Author talk with Michael Hauser
Barnes and Noble – Rivertown Crossings Mall
Dec. 13, 1 p.m.
barnesandnoble.com, (616) 531-1825
The holiday season is upon us, and many in West Michigan have undoubtedly joined in the mad scramble to find the perfect gifts of 2014. Were this 1950 however, all that time spent browsing Amazon in our underwear or road-raging out on 28th Street would have instead been spent downtown Grand Rapids, where retail once reigned supreme.
Millennials in this city are used to a downtown that thrives on dining, entertainment, arts, culture and of course – beer. Older generations though, remember a time when shopping establishments dominated the landscape and retail powerhouses like Steketee’s, Herpolsheimer’s, Herkner’s and Wurzburg’s were the city center’s main attractions.
“That was back in a day when department stores were all things to all people, before you had specialty retailers,” said Michael Hauser, co-author of 20th Century Retailing in Downtown Grand Rapids, a new book that tells the story of downtown’s retail heyday through a meticulously researched and assembled collection of historical photographs. “The downtown stores were much more complete back then.”
The book is far more than an exercise in the kind of ‘back in my day’ narrative that millenials love to hate. Hauser and co-author Marianne Weldon scoured the archival collections of the Grand Rapids Public Library and the Grand Rapids Public Museum to uncover photographs that captured not just the places and people of a bygone era, but a sense of energy, excitement and community that mirrors the present-day atmosphere of downtown.
“After going downtown with my parents and eventually taking the bus down on my own and filling my head with all of the sights and the sounds, I just became addicted to it – the people, the architecture, the neon,” Hauser said.
As a college student, Hauser worked at Steketee’s and lived in the Heritage Hill neighborhood. After graduation, he took a job with Herpolsheimer’s and eventually rose to managerial level. He quickly developed a strong bond with others who lived and worked in the downtown area.
“It was a total community,” Hauser said. “I’d never be able to experience that anywhere else probably.
As the 20th century progressed, however, downtown retail slowly waned from existence. In the mid sixties into the early seventies, the major department stores opened branches elsewhere and both Eastbrook and Woodland malls opened up, ushering in a new era of retail in West Michigan. Hauser remembers the heartbreak he felt at seeing downtown Grand Rapids become a shell of its former self.
“It was very sad to see so many empty storefronts and less people working there,” he said.
But that special time in Grand Rapids’ history lives on, both in the photographs in Hauser’s book and in the memories of people for whom these stores provided not just material things, but the joy of living and connecting with one another.
Now, downtown Grand Rapids is again filled with energy and riding high on a wave of momentum. It looks different; there are new buildings, new technologies, and new people. What remains, however, is the thirst for experiences that bring us together and compel us to keep moving forward.
Other Literary Events
Write On Writers Group
Kazoo Books – Parkview location
Mondays, 9:30-11 a.m.
kazoobooks.com, (269) 553-6506
If you’re looking to get a little more serious with your writing, or if you have trouble staying focused when working on your own, a writers group can be a great resource to take advantage of. Kazoo Books’ Write On writers group brings budding fiction writers together every Monday to exchange ideas and offer one another support, feedback and guidance.
Reading the Great Lakes
Grand Rapids Public Library – Main Branch
Dec. 4, 7 p.m.
grpl.org, (616) 988-5400
This monthly book club explores mystery, history, fiction and non-fiction titles that have some kind of tie-in to the Great Lakes region. This month’s selection is Fordlandia by Greg Grandin, a fascinating true story of Henry Ford’s failed attempt to recreate small-town America in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon in the late 1920s.
Local Author Signing with Tobin Buhk
Barnes and Noble - Woodland Mall
Dec. 6, 4 p.m.
barnesandnoble.com, (616) 940-0820
To give you an idea of Tobin Buhk’s commitment to the true crime genre, the author volunteered in a county morgue and observed the chief medical examiner grapple with forensic mysteries to research his first book, Cause of Death. Buhk has since published five more titles that reflect his love of history and fascination with the dark side of humanity.
