Eat Out Often

(Enlarged): logo, Michigan Restaurant Association, from the group's 1968 publication—

Along with restaurant listings and recipes, this 66-page booklet includes a guide to state-wide travel—

Here's a closer look at the cover restaurant's bounty—

On the back cover is—

—a place that's still there, and with new, improved necessities of family fun.

The company's official history is rather funny. There's all that ancestral uprightness of founders William and Emilie Zehnder, yet—

"Prohibition was a conflict... in that alcohol, primarily beer, was part of the culture of Frankenmuth. Many businesses, including Zehnder's and Fischer's (now the Bavarian Inn) sold alcohol to the "right customers". Zehnder's and Fischer's were raided by Federal agents on July 30, 1930. William and Emilie, along with Herman and Lydia Fischer, were arrested and spent the evening in the Saginaw County Jail. Bond for the Zehnder's was set at $5,000 and $8,000 for the Fischer's.

It sure was a painful "conflict," but opportunity knocked, the competition down the street was cleaning up, etc.

As to the other establishments (with or without bootlegging history), I've searched a number of names, but haven't found any that still exist. Or, they only exist in random memorabilia posted by local history buffs.

Sure, restaurants come and go, but this guide also hints at the decline of a state with a once mighty economy. And many of the establishments were in a city that had been the 4th largest city in the country, hitting (says wiki) a population of 1.9 million in 1950.

It happens that I was finishing up these scans around the time Michigan's CEO governor was making his hostile takeover of Detroit's duly elected government.

As many problems as Detroit may have, there clearly are still public assets to be picked off.

But: back to 1968, when it was generally assumed that rising prosperity would lift all—and that was considered a good thing...

Among the departed Michigan institutions are echoes of former commercial glory: a department store that once boasted of having, after Macy's, the country's second largest square footage.

The store is long defunct, along with the services listed in its full-page ads (reduced here). Ads for store eateries—

Food and wine departments—

One-time giants aside, most ads here are for much smaller enterprises, and locals no doubt regretted those closings. After all, who doesn't want to go to a friendly place—

Considering some of Detroit's history—a couple decades before events closer to 1968, the quaint name can't help but also hint at the clientele—

Tastes in entertainment do change; one is aware that the crowds may no longer clamor for a constant supply of organists—

Movies lasted a couple more years at this location; the theater's closing may well have finished off the shop's business—

Fondly remembered by the class of 1960—

This incarnation of the building—

—was in operation from 1945 to 1976. The restaurant located there now has been kind enough to provide a little history and a post card.

A tootling train brought the goods all the way from N'awlins—

—to Ecorse—

Sophisticates could have their appetites teased at—

A couple more places evocative of days gone by—

While it's sad that none of these places have survived, the guide also featured a representative from one particular family business that I am truly delighted to see gone.

Sure, the guy's descendents have no shortage of cash and power, but as of recently, the holding public office branch of the family business is over—and dead for good (or so one can hope)—