Vintage GR sign replicas

I've been into making replicas of vintage GR signage lately. I dunno, seems like a respectable old-guy hobby. This one will be a working wall-clock when it's done. Mainly, I hope somebody might wanna buy this shit one day.

 

I'm also working on an LED lighted "Reptile House" one. After that I'm going to try and do a Studio 28 with all the blinky-lights and all.

Rainy day...fun?

 

Some stuff in my retro laboratory... The giant wood-grain box is what used to be required to play and record video in the late 70s on a format known as Betamax. The giant beige box is an 80s "computer" aka Commodore Amiga 2000. 

The Betamax VCR was a gift and it came with several tapes of local TV recordings. The original owner helpfully inserted TV guide pages in the tape cases to show what's on them. Right now I'm checking out "Night of 100 Stars" ...

It's actually pretty amazing. 3 hours of various celebrities of the time do little 3-5 minute bits onstage then the next comes out. So far I've seen some Robin Williams stand-up and Christopher Cross singing the Arthur theme with Dudley Moore playing piano. I doubt I'll be able to watch it all but there's some pretty great Youtube material here.

Old photos, GO

Corner of Wealthy and Fuller. Late 70s? Early 80s?  Sweet Camaro!

TWO pay phones.

Click to enbiggen.

Ann St. Auto

Test update from my phone...

Nice Ranchero at Ann St. Auto.  They have some sweet older vehicles in their back lot!

No thanks

So back when I first started this blog I suggested a "Most Ghetto Party Store In Grand Rapids Contest."
Well, that didn't really pan out. There were just too many to choose from and I couldn't come up with any real criteria to choose a "winner."  At any rate, it was fun to see the commentary on here and facebook about the subject.

I thought about it again last night when I was at a party store on Richmond and Alpine... I want to say it was called "Danny's" ?

Anyway, who the hell eats the food floating in murky liquid in huge jars by the registers... ??

Remember in Return of the Jedi when Jabba the Hutt grabs some critter out of a big jar and swallows it whole?

Grand Rapids History Pinterest

If you are interested in Grand Rapids history, check out the Grand Rapids History Pinterest!
A treasure trove of photos of things you haven't thought of in a long time or never new existed.

Grateful Dead poster from a concert at Fountain St. Church 1968 ! (2 dollars!)

Remember when the amphitheater looked like this?

Downtown amphitheater 1980s. Weatherball in the background!

This image is from a postcard at the GRPL

Actually in this same spot in the photo, I have a memory from the 80s, sitting with some people on the curb late one night and noticing a guy precariously walking across that arch. He looked like he'd been drinking as he was rather wobbly and I remember thinking "this guy is going to fall any minute" and on cue, he did (shit! did I psychically cause it??) He hit the pavement and went unconscious. Some people helped him until the ambulance came. Never found out what happened or if he ended up being okay.
A few yards away from the amphitheater was a little white gazebo with payphones...

Gazebo, across from Flanagan's 1981.

The area around the amphitheater's changed so much...

And also, I wonder if anybody even sees this blog of mine? I get very infrequent comments... Is it just boring and stupid? I'm beginning to feel like giving up on it.