1985 – Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on February 1, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Hickory St., BBRPCI, 1985

I failed trying to collect the interesting unknown stamp on Hickory Street again. It was too dark by the time I managed to get there after work, and the nearest street light was out. I had to settle for this BBRPCI stamp next door. This is on the south side of Hickory between Euclid and Pennsylvania. It’s also quite close to the J.F. Sowa home that I wrote about previously.

Thank you, whoever lives here, for salting your sidewalk!

While I was scouting, I heard a tremendous rumbling, which was a train coming on the nearby tracks, on the other side of Euclid. I walked to the end of the street to watch it. It was quite loud as it passed, reminding me of my parents’ old house (which I lived in during school breaks from college). It was close to the railroad tracks in Chelsea, and a train would go by every night. At first it woke me all the time, but eventually it didn’t anymore.

The stamp is not really visible here, but it’s near the lower edge of the photo.

The train passing. The top of Boji Tower is visible beyond.

Posted on January 8, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Allen St., McNeilly Const., 1980

Here’s a glamour shot for you. You’ve seen the J. Carter stamp before. The McNeilly stamp hasn’t appeared here before, though others just like it from this vicinity have. But the real reason I wanted this photo is that it just looks so aesthetic when a dusting of snow puddles inside the letters of a contractor stamp. They’re such wonderful little artifacts in all seasons.

You can also see my boot print on the left, revealing the cleats I have to strap on to avoid wiping out on ice.

This is from the east side of Allen Street between Kalamazoo and Marcus, next to the Neogen building.

Posted on December 11, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Allen St., J. Carter, 1985

I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed this one before. It’s the only J. Carter stamp I have found besides the cluster of them on Michigan Avenue near Sparrow. It’s on the east side of Allen Street between Kalamazoo and Marcus, on the west side of the Neogen building (the former Allen Street School).

There’s a bonus McNeilly stamp in there for you too.

Looking toward Kalamazoo Street. I pass a lot of dog walkers around the neighborhood on my evening walks.

Posted on September 28, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Jones St., M & M Const., 1985

This pair of stamps is on the west side of Jones Street between Kalamazoo and Hickory. Jones has one of those puzzlingly inconsistent sidewalks. The north half of this block has sidewalk only on the east side, but the south half has sidewalk on both sides. Then the sidewalk disappears again and never reappears; no other part of Jones has a sidewalk on this side. (The east side also loses its sidewalk south of Bement Street.)

This is the northern, more legible stamp of the pair.

The date of this stamp provides a possible clue as to how this happened. The sidewalk lines up exactly with the backyard of a duplex facing Hickory Street. That house was built in 1985, much later than most of the surrounding properties. I wonder if the city’s policy at the time was to require contractors to install sidewalks facing new residences.

The southern stamp is a lot more worn, probably illegible.

Whatever its origin, it is a nearly pointless stretch of sidewalk. Anyone walking Jones Street is going to use the other side, where there is more consistent sidewalk. One of the side doors to the duplex connects to it, though in an awkwardly roundabout way: the side door walk connects to the driveway and the driveway to the sidewalk, but anyone coming out of the side of the house is probably just going to take the direct route across the lawn.

Looking south on Jones. I’m standing on the approach to an alley that connects Jones with Pennsylvania.

As for M & M Construction of Charlotte, I have been unable to find out anything about them, except that they don’t seem to be in business now.

Posted on June 5, 2021 by bunnyhugger

N. Holmes St., L & L, 1985

Here is a pair of L & L stamps, on the west side of North Holmes Street between Jerome and Vine, in front of a parking lot. They are side by side, one facing the sidewalk and one facing the street, on what probably used to be a driveway. There is a fence in front of it now.

The one facing the street. I like the simple design on the utility cover, too.

Posted on May 26, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Jerome St., BBRPCI, 1985

Nothing too special here except the charming practice I have seen a few times from other contractors, stamping both ends of the same square, facing opposite directions. It seems to be a way of indicating that they are only laying a single block. This double-stamped block is on the north side of Jerome Street between Custer and Ferguson.

… the other end. I realize now that I failed to take an overview showing the whole thing.

Posted on November 25, 2020 by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., D M, 1985

Here’s another one that looks ambiguously like either graffiti or a contractor mark. Once again I’m inclined to think it’s from the contractor since it follows the grammar of a contractor stamp, except for being freakishly large. I would have thought that the contractor would want to take more pride in their work than to mar their nice new pavement this way, but I’ve been wrong about that before. I’m not sure who or what D M is. There is currently a D & M Concrete in Michigan, but that’s probably a coincidence.

It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Ferguson and Custer, out in front of the Soup Spoon Cafe, an early entrant in the east side hipster restaurant derby. When I moved to town in 1999, this rather handsome 1906 building was occupied by Bancroft Flowers and Gifts on one side and the Greenhouse Cafe on the other. I believe they were owned by the same people. Sometime in the 2000s, I forget exactly when, the Greenhouse Cafe closed and the Soup Spoon moved in. In 2014, Bancroft closed and the Soup Spoon grew to occupy the entire building.

I would guess that this building was originally a grocery store. I can’t seem to figure out who the original occupant was, but by 1928 it was the Howard Long grocery store.

Looking west on East Michigan. Note how large the mark is!

Posted on November 11, 2020December 21, 2020 by bunnyhugger

S. Magnolia Ave., [maybe] unsigned, 1985

Surprise! I felt up to a short walk after all, so here’s a bonus entry. This is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.

There is a date in the lower right corner, but no name anywhere that I can see. Although scofflaws who stamp a name without a date are fairly common, this is the only date without a name I have seen. I know it’s possible for the name to wear away faster than the date, presumably when the mark is made more shallowly for some reason, but if there was ever one here it is completely gone.

Update 12/20/20: I now know that the Board of Water and Light usually stamps “BWL” in the lower left and a date in the lower right. The date style seems to match theirs. So, my guess on further consideration is that this is a BWL stamp and I missed the mark in the shadow. In fact, I have walked this block in daylight and I am pretty sure I remember a BWL stamp in this vicinity, so that is probably what this is. I’ll have to check again sometime.

Posted on November 1, 2020November 1, 2020 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.

Posted on October 26, 2020 by bunnyhugger

North Foster Ave., BBRPCI, 1985

This BBRPCI stamp is on the west side of North Foster Avenue between Michigan and Vine. There are lots and lots of these around the East Michigan Avenue corridor, many from the 1980s.

Yeah, yeah, I know. They can’t all be exciting. I was working late today and didn’t have time to seek out something novel (and well-lit after sunset) on my walk.