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E. Michigan Ave., Able, 1999

This stamp is in front of the City Pulse office, which was built (presumably as a residence) in 1904. The newspaper moved in around 2011. Prior to that they had been located a little way east, in the small brick storefront on Michigan Avenue across Clemens from the Speedway station. (That spot later became the original location of Strange Matter Café.)

There is a bare pole out from that must have held a sign for a previous business, though I don’t know which one, since it’s been empty as long as I remember. The earliest business I can find at the address was the Sargeant Music Studio, presided over by Mrs. Robert Sargeant, which was there at least through the years of 1951 to 1961. I can’t seem to turn up anything in the 1970s, but then in 1981 it becomes the Gnome Sweet Shop, offering candy-making supplies and lessons. According to the April 16, 1984, Lansing State Journal, the shop was owned by a former Rockette named Carol Emerson. There are hints of trouble in the short piece, as she talks about needing to move to a new and ideally larger location. I can’t find any references to the Gnome Sweet Shop after this article. The next thing I can find is that it was the campaign headquarters for Virg Bernero’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Interestingly, the sales history in the city parcel records show a quit claim from the estate of Robert Sargeant in 2006, suggesting the Sargeants held onto the property after the studio was no longer a going concern.

The article on the Gnome Sweet Shop describes the building as yellow. A photograph dated 2001 in the city’s records show it blue, and derelict looking. It is currently a dull grayish color.

The bright blur in the upstairs window is actually the City Pulse neon sign.
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E. Michigan Ave., Ameri-Construction, 1987

This stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Shepard and Allen, in front of Tannin. The “7” appears written on after stamping, though whether it is covering up an outdated number or is just reinforcing a number that didn’t print well, I can’t tell.

Tannin is an upscale Italian fusion restaurant, not the kind of place that appeals to me so I haven’t been there. It replaced the original location of a small local Mediterranean fast food chain called Tabooli, which was one of the go-to lunch spots for my husband and me. (Tabooli still has two other locations, but they aren’t as convenient for us.) Tabooli had opened in 2014 after renovating a former KFC. I was glad they did, because seeing that KFC inevitably made me think of the name that had gotten indelibly attached to it in my mind: “the Murder KFC.” In 2011 an employee was killed during an armed robbery. I’m not sure whether it ever opened again after the murder, but it had certainly been abandoned for some time before Tabooli moved in.

Awnings or not, it still kinda looks like a KFC.

The building only dates to 1987 according to the city’s parcel records, but there was a KFC at that address at least as far back as 1968, per an advertisement in the State News (MSU’s student paper) on December 7. The only previous mention of that address that I can find is in a news brief in the August 18, 1955, [Lansing] State Journal:

$10 Stolen – Lansing police detectives are Investigating the burglary of the Pure Oil station at 1620 E. Michigan Ave. Wednesday evening. Detectives said the burglars gained entry through a window and stole $10 in coins from a vending machine.

Since the date of the stamp matches the construction date of the building, it seems possible that the sidewalk repair and the building’s construction were linked.

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Calhoun County Fairgrounds, Duckworth Bros., undated

I spent all evening at the Calhoun County Fair in Marshall, so this is neither in Lansing nor a sidewalk, but it’s neat enough that I thought I would use it for tonight’s entry. Rather than a stamp, it is a small metal plaque set into the concrete floor of one of the livestock barns. There is one at each of the two front entrances. I have seen pictures from other cities of early sidewalk stamps that look like this, though I have never seen one like that myself.

Duckworth Brothers are currently still in business in Battle Creek, and have an amusing duck mascot. According to their Web site, they were founded in 1967 by the father of the current owner, Al Duckworth.

A view into the sheep/goat barn. The plaque is just left of center at the bottom.

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N. Magnolia Ave., driveway marking, undated

This isn’t my usual kind of sidewalk marking, but I got a kick out of it, so here you go. Someone on the east side of North Magnolia Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw has written their house number quite large on their driveway concrete. You’d think this would be more common, actually, but I haven’t seen it before.

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S. Clemens Ave., KLH, undated

I pass this house all the time, on the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Prospect. Its front walk is marked “KLH” and it is so neat and central that I have come to think of it as the house’s monogram.

It seems that it may be the mark of KLH Contracting, a home remodeling company in Pinckney. Unfortunately, their web site doesn’t give a company history. Open Corporates has an incorporation date of February 3, 2016.

A northeasterly view of the property.

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Regent St., Glatz graffiti, 1993(?)

This bit of graffiti is on the east side of Regent Street’s 300 block, between Michigan and Kalamazoo. The date is hard to ascertain. The first digit looks to be a 9, but the second? Up close it looks like a crooked 1. From a distance it seems to resolve to a 3, but it’s hard to be sure that isn’t a trick of the light.

References to various Glatz family members at this address start popping up occasionally in the (Lansing) State Journal in 1956. The last one I can find is in 1964. On April 8, it was reported that “Mr. and Mrs. Noble L. Bell of 1727 Bailey St. East Lansing, will host a rehearsal dinner Friday evening honoring their son, Danny Lowell Bell, and his fiance, Miss Margaret Louise Glatz…. Miss Glatz is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Glatz of 307 Regent St.” Elsewhere, the same issue lists recent marriage licenses, among them Bell and Glatz’s. There Margaret’s address is also given as 307 Regent.

Because the online parcel records for Lansing only have sales records from around 2000 on, I don’t know when the Glatz family left the house. I wonder what they would think of it now that the current landlord has replaced the entire front yard with gravel so the tenants can use it for parking.

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E. Michigan Ave., Eastlund Concrete, 1970

This is my new earliest Eastlund Concrete stamp. It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Ferguson and Holmes.

This building was constructed in 1972, according to the city parcel records. It was a Goodyear service center which had its grand opening in March 1973, and closed sometime in the 2010s. It has stood there looking sad ever since. In 2019 the building was sold to the expanding chicken heart known as Sparrow. I don’t know what they are doing with it. It appears to have some miscellaneous junk stored in the service bays, and the windows on the retail side are covered up.

The view east on Michigan Avenue. The stamp isn’t really visible here but is at the lower right corner of the photo.
This is the eastern end of the building.

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Regent St., Cantu & Sons, 1987

I bet you think this is the same stamp I did yesterday, since this one is also on the east side of Regent Street’s 400 block between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. Wrong! This one is… a couple of lots over. But you know this one is different because it’s next to my nemesis, the Super Bright Streetlight.

A few years ago, someone apparently ran a car into the old one that stood here and it broke into three pieces. It was lying on the yard next door for a little while before it was cleared away, and during that time I discovered that the globe is not, as I had always assumed, glass, but instead a surprisingly light piece of plastic that looks rather cheap up close. I felt the scales fall from my eyes and I have never looked at the street lamps in the city the same way again.

The worst streetlight on Regent Street, presiding over today’s stamp.

When they replaced it, the new one was worse in two ways. It never got painted white to match the other streetlights in the area. Instead it is just rust colored, and in fact the color seems to be authentic rust, although my father has the minority opinion that it’s actually primer. Every time I see it, I think of someone insulting a car in Grease: “What color is that, candy apple primer?”

The other way is that instead of the dimmer, yellow sodium appearance, it has been given an LED makeover and is now a bluish-white color, brighter than the sun. Note how it appears to be going supernova in my photo.

For a while I cursed the driver who subjected my block to this new lamp, but soon the LED issue will be moot, because they are planning to comprehensively replace all the lamps with LEDs in this neighborhood by 2022.

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Regent St., Cantu & Sons, 1987

I took this in the morning (the other morning, the one you might call “yesterday morning” if you have subsequently slept) before a day at Cedar Point. It’s on the east side of Regent Street’s 400 block, between Kalamazoo and Michigan.

We got into automotive shenanigans on the way home that will probably be funny to retell someday, but that day isn’t today and I’m not awake enough in any case. OK, one tidbit: I ended up walking home from the US-127 exit at Kalmazoo through two-foot-plus deep water at 3:30 am and then getting sprayed by a skunk.

In case you don’t know what the 400 block of Regent looks like yet.