The Michigan Theatre-ooh some great times were spent there (mostly necking). It was sad to see it converted to offices and the theatre destroyed. The Michigan was the essence of a real city with shops and even a bowling alley in the basement. If it could have only hung on a few more years. I used to get free tickets from the manager so it was a cheap date. And let’s not forget the Gladmer Theatre just up a few blocks on Washington Ave. I rescued a brick the day it was demolished for an executive parking lot of some insignificance. I remember the last shows I saw there were Patton and Mash on New Years’ Eve 1971. I’ll just throw in another couple theatres in East Lansing –The State- and I’m not telling what I saw there, but there were numerous shows with languages I didn’t understand, but the language of young love was universal. Ooh-ooh what about the Campus Theatre where I must’ve watched The Graduate 18 times and saw Easy Rider and 2001. All long gone.
The Free Spirit boutique on Washington Square was ultra hip and I remember an article about it in –hold your breath- the Wall Street Journal. Imagine that.
The street clock on Washington Avenue-gone. I recall it being outside Morgan’s Jewelers. A few years later I came across it at a clock collector’s home in Haslett.
Ellison’s Bookstore, just across from Knapps Department store, located in an old putty-putt golf emporium was one odd place. The owner’s son wrote a book about it and Lansing.
Of course, Knapps which I know we all miss. I saved a Santa face decoration from 1970 at an auction in the early 1980s. Hot fudge sundaes in the basement were ecstasy.
And finally, the brick sidewalk which was just recently torn up from in-front of the old School for the Blind. Imagine Stevie Wonder walking on those bricks to get accustomed to the different textures. Where the hell did they go?
I only mention these “losses” because I believe that a “sense of place” is part of the fabric of a community and we treat those places too casually. Here’s to next year, when we save what’s left. What are your favorite lost faves?
