Part 1 – Downtown Traverse City – Then and Now

Link to Stacy's video in 1984:  https://www.c-span.org/program/interview/staceys-restaurant/93196   In this episode of "Mike Dell's World," titled "A Nostalgic Stroll Through Traverse City," host Mike Dell introduces the topic of downtown Traverse City, emphasizing a nostalgic look back at its history rather than focusing solely on the present. Mike begins by acknowledging the show's date and hinting at an initial plan to discuss November in Traverse City, but decides instead to dive into the broader topic of the downtown area across time. He sets the scene, noting the arrival of colder weather and the first snowfall, which influences his nostalgic mood. Moving into descriptions, he outlines what constitutes downtown Traverse City from Pine Street to the parkway, mentioning key landmarks. He describes the historic Fifth Third Bank building, originally the Traverse City State Bank, highlighting its iconic dome and heated sidewalks which prevent snow from accumulating. Mike reflects on his childhood memories of the bank's motorized revolving door. Next, he discusses the Park Place Hotel, which dates back to 1930, remarking on its lighthouse beacon. He shares memories of the City Opera House, built in 1890, mentioning various performances he has attended there, including a local gala and shows by notable entertainers. Mike recounts the transformation of several buildings over the years, such as the former True Value Hardware store, which was affected by fire and later revamped into storefronts. He praises Traverse City for having a thriving downtown despite the convenience of big box stores outside the city. The conversation continues to the Whiting Hotel, recalling its reputation as a cheap stay in the 70s and 80s and its current transformation into upscale apartments. He discusses the Hannah Lay building, emphasizing its historical significance related to lumber baron Perry Hannah, and recalls various stores that were once located there. Mike also brings up the Michigan and State theaters, noting their similar designs and contrasting them with the local roller skating rink that used to be underneath the Michigan theater. He reminisces about his childhood experiences there and the eventual transformations of both theaters into new spaces. He describes the rise of Horizon Books, which evolved from a small store to a large community-centered bookstore featuring a café, music events, and book signings, emphasizing its importance in the downtown culture. As he moves forward, Mike reflects on his family's past with Doll's Restaurant, once owned by his grandfather, and highlights both the uniqueness and character of various now-defunct eateries, including Stacy's and the Beanpot. The episode concludes with Mike discussing local radio history and the significance of old establishments like Murray's Boats and Motors. He emphasizes the growth and change within Traverse City's downtown while sharing personal anecdotes and fond memories from his life. Ultimately, Mike notes that he intends to continue the exploration of downtown Traverse City in a subsequent episode, specifically focusing on Union Street and the surrounding area. He wraps up this episode at the twenty-eight-minute mark, indicating a follow-up discussion is imminent.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mike Delve's world number 411.
I guess that'd be the information.
Anyway,
4114
November fifth 2025.
I I think it's time for my dove
world.

(00:40):
Ah, there it is.
And, yes, there it is. And today, I'm
gonna talk about downtown,
downtown Traverse City, to be exact.
You know, there's people from all over the
world that listen to this, but,
you know, I was gonna make this about
November up north.
And
the more I think about it, I I

(01:00):
think I just wanna make it just about
up north, whether November or not.
And, certainly,
November downtown Traverse City is kinda cool. In
fact, it's a little too cold. We're supposed
to have our first snow today, so I
did instead of walking around down there and
talking about stuff that's going on currently,

(01:21):
I'm gonna kinda go back in time and
do some, some more nostalgia.
Yeah, I know. It's a disease, but
we're gonna do it anyway.
So
basically
Traverse City's downtown, it's one of those typical
Midwest downtowns,
you know, three to five story buildings.

(01:42):
We do have one ten story building that's
a block off of what I consider downtown.
Downtown basically
is
what I consider downtown
is from,
Pine Street,
on the West Side,
down Front Street
to the parkway.

(02:02):
Those that are are local know where the
old Holiday Inn used to be
and Grandview Parkway.
And basically from the open space,
which I'll talk about later,
all the way up till eight on Union
Street, which goes, from north to south. So
just some of the stuff that that used

(02:23):
to be there and some of the stuff
that's there now, what it is now,
you know, kind of a historic
sort of thing and in no particular order.
I I sort of wrote down some bullet
points here, but, I probably
meander a little bit like I normally do.
So

(02:44):
here we go.
One of the most
landmark y buildings
downtown
other than, say, the Park Place Hotel, which
is the 10 story building on State Street,
but on Front Street is probably the currently
Fifth Third Bank building.
It was originally built in the late eighteen

(03:06):
hundreds, I believe,
as the Traverse City State Bank.
It's one of those iconic
domed clock towers and that clock has been
rebuilt and remodeled I don't know two three
times, but still has kind of that same
old look. You've probably seen a building like
it with a clock tower on the corner.

(03:28):
One of the cool things about this building,
and this has been that way,
I don't know, as long as I can
remember,
but the sidewalk out in front of the
bank all the way around the corner for,
you know, probably half a block in two
different directions
is heated, and I believe it's from the
boiler

(03:48):
of the bank building,
and it's steam.
And, what's cool about that or warm about
that is
no snow builds up there.
So
you can you can imagine what that looks
like when it's really snowing.
There's steam coming off of it, but, an
old building, it's still for Third Bank

(04:09):
and you can still go in. There's a
regular lobby, and it's kind of the old
style bank lobby, and
it's, you know, and the cool thing us
kids thought about it back in the seventies
was it had a,
one of those revolving doors, and it was
one of those that was motorized, so it
was constantly moving.
I don't even think they have that there.
I I was just by there about

(04:32):
an hour ago,
and I forgot to look to see if
that revolving door is still there or the
the round door.
But,
it may be. It might not. I don't
know.
But, it's probably the tallest,
building. Well,
back then, it was the tallest building. There's
a I think there's a couple six story
buildings now

(04:53):
on Front Street,
or just off of Front Street,
but
as of back then, it was it was
definitely one of the taller buildings.
There was, like I said, there was one
other bank building that was six
stories on the other end of Front Street.
And then, of course, again, the Park Place,
which was,

(05:13):
you said, a a block,
south of downtown.
Ironically, the Park Place had a,
or still does, has a beacon on it
like a lighthouse,
and it was kind of used for that
purpose.
You know, back in the day, it was
built in 1930 or at least finished off
in 1930
it was something else before that but

(05:35):
it's still a hotel and it still has
that old nineteen thirties building look to it
so it's pretty cool.
Anyway going on down Front Street and we're
kind of going west to east
On the south side,
just past Union Street is
a building. I forget what the name of

(05:55):
the building was, but I remember it as
the old True Value Hardware store back in
the sixties, seventies, eighties.
Right there at the on the bottom, it
was a three story building, so it had
offices, I think, on the Second Floor and
apartments up on the Third Floor,
something like that. And that building caught on
fire.
A lot of fires downtown, but,

(06:17):
that one caught on fire and just sort
of gutted it, and then, they revamped it.
And I don't really remember what's there right
now, but, you know, just regular storefronts, little
stores, that you would find in a typical
downtown.
Traverse City is,
lucky in the fact that the downtown is
thriving, so there's not a lot of empty

(06:38):
real estate.
There's a little construction going on, but
it's,
you know, it's it's holding up pretty well
for a downtown.
I don't go down there all that much
anymore and simply because, you know, it's a
lot easier to go to the big box
stores outside of town and all that. I'm
sure a lot of people are that way,
but you know, we're also a touristy town

(06:59):
so they get lots of business and
we do go down there. One of the
other one of the places we go to,
I wouldn't say frequently, but a couple three
times a year is the City Opera House
and
the City Opera House was built in 1890.
And
back in the day, they had vaudeville shows

(07:20):
and all kinds of things going on in
the Opera House. Nowadays, they have little mini,
you know, smaller concerts.
I don't know. Kathy and I went there
and saw Tyrus.
Tyrus is a a comedian slash wrestler slash
Fox News guy
and from the great Greg Gutzfeld show,

(07:42):
and, we saw his tour in there. That
was cool.
Our local
community theater
had their gala there, and, of course, we
support the the local theater. So we
went there for the gala.
So that that was cool.
And we've been to a few other concerts
there. We saw the

(08:03):
Ukulele
Orchestra of Great Britain.
I know that sounds funny. Look them up
on YouTube though. They are they are funny
and and quite talented
musicians
considering they're using ukuleles.
But, that that's been restored and
and, kept up, and and it's, you know,
it's just a neat old theater.

(08:25):
You know, it's got
the balcony. It's got a, you know, got
the the,
I guess, sky boxes. I don't know what
what do you call those little outcroppings
where, you know, two or three people can
sit.
Has a few of those and has the
big ivory looking
columns in it and everything. So it's a,
you know, like an old opera house. I

(08:47):
guess that's the best
best way to describe it. The Whiting Hotel
is also a little further down,
or was.
I don't believe it's a hotel anymore. I
think it's
a fancy yuppie apartments. But back in the
day,
yuppie.
Yuppie a word anymore?
I don't know. But, now, you know, back

(09:10):
in the day, it was, you know, just
a cheap hotel, and, I mean, cheap, cheap
hotel.
A lot of
down and out people, in the seventies and
eighties lived in there. You know, they it
was still kept up pretty nicely and, you
know, it was a it was a good
place for that purpose,

(09:30):
but it was, it's definitely a lot fancier
now if it even exists.
Like I said, I heard that they had
remodeled it, and it was more of a,
you know, downtown apartment living.
And, there's probably nothing cheap about it now,
but,
yeah, the good old Whiting Hotel.

(09:51):
Across the street on the, on the north
side
is the old Hannah Lay building, and,
Perry Hannah
was kind of the father of Traverse City
in the late eighteen hundreds,
and he was a lumber baron. He built
a really big house. A friend of mine
owns that, huge house. It's a funeral home

(10:14):
now, but
the,
I forget what they they they call it
the Hannah House, but,
they also it's a funeral home,
the Reynolds Youngkopf
funeral home.
And it's, you know, they've kept it
restored and, you know, it's been updated a
few times, but, still very

(10:36):
cool old Victorian era house.
But the main store, the big store, the
it was a
three story,
almost block long
department store. You know, like a
you know, they had a department for men
and a department for women and department for

(10:56):
sports and a apartment for this and that,
and the other thing all under one big
roof.
And that lasted,
I wanna say,
you know, it was before my time when
they closed down, but
then then it became the top two floors
became office suites and, there was a a
bank,
offices in there and all this. And then

(11:18):
the bottom row of
of spaces were, you know, just regular storefronts.
I think there was three or four of
them. The thing I remember, there was a
couple of stores in that building,
on the on the Ground Floor,
Bill Maher Sports, and they're long gone.
And Montgomery Ward's catalog store was there and

(11:39):
they you know they had a like a
few appliances or something and and then they
just take you know take and deliver
catalog orders there kind of like Sears
before they you know, had the big store
in Traverse City at the mall.
Sears also had a store. I don't think
it was on Front Street. It might have
been,

(12:00):
you know, their catalog store.
But, not
not not the same as, you know, a
big Sears store that they would have, at
a mall or a stand alone
out out of town.
But, then there was another department stores, you
know, quite smaller,
but Milliken's

(12:21):
and Milliken's was I think they might have
had two or three stores in smaller towns
around Northern Northern and, in Central Michigan. I
think one of their stores was in
Clare, and, I think they had one in
Cadillac,
so that would be, you know, south of
here.

(12:41):
But, Milliken's,
been around for,
I don't know, since probably the eighteen hundreds
as well or early nineteen hundreds.
And
they got bought out, by another chain and
closed down sometime in the nineties.
But, the Milliken family,
our governor from, I wanna say, 1969

(13:07):
to almost 1980.
Bill Milliken,
he was part of that family.
And really the only thing I remember about
it is my grandmother and my mom would
take us kids when we were really little,
you know, four or five, six years old,
something like that,
shopping, you know, and they would shop at
Milliken's. You know, the women would get all

(13:28):
their clothes and stuff there, and they had,
you know, kids department, so we got some
of our clothes there.
And then we always got to go to
the tea room for lunch, and
it was kind of up on the Second
Floor and,
like, a balcony overlooking the store.
And the thing I remember about that weird

(13:48):
things you remember when you're a kid. But
I remember the, hot roast beef sandwich
at the Milliken's tea room.
It was, well, as I remember it really
good, but,
you know.
There was another restaurant downtown,
I don't remember exactly what building it was
in,

(14:09):
called Stacy's, and
this lady
ran that place and the unique part of
that was two things,
No politics. So you could, sit there and
talk and
and, you know, get all your buddies around
and drink coffee and, you know, whatever.
All you wanted, but no politics. And the

(14:29):
other thing was you had to ring yourself
out on the cash register.
She trusted everybody, and you just go up
and, you know, run the cash register yourself.
That saved her from, getting
a getting a
cashier. Yeah. There we go. Jeez.

(14:50):
I'm kinda just
theater the mind going on here.
So what do they call it? A mind
dump?
Another interesting thing about Downtown Traverse City is
we had two theaters,
and they were basically mirror images of each
other,
one block apart,
one, on the east

(15:11):
eastern block between Union
or western block between Union and
Park
Street. And then, the State Theater, which was
be it was about the same spot on
the block, but one block to the east
between
Union and,

(15:34):
or maybe it was no. It was,
Michigan was between Union and Cask, and then
between Cask and Park was a State street
or state theater.
The the Michigan theater
had a vertical sign because there's more letters
in Michigan, but it was one of those
old style thirties, forties
vintage theaters, you know, the red

(15:55):
marble looking stuff. I don't know what it
was, but red
blocks and, you know, really large blocks and,
you know, the neon and the flashy lights
and the overhang and a little pull off
on the street so you could, you know,
get dropped off right under the overhang and
had the marquee kind of sticking out into
the street, and they they said they looked

(16:17):
identical except for this state had a vertical
sign and the or a horizontal sign and
the Michigan had a vertical sign,
but, again, they were mirror images. Underneath the
Michigan Theater was a roller skating rink called
the Fun Factory,
and that was, you know, in the seventies

(16:37):
and eighties. And it was a small, you
know,
indoor roller rink, low ceilings,
but, you know, back in the seventies, that
was cool. I remember
every time disco duck would come up, when
we were skating, you'd you'd
run run around,
squat down on your skates, and
I don't know. Maybe I'm aging myself here,

(16:59):
but
that was quite fun.
Rumor has it that is intact
still. It's been closed for probably thirty years
plus,
but from what I understand the, the floor
is still there. The the wooden floor from
the skating rink is still there and the
DJ booth is still there.

(17:20):
They were using it for, like, wedding receptions
and stuff for a while, but
from what I understand,
it's still there.
Of course, the Michigan Theater is no longer.
That got remodeled into kind of a
little mall
sort of space,
you know, two stories of little shops and

(17:40):
whatnot called Front Row Center.
I think it's been changed one of the
names been changed, but it's still there. There's
still a few things in there.
It's kind of cool.
The State Theater is still intact.
Michael Moore,
you know, that guy. He,

(18:03):
had a film festival here in Traverse City
for many years,
that has since gone defunct.
But, that
film festival
organization
owned
the State Theater. Now I think it they're
their own thing,
but it's a nonprofit.
And they play old movies in there, and
they play live events, you know, where they

(18:24):
stream live events in there. And
and it's it's a cool old theater. It
still looks like the nineteen thirties
vintage theater with the marquee and the flashy
lights and the posters on the outside and,
you know, so that that's quite a a
time capsule there.

(18:44):
They still have the ticket booth outside on
the sidewalk
and all that. Like I said, it's pretty
cool.
But, let's see. I've got my notes here.
Let's see. Horizon Books. Horizon Books wasn't that
big a deal when I was a kid.
It was a a small,
you know, one storefront,

(19:07):
little bookshop, and, you know, a little,
you know, a little family owned,
no big deal bookshop,
and
they were on the
South Side
Of Front Street and
across the street from them or nearly across
the street was the JC Penney building and

(19:28):
that was another you know full blown department
store, had a basement floor, a main floor,
and a and an upper floor.
So it was a rather large
space,
and, of course, JCPenney,
pulled out of downtown and moved out to
the the mall,
what we affectionately call the new mall.

(19:49):
Actually, they're still there for now,
although Macy's moved out of the mall, but
and Sears is long gone and all that.
But, anyhoo,
the the,
bookshop,
which everybody thought they were nuts,
And this was probably
twenty five, thirty years ago at least.
They,
moved across the street to

(20:11):
the JCPenney Building. And in the downstairs,
they
made a little, coffee shop cafe sort of
thing, and they'd have live music and book
greetings and book signings down there. And then,
you know, they just had the the, you
know, the run of this huge
building,
and it's still one of the best bookstores
around.

(20:32):
It's, it's really quite cool. And they were
going to close it down not too long
ago because the owners wanted to retire, and
I think the employees
took it over
or helped the owners, you know, keep it
running
so that, they could sort of retire. I
I don't know the full story on that,
but Horizon Books is still there

(20:53):
and it's kinda right next to the State
Theater. So there's kind of that vibe going
on down there of
of the old
the old thirties forties thing.
Something with some family connection
On
the north no. South side of

(21:16):
of front street, there's a building and it's
a it's a very
not very, but it's a unique looking building.
It's
it's got an upstairs and a downstairs, so
you have to go up a few
few stairs to get to the upper level
one and then you kind of go down
below the street level to the thing below.

(21:38):
Well my grandfather,
on my dad's side
had a restaurant there, Doll's restaurant
and
that was in the upper part with the
big
big and there's these big windows with you
know rounded tops on it, and the and
the building still looks the same.
It's been many things since that. This was

(21:59):
in the forties that grandpa had that restaurant,
and, you know, one of the funny things
about my grandpa is, he didn't believe you
should put ketchup on anything.
And, no, I don't like ketchup on anything
but pasties.
That's a whole another story.
But,
one time somebody, came in there and ordered
a steak and then wanted ketchup. My grandpa

(22:21):
threw them out,
But like I said, that was in the
in the forties, I think, shortly after World
War two that he had that restaurant.
I don't know how long it lasted, and
he really didn't get a whole lot of
history on it before he died or grandma
died.
But,
that was our family's claim to fame on

(22:42):
Front Street there.
Again, I mentioned Stacy's that was up the
street a little ways. It was kind of
a coffee breakfast thing.
There was another place called the Beanpot and
that was
kind of at the end of
Front Street on the East side
and it was, you know, a corner location.

(23:03):
I think it was on Park Street
maybe or you know might not even been
Park Street, but it was on that block.
And I just remember the bean pot having
like everything
that they sold was just really good. They
had Coney dogs, they had
of course bean soup was kind of their
claim to fame, but they just everything they

(23:24):
had in there was just awesome. This was
in the eighties and of course that's long
gone. I think it's a real estate office
now,
but
it was
definitely one of those
places that
was quite cool, I thought.
Anyway, I'm probably boring the hell out of
you, but, you know, I'm enjoying it. So
I guess that's what, what matters here. And

(23:46):
if I'm enjoying it, you might be enjoying
it.
And actually not technically in downtown, but damn
close was the Paul Bunyan well I guess
it's part of that stretch.
The Paul Bunyan building
and probably even the locals are going, what
are you talking about? Paul Bunyan building.

(24:06):
That's where WTCM
radio is. And,
back in the day, that was AM
fourteen hundred,
and then they switched to AM five eighty,
and I have an FM station one zero
three point five country station
and
that was all run out of this little

(24:27):
well, looks pretty little but it's a lot
bigger on the inside when you go in.
But
this little building, everybody
affectionately called it the Paul Bunyan building or
at least the guys on the radio did.
And,
the the people that own that,
or owned that started that back in the
day. The
Biederman,

(24:49):
the Biederman's. In fact,
Les Biederman, the the old man,
affectionately called him the old man. He was
a hangout at Stacy's
restaurant all the time, and he was a
reason for the no politics rule that,
that I forget what her name was. It
ran Stacy's. Her name wasn't Stacy.
She was a Hungarian lady and,

(25:10):
really a spitfire.
Look up
on YouTube. There is maybe I'll find it,
and I'll send you the video, or I'll
put the video in the show notes over
at mikedell.com
of,
this lady at Stacy's restaurant here in Traverse
City.
But,
anyway, the Bitterman's,

(25:31):
his son,
is now the the is running it. Actually,
I think somebody else is running it now,
and the son retired recently, but
it's still family owned. It's a it's a
locally owned radio station. It's not, you know,
a big conglomerate, but they've picked up other
stations.
It's called mid Midwest Broadcasting
is the name of the company now,

(25:53):
and they,
built a huge,
well, huge three story, big office building kinda
right next door to their building
called Radio Center.
And a lot of their other stations are
on the Top Floor of
Radio
Center. Although,
WTCM

(26:14):
AM FM and
WKLT,
the rock station,
is also in the Paul Bunyan Building and
then they have an oldies station and I
think a jazz station and a sports station
and and a classic country station and a
few other things that are up there at
the Top Floor of the Radio Center Building
and then the Bottom Floors are offices that

(26:36):
they rent out and storefronts on the Bottom
Floor and all that.
And kind of kitty corner across the road
from radio center,
at Park And Front
used to be Murray's Boats and Motors, and
it was right on the river. The the
river Boardman River kind of runs behind the
buildings there on the north side of Front

(26:58):
Street,
and there was a marina there,
called
Murray's Boats and Motors, and they sold,
I think, Mercury
outboards and boats and all that stuff.
Both my dad and my uncle worked there
as mechanics
back in the day,
way back in the day.

(27:18):
And
that
got torn down, and another radio guy
built another big building there. Another three story
building, and I think he he called that
broadcast
center.
But then,
before it was completely finished, he ran out
of money and somebody else bought it out,

(27:39):
and I don't know what the building's called
now. But on the bottom floor is a,
rather large credit union office or
credit union branch,
and then there's apartments and whatnot on the
upper floors. But
kinda interesting that, two radio titans, you know,
and I use the that term in lowercase,

(28:00):
in the area,
built those two big buildings downtown.
And I'm trying to think of what the
guy's name was that,
he he had the other
big radio station, w c c w no.
That wasn't it.
WLDR.
There we go. That's what it was.

(28:22):
He had that one and a few others
and and all that.
But, you know, so that was Front Street.
Let's see. I've been going twenty eight minutes.
Maybe tomorrow,
I'll pick up
on pick up on Union Street, so the
other part of downtown.
And, part of Union Street's called Old Town

(28:44):
for whatever reason. But, yeah, I think I'm
gonna call this one a podcast, and I'll
probably just hit stop and and record part
two here so I can take a day
off.
So standby for tomorrow. I'll, I'll have, the
Union Street part of Downtown Traverse City.