Author: Jennifer Furner

I grew up in a small farming town. There wasn’t much to do on weekend nights. When my friends and I finally got into high school and were old enough to drive, our favorite Friday evening activity was driving 20 minutes out to Monroe, the closest “city,” and cruising back and forth down Telegraph Road looking for hot high school boys doing the same thing. It was a pretty worthless practice—no one made any love connections with this activity. Our car full of girls pulled up next to a car full of boys at a stoplight. We batted our eyes and shyly looked in their direction. The boys smiled and winked back. Maybe one of us shouted something suggestive out the window to the other car. The light turned green, and the cars sprung into motion again, the twitter of giggling girls left hanging in the air.

I have a soft spot in my heart for cruising. Brings back all sorts of fun teenage memories.

There seems to be something about our car-loving culture that makes driving back and forth on a main drag appealing. I have the impulse, but I don’t know if I understand it. It’s just ingrained in me. It’s a piece of Americana.

And Americana never was more visible than during the Grand Rapids Metro Cruise.

The Metro Cruise is an annual event that brings all sorts of vintage cars to Grand Rapids. A lot of people cruise up and down 28th Street in their hot rods and muscle cars of all makes, models, and colors. 28th Street is on the border between the city of Grand Rapids and the suburb of Kentwood; it is where you go to shop and to eat—there are two malls and a million chain restaurants. That street is a hub of activity and traffic every day at all times of the day, but never more so than during the Metro Cruise.


Photo courtesy of [Berger Chevrolet](http://www.bergerchevy.com/)

Restored cars clog up the streets. When we came out on Saturday, it took us nearly an hour to travel the 5 miles down 28th Street from East Beltline to Roger’s Plaza. Roger’s Plaza is the hub of the Metro Cruise. Cars that don’t want to cruise or want to take a break from cruising can park in this expansive lot and spectators can mill about, oohing and ahhing at a variety of classic autos. The cars line up for what seems like miles, their hoods propped open and their chrome glaring in the hot sun. And we can’t help but daydream about owning one of these American-made treasures ourselves and showing it off all around the country.

It always amazes me what an event the Metro Cruise turns out to be. At its core, it’s really just an ongoing parade of old cars. But people of all ages, large families and big groups, settle in on the narrow strips of grass on either side of 28th Street. They bring grills and food and lawn chairs and tents, and they party and park their asses there all day long just to watch a wide collection of machines drive by. Some people bring binoculars. Some people take videos. Vast numbers of people care about and want to celebrate these rare and antique automobiles.


I suppose the Metro Cruise reminds spectators of times gone by, and even though those years are gone for good, they can take comfort seeing these relics and remember or maybe even re-live that era when times seemed easier and America still made great things with its own hands—when the most interesting thing to do on a Friday night was cruise up and down the main drag.

*For more information about the Metro Cruise, visit their [website](http://www.28thstreetmetrocruise.com/).*

Detroit has a bunch of large event venues. Between Joe Louis Arena, Cobo Hall, Ford Field, Comerica Park, with the Palace of Auburn Hills and DTE Music Energy Center (or Pine Knob as we east siders still call it) in the outskirts, there are plenty of places to hold professional sporting events and superstar concerts.

In Grand Rapids, we only have two venues, but I would say we only have one because the Deltaplex is old and sad and no one wants to go there. But right downtown we have the Van Andel Arena. It’s nearly 20 years old already, but it still seems new to me. It’s big and clean and open. It isn’t the least bit outdated in my opinion.

The entire front of the structure is glass, so the city can see what’s happening inside and guests can see what’s happening outside in the city. It helps you never forget where you are. The glass reflects the image of the nearby buildings. The arena is literally a reflection of the city itself.


I think that’s also true in the figurative sense. Not only does the arena provide somewhere for Grand Rapidians to gather en masse, but it’s also a celebration of collective pride. We’re proud that we have a place that allows us to host big-name acts and major-league events. It’s a gateway to the rest of the world. It brings people to our city who may not have visited otherwise. Once they’re here, they see how great Grand Rapids really is.

But none brings more pride to Grand Rapids than The Griffins, our American Hockey League team (and a farm team for our big brother the Red Wings in Detroit). Two years ago, they won the Calder Cup. Their championship conducted an electric current of energy into the city. That victory put Grand Rapids on the map. We had a winning team, and so we all felt like winners.


It’s a feeling I get whenever I attend an event at the Van Andel. When the lights dim before the hockey game and Griff and Finn, the mascots, come slipping chaotically onto the ice in their 4-wheeler, the crowd screaming and cheering for their team, I feel like a winner.

I graduated from college in that arena. I sat on the floor in a folding chair and looked up at the stands; I saw my family smile at me as I moved my tassel from one side of my cap to the other. I was a winner then, too.

Even when I attend the Monster Truck Show, I still feel like a winner, because that event is available to me. I can always experience something new at the Van Andel Arena.

I love walking in the doors, being behind the glass, uniting with my fellow citizens–local and foreign–and sharing in the pride that we have this space where we can always go to experience something together.


Photo courtesy of [WZZM13](http://www.wzzm13.com/).

*To learn more about Van Andel Arena, visit their [website](https://vanandelarena.com/).*

This blog project is supposed to reflect what I love about Grand Rapids. And truth be told, one of the first things on that list is just how beautiful the city is. So instead of telling you, I’m going to show you what it is that makes Grand Rapids so beautiful to me.






There are actually a good number of hotels in the downtown area of Grand Rapids. I always forget the amount of hotels that are available because one stands out among the rest—the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. I know, its title is a mouthful. It opened originally in 1913 as the Pantlind Hotel, but in 1981, it underwent renovations and expansions, adding a glass tower of rooms 29 stories high—an unmistakable structure in the Grand Rapids skyline.


Because of that renovation, the hotel is split in two. “The Pantlind side” is the historic portion of the hotel. These rooms are often small and quirky. Original closets are converted to bathroom sink nooks and large wooden doors are often too short or too skinny. But it’s beautiful and antique and has a lot of character. “The tower side,” the side that faces the river, is where there are more conventional rooms—spacious and modern and planned (as opposed to pieced together).

Since the hotel attempted to smush two different buildings together, it can be rather difficult to navigate at times. The floors of the different sides don’t always match up perfectly, leading to lots of tucked-away staircases and mazes of hallways. I personally think this aspect adds to its charm. I often get lost and stumble upon a new section of the hotel I haven’t seen before.


I live here, so I don’t have much reason to stay in a hotel in my own city. And I definitely don’t have the financial means to stay in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel on a regular basis. Even so, it’s still a vital part of my life in Grand Rapids. I spent my first wedding anniversary at this hotel. I got drunk in front of my boss in the Lumber Baron Bar in this hotel. I impressed out-of-town colleagues with brunch at Cygnus on the 27th floor of this hotel.

This hotel, on my levels, seems unapproachable and unattainable, as if it were only for the wealthy and the powerful. But it’s not. It’s there for everyone in Grand Rapids. It stands out among the rest because it’s our hotel. It’s our past and our present. It’s here for us to use and enjoy.


*For more information about the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, visit their [website](amwaygrand.com).*

The first time I visited SpeakEZ Lounge was for their 2012 New Years Eve party. It was a prohibition-themed party, which seemed appropriate, given the restaurant’s name. So my friends and I got dressed up in what we assumed was an appropriate zoot suit style and headed just north of the city to where SpeakEZ was tucked away on the side of an old brick building.

A jazz band played on the teeny tiny stage and I did a little East Coast Swing on the teeny tiny dancefloor. The singer had a vintage hairstyle and seduced her antique microphone as she sang her sultry tune. The lighting was dim and the tables were a dark heavy wood. With all the suspenders and fedoras and slinky dresses, it did kind of feel like it was the 1920s, and there was a rush of danger as we sipped on “forbidden” drinks all night long. It was a great party.

Since then, though, I’ve been a bit confused by what SpeakEZ Lounge really is. Because every day can’t be a prohibition party. This isn’t the 1920s, after all. And in the light of day, it doesn’t really feel like a speakeasy at all. It is an average restaurant you can walk right into (no password required) and you can go to the bar and order a drink and not have to worry about getting arrested. Which I guess is what everyone wants in a restaurant, ultimately, except for when they visit a speakeasy. I went back once since the party, but without the party, it just felt like a normal bland place.

But then this blog project came along, and as I was scouring Grand Rapids event calendars looking for new things, I came across the MartiniMoth event that SpeakEZ holds every month. Some of you may have heard of the Moth Radio Hour on NPR where people get up and tell engaging stories just for the sake of telling stories. And while I’m pretty sure what SpeakEZ does isn’t associated with the official Moth non-profit group, SpeakEZ has used the idea of that program to inspire Grand Rapidians to start telling their stories.

So in the spirit of discovering new things about my city, my husband and I ventured out to SpeakEZ to check out this event.


Upon arriving, every table was full; there were a few spots at the bar, but we couldn’t see or hear from there, so we asked a nice couple if we could squeeze in with them at their overly large table.

“Are you here to tell stories?” the man asked me as soon as I sat down. I laughed out loud. “No, I’m just here to listen to the stories,” I replied.

“You should get up there and tell a story,” he egged me on. I’m going to assume that he had ordered a couple of drinks before that cup of coffee that sat in front of him.

But I could have told a story, apparently. There is no signing up early or registration that is required for telling stories at MartiniMoth. They really did encourage people who were there, who were eating dinner or having casual conversations, people who just came to eat or drink or listen, to get up on stage and tell a story. And my husband and I started to brainstorm about what stories we could get up and tell.


In the end, we didn’t get up and tell a story. But it was nice to know we had the option. And it was nice to know that, above all, SpeakEZ was just trying to encourage and engage its community to get up and say something. And I greatly admire the people who did get up. Of course, some were better than others. But they all were braver than I was. Maybe next month, I’ll find a story to tell.

If I think about it, SpeakEZ does live up to its name. A speakeasy in the ‘20s was a place where the community could go when it didn’t have anywhere else to turn. It’s a place that provides when no one else will. And as far as public storytelling goes, there’s really no other option that I know in Grand Rapids. Not only that, but SpeakEZ is about the only place in Grand Rapids that shows soccer matches, and they were packed when the World Cup going on. In their neighborhood, they are kind of the only casual-yet-upscale restaurant around. So in many ways, SpeakEZ does exactly what it should. It provides a resource that people can’t get just anywhere. When there’s a need for something in Grand Rapids, SpeakEZ answers the call.

*For more info about SpeakEZ Lounge, visit their [website](http://speakezlounge.com/).*

My husband got interested in triathlons two years ago. Before his first triathlon last summer, he had to get all the equipment—the wetsuit, the running shoes, and the bike. I’ve always loved biking, but since we’ve been adults, neither he nor I have owned a decent bike. So we bit the bullet and bought ourselves some nice new shiny grown-up street bikes.

We are very lucky to live where we live. While it’s technically not within city limits, it is very close to three great biking trails. One trail we can take all the way into the next town, giving us about a 20-mile trip there and back.

It’s one of my favorite workouts, riding outside with him. It feels more like fun outdoor playtime than it does a workout. The constant breeze cools me down as I push hard and fast on the pedals. We race each other on the straightaways and joke and talk and laugh throughout. I almost forget that it’s exercise.


Grand Rapids is definitely the place for bikers. Over the five years, the city has really been making an effort to install useable bike lanes on a lot of downtown streets and constructing good quality bike trails in the outskirts. There are a ton of bike events and group rides that happen in the city.

There are lots of great resources for bike riders in Grand Rapids. [Central District Cyclery](http://www.centraldistrictcyclery.com/#intro) is right downtown and offers bike repair services. [The Spoke Folks](http://thespokefolks.org/) educates riders about bike maintenance and the rules of the road; they allow members to come use their tools and fix their bikes on their own.

This summer [Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc.](http://beta.downtowngr.org/) installed bike repair stands throughout the city. If city bikers get a flat or need to tweak something, they have the resources available right there along their bike route to fix such issues for free.

The newest addition to Grand Rapids’ bike scene is a bike share program. On one of my many recent walks downtown, I noticed bikes parked with the Spokefly logo on them. Using the Spokefly app, people can get the lock combination, pay, and borrow bikes to ride around the city.

I don’t see our love for biking dying out anytime soon. And lucky for us, Grand Rapids will give us the support we need to keep biking safely.

My husband and I went for a walk around the city this weekend. We were walking along the river by the Public Museum, when he pointed to some rocks next to the sidewalk that had fish carved into them. We reminisced about how last year, we had walked the same path and saw the artist carve those pictures into the rocks. We stopped and asked him what he was doing, and he answered that he was working on an entry for ArtPrize.


For those of you who don’t know, ArtPrize is an art competition held in Grand Rapids for three weeks in the fall. Art of all shapes and sizes takes over nearly every available spot in the city, from parking lots to building facades to restaurant walls to public parks. Art is everywhere. There’s no escaping it. Winners of the competition are picked by the public and a select panel of jurors. It’s interactive; people can vote via text.

When it comes to getting the public’s vote, bigger is better. The first year, someone built a 15-ton dining set and placed it on top of the city’s iconic Blue Bridge. Someone also installed a 100-foot-long Loch Ness monster in the Grand River. It caught people’s attention, to say the least. Both of those installments made into to the Top Ten that year.

I would have been perfectly happy to see the table and chairs stay on top of the Blue Bridge. It was fun and surprising to drive up 131, look over to my right, and see a dining set for giants sitting way up in the air. Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, did get to lurk in nearby waters after the competition. John Ball Zoo adopted the sculpture and now Nessie greets zoo guests every day.


Every ArtPrize brings about 1,500 pieces of art into the city. This coming September will be the competition’s seventh year. So that’s 9,000 pieces of art over the years that needed to find homes when the competition finished. For the most part, everyone packs up their pieces and leaves town after the winners are announced, but some art lingers around the city, like Nessie in her pond at the zoo and the rocks with fish carvings.

I am not the biggest fan of ArtPrize’s three weeks of competition. I feel about ArtPrize as I’m sure Traverse Citians feel about the Cherry Festival or Grand Havenites feels about the Coast Guard Festival. Traffic is terrible, restaurants are busy, the crowds are humongous. But I am a fan of the art that is left behind.


These pieces become commonplace after a year or so; they become simply part of the landscape. They are no longer ArtPrize entries. They are Grand Rapids art. They make the city more beautiful, more surprising, more fun.

*For more information about ArtPrize, visit their [website](artprize.org).*

I know I said I would use this blog project to explore new things in the city I haven’t yet tried. But sometimes, you just want the old reliable. Sometimes you get a craving for something you know is good. I don’t just want to celebrate what’s new to me in the city. I want to celebrate what’s great to me in the city, too.

So when my husband and I are batting around dinner ideas, naming off restaurant after restaurant we could try for the first time, we both decided that what we really wanted was a big draft list and some crack fries. And for that, there’s really only one place to go.


HopCat is getting to be a household name across the country. They opened on Ionia Street downtown Grand Rapids in 2008, and in the last seven years, they’ve opened six more locations. What started off as a one-of-a-kind local bar is becoming a fast-growing franchise.

I may be a bit biased, but the Grand Rapids location is definitely the best one (I don’t have to see the others—I just know). It’s won accolades such as the #3 Beer Bar in the World and #1 Brewpub in America. It’s friggin’ awesome to be able to say that I can go to the #1 Brewpub in America pretty much whenever I want.


And we do go to HopCat whenever we want, which is often. Awards aside, it really is, hands down, my favorite place to eat in all of Grand Rapids. It’s the place I recommend to everyone who visits. I know that I can tell someone to go there and they will not disappointed.

It’s a rather tiny place, actually. It squeezed itself into an old already-existing building on the corner of historic, brick-paved Ionia Avenue. Tall tables are wedged in between support pillars, forming narrow aisle ways on each side. Round booths and long wooden tables fit snuggly up on the wall and the large bar adorns the other wall. On busy nights, it often requires a bit of patron-dodging before one can belly up to the bar.


And yet, it’s always a chill place, even when it’s busy. People are just calm when they hang out at HopCat. Perhaps people are just too busy savoring a delectable brew from the 49 rotating taps to cause much of a raucous.

People always mention the crack fries at HopCat for good reason. Crack fries are not just a gimmick. They are aptly named for their addictive deliciousness. They season the fries with a sprinkle of spices and a dash of heaven. They use the same spice combination on top of their Killer Mac & Cheese, which takes the ordinary dish to a transcendent level (I also like my Killer Mac & Cheese with bacon and tomatoes added). But tonight, I went with my favorite, the BarZee Burger, which has beer cheese slathered on it and is topped with bacon (sans jalapenos for me).


No matter how successful HopCat becomes or how many other locations it opens, the HopCat in downtown GR stays the same. It’s the same atmosphere, the same great food, the same awesome and diverse beer selection. It’s still just a hometown bar. Even if it wasn’t the #1 brewpub in America, it will always be the #1 brewpub to me.

*For more information about HopCat, visit their [website](hopcat.com).*

I planned a national conference in Grand Rapids before I up and quit my job. When I was collaborating with the Marketing Specialist about a conference logo, we both thought of the monumental bright red Calder scupture that stands in the middle of the city. When I sent the logo to my conference-planning counterpart at the corporate office, she said it was great, “only what is that red squiggly thing?”


Our city logo, courtesy of [City of Grand Rapids](http://grcity.us/Pages/default.aspx)

As a Grand Rapidian, I see that “red squiggly thing” constantly. It’s in our city logo. It’s on customized t-shirts. Since I have been here, it’s been the symbol for the city, and I never thought to question it.

But now I’m starting to wonder why a red squiggly thing IS the symbol for our city. What does it mean? Why is that statue even there?

And what I’ve discovered is a history of controversy and scandal.

Grand Rapids likes to claim a lot of titles. We are Beer City. We are Furniture City. We were the first city to put fluoride in our water.

We also pat ourselves on the back for being an art-centered city, as we obnoxiously and flamboyantly display with our annual ArtPrize competition in the fall. But apparently we’ve been Art City for longer than I knew. Now I’ve learned that we were also the first city to use the federal funds of the National Endowment for the Arts to install a sculpture as part of an urban renewal project in 1969.


We had the funds before we had the artist. And [some people were upset](http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/10/artprize_2013_is_hardly_calder.html) that Alexander Calder was chosen as the artist for this project. In fact, the woman largely responsible for getting Calder involved received hate mail and had a gun shot at her house on the day of the dedication. Many people threw eggs and painted graffiti on the sculpture after its completion.

Here is a rather entertaining quote from a disgruntled citizen: “I think the whole concept of modern art is a big spoof…And after Calder gets his (money) and goes back to France, some evening he’ll be sitting in some pub and saying, ‘Boy, did I hoodwink those guys over in Grand Rapids.’” The same citizen also called the statue “a horrible example of nothing.”


It’s understandable that not all people understand abstract art. I’ll be the first to admit that the Calder sculpture, in my opinion, is first and foremost a red squiggly thing. For one reason or another, people quieted down about it eventually. I suppose they realized it was already done and over and there wasn’t anything they could do about it anymore. I can imagine their frustration, though, when a sculpture is dedicated to represent the city that they love and they feel it doesn’t represent the city at all or, worse, doesn’t represent them at all.

I’m happy that the city has mostly adopted the sculpture now as a representation of who we are. Its title *La Grande Vitesse,* means “the great swiftness” or, in other words, “Grand Rapids.” It literally represents the name of the city, the lifeblood of the city. But it also, in my opinion, represents the people of Grand Rapids, people who I’ve always considered to be swift in many ways. We are fast-moving, we adapt to change, we are smart and deliberate about the moves we make. Perhaps Calder and his large red squiggly thing is what inspired us to adopt these characteristics in the first place. Or at least I can rest assured that it serves as a reminder to uphold these characteristics.


*All photos courtesy of [MLive](http://www.mlive.com).*

Downtown has always been a place where you go; it’s more geared toward visitors than residents. Many people live in the city, but there aren’t a lot of practical amenities for those people. I used to live in the Heartside neighborhood, just south of the city. It was great because I could walk everywhere—hockey games, restaurants, local parks—and not have to worry about parking. But if I ran out of milk or eggs, I had to drive at least ten minutes to the local grocery store.

In my time living downtown, I heard so many rumors about a potential market opening up. I got my hopes up and kept my fingers crossed that, someday soon, there would be a place where I could get everything I needed to cook dinner without having to get in my car.

Wouldn’t you know it, soon after I moved out of the city, the Downtown Market opened .2 miles from my old apartment.

Granted, the Downtown Market isn’t anything like your local Meijer or Spartan store. Taken at face value, the Downtown Market is a large space that has “stalls” available; restaurants and vendors can rent space and open shop. It’s a collection of all things gourmet, high-end, and delicious. Three main aisle ways give you access to a bakery, a cupcakery, a fishmonger, a butcher, and much more.


A lot of the places that rent stalls are one-of-a-kind places that are new and local. It’s a good place for starter restaurants and stores to try their ideas on a smaller scale instead of risking an entire building for themselves.

Last year for my wedding anniversary, my husband and I went to the Downtown Market for a smorgasbord of all our favorite things. We sat at the bar in [Aperitivo](http://www.aperitivogr.com/Aperitivo/Welcome.html), a cheese/charcuterie/wine shop/restaurant. We ordered a glass of wine and a meat and cheese board. Then my husband walked over to [Fish Lads](http://fishlads.com/), a fishmonger a couple of stalls down, and ordered some oysters, which later were brought over to us. When we devoured all that, we walked down the middle aisle for a scoop of [Love’s](http://lovesicecream.com/about-us/) hand-crafted ice cream. The Downtown Market is like having all of your favorite foods in one place.


Photo Credit: [Mlive](mlive.com)

And now that is absolutely true because Detroit’s famous [Slow’s Bar-B-Q](http://slowsbarbq.com/grand-rapids) has just opened in there as well. Whenever we venture to Detroit, we cannot stop ourselves from visiting Slow’s. We are barbeque lovers, and while Grand Rapids does have some delightful smoked meats if you know where to look (check out [Dallas Deli](http://www.dallasdeli.net/) and [The Pit Stop](http://pitstopcateringgr.com/)), now we can share some of what we love about Detroit with our fellow Grand Rapidians.

I came down to the Downtown Market today to scope out the line for
Slow’s. It just opened a week ago, and as I suspected, there was already a crowd waiting to try the Market’s latest and greatest.

That wasn’t a problem, though, because there were plenty of new places I hadn’t yet tried. I could try a sweet or savory crepe from [Penelope’s Creperie](http://www.penelopescreperie.com/) or a baked potato from [Blue Spoon Soup & Spuds](http://www.goodwillgr.org/goodwill-catering-services/). I settled on [Sushi Maki](http://downtownmarketgr.com/market-hall/sushi-maki) because they had an awesome lunch deal and because I’m always in the mood for raw fish.


No matter what you’re craving, Downtown Market has it. And in the end, it’s a good thing it came when it did, because I would probably be broke if I could walk there anytime there I wanted.

*For more information about the Downtown Market, visit their [website](http://downtownmarketgr.com/).*