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November 3, 2025 13 mins
Before it was “110 Munson Ave” The site used to be addressed as 1504 E. Front Street in Traverse City. Back then it was part of the old fast food strip east of downtown. At some point in the early 1990s, that section was renumbered/reassigned and the same building became 110 Munson Ave (Munson Ave and E. Front basically merge/split in that corridor).  So: same physical spot, two different street numbers over time. The business history, oldest to newest Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips (late 1970s / very early 1980s) One of the classic British-style fried fish & chips chains. The Traverse City location was listed at 1504 E. Front St., which is the same building that later became 110 Munson Ave.  Arthur Treacher’s expanded hard in the ‘70s/early ‘80s and then started fading nationally in the mid-’80s. The Traverse City shop was part of that early wave.  Burger Square (≈1981–1984) After Arthur Treacher’s left, the spot became Burger Square around 1981. Locals describe Burger Square as a slider/burger place, kind of White Castle-ish. It only lasted a few years, into the mid-1980s.  Dairy Queen (mid-1980s to early 1990s) After Burger Square, the same building turned into a Dairy Queen. Sources say that Dairy Queen ran there through the late ’80s and very early ’90s, then closed/relocated.  This is also the point where the address shifts: that old DQ at 1504 E. Front is later referred to as 110 Munson Ave.  Schlotzsky’s Deli (early 1990s) In the early ’90s, after Dairy Queen, the building became a Schlotzsky’s Deli (the Austin-style sandwich chain). That didn’t last super long; by the mid/late ’90s it had flipped again.  Luigi’s Pizzeria & Café (mid/late 1990s into 2000s) Next up was Luigi’s Pizzeria & Café, doing pizzas, pasta, sandwiches. Luigi’s shows up in business directories at 110 Munson Ave and is tied to the Gutowski family locally. One listing says Luigi’s (at that address) dates back to the 2000s and had a handful of employees.  A note from the owners suggests this Munson Ave location eventually closed around the late 2000s/very early 2010s.  Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders (late 1990s / 2000s era overlap) The same family (Valentine “Billy” and Linda Gutowski) also operated Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders in Traverse City. Mancino’s is described as their independent, mom-and-pop pizza/grinder shops that started in the area in the 1990s and expanded to multiple Traverse City locations.  Mancino’s is specifically listed at 110 Munson Ave in older directories, and some maps still show “Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders” or “Gutowski Restaurants” tied to that address even after it was gone.  Over time, the Gutowskis rebranded/relocated the Mancino’s/“bread nuggets” operation to other Traverse City spots (Chum’s Corner, West Bayshore, etc.), and the Munson Ave shop closed.  That’sa Pizza (2010s–2020) After Mancino’s/Luigi’s, the building housed That’sa Pizza, a long-running Traverse City pizza brand that traces back to 1981.  That’sa Pizza ran takeout/delivery from 110 Munson Ave through the 2010s. By early 2021 the Munson Ave location had shut down; That’sa Pizza continues today at other Traverse City locations (Long Lake Rd, Hammond Rd, Acme/Williamsburg), but not at 110 Munson.  Jersey Mike’s Subs (2021–present) In 2021, a Jersey Mike’s Subs franchise moved in. Local business news in February/March 2021 said Jersey Mike’s would open in the “former That’sa Pizza space” at 110 Munson Ave, targeting a late-March grand opening.  Jersey Mike’s is still the current tenant, and their official store listing shows the address as 110 Munson Ave, Traverse City, MI 49686, phone (231) 421-1379, open daily.  Quick summary timeline Late ’70s / early ’80s: Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey. Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. Whatever
the case may be, this is Mike, and
this is Mike Dells World number
409.
And I emphasize the word four
because
the last couple episodes, I've introduced it as
500 and whatever, and, I don't know how

(00:20):
I got my numbering off. But, anyway, this
is 409.
Yesterday's episode was 408,
and the one before that was 407.
So I have no idea where that brain
fart came from.
Anyway, I just wanted to correct that.

(00:44):
And as you see, I'm playing with the,
roadcast
road caster
pro two.
So I thought it's some sound effects. I'll
quit doing that.
I just thought it would be, interesting.
I need anyway,
we're talking about a particular building here in
Traverse City.
And to most people, it's probably not something

(01:06):
that would be interesting.
It's a fast food place. Currently,
it's a Jersey Mike's,
but
that building has
a bit of
history with me, and it has a bit
of history,
period.
It's amazing what you can find out if
you're you look into a certain address. So

(01:28):
this particular address,
currently
is 110
Munson Avenue in Traverse City.
But before
it was 110 Munson Avenue, the site used
to be addressed at
1504
East Front Street in Traverse City. They, we
kinda rearrange that whole area,

(01:52):
due to the college,
Northwestern Michigan College, which is just north of
this building,
right on US 31,
actually.
And, the college built a museum,
right there at that intersection,
and they put in a new road
that

(02:12):
was designated East Front Street. And then Munson
Avenue used to start a few miles up
the road,
and they extended it down to that intersection.
So that's why it got the new designation,
but it's right on
kind of the corner.
Not really a corner, it's a curve,
and then Front Street goes straight now

(02:35):
into the college campus.
Across the street was also a very important
building
slash
establishment
in my high school years.
It was the the Shadowland bar, and I
know that sounds crazy that a bar would
be a thing that I would remember from
high school, but they had a

(02:55):
video game arcade
called the electronic casino,
which was
built, you know, kind of in front of
the bar or beside the bar, you know,
kind of an extension of the bar.
And during the day, they would be open,
you know, for an arcade. You know, we
used to go in there and play video
games and that's kind of why this this

(03:16):
building I'm talking about that was,
Jersey Mike's
is important, but I'll get to that,
a little bit later.
And I'll tell you, doing the research on
this,
chat GBT really helped me out. Now, you
know, who knows whether it's
accurate or not, but it seems right.
So this building

(03:37):
started again at 1504
East Front Street,
and
it started out as an Arthur Treacher's Fish
and Chips.
And this was
in the late seventies, early eighties.
No exact dates, but
Arthur Treacher's is, I believe, still around

(04:00):
in very limited numbers,
but I don't remember that to be honest
with you. I knew it was something
before it was some of the things I
remember,
but
I don't specifically
remember Arthur Treacher's.
But in 1981,
they became an outfit called Burger Square.

(04:22):
And Burger Square was,
and this was from 1981
to 1984,
the whole time I was in high school.
And
the high school is just on the other
side of the college campus. So it's like
a half mile away, and at the time,
Traverse City Senior High, which is now called
Traverse City Central, because we have a second

(04:42):
high school now,
But Traverse City Senior High School had what
was known as an open campus,
and basically, you know, we could leave whenever
we wanted and come back whenever we wanted.
You know, they didn't
restrict us to stay at the school.
So at lunchtime,
we would go

(05:03):
across the college campus, which was, you know,
right next door
and go to kind of the fast food
row. There really wasn't a lot of fast
food there, but Burger Square was one of
them. The electronic casino was another one because
they had snacks and whatnot, and there was
a Papa J's pizza,
and I don't know, there was a couple

(05:24):
other things
around that we could easily walk to
for lunch. So that's what a lot of
us did, and some of us skipped school
and would play video games, for a couple
hours.
I never did that. Yeah. Right. Anyway,
so Burger Square, that that was the the
business the first business I remember in there,

(05:45):
but I knew it was something else before.
Of course, Arthur Treacher's,
but Burger Square, you know, they they were
kind of like think think of White Castle
or Crystal, you know, they they had the
little square burgers and I don't know. You
could get like three of them for a
buck or something like that. It was
I don't know what's going on with my

(06:05):
watch here.
It's vibrating.
Anyway,
burger square, you know, like I said, it
was like that. You get three burgers for
a dollar and a and a drink for
quarter or whatever it was. It was pretty
cheap. And they also had video games in
there, and they had one
in there. And I wish I could remember

(06:26):
the the name of the video game, but
I would play that and, you know, eat
my burgers and, you know, that was kind
of the lunch hangout.
And over time, they had a a content
a contest,
you know, who who could get the highest
score on this game and, you know, you'd
win lunch

(06:47):
and a t shirt and whatnot. And I
won it. Well, I didn't win it. I
got second place. So I got a t
shirt and lunch.
I don't know what first place was, but,
anyway,
Vanguard, I think it was called. I don't
remember.
It was,
yeah, one of those eighties video games. But,

(07:08):
anyway,
so that that was Burger Square.
And, like I said, it was definitely
a hangout during high school. Like I said,
it didn't last too long.
And then, after Burger Square got out of
there, the building was empty for quite a
while, I guess. And,

(07:28):
anyway,
burger or Dairy Queen Dairy Queen. There we
go. And it wasn't a full blown Dairy
Queen, you know, where they had burgers and
all that stuff. You know, there's two types
of burger or why do I keep saying
Burger King?
There's two types of Dairy Queens. There's the
Dairy Queen,
used to be called a Brazier store,

(07:51):
that would have burgers and
and stuff like that, and then there was
just the plain ice cream shop. And basically
this was a Dairy Queen ice cream shop.
It didn't have all the the burgers and
and all the other fast food that Dairy
Queen has.
In some stores, we have we still have
one here in Traverse City and it's strictly

(08:11):
a ice cream place. It's not a full
blown fast food place
like some of them.
But, they were in there, from the, you
know, mid eighties. So '84, '85
up till, you know, early nineties.
And
it was a you know, I I was
in the air force, so I really never

(08:34):
went there or anything like that. So I
was I was out of there by then.
And then
and I remember this right after I got
out of the air force in the early
nineties.
It was still Dairy Queen for a little
bit, and then
it turned into a Schlotzsky's

(08:55):
deli.
I had never heard of Schlotzsky's,
but it was, it was a Schlotzsky's deli.
And, anyway, I ate there a couple times.
It was okay.
I don't remember it super vividly because it
didn't really last very long. It was only
there
until,
you know,
like '94, '95. So it was only a

(09:17):
couple years I was home
while I was there.
Then it turned into a Luigi's
pizzeria and cafe,
and Luigi's was there for quite a while.
Luigi's was an offshoot of another pizza place
in town,
called Mancino's.

(09:38):
And, Mancino's
opened up this,
Luigi's
at that location, and it it hung out,
you know, probably for five, six years, and
then they switched it to a Mancino's. So
then it turned into a Mancino's.
And that was I believe about the time
that Shadowland got tore down and they reconfigured
that intersection and changed the the name to

(10:00):
Munson Avenue instead of Front Street. Front Street
by the way is the main drag through
Traverse City
and parts of it are part of US
31
and
M 37
and
a little further to the West M 72
even. So

(10:20):
it's multiple
roads at the same time. But, anyway, I
digress.
But Mancino's
was there
for,
you know, a few years,
not really
that long. And then, Mancino sort of got
rid of that location, and they got rid

(10:41):
of a bunch of locations. They're down to
one right now,
in Traverse City anyway. But, they're good. They
could good subs.
That was probably my favorite thing about them.
And then,
Mancino's moved out of there in 2010
and it became a Mancino or no, did
that could become. It's it became that's a

(11:02):
pizza.
That's a small chain around Traverse City.
And,
but, yeah, became laugh That's a Pizza
never really had anything to do with them.
So I don't really know much about it
and all that. And then in 2021,
it became a Jersey Mike's, and that's what

(11:23):
it is today. But it's the same building,
same kind of layout, you know, the colors
change and, you know, the the facade changes,
but it is definitely the same bones of
that building.
And like I said, it's still there. It's
Jersey Mike's. I or I ate at Jersey
Mike's one time and decided they are way

(11:43):
too proud of whatever seasoning that they
use, and I'm never gonna go there again.
That's just me.
You know, everybody likes their own thing,
but, you know, it's it it is silly,
that
I think about this building
because, you know, it's just a fast food
place. Who cares? Well, I did because, like

(12:05):
I said, it was
it was a spot that, you know, during
my high school years was
kinda my hangout,
You know, just like the state park in
Interlochen I talked about yesterday, it was also
a hangout, and it's still there, obviously.
And, of course, this building is still there.
And, yeah, I I I might do another

(12:27):
one of these. There's another building in town
that has a similar type of history,
that I'm not as connected to, but, might
be interesting. I don't know. We'll see. We
got a month here.
So this being the
third installment of the NAPOD promo run, I
think, or fourth.
I don't know.

(12:48):
I gotta look.
Yeah. So this one,
is for the third. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
That's it. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got
it. Got it. Got it.
Anyway,
that's,
that's what I,
gotta have for today.
Like I said,
110 Munson Avenue, Traverse City.

(13:09):
And,
yeah, tomorrow, I think I might do
a sound seeing tour.
Remember those from way back?
I used to, record from the car and
or walking
or,
you know, at some sort of an event.
Well, I think I'm just gonna do a
driving one. Tomorrow, I,

(13:31):
I have to make a trip out to
Interlochen, and maybe on the way back, I'll,
do a sound seeing tour.
See see what that comes,
comes to. Otherwise,
everybody have a good day. Hopefully,
we'll talk to you tomorrow.
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