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Regent St., illegible name [C.D. Chamberlain], 1950

This stamp is on the west side of the 100 block of Regent Street, next to the office building on the corner of Michigan and Regent. Unfortunately, I can’t make out the name, except that it starts with a C and ends with “lain” and is probably two words.

The northern stamp.

I’ve learned to check for a paired stamp, especially when there are legibility issues. Well, I found it a little way south, but it didn’t help. It’s just as worn and it’s also very muddy at the moment.

The southern stamp.

The building this is next to currently houses a few unmemorable offices, but I have always been rather fascinated by it because of the fact that the one-story storefront part of the building clearly surrounds and nearly hides a two-story building, likely older and possibly a fairly grand house. According to the city’s records, it was built in 1924.

When I first moved to town, a neighbor told me the building used to be a Chinese restaurant. This made sense to me as the roof on the one-story part of the building has jade tiles, but I never learned any more about it. While researching this post, however, I ran across a couple of old Lansing State Journal advertisements for the Pagoda Restaurant at this address. That, I thought, must have been the restaurant my old neighbor was referring to. Then again, was it? In a stroke of luck for me, someone on eBay is currently selling a menu from Gallagher’s Pagoda Restaurant. Dishes on offer include fried chicken, roast chicken, veal cutlets, steer liver, pork chops, grilled ham, grilled sirloin, and various seafood dishes. There isn’t the slightest hint of anything Chinese about it. Still, I would bet that a vague and understandably confused memory (or secondhand information) led my neighbor to describe the Pagoda as a Chinese restaurant.

This driveway leads to the parking behind the office building, the former Pagoda restaurant. The northern stamp is on the nearest sidewalk block (upside down).

I don’t know what was here when this was stamped in 1950, since the earliest reference I can find to the Pagoda was from 1953. On April 24, 1953, an advertisement in the Lansing State Journal promised a “KIDDIE KARNIVAL – Special Family Dinner Rates – Pogo the Clown in Person.”

I also don’t know for sure when the Pagoda closed. I found an obituary for Charles Gallagher in the December 31, 1996, Lansing State Journal; he had died on December 29 at the age of 91. According to it, “Charles may be best remembered as co-owner, with his mother, Ida, of the Pagoda Restaurant in Lansing until 1969.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Pagoda closed in 1969, but it is suggestive.

Update: I finally managed to read this one! It is C.D. Chamberlain.

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Regent St., illegible name [J. Wilson], 1954

Today I took my walk at one of the magic times of day that draw out hard-to-read stamps. This stamp, on the east side of the 400 block of Regent Street (between Elizabeth and Kalamazoo), was previously so worn as to be totally illegible and almost invisible to me. But this evening the low angle of the sun made it give up its date quite clearly: 1954.

No such luck with the name, I’m afraid. It plainly starts with a J and after a space I think the next letter is an H. Past that I’m lost. I like the layout, with the smaller letters of the name forming a curve over the large, relatively ornate year.

Update 4/2/21: Now that I’ve seen another one (elsewhere on Regent), I am pretty sure this is J. Wilson.

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S. Clemens Ave., Feister(?), 1928

Today’s stamp is on the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, it’s mostly illegible, except for the date.

The name looks to me to start with the initial J., have a second initial which is possibly an H, and end with “Feister.” I’m very unsure about the F, but “-eister” I’m more confident about. Underneath it is another line seemingly starting with L and possibly consisting of three letters. And then the date, a relatively clear 1928.

The slab in context, looking south on Clemens. It is at the bottom of this photo.

I tried searching for a combination of “cement” or “concrete” and “Feister” in The Lansing State Journal with no luck.

Update 3/31/21: I bet this is actually Wm. Meister.

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E. Michigan Ave., […]roleum, […]7

This is on the north side of Michigan between Fairview and Magnolia, out in front of the MetroPCS that looks like it used to be a rental car place (because it was, but more on that in a future entry). At some point, the sidewalk here was narrowed, leaving only half of this stamp behind. It looks like it was chopped off to make room for a garden or street tree, though all that’s here now is a weedy patch. I had to pull up a mat of encroaching plants to be able to see to the edge. I was rewarded by the discovery of part of a date which had been buried entirely.

I am pretty sure the letter that’s a bit hard to see here at the start is an r, so “-roleum Corp.” Petroleum, I guess, but I haven’t been able to figure out what petroleum business might also have installed sidewalks. The second line seems to be “-tion Div.” which I assume was Construction Division. The number definitely ends in 7, I can tell you that. Unfortunately the crucial number before that one is partly obliterated. What’s left suggests “2” to me.

The slab in context. Notice on the right how the surrounding sidewalk is wider.

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E. Michigan Ave., Unknown

When I started this sidewalk project I don’t think I realized how much time I would end up sinking into researching local business history. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but I also need to tone it down a little. I’ve developed a particular fascination with the stretch of East Michigan Avenue I’ve begun thinking of as “Eastmost.” From what I can tell, it used to be the car sales district. Tonight’s stamp comes from the north side of East Michigan between Kipling and Lasalle Court.

It’s another mystery stamp in the vein of this mystery stamp, but the two of them help fill in the gaps with each other. The faint area on this one matches the Y in the earlier one, and the clear A in this one matches the faint area of the other. Since the other ends in 02 and this one in 03 it’s tempting to treat that as a date. But who or what is “DAY”? And why the odd spacing (or lack thereof)?

This is close to the corner of Kipling, in front of the Avis/Budget car rental agency. The office building was built in the 1990s. The garage on the property (they don’t share a street address, but are part of the same lot according to city records) dates from 1940. I don’t know who the original occupant was, but by in the 1950s it was Hodgson & Osborn Used Cars, as pictured in this 1958 photo filed in the Capital Area District Library’s local history collection. “Note arborist in tree in center of photo,” directs the caption. It appears that the arborist is in the act of taking the tree down. They evidently didn’t replace it, as there is no street tree there now.

Sometime after Hodgson & Osborn, certainly by the 1970s, it became Spartan Auto Sales. In 1981 the address starts showing up in newspaper ads still attached to Spartan Auto Sales but also as the address for Ugly Duckling Rent-a-Car and Ugly Duckling Car Lot. I’m not sure how it was both Spartan and Ugly Duckling at the same time, but that seems to be the case.

Sometime in the late 1980s it became Thrifty and then eventually Budget/Avis. Thus it went through the same progression from a car lot, through a less respectable car lot, to a car rental agency, as the current Enterprise location.

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E. Michigan Ave., Unknown, 1958

I’ve been meaning for a while now to get around to this stamp on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Foster and Hayford. The date is clear but the contractor’s name is illegible. I thought I recognized the style of the stamp as belonging to The Christman Builders, who stamped a long stretch a few blocks further east in 1960. But once I had the photos side by side I realized they do not have the same shape after all. There are two of these stamps in front of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, one on each end of the lot, suggesting that the whole sidewalk might have been done at that time and they marked the beginning and end of the work.

I can’t say with anything like confidence, but I still wonder if this isn’t Christman. The words as far as I can make them out are not inconsistent with their name and the font of the date is the same. The shape is not exactly the same but the style is similar. I will have to see if I can find any other Christman stamps.

Continuing my exploration of the changes along the far eastern edge of Lansing’s share of Michigan Avenue, I did some research on the Enterprise Rent-a-Car building, 2311 East Michigan. It was built in 1950, probably as a car lot. Its original occupant might have been Harry Smith, Inc., a car dealer. At least I find that Harry Smith was located in that spot by 1955 according to advertising in the Lansing State Journal. The Lansing State Journal of December 21, 1955 (page 21) identified Wayne Foster, the manager of Harry Smith, Inc., as the chair of the inaugural Lansing Auto Show, which would be held the following spring in the new Civic Center.

By 1959, the address starts showing up in advertisements for Red Whiting’s Dependable Used Cars. I haven’t been able to narrow down when Harry Smith’s moved out and Red Whiting’s moved in, so I’m not sure which business was here when the stamp was fresh. Surprisingly, Red Whiting’s stayed in this location until 1981, when they began advertising their new location at 2301 North Larch Street (see page 23 of the December, 11, 1981 LSJ.) The business seems to have finally closed in 2005. Their former Larch Street location is a different used car place now.

Meanwhile, through the 1980s the Michigan Avenue location continued to be a used car lot, first Action Motors and then Riverside Motors. In 1992 Enterprise Rent-a-Car moved into that location. I was surprised to discover it has been there longer than I have been in town; that site just always looks transitory to me, somehow.

Update 9/30/20: I caught sight of this one again on my walk tonight and the wet pavement made some details more visible. I am now pretty sure the second word is “company.” I am less sure, but think the last two letters of the first word are “on.”

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E. Kalamazoo St., Unknown

Pardon the shadows on this one; it was taken during a nighttime walk, under a streetlight. It’s on the south side of Kalamazoo between Magnolia and Hayford.

I don’t know what to make of this. There are at least two of them, both similarly illegible, on this block. D(something)Y02? Not sure about that second character; is it a 4? The spacing looks off. I welcome any suggestions about what this means.