Great Lakes Shipping Company restaurant

So this one is a little late. I took quite a few photos for it with my "film"™ camera, a Minolta SR-T101, and it was a little while before they were developed. Anyway, lateness doesn't count so much on a retro blog right?

I got to go the Great Lakes Shipping Co for the first and last time May 27th, the day before they closed for good. It was very charming and historic and I really felt disappointed to hear it was closing, even though I'd never gone there. Quite a few places around this city have gone under due to not having enough business to keep going and when they'd close, I could feel mildly guilty for not supporting them. In this case, it seems like they were a victim of  "progress."  The historic building didn't fit with the plaza owner's vision of a bunch of generic concrete boxes I guess. Great Lakes had to either close or move and they couldn't afford to relocate.  Such a shame.

The restaurant is the longest-running tenant for Breton Village, built in 1971 and opening as The Starboard Tack by West Michigan restaurateur Richard DenUyl, who died in 2008. He opened nearly 20 restaurants in his career, including the Point West Inn overlooking Lake Macatawa in Holland.

I won't really get into trying to review the food. I am not somebody who frequents steak-houses and has high standards. My girl and I both got the "Surf and Turf" and drank some Old Fashions and we thought it was damn fine.  I'm sorry to see this place go but glad to have had the chance to experience it once before it's gone.

Here are photos from our visit. There's quite a lot. I was trying to capture as much as I could as something for people to see down the road after it has been demolished.