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.
The weather recently hasn’t been very conducive to hunting sidewalk stamps, so all I can do is show you something pretty. This O & M (city Operations & Maintenance) stamp is one you’ve seen before. In fact, it’s the first stamp ever featured in this blog. But this time it’s got a light dusting of snow in it, left behind after the sidewalk was cleared, and I just love how that looks.
It’s on the east side of Regent Street’s 400 block, between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth.
Continuing my catalog of Regent Street, here is an undated O & M (Operations and Maintenance) stamp from the east side of Regent Street’s 400 block between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. It’s a shame O & M was in the habit of not dating stamps at some point probably in the 2000s, but at least it’s stamped at all.
Here is a newer stamp from the city’s Operations and Maintenance Department. It’s on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Leslie and Regent. The stamp is in front of Heartdance Studio, which hosts dance and yoga classes. I still think of it as “the scuba store,” though.
That’s because when I moved to town it was ZZ Underwater World, who apparently figured that the beginning of the alphabet was too crowded in the Yellow Pages. They were the reason for the mural of dolphins on the second floor. The dolphin mural disappeared for a while around the time Heartdance moved in, but then it reappeared. Whether it was covered and then uncovered, or is on a board that got taken down and put back up again, I don’t know. However it came to be, the dolphins have been back for a long time and serve to remind me of the former occupants of the building every time I see them.
The building was constructed in 1942, making it young for this stretch of the Avenue. In the 1950s and 60s it was Bendlin’s Shoe Clinic. The proprietor, John Bendlin, also lived at this address (above the shop, I assume) with his wife. By 1978 it was home to Michigan Divers Supply. I’m not sure if ZZ Underwater World was just a renaming of this business or a new business. ZZ Underwater World closed in 2013 according to the business that bought their assets, Capital City Scuba in Old Town, but Google Street View reveals that Heartdance had already moved into this building as of June 2011.
Sorry, this is blatantly a placeholder (though I could rationalize it as part of an eventual project to exhaustively catalogue Regent Street, since I’m probably about halfway there at this point). The reason is that I went to Cedar Point today, my first time at an amusement park since 2019. It was a big day for me, so I hope you’ll forgive the modest entry. (By “you” I mean “my dear husband,” as I think he is the only person who reads these.)
Anyway, this is on the west side of the 400 block of Regent Street, between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth.
Most O & M stamps are undated and this one is not an exception. It’s on the northeast corner of Horton and Michigan, in front of the Gabriels Community Credit Union. It has a lamppost and a fire hydrant for company.
Nothing new or exciting this time, but with fresh snow all over I didn’t have very many options. I walked into Hunter Park, around the paved loop, and back out via Elizabeth Street, stopping to take a picture of this (as usual) undated O & M stamp on one of the last few sidewalk blocks before the dead end. This is on the south side of Elizabeth. I like the deep imprint that makes the borders of the stamper visible.
Elizabeth’s western dead end touches Hunter Park. The sidewalk on both sides just ends without any official trail leading into the park. There is a very well-worn social trail leading from the southern sidewalk toward the pool area. There’s something just a little odd to me about the way the sidewalk goes past the last house’s front porch steps only to end abruptly at the edge of the property when it’s not done being useful yet.
I headed to a different area tonight in search of more late holiday lights and found a few good ones. One display was in front of this rare, dated O & M stamp. It’s not rare for being an O & M stamp – they’re very common in this style – but rare for being dated. The only other one I’ve found is also 2005 (and nearby).
This was mostly an excuse to show some more neighborhood cheer, so enjoy some lights. I did. (The stamp is about midway along the lot in front of this house.)
I promised myself I would not stop and look at any interesting stamps tonight because it was already late and I did not have time to go chasing down old newspaper clippings like last night. Unlike last night, this time I was successful reining myself in on my late walk, though I did twice stop and start to go back to look at a stamp, only to immediately turn again, reminding myself I wasn’t going to do that.
So here’s the most boring, dirt-common stamp I could find. Well, no, I tell a lie. It isn’t a Cantu & Sons 1987 stamp. Call it one step more interesting than that, then. It’s an undated O & M stamp, on the west side of North Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Vine.
I just wonder why the city’s Operations and Maintenance division spent so long failing to date their stamps, when it’s required in the city code. It’s odd for the city itself to be such a scofflaw.
A typical undated O & M stamp on the east side of South Magnolia Avenue between Prospect and Kalamazoo. I wonder why they spent a good while not dating them.
It was a chilly night, and snowed earlier, so it wasn’t my most pleasant recent walk. I did enjoy seeing a few remaining Halloween decorations.
