Some of you are reading this thanks to a batch email post I sent to you last night informing you of this blog and asking you to check it out. Thanks for paying attention and acting on your curiosity. I was fiddling with that email list when a sort of overwhelming feeling came over me. There are 98 emails on that list. Ninety-eight! And it wasn’t that had to put together. Not bad for a shy introverted anti-social only child academic grind. I’ve been so blessed to bump into folks like you who managed to see through that, at least a little. A few of the emails were duds. I’ll work to find my eighty-two year old cousin in Texas Carol, as there a few Ike cousins left and my closest, Diane, doesn’t do digital. Some of you are suggesting other contacts, and I’m sure I’ll recollect others. My cell phone saves every damn email I’ve ever contacted, but I don’t think I’ll be bothering Commander Cody with my blog, tho’ I expect to be writing about him some day. Maybe this is just a freshman stoned-for-the-first-time moment of “hey, we’re all connected!”. If so, please forgive me. But connections make us more human, are hard to come by, are under continual assault, and need to be nurtured. I’m so grateful to have some connection with all of you and hope this blog can be one way of nurturing those connections. Let’s stay in touch.
Ice at the US Grant
Ulysses S. Grant won the Civil War and two terms of the presidency, then wrote a still-acclaimed autobiography explaining it all while swilling liberal draughts of whisky from vessels that saw nary an ice cube. For a while after checking into the luxurious downtown San Diego hotel his son built, I thought he was expecting his guests to follow suit. Americans love their ice, especially in hotels and motels. A check in into a new room isn’t completed until a filled ice bucket sits on the counter. Finding the ice machine and filling that bucket is a foraging ritual for the man who booked that room. Waiting for room service to fill that bucket is a privation, akin to buying meat wrapped in styrofoam and plastic rather than blasting it in the wild. So when my trip through the halls of US Grant with my bucket came up empty, I felt the usual male shame and disappointment having to call and ask for help. Ice was indeed supplied, she said, in boxes by the elevators on each floor. Out on the prowl again, I saw a box that looked like it would call for an ice pick to chip away at a large block that had been delivered there earlier by a horse drawn carriage.
Finding the lid, I looked inside to see a pile of blue plastic wrapped items looking much like segmented versions of Kool Pops of my youth, less the color.
These would be fine if I were to sustain an ankle sprain, but getting them into a bucket, let alone a glass, would take some work.
I snagged some back to my room for the struggle, attacking with teeth, pocket knife, and any other sharp object I could find. A few cubes dribbled out, half to the floor, before I recognized there were perforations in the plastic
Tearing appropriately along these lines yielded cubes quite adequately, though nothing to match the ready avalanche of a trusty old hall ice machine. I see the reasoning here: not paying for refrigeration energy on each floor, less space, and better accounting (hard to enter all those gushing cubes on the spreadsheet). Still there’s all that plastic and of course the frustrated guests. Big time refrigeration was still in its infancy when US Grant Jr built this hotel, which maybe was slow to take on the advances the modern American traveler has come to expect. But he should have developed a keen appreciation for the importance of ice when his dad died and because his cancer riddled body could not be adequately embalmed was paraded around in a specialized iced casket for the hot summer fortnight preceding burial in his namesake tomb. So US Grant needed his ice at the end. We need it now, always, and in large amounts. Thanks for the blue bags, but I still prefer the machines.
Ann Arbor evening 1/27/20
What was the attraction here? First evening home before the fireplace after 10 days away in the sun. 35 and rainy outside, but still not enough to wash away last week’s snow and ice. A few beers followed by mounds of salad with hemp seed dressing washed down with a nice rosé constituted the dinner we needed after last week’s seafood and booze debauchery. We snuck in a half bottle of malbec with San Diego Nibbles dark chocolate for dessert. Michael Franks Spotify brought a little too much slick and sleazy 80s taste for Kathy, but Dan Fogelberg radio was just fine. Me too, surprisingly. Going through 10 days of accumulated mail was sufficient entertainment for the evening, punctuated by a “board meeting” of Docere LLC, our venture of soon to be 2 needing progress reports to the state and a new Admission Agreement while celebrating the deposit of my Bendcare honorarium as our latest revenues. Our Gulfstream couldn’t be far off. With the fire crackling and Dan radio balming with warm recollections of my young days, it was hard to turn in. Kathy, snoring away, found no difficulty perhaps motivated by the prospect of a 5:30 alarm preparing her for a 7:30 trek into a long day of teaching. For me, the coming day bore a long list of necessary errands, but I would be keeping my own clock, joy of retirement. Indeed, the main draw of bed was to get on with it so I could take on tomorrow. At this point I will stop typing, post, and go to bed. Thanks for reading. May you all have evenings as simple and satisfying.
Cigar City
As we pulled away from the parking lot, I told Kathy I wanted to write a little bit about this place. She noticed the catch in my voice, but discounted it as she knew of my long love for beer. Per old Ben proof that “God loves us and wants us to be happy”. Part of the attraction of coming to Tampa after San Diego was to check out some of the beer stops my friend Eric had recommended. Tops on this list was Cigar City. They’d been in business since 2009, a lifetime for South Florida enterprises, and produced an IPA – Jai Alai (named after the lively but now gone contests once common down here ) – that found its way to cans we’d liked up North. The place was only 2 1/2 miles from our unfortunately sleazy AirBnB on Neptune. But the Tampa we’ve seen since coming from the airport to Kathy’s convention hotel at the airport Hilton Westboure has yet to show its heart, but plenty of arteries and capillaries. We ventured back and forth on these vessels, back to the AirBnB after Kathy’s talk, then on to Cigar City, much in need of a beer after an afternoon of frustration. Their building is a big modern barn in the middle of an industrial park, hardly the charm we had come to expect in La Jolla.
But we entered into the huge expanse of a recently renovated space and an array of taps behind shining brewing kettles, we knew we were in the right place.
It took some studying to decide what to drink, and the class was open ended. From the menu of 18 beers,
we ended up choosing: more Jai Alai (of course), Guaybera, a citrus pale ale, Florida Man, a monster double IPA, fancy Papers, one of those hazy New Englands, Invasion, a tropical pale, and Beoir Roja , a red IPA that had been aged in Jameson barrels. Two of the more potent ones came after Kathy initially closed the bill, thinking it was time to go to the smoodge session back at her meeting. Well, she missed that and I got my two more beers. But my most sublime pleasure may have come as I went to relieve myself and encountered in their rooms those old fashioned to-the-floor urinals so rapidly disappearing from so many establishments.
I commend the proprietors of Cigar City for their attention to detail. From the millions they’ve likely spent on this renovation, they’ve found a few dollars to equip their restrooms with facilities men through the ages have found especially attractive and missed elsewhere. I don’t know if I’ll ever comeback to Tampa, but I’d surely stop at Cigar City, for its quality beers and exquisite surroundings for ingestion and elimination of same.
Dear Dr. Ripps
I was so impressed with the Bendcare Summit at the US Grant in San Diego last weekend, particularly with the M.C. and CEO Andrew Ripps, D. Pharm., I wrote him this letter.
January 20, 2020
Andrew Ripps, D.Pharm
CEO, Bendcare
2255 Glades Road, Suite 228W
Boca Raton, Florida 33451
Dear Dr. Ripps:
I was privileged to be among the participants in your Bentcare Summit in San Diego last weekend. I was the very tall greybeard in a brown leather jacket who saw in your face traces of my old boss Bill Kelley and my late uncle Jim Stewart (not that Jim Stewart). And all of you share traits of the bulldog, both in appearance and personality. I could blather on about the excellence I experienced in travel arrangements, housing, food and drink, talks, pharma displays and their amiable representatives, and tchotchkes, but you know all that since you and your very capable people made it happen. My utmost joy was in the exhilarating realization that what you do might actually make it possible to practice medicine much less encumbered by the shackles thrown upon it over the 4 decades that have marked my own career. I recommend that you add to the growing list of successes your company can claim an easing of the rheumatologist shortage, as knowledge of the options you provide coax back into the game those retirees who left, in part, out of frustration for what their once beloved practice of medicine has become. I have not yet decided to go back through that door, but am definitely considering it, and before your Summit it was most assuredly slammed shut.
Thank you for your efforts and keep up the good work.
Robert W. Ike, M.D.
P.S. I’ve signed up for the July Summit in Colorado Springs. Hope to see you there.
not included in the letter:
shameless plugs
One great satisfaction of an academic career is to come in contact with bright young people who clearly are going on to great things. I met Jason Knight when he was a bright medicine resident with a PhD level research background who figured his future was in hematology-oncology. He was having a wonderful time on his rheumatology rotation under my tutelage, and in a piece of down time I queried into his research focus and plans. It was clear as day (to me) that his focus would fit at least as well into rheumatology as into heme-onc, and by coming into rheumatology he could work in a much less crowded field. Jason eventually switched to rheumatology, excelled as a fellow, was appropriately offered a faculty position, and has seen his career skyrocket. Many in my Division now claim credit for flipping Jason, but I think it was lowly clinical me. We’ve had a wonderful relationship ever since, and I’ve proudly watched his career rise. He may not need much help from me here on in, but I felt compelled to plug him to a couple of my friends. Frankly, the main motivation was to get him out to LaJolla where he can go around and sample all the wonderful IPAs he so loves. So it really was all about beer. St. Louis is good for that too.
To my friend Deb Parks at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (where I trained at the first half) of Washington University in St. Louis, I wrote:
.Hey Deb
Do you have any input to your Division’s invitations of outside speakers, visiting professors and the like? If so, I’d like to bring to your attention my young friend, once colleague, and – I’m proud to say – bit of a protégé Jason Knight.
Michigan is blessed with 2 rising superstars working on lupus. Michelle Kahlenberg is a force of nature who makes the young Bevra look like a wimp, so she’s the better known of the 2. Jason Knight MD, PhD recently tenured is a hopeless Hoosier who was not surprised when his boys got to their first bowl game in years and blew it to the Vols on New Years’ Day. He’s resigned for a long wait to see his roundballers reach Bobby Knight glory days or even Mrs. Harbaugh (Tom Crean) mediocrity. Which might help explain his love of IPAs, which has been allowing me to send tease texts of my choices at my last 2 LaJolla spots, which I plan to continue. We’ve been close ever since I was his attending and helped coax him out of his planned heme-onc fellowship into rheumatology. He buys some of my basketball tickets and when we had 4 season football tickets Kathy and I would be sure to get him and his boy to at least one game a year. The past few years his son had to fight with his sister for that ticket.
His main thing Is APS, particularly neutrophil nets and their role. He made the cover of Nature a year or so ago. He’s very tall and very thin and has the shyness that can go with that sort of habitus, which probably goes a long way in explaining why he isn’t as well-known as Michelle. But it doesn’t hinder him at the podium. He applies his dry self-deprecating wit liberally. He peppers his talks with abundant references to history and popular events. He even goes about proving that the birth of the US was due to APS. His APS clinic is expanding, with a new faculty member from Texas added just last year to help him out. I’m sure he’d like to make the rounds in StL, and not just Barnes.
Kathy and I would be more than willing to come down too, but Jason is all grown up now and needs neither chaperone nor guide.
I’d appreciate anything you could do for him. You and your Division won’t be disappointed. Please just don’t hire him away.
B
To my much older friend Ken (we go back to ’84) who is a world renowned lupus expert, I sent the following. I had also told him at dinner the previous night that Jason was more entertaining than Graham Hughes (who had visited UCSD in the first days of my sabbatical and had lunch with us all) and half his age. Something for putting a young face in front of those millennials and genZers.
Great outing last night. Thanks for the victuals, alcohol and company. Too bad AA and LJ aren’t next door instead of 2300 miles apart.
I write this time mainly to urge you to pull someone else from AA to your place. To visit not to stay, please.
I know you’re getting to know Michelle Kahlenberg pretty well and she’s a gem. But there’s another rising lupus superstar in my old place you may not know as well, but would enjoy it if you did. Jason Knight MD, PhD recently tenured is a hopeless Hoosier who was not surprised when his boys got to their first bowl game in years and blew it to the Vols on New Years’ Day. He’s resigned for a long wait to see his roundballers reach Bobby Knight glory days or even Mrs. Harbaugh (Tom Crean) mediocrity. Which might help explain his love of IPAs, which has been allowing me to send tease texts of my choices at my last 2 LJ spots, and will surely continue. We’ve been close ever since I was his attending and helped coax him out of his planned heme-onc fellowship into rheumatology. He buys some of my basketball tickets and when we had 4 season football tickets Kathy and I would be sure to get him and his boy to at least one game a year.
His main thing Is APS, particularly neutrophil nets and their role. He made the cover of Nature a year or so ago. He’s very tall and very thin and has the shyness that can go with that sort of habitus, which probably goes a long way in explaining why he isn’t as well-known as force-of-nature Michelle. But it doesn’t hinder him at the podium. He applies his dry self-deprecating wit liberally. He peppers his talks with abundant references to history and popular events. He even goes about proving that the birth of the US was due to APS. His APS clinic is expanding, with a new faculty member from Texas added just last year to help him out. I’m sure he’d like to make the rounds in LJ, and not just Jacob.
Kathy and I would be more than willing to come out too, but Jason is all grown up now and needs neither chaperone nor guide.
I’d appreciate anything you could do for him. You and your Division won’t be disappointed.
B
another hard day in LJ
I woke up early again, still on Eastern time, for our second full day in La Jolla. While Kathy slept, I made train and hotel arrangements for a weekend in Chicago end of February our friends Deb and Jeff from St. Louis had just proposed. Come 6:30, La Clochette du Coin had opened its doors so I could go get Kathy her cappuccino, disguised as a foamy tall latte so she could get the large size. Over her cappuccino and my tea, we discussed arrangements for Sam’s June 14 (his birthday) memorial service in Nathrop CO, which we surely wanted to attend. The old Palace Hotel in Salida where Sam had put us up during our visit last August, was booked for the 13th but not the 14th, so we now have two places to stay on successive nights. That was enough to work up an appetite, so off we went a whole 3 blocks to see our Russian friends at Vahik, splitting a sumptuous breakfast burrito soaking up 5 different hot sauces washed down by more foamy coffee. That left us charged to take on another walk along the beach up the coast to the Cove then inland. The previous night’s into morning rain had left the rocks too wet and slick to try any new ways up the beach. At the Cove, the seals were conducting a retirement seminar, and up the way around the corner with the restaurants featuring great views but mediocre food, the bird poop covered rocks still were, the scent probably accentuated by the moistening of the rains. Turning into the village, we went about our errands, but not with enough direction to spoil the pleasure of wandering about streets we had not trod before. The local well stocked Ace hardware had a tea ball adequate to replace the one I had just broken, and a different shape than any other in my collection. The affable gray cashier who checked me out managed to find my Ace rewards membership, but I stopped him before the program could tell me what I wanted to buy next. On to Von’s, the big supermarket, we couldn’t find laundry detergent in less than industrial amounts, so it was on to CVS, where we did. Note to us to pack a few pods in a zip-loc on future trips. CVS is conveniently near BevMo, where I had to wander among the shelves of wine to pick out another red even though we had one that would suffice for today’s sunset watching. BevMo has a great big clock that told us it was late enough to venture over to Karl’s for our first beers of the day. We were first through the door at Karl Strauss’ today. I don’t know if opening up a bar has the same connotation as closing one down, but color us guilty. Karl’s had only 4 IPAs on its board, but we made do. I’d collected so many shots on our walk up I had to text, Kathy felt neglected. But the last text I sent read “I am the luckiest man in the world. I have a wife who loves beer, wine, sports, Jesus, Donald Trump, and me. And long walks on the beach.” I showed it to her before sending. She approved and forgave me.
All that beer left us hungry. I got Kathy to resist Karl’s menu and we walked back south to find El Pescatore, a combined restaurant and fresh fish market. Kathy had enjoyed many a lunch here while I was up “working” at the UCSD campus during my sabbatical, and we had brought back to our Gravilla bungalow some choice pieces of fish flesh to grill in our little courtyard. I learned at the Bendcare summit that one of the founders of the place was brother-in-law to Dave Klashman, Ken’s first fellow who was assigned to sit next to me at the meeting. How about that. We both got the cioppino, Kathy the seafood mountain salad and me the no-doubts grilled octopus, with 2 glasses of California white wine each of course about which I’ve already forgotten the specifics.
I sit now back at the shack for an afternoon of rest, punctuated by dealing with Amazon deliveries of a blue tooth cell phone speaker and watch band compasses to keep me from getting too lost on future treks and with laundry. The clouds have begun to clear a little bit, so seeing an actual sunset as we sit on the rocks of Windnsea beach in a half hour might just be possible. During my sabbatical, I enjoyed sending pictures of the sunset to the folks back home, and will do so again if the chance arises. Regardless, we’ll still have the wine, bread, cheese, dancing waves upon the rocks and surfers bobbing like seals in the water to entertain us. Tomorrow comes early, but there should still be time for La Clochette du Coin and Vahik before we board the Uber for SAN and our flight to Detroit, where we’ll stay overnight in the Westin and get up early again to go to Tampa. We’ll be back here in June, and it can’t come too soon.
Brady in PB
We took the #30 down from our AirBnB to Cass Street in Pacific Beach where we would find Latitude 32, a semi-dive, semi-surfer bar we’d frequented with much joy several years ago. Latitude 32 came out as “lotta dudes” to point out few females frequented the bar. Seeking to embellish a tease text to my friends Jason and Eric, I asked the blonde somewhat rough bartender where the surfboard signed by once-Michigan coach Brady Hoke might be. Legend was he’d left one behind upon leaving San Diego for Michigan. Brady had been a successful and much beloved coach of SDSU before he took the Michigan job. He was apparently a regular at Latitude 32 (and continues to be). The bartender brought out Willie the owner who told me there was no surfboard, but pointed me to the Brady-signed flags of both SDSU and Michigan displayed on the ceiling. The latter was generated even before Brady went north, someone bringing in a Michigan flag and pointing out Brady’s heart had always been in Michigan, which it had been ever since he was an assistant coach there including d-line for the 1997 national championship squad. Brady had successful stops at his alma mater Ball State and then SDSU before Michigan, where an 11-2 and Sugar Bowl championship season where everything went right dissolved into mediocre and then losing seasons when teams seemed unprepared and their losing informationally headwear-eschewing coach uninvolved. Fired in November 2015 to be replaced by sainted son still prepared for greatness Jim Harbaugh, Brady slunk off with his big buyout and a few NFL assistant’s gigs to emerge in San Diego, where Willie says he’s been appearing, trimmed down, for quite a while. Just last week, Brady signed a 5 year deal to coach SDSU in what he says is his destination job. He hopes to put another flag on the ceiling of Latitude 32, where he shows up 3 times a week and per Willie can ably pour a beer as guest bartender. We in Michigan wish him well, always loving the big bear of a man with a boundless love of Michigan who unfortunately turned out to be a not so good coach for us. After the first round of Brady-lore, Willie returned to tell me of the time shortly after Brady left for Michigan when he bought a snow shovel and had all the employees and regulars sign it as a memento they sent up to Brady. Here was a man much loved. May he return to glory with the Aztecs and toast his many victories at Latitude 32. Our kind of dude, Brady.
Way too early on a Friday morning January 17th: a pre-travelogue
The squealing CPAP mask said times up so here I am in my bathrobe a little after 3, drinking tea and trying to coax some new flames out of the embers of last night’s fire. Maybe I’m the kid on Christmas morning impatiently eager to get at the goodies the day is promising to bring. My day today, beginning with a morning like any other (except for the early rise), becomes interesting when Kathy and I board Delta 1033 nonstop to San Diego, starting a 10 day immersion into warm spawned entirely by Academics. Once in San Diego I’ll attend the 1 ½ day “Bendcare Summit”, an old fashioned boondoggle – rare since Ted Kennedy’s reforms – all expenses plus a small honorarium come to the 50 or so invited doctors who attend to hear lectures on a variety of topics in their field (rheumatology) at the US Grant, a nice hotel downtown. The company will put on nine more summits this year at attractive places https://www.bendcare.com/summits/: Orlando, New Orleans, DC, Las Vegas, Boston, Colorado Springs, San Francisco, San Antonio, and Miami. We will stay in the area for a few days, moving up to an AirBnB by WindnSea beach in La Jolla, very near the little bungalow that was our home in the Winter of ’17 when we were out there 3 months for my sabbatical at UCSD. We’ll aim to recreate some of our favorite moments from those days, carrying a bottle of wine down to the rocky beach to watch the sunset, attending services at LaJolla Presbyterian to hear Rev. Cunningham’ spell binding sermons followed by a stroll through the nearby farmer’s market, eating at The Promiscuous Fork, the Fish Market, Karl’s, Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Bistro Du Marché, the Public House, that little Thai place across the parking lot from Von’s and maybe even go down to the Market by Buon Appetito in Little Italy to pick up some squid ink pasta and wine to bring back to the AirBnB for a home cooked meal. San Diego may be the best beer town in the country, and we for sure want get back to Pacific Beach for Amplified Ale Works, with its rooftop view of the Pacific, and Latitude 32 (where Brady Hoke hung out when he was coaching SDSU), and hit Half Door downtown near the US Grant. With luck, one of these outings will be with my old friend UCSD professor Ken, who happens to be Kim Kardashian’s cousin but knew us long before she was born.
And if that’s not enough, a little while after I got my invitation, Kathy did. The American Kinesiology Association asked her to come address their annual meeting about her novel methods of teaching Scientific Writing. Since the invite came, she published her e-textbook on the subject. So the stage in Tampa could be a good launching platform for the next phase of her career. The only drawback is that the talk is next Thursday, limiting our LaJolla idyll and making for a weird way back: SD to Detroit, overnight at the airport Westin, then an early morning flight to Tampa, for which we are prepared with car, AirBnB, and recommendations from my beer-loving friend Eric to check out Cigar City and Broken Chair. Ten days from today we’ll be back in AA, ready for our respective work on Monday: Kathy with the paying job teaching and me with a mountain of projects which are fulfilling in so many other ways (and wait till the cash from eBay and Craigslist comes rolling in), tans to show to the jealous left behinds, a few more memories and, we hope, somewhat richer souls, for which travel is supposed to be good.
Posted from my 7th floor room at the U.S. Grant high noon Pacific time
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From Ike to Mike: advice for a trip to Ann Arbor
Two days before Christmas ’14, braking to avoid a Chilean weiner dog while rolling down a potted hill threw me into a ditch where the landing fractured and dislocated my shoulder while bruising my brachial plexus. I found ways to practice without a right arm and within 6 months I was managing to do most everything I’d done before. But dexterity and strength were slow in coming. By February ’16 I was sufficiently frustrated with UofM’s therapists to seek help elsewhere, with crazy Mike Barwis, strength and conditioning coach for Rich Rodriguez’ Michigan football team. His shop in Plymouth – Barwis Methods – drew pro and amateur athletes from around to country for his rigorous and unorthodox programs. Civilians like me came too, manly “weekend warriors” nursing an injury or just seeking to up their game. I guess wrecking a shoulder biking counts as a sports injury. I knew they wouldn’t coddle me, and my trainers Mike and Sara didn’t. By August, my arm and hand were 90% as good as before the accident. I was pleased. Here’s the team that did it.
When young Mike began seeking advice about what he and his friends might like to do on an Ann Arbor visit, I gave him tidbits for a while then offered to write the advice down. When Mike found that a good idea, I set to work describing how I like to see Ann Arbor. From my 2020 perch, I can now say I’ve lived here all but 8 of the last 50 years. So I know what’s here and I know what parts of it I like. It goes kinda like this:
So, if your friends are insisting you come west to this leafy town of Commie eggheads, “Seven square miles surrounded by reality”, “Twee town”, you might want to know a few spots where someone like me would go for sustenance. What I’ve laid out here is less a tour than a collection of suggestions. For mundane info like streets and directions, this should help: (1)
Breakfast. The most important meal of your day, whether it comes on the fore end of your assault on a new town, or at the close of a night of debauchery. For the latter, see “Fleetwood” below. If you really do get to AA early enough for breakfast, there are 2 spots where you couldn’t go wrong. The Northside Grill, near me on Plymouth just past Maiden Lane on the north side of the street, is a busy place but they get everyone fed. They’ll serve you coffee outside as you wait for your table. Parking is available behind and aside the place, and around the abandoned structure next door. Order the “Kitchen Sink” with a couple eggs over easy on the side from your tattooed waiter with the ankle tether, and be sure to douse ‘em with lots of Clancy’s Fancy. If you’re not burning 5000 kCals/d in Barwis’ gym, you could consider sharing. Kathy and I always do. Or, there’s Angelo’s, down towards campus on the corner of Glen and Catherine. If you had a U of M parking pass, you could park kitty-corner north at the NIB lot, with the “naked family” sculpture right in front. Tell me that “dad” isn’t executing a Jerry Sandusky move on the held “boy”. They do drape portions of the sculpture during Homecoming week. My office is in NIB 7th floor, but hardly tourist worthy. Angelo’s has a little lot to the side. Otherwise, you’ll need to park at Palmer Commons and walk the several blocks up. Many academic deals are cut here. The pair sitting next to you may be an up-and-comer and his chief, the former’s career hanging on the latter’s granting of more lab space. Oh, and the food’s terrific. Some walk in and just order “the song” based on local talented but never-made-it-big singer Dick Siegal’s hit (2).
Parking. Driving is hard in AA with all the one way streets, and parking is worse. If you want to start your assault on AA by taking on the diag (my recommendation), there are 2 big lots. The first is under Power Center, big glass and steel theater building just off Jackson Road. According to the U-M Parking web page, this is no longer open to the public. Palmer Commons, round the North U. corner is.
Once situated, walk North U west. Check the Pumas out in front of the Natural History Museum. Inside there’s dinosaur skeletons, stuffed wolverines, everything (3). . If you take a right and walk over the bridge you’ll find yourself in the back yard of Stockwell Hall, famed “virgin vault” girls’ dorm that was home to Madonna during her one year here. Then walk over to Ingalls Mall, which runs from the steps of Rackham (grad school) to the Grad Library. Highlights there include the Bell Tower (Burton Tower) (which houses the Baird Carillon given to the U by the AD who had hired Fielding H. Yost) and the fountain “Sunday Morning in Deep Waters” (4). The Bell Tower was site of a famous dive, when troubled Regent Sarah Power tossed herself onto the ground below at 10 AM Tuesday 3/25/87, when crowds of students from nearby classrooms were scurrying through there on to their next classes, providing an ample audience for the spectacle. Regarding the fountain, at orientation students are asked to walk through the fountain on Ingalls Mall, they walk “towards” campus or the diag. Then after graduation, students are supposed to walk the other way through the fountain “away” from campus, but towards graduate school, representing the journey towards further learning and education. I haven’t heard that dipping a body part in it might confer extra intelligence on the dipper. And any body of running water gives me a certain urge, but my wife has always stopped me so I don’t know the consequences, other than a “come-and-see-us-again” invite from the AA police.
Then, cross North U onto the Diag! Much has happened here over the years. Your only touchpoint should be the big brass M, gift of the class of ’53, in the very center of the diag. Legend has it that any Freshman who steps on the M before taking his first exam will fail that exam. One common sight on graduation day is seeing new grads in their robes jumping up and down on the M.
Are you getting thirsty? Go back around the back of the Grad Library and find the little walkway between The Clements Library and The President’s (Dr. Schlissel’s) house. I’ve been through 6 presidents at U of M and Dr. Schlissel is the best. Hey, he hired Jim Hackett and Jim Harbaugh, and so far he’s left me alone. You’re about to cross South U, site of some memorable street riots in ’69. As one witness famously described “They was fornifuckatin’ in the streets!”(5).
From lawlessness to William Cook’s famous law school quadrangle (6). Take a little right and go in through one of the small openings through to the inner courtyard. Many famous alums. My favorite: Ann Coulter (U of M JD ’88).
As you walk out of the law quad towards the B school, see the little house with the big porch across the way. That’s Dominick’s, beloved outdoor watering hole of generations of U-M students (not just lawyers)(7). The beer comes in old canning jars, but the selection is good. They also feature their own homemade sangria and something pink called “Constant Buzz”, which you can only buy in a 2 quart jar. Food’s not bad, either.
Why anyone would want to leave Dominick’s, I can’t understand. But if you must, you’ll want to walk back up to South U. The B-school is right there on the same street as Dominick’s, but there’s nothing to see there. On South U, corner of East U, right in front of Ulrich’s is the McDivitt-White Plaza, honoring U of M’s 2 Apollo astronauts, Jim McDivitt, who circled the moon in Apollo 8 and Ed White who suffocated with 2 others in the Apollo I fire while the capsule was still atop the unlit booster. Going east on South U a block or 2, you’ll run into Goodtime Charlies, a sprawling student bar with a nice outdoor area. I don’t go there myself, but youngsters seem to like it. Another block or 2 then right on Forest gets you to Ric’s Café Americain. You won’t find Bogie there, but I’m sure more than a few Bogie lines have been tossed by young men seeking hookups, for which Ric’s is the clear campus leader.
Time to head back to campus. If you walk back west on South U, you’ll cross State St. right over onto the steps of the Michigan Union. It was here at 2 in the morning on an October ’60 campaign stop that John F. Kennedy first laid out his vision for the Peace Corps. There’s a small plaque commemorating the event. The Union’s a cool old building. Until ’69, co-eds were not allowed to come up to the 2nd floor to use the pool tables, which are still there. Progress? They had the League (over by the fountain).
Now way south on State St is Schembechler hall and the football museum. I’ll mention that later among the “non-contiguous attractions”. Just north of the Union you’ll come to a little plaza framed by the Fleming Admin building, LS&A Bldg, Admissions Building. It’ll be easy to pick out the attraction: the cube, a black metal cube perched on a corner and spinnable. Go nuts. There are no cautionary tales for the cube like there are for the block M. Up this same little street for a few blocks and you’ll come to Hopcat. Not the original (which is in Grand Rapids) but pretty darn good just the same. Great deal on burgers and beers Monday happy hour. Burgers great any day, “crack fries” (now called “cosmic fries” out of deference to crackheads everywhere) outstanding. Now go back south a little and enter Nickels Arcade. Some oddball shops maybe your female fellow travelers would like, with Comet Coffee the star. In a town full of coffee houses, Comets’ the coolest. Individual pour-over’s the feature, and “drinkable chocolate”. Just on your left before exiting the Arcade is Van Boven’s, a men’s clothing shop that’s dressed the town‘s fuddy duddies for decades. Van Boven’s carries the exact same tie Jim Harbaugh wore at his first press conference at Michigan; a friend had secretly bought him that and another Van Boven‘s tie and shipped them to him in San Jose 2 weeks before the hire was announced. The tie is the one on the far left of a display of M ties in the back, navy blue with maize cross stripes and little M’s.
You’re now on State street. You can see across from you several shops featuring M gear. Around the corner off North University is Moe’s, the oldest. In summer, especially just before Art Fair (when you’ll be there), they have clearance sales. Might even be bigger this year with the Adidas ->Nike shift. Also on State Street are Bivouac (outdoors stuff) and Urban Outfitters.
That should just about wrap up Campus. You could just go ahead and walk Liberty to Main. If you want to drive, there’s a parking structure at Washington, and some open lots off First. If you park on Washington St, you’ll spill out right onto Arbor Brewing, which has some nice tables out front, if somewhat mediocre beer. Just try to keep the girls out of the chocolate shop next door. If you’ve come on Liberty, you’ll see RoosRoast, best coffee source in town, cooler location is on Rosewood, south of town (8). Also on Liberty: Kilwin’s ice cream. Washington is one block north. For a break from food, drink and M-gear, check out Sam’s, on Liberty between 5th and 4th,across from the post office. When my hippie gear from college days goes all threadbare and shrunk, I know I can get faithful replacements at Sam’s. I’d love the place even if the former owner wasn’t a sometime patient of mine and his son the genius who designed and rebuilt my house 10 years ago. Onto Main, there are several good places: Pretzel Bell, right on corner of Main and Liberty, owned by a bunch of ex-UM footballers with the support of the Grizzly Peak folks (great collection of M memorabilia inside); Black Pearl, right next to the Ark, more of a cocktail place, Jolly Pumpkin, which has rooftop seating and original beers. There’s good eats to be had up and down Main, but the really good stuff is a few blocks westward, by Mark’s Carts, which is a rotating bunch of interesting food carts. And just south of Mark’s Carts, behind the Home and Garden store, is Bill’s Beer Garden. Wonderful place, good selection, but turns into a meet market for millennials in the evenings.
If you look across from Bill’s, you’re within eyeshot of the two most iconic eateries in Ann Arbor. That shiny metal diner is the Fleetwood, which has fed many the last meal of early morning generations of Ann Arbor carousers. Recommended: “hippie hash”, chili cheese fries. And just to the west, across First, is the new home of Crazy Jim’s Blimpyburger. Commander Cody’s Museum of Modern Art Award Winning video “Two triple cheese side order of fries” was inspired by Krazy Jim’s. I post it here to serve as sufficient intro to this place (9). Krazy Jim’s even got a visit from Guy Fieri and the Diners, Drive Ins and Dives crew (10). Other media have visitied, including Dine in the D from Detroit’s channel 4 (11). Some of us AA old timers are a little concerned for the fate of these icons, as the buildings housing them are among the acquisitions made by Dr. Reza Rahmani, of TV lasik surgery fame, who has been snatching up downtown AA real estate for the past 7 years (12).
With a new owner comes the need exists to bring the building up to code, which can be expensive, which can be handled by ejecting the “dirty” operation and replacing it with a simpler, cleaner one, like a cute little gift shop. So far, he’s chosen to keep the businesses intact.
And down from here is another ice cream place. New. Pretty good. Blank Slate Creamery, in a house corner of Liberty and First, was judged by TripAdvisor as the best of AA’s 21 ice cream shops (13). If you’re this far out on Liberty, you can walk out a few more blocks to check out the whole farm-to-table thing. If you can’t make Farmer’s Market (Wednesday and Saturday AMs), check out Argus Farm Stop (14). They also have a coffee shop and great pastries. Worth it just to catch the freakshow Ann Arborites and see how much they’ll pay for green stuff if it’s “special”. That said, we’re friends with the owners, a young couple who got their start selling RoosRoast coffee, and are happy for their success.
So, my wife says to hell with TripAdvisor and implores me to tell you of the Washtenaw Dairy (15). A little again south and west of town, probably too far for a walk. They do have 70 plus years on Blank Slate, and the loyalties of tens of thousands of Ann Arborites who have going there for special ice cream. Donuts are outstanding, too. They don’t make their own stuff anymore, but what they purvey is varied and good, and comes in ample portions.
Which leaves us with “non-contiguous attractions”
Keeps the student riff-raff down that you have to drive to Wolverine State Brewing (16). Liberty to Stadium. South on Stadium, look for the sign on the right calling you to pull in in front of what used to be Ace Hardware (maybe a bicycle shop now). If you’ve gone to Pauline, you’ve gone too far. Best beer around, good food too. The outdoor seating is just some metal tables on the edge of a parking lot, but everyone still seems to be having a good time.
Finally, it’s time to trod on hallowed ground. You can’t get inside Michigan Stadium (corner of Main and Stadium) without a ticket any more, but you can walk the perimeter and see the tops of the scoreboards. Up over to State and almost to Hoover, there’s Schembechler Hall, nerve center for M Football, home of Jim Harbaugh’s office. A renegade athletic department built the place in the 80s without consulting the University architecture advisors. To them the resultant building, which featured walls angling out from the entrance that looked like the most welcoming pair of spread legs you’d care to see, was beneath University standards. You have to wonder how many a recruit was subliminally seduced by the image. “Renovations” over the past 2-3 years have covered up this unique characteristic. But out front stands a statue of Bo and just inside is the Football Museum http://www.mgoblue.com/fanzone/towsley-museum.html. Open 9-4 M , Th, F and on game days.
If you really want to go all “hallowed ground”, you can haul yourself over to the cemetery corner of Observatory and Geddes, by Stockwell. There, right in a walkable row, are the graves of Bo, Fielding H. Yost and Bob Ufer (former U-M track star and hyperenthusiastic Michigan football broadcaster ’45 –‘81). Since the early 90s, a local fan has convened the “grave walk” the Tuesday before the Ohio State game. We start at Burton tower and walk over the bridge to the cemetery. I went on my first one last year, which was pretty memorable as Harbaugh and dad joined us while Jim cracked a buckeye on Bo’s headstone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz9oSk82hmU.
Where can you go from there? Well, you could stop at XXXX Harbal for good beer and music, a smokin’ babe (for 57) plus the best view in the city. You’re welcome anytime (734-XXX-XXXX or XXXX@umich.edu).
Bob Ike
UM BS ‘74
UM MS ‘75
UM postdoc fellow ’83-5
UM faculty ’85 – ????
Barwis Method victim 2/16 – present
references
- M facilities and operations. LOGISTICS, TRANSORTATION & PARKING. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. Maps. https://ltp.umich.edu/maps/
2. Dick Siegal. Angelo’s. wmv. YouTube 1/31/12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb1ZbFCjWHQ
3. M. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. https://lsa.umich.edu/ummnh
4. Old School: Ingalls Mall fountain sculpture. University Record 3/24/14. Old School: Ingalls Mall fountain sculpture
5. Glenn A:. The Battle of Ann Arbor June16-20, 1969. Ann Arbor Chronicle 6/16/09. https://annarborchronicle.com/2009/06/16/the-battle-of-ann-arbor-june-16-20-1969/index.html
6. M. MICHIGAN LAW. Michigan Law Architecture. The Timeless Law Quadrangle. https://michigan.law.umich.edu/quick-links/about-michigan-law/michigan-law-architecture.
7. Facebook. Dominick’s. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominicks/117498354935062
8. RoosRoast Coffee. https://roosroast.com.
9. Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries – Commander Cody. YouTube 5/2/13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Cvg5VCpT4
10. Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger | Food Network. YouTube 5/27/09. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCr8WX61FAc
11. Dine in the D: Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. YouTube 11/8/19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PtZbPtkvK8
12. Dunn P. Eye doctor’s growing Ann Arbor holdings raise concerns. Detroit News 6/1/15. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/real-estate/2015/06/01/eye-doctors-growing-ann-arbor-holdings-raise-concerns/28338177/
13. Tripadvisor. Blank Slate Creamery. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g29556-d7110233-Reviews-Blank_Slate_Creamery-Ann_Arbor_Michigan.html
14. Argus Farm Stop. Our future is local. https://www.argusfarmstop.com/
15. Washtenaw Dairy. https://washtenawdairy.com/
16. Wolverine State Brewing Company. https://www.wolverinebeer.com/
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