Here’s the last of the few stamps I collected while visiting the streets near the Turner Dodge House. It’s one of those mysterious BdWL stamps (I still don’t know what that stands for and will be really excited if I ever figure it out) and it’s on Dodge River Drive at the southeast corner of Black Court.
The stamp is a long younger than the house it’s in front of, which faces Black Court and was built in 1924.
I found this stamp on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. It’s extremely worn, but I can tell it is probably one of those mysterious BdWL stamps. I never have been able to figure out who that is. The date is illegible.
I like this one because of how rugged the sidewalk is here, with all the individual stones showing through in different colors. It probably indicates how worn the sidewalk is, that it’s lost its smooth finish, but I like how it looks anyway. I like how non-uniform in appearance the sidewalks are, from different concrete mixes, different contractors’ styles, and different amounts of wear.
This is my first stamp from the north side, so it’s a shame that it’s nothing too remarkable. It’s on the east side of North East Street between Gier and Call Streets. We’ve seen plenty of BdWL stamps before, and I am no wiser about what that stands for and who it is. I was here today checking out the going-out-of-business sale of Vet’s Too; the owner is retiring.
Vet’s Too is next door to, and shares a parking lot with, Vet’s Ace Hardware, widely regarded as the best hardware store in town. I admit I sometimes call it the “scary hardware store” not because it’s bad but because it’s too good. It’s crammed floor-to-ceiling with the greatest variety of hardware I’ve ever seen, and the effect is overwhelming.
Vet’s Too is a boutique of clothes, jewelry, decor, and gifts, and I had never been in it before. The wonderful glass block windows give the building a distinctive 1950s appearance, despite the unfortunately drab gray paint. It was certainly here when the BdWL stamp was placed (the online property records say it was built in 1952), but I don’t know what it was. My searches are strangely failing to come up with references to the address before 1972.
By 1972 it was an X-rated theater called the Pussycat Theater. (I learned in the course of this that Pussycat Theater was a very common name for such movie houses in the 1970s, including a famous California chain.) Ads for the theater continue to appear in the Lansing State Journal until at least 1985, but I am not sure when it closed. I did find some forum chatter with someone’s recollections suggesting it closed between 1997 and 2001.
This stamp is on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Jerome and Vine and it’s notable for being the first dated BdWL stamp I have come across. Now I have an idea of the time period in which BdWL, whoever that is, was operating.
As noted in the past, I have no information about BdWL, including what the initials stand for. It occurs to me that one reason to use a lower-case d would be if the initials were a name, and “d” was “de” or “du.” [Something] de Waal [Something], for instance.
Here is another one of those mysterious “BdWL” marks. There are a couple of them along this block. This one is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue, just north of Prospect Street.
I don’t know what to make of this one I stumbled across on my walk tonight. It’s on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Prospect, close to the corner of Prospect.
My first thought was that the “BWL” makes me think of the Board of Water and Light. Is that “d” looking character some sort of shorthand for “of”? It’s not one I recognize, but maybe. But why wouldn’t there also be a mark for “the” in that case?
