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S. Fairview Ave (Alley), graffiti, 2003

Bored with all my usual walks around the east side, I decided to walk through one of the many alleys that run north-south in between the neighborhood streets. Some houses have their garages facing the alley, others facing the street; I don’t know why they are not consistent or what led to preferring one over the other. I have rarely if ever seen the backs of all these houses before, so it was a strange and disorienting experience, which served to make my walk a lot more interesting. The alley I chose was between South Clemens and Fairview Avenues, and is asphalt. There is obviously no sidewalk, but I began checking some of the driveway entrances for stamps. To be honest, all the garages back there looked pretty tired, and in a couple of places there were mysterious concrete pads where a garage or shed was probably demolished, so I wondered how old any stamps I found would be. I didn’t find any, but I did find this piece of graffiti.

Was “Brain” a nickname, or did Brian somehow manage to misspell his own name? I’m guessing the latter, but what do you think?

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S. Fairview Ave., O & M, 2015

It’s somewhat unusual to find a dated O & M (city Operations and Maintenance) stamp in any case, but especially rare in the southern reaches of the Urbandale neigborhood. This one is near the dead end (south of Horton, north of I-496) on the west side of the street.

Sorry for the poor photo. I’m still not used to my new phone. It’s delightfully tiny but a bit hard to handle for photographs.
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N. Fairview Ave., “TK+SD” graffiti, undated

This graffiti on the east side of North Fairview Avenue between Saginaw and Grand River got my attention because of the lettering style. Most sidewalk graffiti is just plain lines. This one’s hollow block lettering is unique and ostentatious. The grass clippings from a recently mown lawn were giving it a little extra definition.

I didn’t notice the + at first and thought it was just four letters, TKSD, but when I looked at my photo later I realized it was a declaration of love: “TK + SD.”

Looking north on Fairview.

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N. Fairview Ave., DPW, 1920s?

My eyes are always drawn to an old Department of Public Works stamp, no matter what kind of shape it’s in. This one is on the east side of North Fairview Avenue between Saginaw and Grand River. I’m fairly sure it is 1920s, but can’t read the last digit. My gut says 1925, but I’m by no means confident about that.

The stamp may be nothing too special, but it does represent a breakthrough: I finally made myself walk across the pedestrian bridge over Saginaw. Many years ago when I was in grad school I ended up in this neighborhood for reasons I can’t recall or guess at. What I do remember is that I tried to cross on the pedestrian overpass and though I was able to walk to the top, my legs went weak and locked up and would not let me cross. I’m afraid of heights, and it feels flimsy, but mostly it’s the traffic roaring underneath that terrifies me. It doesn’t help that when I was buying my house, the real estate agent drove us underneath one of them and commented about how there was an accident when a truck hit one and knocked it down while some children were on it. (I thought I remembered him saying someone was killed, but either I misremembered or he did. Six children were injured, however.) I ended up descending the steps again in defeat and walking to a traffic light to cross. This time, though, I walked across it at last, and did it again on the way back. I was given some practice by having to walk across a larger one over a busier road in Mexico City a few years ago.

Looking south on Fairview. The stamp is on the block in front of the street tree, but facing the other way.

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S. Fairview Ave., DPW, 1924

I had to check my records several times before satisfying myself that I hadn’t done this one before. It’s in a part of town I walk very frequently and it’s two things I always stop and photograph: a 1920s stamp and a diagonal one. Except for a crack, it’s in really nice shape, too. Somehow, I have missed it before now. It’s on the east side of South Fairview Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.

The house it’s in front of was built in 1910, so it was relatively young when the stamp was place.

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N. Fairview Ave., illegible name, 1929

I picked up this one on a driveway apron on the west side of North Fairview Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. I can’t resist a 1920s stamp, even if they are much more common than I originally thought when I started the blog.

Unfortunately, while I can read the date fine, the name is deep but obscure. It looks to end with -ER, possibly -MMER or -NNER, but I can’t figure anything else out. Normally a driveway apron stamp of this age would likely be Lansing DPW, but what I can make out of this one does not match that. I tried using a flashlight to cast a raking light across it, which sometimes helps, but it didn’t do any good this time. Maybe next time I see it in daylight I’ll be luckier.

Looking south on Fairview. The stamp is on the driveway apron, bottom of the photo just right of center.

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E. Grand River Ave., BBRPCI, 2003

Here is a run-of-the-mill BBRPCI (BBR Progressive Concrete Inc.) stamp from the south side of East Grand River Avenue between Wood Street and Fairview Avenue. It is in front of Pattengill Biotechnical Academy, which should not be confused with Pattengill Middle School. Let me see if I can keep this shell game of east side schools straight: Pattengill Middle School was in the new(ish) building by the Armory, having moved there from its original location on Jerome Street (where it was known for much of its history as Pattengill Junior High). Pattengill Middle School closed in 2013 (and now that building houses Eastern High School). In 2018, the old Fairview School, which had been an elementary school, was transformed into Pattengill Biotechnical Academy. I don’t know why they reused the Pattengill name since the current Pattengill is evidently an elementary school, spanning pre-K to grade 6. I also would really like to know what the hell a specialized “biotechnical” pre-K education looks like.

It’s a good thing I don’t have kids because I find the array of schools in the district completely incomprehensible. There are high schools that start at grade 7, “academies” that go to grade 6, schools that somehow aren’t officially listed as “academies” but still have academy-like thematic names, and a very small number of I guess regular middle schools except they are grades 4-6 which is younger than what I think of as middle school. Also even the non-magnet schools have “STEAM” randomly peppered into their names.

Pattengill Biotechnical Academy, seen from the Grand River side. The city’s online records don’t have the date of construction listed for some reason, but it looks 1950s to me. The stamp is in the shadow.

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N. Fairview Ave., DPW, 1944

This one is on the apron of a driveway on the west side of North Fairview Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. It’s stamped diagonally on the south corner of the apron, facing the sidewalk so pedestrians can admire it. I am mildly curious what circumstances result in the city having to construct (or more likely reconstruct) someone’s driveway apron. I’m guessing it happens when they have to tear up for sewer work, for instance.

An overview of the driveway apron. There is also an Ayala’s stamp on the other side, but Ayala’s chose to have it face the street instead.

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S. Fairview Ave., SC Environmental, 2016

I ran across this “SC Env” stamp on the east side of South Fairview Avenue between Marcus and Elizabeth. It’s only the second one of these I’ve found, both the same year, yet two completely different styles of stamp. I’m glad I saw it, because it finally motivates me to post an update that I had meant to do a couple of months ago. I discovered who “S.C. Env.” is, just a short while after posting the first stamp I found from them.

I was reading the February 24, 2021 issue of the City Pulse when I saw a brief news item as follows.

Entrepreneur John Kendrick Sears, 41, of Lansing, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Mexico. Sears was shaped by his family’s business, College Bike Shop. In 2006, he founded his own demolition company, SC Environmental Services. Sears also owned properties in Old Town and Reo Town.

The Lansing State Journal has a longer article about Sears. It describes SC Environmental Services as a demolition and environmental remediation company. This adds up: both the stamps I have found are in front of vacant lots. People who knew Sears describe him as striving to find better ways to recycle and reuse materials from demolition, and as having a love for architecture.

Looking north on Fairview.