Often forgotten because it’s not on Main Street, the Firefly Club in Ann Arbor is home to many excellent local jazz artists…including some former teacher and peers of mine!
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I love architecture. Most notibly in the D’. My favorite is Albert Kahn. Guess that’s why I reside in the Kales. Well, for those who whould like to own a landmark downtown, one is up for grabs. The GAR Building at Call and Grand River is up for sale.
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Fuzzy over at Chicago Metblogs did a post on Chicago’s site today about Toynbee Tiles, which have been spotted again recently in the Windy City.

Before I read Fuzzy’s post and read this NPR article from Saturday, I wasn’t familiar with the license plate-size tiles that have shown up in the asphalt of several US cities including Detroit and three South American cities, but I feel like I have a faint memory of coming across one while downtown and thinking, “What on Earth is that?” and then just dismissing it as street art.

Has anyone seen any Toynbee Tiles around town lately? Apparently they get paved over quite often.

Minimalistfan on Flickr has pictures of the Detroit tiles – uploaded and taken in May 2005, but he credits them to someone else.
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Off to the ball game. It is so very exciting that we’re in the Playoffs. I am of course having a slight moral dilemma. Being a Toronto girl, born and raised, I am not quite sure if I should stand by my Jays or cheer for my Tigers. I will keep my nationalistic instinct quiet for fear of being pelted with Tiger tails. Also, I have been fortunate to see the Jays win the World Series during Toronto’s comeback, and I hope to be fortunate to see Detroit during hers. I wonder if Windsor people identify more with the Toronto Blue Jays or more with the Detroit Tigers . . .

The Campus Martius webcam has been down for approx. a week. Where has it gone and when will it return to keep us bored people entertained?

I’ve always wanted to go to Cuba. I love their music. The beaches and hotels are gorgeous and, hey, what about all those cars from the fifties? Talk about a dream cruise. Well, now you can experience a little bit of Cuba right here in the D’.
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Being a geek, I get a kick out of checking out the local Bell Telephone central offices (COs), most which were built in AT&T divestiture days (pre 1984). This site has some cool pictures of the local COs.

Ma Bell used to build 3-4 story buildings, usually very ornate, to house their switching equipment. Nowadays, the telephone switches are all digital and take up very little space. Back in the 1920s-1980s the switching was done by electromechanical switches usually several stories high. When you would make a call, the machine would connect your circuit much like when they had an operator – by physically connecting things together. The arms of the machine would slide up and down to where your slot was and connect your call. An old AT&T employee once told me a story of the Birmingham CO in 1968 after the Tigers won the Series how the groud outside actually shook from the switches moving so much.
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Hello, Autumn

wow, it’s incredible to believe that it’s been almost two decades since this town has experienced the baseball playoffs, but finally, the Tigers have made the post-season… i guess we’ve known for a while that they’d make it, but it’s still something worth celebrating considering the tragedy that has been TIgers baseball the last few years…

so how far are we gonna go??? what will be acceptable??? i think i’d be a little disappointed if we didn’t make it past the first playoff series… then again, after 19 years, i can’t really complain…

You know I am into it here. I live the D’, I breath it. I embrace it. Anything to make it better, count me in, k? Well yet another group of visionaries have joined the project. The 22 member Entertainment District Association.
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