocks, usually dated 1999 or 2000. This one is on the curb cut leading across Regent Street heading east on the south side of Michigan Avenue. There is a corresponding one on the other side of Regent and several others in nearby blocks of Michigan Avenue.

I used to think these had been drawn by hand, but I’ve changed my mind, because they are too consistent. Rather, I think the handwritten look is because the stamp (or perhaps stencil) was made in house and a bit rudely.

I think L & L ranks pretty high up among the most common stamps in my part of the east side. It’s not so common as the ubiquitous Cantu & Sons or the various versions of DPW/O & M, but it’s getting up there.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

E. Kalamazoo St., L & L, 1984

It’s a little hard to read but this is L & L Construction, Holt. I like the oval. I believe it says 1984; it looks like they decided to just have a stamp for the decade and write in the last number. Maybe Cantu and Sons should have considered that approach. L & L seems to still be in business, but as they don’t have a Web site I can’t say much more about them.

This slab is actually a curb cut on the southeast corner of Shepard and Kalamazoo. It’s in front of this building, which used to be a halal market.

The storefront has been unoccupied for years and the building is a deteriorating eyesore. I was surprised to notice a light on, meaning someone still lives in the upstairs apartment. I wouldn’t want to walk out on that suspiciously saggy-looking balcony.