Local Watering Holes

Formerly and/or currently known as "LCB" or "The Chance" the building in some form has been here since the 1930s.  From Gina Bivins in the West Michigan History Then and Now facebook group:  In 1933 Fred Powell had a store here. Sometime between then and 1941, it was converted into Fred Powell's Bar. Last Chance Tavern is recorded as being here in 1949. The place has had 6-7 different owners and the current owner is Dan Waterman, the same Dan who also owns "Gippers" that we  visited on 1/23/24 Our excellent server was Jeanine, who has been here 12 years. She reminded us that LCB used to be a Calvin Bar in the 70s and two of us laughed - we were attendees of Calvin and this bar in the 70s 😊.  I don't remember what the interior looked like then but here it is now. It's spacious, with a nice mix of booths, tables, high tops and a long bar. A Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, a Chubby Squirrel, and a Brewery Vivant Ski Patrol started us off. And if you'...

  The Dodgson family has owned this land since 1936 and it was originally a horse barn/stable. We found some old photos hanging in the restaurant. An English restaurant was opened here at one point and in the late 1980s, the place became Gippers. It became Tavern on Kraft for a while and now it's back to Gippers. The current owner bought the business in 2018 and the real estate is still owned by the Dodgson family. And that is all the history I could find 😊  It was a cold and icy night when we stopped in. The place is divided into two bars, one small and sad (or maybe just cozy), and the other large and happy. We chose the happy part. Our server, Bri, was wonderful and our service was great. She started us off with Tangerine Space Machines and a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat with cherries. Our appetizer was deviled eggs with green onion and siracha candied bacon. It was a creative combination and with just the right amount of heat. The Classic Burger was irresistible: 1/2 lb patty w...

This truly is a historic bar, first opened in 1938. Zillow states the structure was built in 1930 and here is a photo of the bar when it first opened (from Log Cabin's website). Doug Potter and his father, Fred Green, bought it in 1975 and Potter's son, Matthew, and his stepmother Lisa Potter, currently own it. We were told that the book "Bud, Not Buddy" would give us the history of the place but it ended up being fiction. One of the main characters (Herman E. Calloway)  was based one of the author's grandfathers, Herman E. Curtis. Herman did play jazz in Grand Rapids and owned several different business in Grand Rapids, always needing a white man to handle the paperwork and be listed as a co-owner. The cab driver in the story was based on another of the author's grandfathers, Earl Lefty Lewis, who was the first African American cab driver in Grand Rapids. From the information I could find on them, both led pretty extraordinary lives. But although the book men...