What the heck is an "Institute for Oddfellows?" An actual educational building or a just meeting place?
I am a little familiar with the IOOF, but I thought they were more of a lodge-oriented civic organization like the Elks or Moose. Are their meeting places called "institutes" perhaps?
But yeah, wow that's a great picture to see. I have never seen it like this before. The plaza is so wide there. Was there always parking there or were two streets joined?
Pretty sure the streets were joined, so the plaza isn't any "wider", really, it's just that it wasn't really a pedestrian plaza. All the buildings pictured save the one peeking out from the left are still there I'm pretty sure. We're basically just standing at the existing northwest corner of Albert and Ann looking northwest.
Then again, this picture was before my time, but the plaza is a rather recent addition.
This was when I was at MSU and I wouldn't call it a plaza then more like a wide sidewalk in the middle with parking a lane off Ann Street. The Small Planet was a true "hippy" vegetarian restaurant with pine wood tables and booths. When I was very broke I would have the steamed veggies and rice, for $2.00 you got this huge bowl of food. My family thought I was crazy to go somewhere they served no meat. It was the first time I had vegetables that were not overcooked!
Thanks for posting these photos, East Lansing had a wide variety of business, not just student-oriented eateries. Sometimes all those years I lived out east all of these places seemed like a dream, it is great to see these pictures that spark great memories.
Comments
The 1890 version of "Fix the damn roads!"
What the heck is an "Institute for Oddfellows?" An actual educational building or a just meeting place?
I am a little familiar with the IOOF, but I thought they were more of a lodge-oriented civic organization like the Elks or Moose. Are their meeting places called "institutes" perhaps?
I like that. we seem to be retro grading our roads
Wow, Ann Street Plaza has made quite an improvement since this shot.
I think they deleted and re-posted it. This link works for me,
But yeah, wow that's a great picture to see. I have never seen it like this before. The plaza is so wide there. Was there always parking there or were two streets joined?
Pretty sure the streets were joined, so the plaza isn't any "wider", really, it's just that it wasn't really a pedestrian plaza. All the buildings pictured save the one peeking out from the left are still there I'm pretty sure. We're basically just standing at the existing northwest corner of Albert and Ann looking northwest.
Then again, this picture was before my time, but the plaza is a rather recent addition.
This was when I was at MSU and I wouldn't call it a plaza then more like a wide sidewalk in the middle with parking a lane off Ann Street. The Small Planet was a true "hippy" vegetarian restaurant with pine wood tables and booths. When I was very broke I would have the steamed veggies and rice, for $2.00 you got this huge bowl of food. My family thought I was crazy to go somewhere they served no meat. It was the first time I had vegetables that were not overcooked!
The LSJ posted some great pictures of East Lansing history today,
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/life/2018/06/20/archives-remember-when-east-lansing-looked-like/697459002/
gbd they must be reading you because they included a picture of Small Planet Natural Grocery
From the city's twitter account:
Thanks for posting these photos, East Lansing had a wide variety of business, not just student-oriented eateries. Sometimes all those years I lived out east all of these places seemed like a dream, it is great to see these pictures that spark great memories.