I have a silly (and unfortunately blurry) one for you today. Eastlund Concrete stamps are ubiquitous in the neighborhood, but apparently they failed to get a new date stamp for 2023. The 2 has been rubbed out and replaced with a handwritten 3.
This one is on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw, in front of a cute little house that looks like it got some new walk at the same time as a revamped front walk.
A well-placed streetlight allowed me to see this, my first 2023 stamp, during my walk earlier tonight. It’s on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw, and it’s from reliable stampers Eastlund Concrete. But what’s this?
Loyal blog readers (hi, dear) will recall that there are many Cantu & Sons stamps in the neighborhood that bear a 1988 date that is actually a 1987 stamp with a line added to the 7 to correct it. Eastlund saw this and said, “Too neat. Hold my beer.” With no easy way to turn a 2022 stamp into ’23, they evidently just scraped out the last digit before rewriting it by hand. Eastlund, look, I love you guys. You’ve had a variety of different stamps over the years and you use them. These are endearing traits, to a sidewalk stamp blogger. So it’s with affection that I say, c’mon, this is sloppy.
This Eastlund Concrete stamp is on a curb cut leading to the walkway to the side (Prospect Street) door of the former Unity Church on the corner of Prospect and Holmes, which I’ve written some about previously.
I pass the former church a lot and I’m sad to see that it’s still in a state of abandonment after its fire in 2019. Someone bought it and got the zoning changed to allow it to be converted into apartments. Granted, I can’t see inside, but I have the impression that renovation activity ceased at least a year ago.
I know you’re thinking that I’m a little early for a change, but actually, I’m a lot late. Sorry about that. It’s finals week, also known as crunch time for professors. Anyway, here’s a couple of stamps from the entrance to an alleyway that runs from Marcus to Elizabeth Street, between Clemens and Fairview.
Here’s a new(ish) Eastlund Concrete stamp from the house on the corner of southwest corner of South Magnolia Avenue and Marcus Street. The house faces Magnolia, but this particular stamp is on Marcus. It looks like in addition to some sidewalk, Eastlund also redid part of the diagonal front walk. I like the way it heads for the corner instead of aiming straight forward to Magnolia. I’ve admired this house for a while because of the interesting multiple cladding on the front facade.
Checking the Belon Real Estate Collection at the Capital Area District Library’s local history collection, I find that the house was built in 1946. A photo of it in 1958 shows it in what I assume was its original paint scheme, with the second floor painted a much darker shade than the first, which adds even more interest to its face; it’s a shame more recent owners have painted it all the same color. Still, it is an attractive house marred by deferred maintenance, unsurprising since it is landlord-owned.
Sometimes when I’m driving around town I’ll pick a neighborhood street at random to divert into to look for sidewalk stamps. This time I was driving home from the Meridian Mall on Grand River Avenue and made a snap decision to turn into a street I had never noticed the existence of before, Oakland Drive.
The street was an odd mixture of midcentury ranch homes and 1920s English cottage and Tudor style. It’s a narrow street, with sidewalk erratically appearing and disappearing on both sides. In front of one of the older homes I found this Eastlund Concrete stamp dated 1975. It’s on the west side of the street between Grand River and Roseland.
This Eastlund Concrete stamp is on a driveway apron on the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Kalamazoo and Marcus. There are at least two driveways on this block with the same stamp, suggesting the driveway construction wasn’t just a homeowner’s choice but was probably related to the city doing something that tore up the roadside. Unfortunately, neither is dated.
Continuing on another block east from my last entry, I found more new Eastlund Concrete stamps at the corners of Marcus Street and South Fairview Avenue. The newly constructed curb cuts are wider and nicer than what they replaced.
It’s good to know the tendency to ignore the sidewalk marking ordinance hasn’t spread to everyone yet. Good old Eastlund Concrete has copiously stamped the reconstructed curb cuts on every corner of South Magnolia Avenue and Marcus Street. I’d expect no less, since they’re one of only two contractors I’ve seen stamping anything over in Albion, too. I believe that the new sidewalk here is the result of utility work in the area.
This 2007 Eastlund stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Hosmer and 8th. There are many like it between Sparrow and the traffic circle at Washington Square. There was a big construction project that tore everything up in 2006, and Eastlund must have gotten the contract to put the sidewalk back. I chose this one to photograph mainly as an excuse to show you what it’s in front of: a set of ghost stairs.
These stairs are between the Classic Barber Shop (which is attached to Stober’s Bar) and Moriarty’s Pub. They lead to nothing more than a small green space. I suppose one could say that they serve as a street access for the side doors of the two adjacent buildings, but they’re really a relic of a house that once stood here.
I know about this house from perusing the Caterino Real Estate Image Collection, a wonderful resource that the Capital Area District Library has digitized. From 1963 to 1989, a local history enthusiast named David Caterino drove around taking photos of old buildings around Lansing, probably ones that he had reason to think would be demolished soon. On January 31, 1986 – thirteen and a half years before my arrival in Lansing – he took photos of a house at 808 East Michigan. The stairs can be seen in one photo, looking just as they look now. I wish Caterino had taken a wider view of the house from the street, but from what can be seen, it was a large and grand house, with unusually steep gables. An access stairway to the second story had been added in the rear, suggesting it spent its later years subdivided into apartments. In the rear view photo it is also evident how close it was building next door, currently Moriarty’s Pub.
I thought that was as much as I would be able to tell you about the house, but then I realized I could also check the Belon Real Estate Collection, a set of index cards that CADL has also digitized. The cards represent quick information for real estate agents about properties listed from the 1950s through early 1970s. There are a few listings for 808 East Michigan, listed together with 810, which then as today was a barber shop. There is a photo with them, which is very grainy from being copied but does give a better sense of how it looked from the street. The owner of both apparently lived in the apartment above the barber shop. If I’m reading things right, it failed to sell in 1961 at a listing price of $55,000, then in 1964 the same owner tried and failed again at $47,500, and then once again in 1971 at $62,000. Unfortunately, the year built is given in one card as 1946 (this can’t mean the house and must be the barber shop) and in another as N/A. I would guess it was a late 19th century house. According to the 1961 card, it was divided into five apartments: one two-bedroom and two one-bedrooms downstairs, and one two-bedroom and one one-bedroom upstairs.