They have started to replace the sidewalks that were removed during the recent gas pipeline project on East Kalamazoo Street. This one is near the southeast corner of Kalamazoo and Magnolia. Someday some new resident of the neighborhood will wonder what happened in 2023-24 that so many sidewalks are embossed with those years, just as I once was with Cantu & Sons 1987-88.
At first I thought this one was just plain illegible, but after studying my photo at home, I realized it is probably McClain. I have done them before, and their other stamps have also tended to be blurry. The date is hopeless.
It’s in front of Edge Partnerships, a PR firm, on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Grand and Washington. This building was formerly home to longtime business Wolverine Typewriter. I am not sure when they first opened and finally closed, but as they were in this location from at least 1949-2001, their employees probably saw this sidewalk laid.
I walked downtown along East Kalamazoo Street to check out the going out of business sale at venerable jeweler Linn & Owen. I didn’t buy anything, but I did see this F & M stamp and, in the distance beyond, the ghost sign advertising three locations of Beaner’s. Today Beaner’s is known as Biggby and only one of these three locations is extant, the one on Allegan.
There isn’t much else to say about this stamp, besides that it’s on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street, east of South Grand Avenue, in front of the Michigan DHHS’s South Grand building.
Here it is: some brand new sidewalk! The Consumers Energy utility work that has closed a lane on East Kalamazoo Street off and on for months has finally reached the stage when a lot of the torn-out sections of sidewalk are being replaced. And, while it’s not the most exciting design I’ve seen, it is all properly stamped. This is just one of many examples, in this case on the southeast corner of Kalamazoo and Regent, in front of the vacant former Lucky’s/Pure Options.
I am assuming that the responsible party is EPM Professional Grounds Services of Jackson, Michigan. The name stands for Executive Property Management, referencing the fact that they specialize in commercial properties.
The work they were getting ready for on the 1700-1800 blocks of East Kalamazoo Street – as discussed in my last entry – and as I predicted, they have started tearing out chunks of sidewalk. I’ll have to check again in daylight, but I believe that this stretch, located outside the former Lucky’s (later Pure Options, now vacant), took out a pair of Cantu & Sons 1987 stamps.
That’s no great loss, I suppose, given how common those stamps are on the east side, but it did cause me to comment to my husband about how the stamps I catalog here are “ephemeral.” Then I corrected myself, “Actually, I guess they’re not all that ephemeral,” and he laughed and agreed. We were both thinking of how old many of them are; it’s quite common to find ones from the 1920s, and not all that hard to find ones that are earlier, as I soon found out when I started making an effort to record them. Still, I suppose what I meant is that any of them could be gone at any time, and there’s no predicting when. That’s why I’m glad I have made an effort to photograph so many.
As part of the recent East Kalamazoo Street construction that also saw a lot of new sidewalk laid, a crosswalk with warning arrows was painted on Kalamazoo at Mifflin Avenue.
Kalamazoo previously had no crosswalks anywhere between Clemens and Howard, a nine-block span. This one is a lot closer to Howard than to Clemens, but it was presumably placed here due to the presence of the Village Party Store. It doesn’t have a light, even a flashing one, but at least it’s something.
I have to issue a partial retraction to my Hall of Shame entry on the Allen Place project (on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Shepard and Allen). I had believed that no sidewalk marking was left anywhere on the Kalamazoo side of the building when the new sidewalk was laid. Recently, however, I discovered that there is one solitary stamp in the expanse, located not in the main sidewalk path but on the pavement next to the curb, oddly facing the curb instead of the building. The stamp is, in fact, right in the area that I saw being installed and photographed for a previous entry.
Let’s say I will put an asterisk by the Hall of Shame entry. I still think there should be more stamps for a project this big. By convention, stamps are placed at the start and end of a run of new sidewalk, though that is not required in Lansing (the code here merely says they must stamp wherever they are directed to by the Director of Public Works).
Yes, I’m still mining the construction area on the east end of Kalamazoo, in Lansing Township. This new sidewalk is in front of the former East Side Foreign Car building on the south side of East Kalamazoo Street between Charles and Detroit Streets. Previously, there was none here, just a thin strip of lawn in front of a white picket fence.
In addition to the new sidewalk, they have installed a concrete area at the curb (what I have sometimes referred to as a “curb walk” since I don’t know a proper name for it) for people to stand on while waiting at the bus stop. Previously, people waiting for the bus would have to stand on the little strip of grass in front of the curb. This is a much more hospitable bus stop.
A few days after the last batch, I walked through the construction area on East Kalamazoo Street again to see how things had developed. This short stretch of walk on the north side of Kalamazoo between Detroit and Howard lacks a stamp, but it is part of the work being done by MacKenzie Co.
What’s interesting to me about this spot is the little jog in the walk. This is one of the intermittent areas in the Lansing Township stretch of Kalamazoo that did already have sidewalk. The stretch of walk in front of the the two buildings here hugs both buildings, but as the building to the east is further forward on its lot, the sidewalk jumps abruptly a few feet on either side of the driveway. What has changed is that it now follows a defined curving path through the driveway. I’m not sure that there’s any functional difference – nothing stopped one from walking across the driveway before – but I greatly appreciate the aesthetic improvement and I’m impressed that they bothered.
This stamp is across Mifflin Avenue from Monday’s, just over the border into Lansing Township on East Kalamazoo Street. Unlike the last one, this one is not a very deep impression, which is a disappointment to a sidewalk observer such as myself. It’s in front of the Village Party Store, a well known convenience and liquor store with its own coin laundry. It’s a staple of the neighborhood, but to the best of my recollection I’ve never been inside.
I was curious about the history of the place and a quick search of old State Journals turned up that from at least 1939-1955 it was the Ellis Food Market as well as the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Ellis. Their advertisements in the 1940s promote their “Special Designated Liquor and Beer Store Hours 7 A. M. to 2 A. M.” These days, the Village Party Store has a bit of a reputation for being in a tough area (though I walk past it at night all the time without incident), so it’s amusing to note that it was already the victim of shenanigans in the 1950s. On July 17, 1954, the State Journal reports that a trio of people from Detroit were “accused of breaking into the Ellis Food market, 2601 E. Kalamazoo st. The burglars were surprised in their car while leaving the establishment after stealing a quantity of liquor but escaped in a wild chase in which several shots were fired at them.”
On June 23, 1967, the State Journal reports that Mrs. Lynell Ellis of this address pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Uniform Housing Code: “In a warrant signed by housing inspector Ted Tycocki, Mrs. Ellis was charged with not having hot running water and with having improper fuses, hazardous switches and defective electrical fixtures in a house at 521 W. Lenawee St.” I don’t know whether the Food Market was still in operation at that time. By 1983, the address belonged to the Village Party Store.