Tag Archives: Bill French

Talking about Highland Cemetery’s Starkweather Chapel, and the history of Ypsilanti’s death industry

The Starkweather Chapel in Ypsilanti’s Highland Cemetery, for those of you who may not have noticed, has been undergoing some much needed renovation work this past year. Here, with more on the history of the building, and the preservation work that’s been done thus far, is a conversation I just had with lifelong Ypsilanti resident […]

Posted in History, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Julia Collins, the owner of Ypsi Studio, on growing up in Ypsi, taking risks, and being successful when people thought you’d fail

Almost ten years ago now, local entrepreneur Julia Collins decided to disregard the advice of many and open a small fitness studio in Downtown Ypsilanti, right next door to our local strip club. Well, it turns out that she was right. Her business, Ypsi Studio, has continued to grow since its initial launch, and, right […]

Posted in History, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

A little bit of Ypsi coming to a town near you…. maybe

AnnArbor.com has a piece by Tom Perkins today on Sandee, Bill and Andy French and their plans to franchise the popular Depot Town restaurant Aubree’s. I’d known that they had aspirations in this direction for a while now, but I had no idea how serious they were about it. According to the article, they even […]

Posted in Food, Mark's Life, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The closing of the Savoy, and the launch of Woodruff’s

As most of you know by now, the Savoy – the Washington Street club managed by Andy “tight pants” Garris – has closed its doors. As I understand it, there were a number of issues, but, in the end, it was the building owner’s non-payment of electrical bills that did them in. But, downtown’s loss […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Food, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

Wednesday’s meeting on the Ypsi rail stop

Last week, I posted something about the local debate over where we place our train stop here in Ypsi. We kicked the idea around for a while, and people on both sides of the issue weighed in. City Councilperson Pete Murdock explained why he thought that it would be best to locate the platform in […]

Posted in Local Business, Michigan, Rail, Special Projects, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Connect

BUY LOCAL... or shop at Amazon through this link Banner Initiative Jodi Lynn