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E. Michigan Ave., Able, 1999

This garden variety Able stamp is on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Horton and Clemens, in front of the Capitol Macintosh/Lansing Central AA building. This is a couple of doors east of the City Pulse building and their respective Able stamps are probably siblings.

This isn’t related to the stamp, but I have a fun story about Capitol Mac. A couple of years ago my elderly MacBook was having issues with the touchpad. I’d had some unpleasant experiences with Capitol Mac, but I felt guilty going to the Apple Store instead of supporting a local business, so I thought I would give them one more chance and dropped my computer off with them. A few days later they called to say that they had a break-in and one of the things stolen was my MacBook. I got paid $300 (the value of my aged computer) and then proceeded to go through way more than $300 worth of grief trying to put my digital life back in order. The rest of that story also involves a really bad experience with the Apple Store, so no one comes out smelling like roses in this. But that’s enough about that. Back to this spot on Michigan Avenue.

Facing northeast. I think the stamp is on the bottom edge of the photo, on the nearest partial block, though it’s not possible to make it out.

This is another instance of a storefront built in front of an old house, common on this stretch of Michigan. The house, as far as can be seen, is a large and handsome Victorian. According to the city’s parcel records, it was built in 1889. The records claim that the office space was also built in 1889, but I find that hard to believe.

Capitol Macintosh moved in here sometime in the 2000s, having previously been located in Frandor under the name Eubulus. Around that time the office building, previously a plain box, had a cosmetic overhaul, giving it a gabled entrance and faux gables on the sides, as well as eyebrow details over the side windows. These elements were chosen to match the house, albeit in an amusement-park sort of way.

A search through the [Lansing] State Journal turns up (ready for it?) two car dealers previously at this address, Stratton Sports Cars (October 1, 1961) and Precision Imports (July 1, 1969). Ads throughout 1980 offered the space for a beauty parlor, implying it was set up as one in the 1970s sometime. I also see from some mentions in the social pages that it was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Horn in the 1950s. Most interesting to me is that on November 27, 1926, there is an advertisement for Faggion Plumbing and Heating at this address. I previously wrote about Mundo Faggion Plumbing and Heating as the former occupant of the Mercy Ambulance building, but Mr. Faggion’s obituary claimed that his business was founded in 1929. Either that date is incorrect or they are not the same business, although surely they are at least related.

The city’s records have (undated) accounts for a few other businesses using the address: Tax Lien Inspection Company, First Hand Impressions, Advanced Computer, and Creative Touch Hair & Nails Design.

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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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Regent St., Able, 1999

I ran out of time to seek out a more interesting stamp as it’s crunch time at work, so I thought I would just throw up this Able stamp with apologies. But then I figured I should at least give you a few details about the building it’s in front of. Whoops; went and ate up a bunch of time by discovering something interesting, again. First things first: here’s the pair of stamps, on the east side of Regent Street between Michigan and Kalamazoo (the 100 block).

The northern stamp.
The southern stamp, a few blocks away.

The stamps are in front of the Regent Place Apartments, a small apartment building that is the northernmost property on the east side of Regent. I have walked past these apartments countless times, starting back when I used to walk to the bus stop all the time to get to work. They were harder to date than the aggressively 1960s apartment block next door (about which more in a later entry, I’m sure). I went to the city’s property records to see when they were built. I had a bit of a shock.

Regent Place Apartments.

These apartments, which in my mind have just “always been here,” were built in 1999. The same year I moved to town (and the same year as these stamps, which is probably not a coincidence). I could hardly imagine the street without them. I began searching the Lansing State Journal records to see what was there before and came up with nothing. Searching an address usually yields at least something: old wedding announcements, for instance, or previous businesses. I could not find anything earlier for this address than some classified advertisements from April 1999 promising “BRAND NEW!” units. Evidently, Regent Place Apartments arrived in Lansing only a few months before I did. I was startled by this revelation.

The northern stamp in context.

When I could not find anything else about this address on Regent Street, I began to suspect that the previous house or houses on this lot were numbered something different, and began trying a few guesses, also unsuccessfully. I could have saved myself a lot time if I had found the landlord’s Web site sooner. It turns out they have a short history of the property and according to their research, no house was ever on the lot. Prior to the construction of Regent Place, it was a parking lot for the apartments next door. It also served as overflow parking for the Pagoda restaurant. And, it says, “According to legend a Mr. Parsons who owned the business at the corner of Regent and Michigan in the early 1970s used to land his helicopter, with some difficulty on this site.” I’m not sure what business that would be. I assume it refers to the east corner, which was an A&P for a long time and as late as the 1960s, but that seems to have gone away before the 1970s.

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Able, Jerome St., 1999

This is another one of the many 1999-dated Able stamps around the east side, in this case on the south side of Jerome just east of Horton. When I wrote my last Able Concrete entry, I failed to recognize something that subsequently hit me while watching TV. Oh yeah… it’s the people with the jingle! “We’re ready, we’re willing, we’re Able… Concrete!” Unfortunately, I can’t find the jingle online, but if you watch TV in the Lansing market then you know what I am talking about. I had not made the connection at first.

Unlike, say, Cantu Builders, who have drifted away from their concrete business roots, Able Concrete still proudly have concrete right in their jingle. (Note: if you experience concrete in your jingle that lasts more than four hours, seek medical attention.)

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Able, Regent St., 1999

I moved to Lansing in 1999, so this pavement and I have spent about the same amount of time in the neighborhood. It’s on the east side of Regent’s 300 block, between Michigan and Kalamazoo.

Able Concrete of Dewitt is responsible for several 90s-early 2000s slabs on the blocks I walk regularly. There’s nothing really special about this one, but it does help me toward my goal of having at least one representative of each decade. I had originally figured that would be from the 1910s on, but then yesterday I had a surprise from 1907, so now I’ll be able to cover the whole 20th century.