Photographic evidence of the old Michigan Ave porn shop

Remember how, a few days ago, we were reminiscing about the peep shows and glory holes of the old Michigan Avenue Bookstore, and how upset I was that I couldn’t find any photographic evidence of its existence online? Well, all of my bitching and complaining apparently paid off. I just received the following photograph (circa 1982) from former Ypsi City Council member Barry LaRue. Pretty cool, isn’t it? Now, if he could just get a higher-res version, so we could read the signs in the windows.

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32 Comments

  1. Posted October 14, 2018 at 8:31 pm | Permalink

  2. Posted October 14, 2018 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

    And I like the name Just Anne’s.

  3. iRobert
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 4:31 am | Permalink

    It’s interesting to note the similarity in appearance this sort of place had to that of a butcher shop.

  4. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:00 am | Permalink

    There is NO place for this in 2018!!!! Imagine having to explain this to children as they went and bought meat from the butcher. Disgusting. Keep Ypsilanti clean and family friendly! NO SEX INDUSTRY IN YPSILANTI. #CleanYpsi #Whitmer2018 #BlueWave2018

  5. Eel
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:17 am | Permalink

    A serious question: If the current owner of the building wanted to put an alpine ski lodge kind of thing over the front door, half covering the second story windows, would the Historic District Commission have to approve it, as there’s photographic proof that the building once had such a structure on it?

  6. Barry LaRue
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:19 pm | Permalink

    Eel,

    The “Alpine” overhang went on circa 1971 prior to the 1978 historic district ordinance.

  7. Jim
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:42 pm | Permalink

    The alpine overhang is the most obscene thing about this business. It’s amazing how much better downtown looks today than it did 40 years ago.

  8. Jcp2
    Posted October 16, 2018 at 8:27 pm | Permalink

    It’s a Merkin!

  9. Jean Henry
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 6:14 am | Permalink

    Concerned Michiganian— ! Imagine having to explain this to children as they went and bought meat from the butcher.’

    Imagine the horrors of having to explain sex to children?!?
    It’s not that hard. If they ask question you answer them honestly. Imagine how much better life in America would be if we weren’t taught to fear sex and didn’t feel uncomfortable with our sexuality and others’.

    It’s actually the most ‘natural’ thing about us. What does fearing the natural (and persistent) within do to us?

  10. Jcp2
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 6:38 am | Permalink

    It’s very American to be uncomfortable about sex, going back to the Puritans.

  11. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:31 am | Permalink

    Ypsilanti must be SAFE for everyone. Let those sick people go home to do that kind of thing. That is what the internet is for, to keep things like this where they belong: in the home and AWAY from everyone else. Sex shops and all of the vape stores and payday lenders need to be ripped out and REPLACED with shops that sell wholesome fruits and vegetables, community book shops and reading rooms and sustainable businesses that provide VALUE to the city.

    Vote BLUE in November! #Whitmer2018 #BlueWave2018 #CleanYpsi

  12. Jean Henry
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:43 am | Permalink

    How does the sex trade endanger bystanders?

    The only danger it poses is in its illegality. Make it legal and regulate it and problem solved. Attempts to get rid of the sex trade have so far proved fruitless. I don’t believe exposure to sexuality is damaging to kids. I’m not crazy about the objectification of women but that’s not exclusive to the sex trade. And kids will need to learn how to understand and navigate the issue, which they can’t do if protected from exposure to it.

  13. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:46 am | Permalink

    I’m guessing satire, Jean, but as you have said repeatedly, I fail to comprehend humor.

  14. Jean Henry
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:47 am | Permalink

    PS there are community standards rules about store front signage etc. so clearly Concerned’s concerns are really just about an aversion to sex.

    Sex is wholesome too. How do you think those fruits and vegetables get made?

  15. Jean Henry
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:49 am | Permalink

    I hope it’s satire. I suggested the same a while back. But it’s close enough to reality, and certainly many city code language, that it’s worth talking about anyway.

  16. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 7:56 am | Permalink

    I hope it is satire too. The demand of fruit shops instead of smut shops seemed way way over the top. Who knows?

  17. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 9:24 am | Permalink

    We need CLEAN communities. Ypsi should not be “the bad part of town” for Ann Arbor! We can be better than that. We need more sustainable, clean businesses that build COMMUNITY and do not exploit. Shops that sell nutritious and wholesome foods, bookshops, open air meeting houses for socializing, music and dancing, yes! Strip clubs that exploit women and men and shops that sell addictive and dangerous substances to teenagers, NO. We need more schools and less sex shops, more farmers markets and less vape shops. We need a CLEAN MICHIGAN, where people can be healthy and GROW. #CleanYpsi #CleanMichigan #NoVapeYpsi #Whitmer2018 #BlueWave2018 #VoteBlue2018

  18. Lynne
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 10:55 am | Permalink

    We are going to need more marijuana stores though if it gets legalized for recreational use.

  19. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

    We need to ELIMINATE marijuana shops. People should only be able to buy online or grow their own so that they can KEEP IT IN THEIR HOMES and not in the open. We need GROWING communities and places where people can come together, not just sit around in smelly shops buying drugs. See where these PEOPLE in Boulder replaced a strip club with a PARK and HOUSING and celebrated by coming together as a community with dancing and CELEBRATION. In with TOGETHERNESS and out with life killing business. #Whitmer2018 #BlueWave2018 #VoteBlue2018 #CleanMichigan2018

    https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/21/bustop-strip-club-boulder/

  20. Lynne
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 1:10 pm | Permalink

    I am all about TOGETHERNESS but I like to include everyone, even those who patronize liquor stores, sex businesses, vape stores, and marijuana dispensaries. But that is just me! None of those things prevents us from dancing and celebrating.

  21. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 1:53 pm | Permalink

    Those people can buy those things ONLINE. We don’t have to be forced to look at their vices. They can do those things AT HOME where those activities belong. Schools not pot stores! Books not vape shops! #Whitmer2018 #BlueWave2018 #VoteBlue2018 #CleanYpsi2018 #CleanMichigan2018 #NoDejaVu

  22. Lynne
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 2:46 pm | Permalink

    That feels like the attitude many people have about when gay people engage in public displays of affection. There is a lot of “why do they have to flaunt it?” and “why can’t they do that at home so no one has to be forced to look at their vices?”

    Alas, living in an inclusive society means that you will have to see behavior that you might not approve of. That is the cost of freedom. I am sure there are activities you engage in regularly, Concerned Michiganian, that someone finds offensive. If we try to put everything we find offensive behind closed doors, there might not be anything left to do out in the open. (seriously, there are people who find bookstores to be offensive because of all of the dangerous ideas contained within)

  23. Jean Henry
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 3:30 pm | Permalink

    Boulder has no shortage of pot shops…

  24. wobblie
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 3:55 pm | Permalink

    Concerned Michiganian, If we are going to start closing down businesses I say we start with the churches. They breed intolerance, magical thinking and don’t pay taxes.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/meijer-pharmacist-denies-michigan-woman-miscarriage-medication-citing-religious-beliefs-n921711

  25. John Brown
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 8:59 am | Permalink

    wobblie, I am as virulently anti-religion as the next non-delusional rational thinker. But, like other poisonous vices, its politically counter productive to restrict or prohibit it. There are these rare progressive religious unicorns out there that prove its possible to compartmentalize the magic thinking fantasy part without losing touch with realities of modern human society. Lets hope they gain market share over these old testament type assholes.

  26. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 10:29 am | Permalink

    I pray everyday that God will give me the strength to be more rational so that I might someday have a chance to be accepted in the the mm.com rational observers club.

  27. John Brown
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 2:52 pm | Permalink

    “pray to god” well, there’s your first mistake. Do the work, don’t be so fucking lazy and just ask some imaginary asshole to do it for you.

  28. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 3:09 pm | Permalink

    So, it was also a mistake for me to pray to God that He might give me the strength to compartamentalize facts–like the rate of progressive Christians in America (1 out of 5), so that I might be able to agree with JB’s characterization that the existence of progressive Christians is “rare” like a “unicorn”?

  29. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 3:25 pm | Permalink

    Would it also be a mistake for me to pray to God so that he would give me the strength to “compartmentalize” my worthless belief in the rights to free expression of religion as a stand alone right, so that I might be able to see, like a”non delusional rational thinker” that the primary reason to not “prohibit” or “restrict” religious practice in Ypsi is because it would be “politically counter productive” for progressives?

    I am trying hard to be a rational observer.

  30. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 11:32 pm | Permalink

    I fell asleep while praying. I asked God to give John Brown the strength to respond to my questions. I fell asleep and in my dream God answered:

    “John Brown is not currently available to answer your questions. He is not so fucking lazy. John Brown is at Walmart. He is waiting in the checkout line to purchase ammo for his assault rifle as he thinks his non-delusional and very rational thoughts.”

  31. God
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 5:05 pm | Permalink

    “Some imaginary asshole?”

    Wow.

  32. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 1:43 pm | Permalink

    So, Jean, when will you be spearheading the campaign to win children their right to have full access to all pornographic material?

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