Talking with a Michigan toymaker
Michigan craftsman Ron Nolan, 68, has been making children’s toys out of wood for 35 years. He was brought to our attention by the Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans, who praised not only his work, but his bone-dry sense of humor. Nolan, who lives up near Higgins Lake, says the extent of his training…
Heath Moerland: Music is a natural high
A 38-year-old Detroiter who grew up in Grand Rapids, Heath Moerland is a visual artist, musician, and entrepreneur. “My parents liked to jam records and there was MTV,” the plain-spoken Moerland says. He has the appearance and demeanor of a grown-up surfer. “There were pianos and a jukebox at my grandparents’ house and a drum…
Summer reading list: 13 new books by Michigan-based authors
It’s summertime, and that means we finally have to cash in on the old line we kept telling ourselves: “There’s so much I want to read, but I’ll wait until the summer.” You probably already have a lot on your plate, but why not load it up just a bit more? If you’re interested in…
The Detroit Wood Type Company keeps it real
Don Kilpatrick grew up in Salt Lake City, while Joe Benghauser grew up in Lansing. Kilpatrick is one of Signal Return’s founding members. “The printmaking community is a very supportive group of people, which makes it even more enjoyable to be a part of,” Benghauser says. The two started their innovative and labor-intensive print shop…
Murals in the Market set to return this fall with 50 new artworks
Local artists, Eastern Market brass, and festival organizers and sponsors have announced the return of the Murals in the Market art initiative. The upcoming event will feature live painting, tours, exhibitions, live music, and lectures as local and international artists paint up to 50 large murals within the Eastern Market area. The event runs September…
Free vending machines installed to combat Detroit book deserts
Detroit is often described by the absence of things: abandoned lots, food deserts, busses that never arrive, dreams that never come to fruition. And in some areas of the city, there’s another thing missing — books. To help get books into the hands of some of the children who need them most, JetBlue launched its…
Detroit Violin Co. brings personal touch to the orchestra business
For a quarter-century, McCourt’s Music has been regarded as one of metro Detroit’s go-to retail shops for school music. At the turn of the century, owner Dan McCourt and the company decided to break the company in two, upon realizing his shop was offering “two very distinctly separate businesses” — the band business, and the…
Detroit native returns home to open indoor cycling studio
Amina Daniels was 11 when she started her first business. It was a concession stand she manned during baseball games in Roseville, and the young entrepreneur handled everything from the inventory list to the cashbox. Now, the metro Detroit native is using her lifelong entrepreneurial spirit to bring the first contemporary indoor cycling studio to…
‘Love & Vodka’: A memoir from outside the comfort zone
Sure, you’ve probably been in love. But have you ever been so head over heels that you’d travel across the world for it? R.J. Fox, a metro Detroit writer, falls into that category: His quest for love is captured with colorful prose in his recently published memoir Love & Vodka. After meeting Katya, a Ukrainian…
Incubators help Michigan produce something it needs: Homegrown food businesses
Michigan is what you call an “agricultural diversity state.” It means we produce a lot of different fruits, grains, and vegetables. You name it, we grow it, second only to California, a state almost half again as big as the Wolverine State. An increasingly important dividend of that diversity is our shelf-stable food products. From…
Hatch Art launches crowdfunding campaign to restore Hamtramck Disneyland
A colorful medley of plastic horses, fan propellers, and other contraptions needs your help. It’s Hamtramck Disneyland, of course, the popular art installation by the late Ukrainian-born artist Dmytro Szylak that was recently sold to Hatch Art, a non-profit arts organization based in Hamtramck. About a month and a half ago, Hatch Art told MT…
Hudsonville ice cream: A 90-year Michigan tradition
For a company that’s successfully operated during three different centuries, Hudsonville has more than established a name for itself. With such a muggy, hot summer already beating down across metro Detroit, getting down on some delicious, local ice cream is a perfect way to fight the heat. So we caught up with CJ Ellens, who…
Eating our way through Michigan
The Detroit dining scene has certainly taken up the restaurant headlines as of late, what with the spattering of trendy, New American eateries taking hold across the city. Long before the Motor City began garnering attention, several other parts of the Mitten dominated the restaurant landscape. We offer you four prime foodie road trips in…
Straight outta Dearborn, Al Ameer is an American classic
When we think about classic Michigan food, our minds tend to wander to the obvious: the Coney dog, lake fish, pasties, Faygo. Chances are good, too, that Middle Eastern cuisine is on that list — particularly from Dearborn. In fact, it’s hard to think about the local dining scene without it. Truth is, not quite…
Leelanau Cellars has 90 acres of vineyards, waterfront tasting room
A four-and-a-half hour drive from Detroit, Leelanau — an Indian word meaning “delight of life” or “little piece of heaven” — isn’t just a place to get amazing wine, it’s a destination to get away from the city and take in the beautiful outdoors. Of course the wines, which you can purchase in the city…
Detroit’s Anthology Coffee is both roasting plant and tasting room
In case you hadn’t heard, Corktown’s Anthology Coffee is getting good buzz. Owner Josh Longsdorf of Detroit opened the doors to his unique shop that’s both roasting operation and tasting room inside PonyRide, an entrepreneurial incubator on Vermont Street, in 2012. “Business is good,” says Longsdorf, 35. “May, June, and July, believe it or not,…
Photographer Doug Coombe captures the soul of Detroit
“This city is awash with talent; my friends inspire me constantly,” says photographer Doug Coombe. A longtime Ann Arbor resident who grew up in Dearborn, his photos are vibrant in every sense of the term: color, subject matter, styling, frame, and tone. Whether action shots or portraits, his photos are alive, which suits Coombe, who’s…
