ypsi~dixit

I would like to know more about these vaults, and why no one seemed to know about them. Did not the people in charge of the project ask about possible problems? What do these vaults look like? What are they made of, and are they sure they are vaults? Do these vaults have heavy doors with lockes on them?

It might be possible for the city to pay for all the work on the parking lots, by offering tours of the vaults.

Great idea, Listener. I'd sure take a tour. I'm dying of curiosity. Yes, are they even vaults? On the other hand, what would they be if not vaults? Is this something from the Prohibition era? And where are they, exactly? Are they being destroyed? Should they be?

I am kind of curious about the vaults too. Maybe they could get Geraldo Rivera to open one on live TV ;)

"Good evening. I am Geraldo Rivera and you're about to witness a live television event.

"Now for the first time, that vault is going to be opened live. This is an adventure you and I will take together."

Dang, Lynne!

You beat me to it!

Ha! You have to get up early to beat Lynne. :) :) Silly...I had to laugh. :)

Still dying to know, though. I want to see vaults.

:)

I want to see the vaults, too.

OK: we have a movement! :)

Didn't Seattle develop its underground city? Isn't it a major tourist attraction these days? Doesn't Ypsi have several series of underground tunnels (like the one in Depot Town that swallowed a bulldozer)?

Oh, hot! I get to play expert again! (Or, in this case, I get to play intern-who-works-across-the-hall-from-experts.)

"Sidewalk vaults" are extensions of the basements of businesses out underneath the sidewalk. Buildings used to be constructed with them so that businesses could unload stock from trucks on the street directly into their basement storerooms - I recall (in NYC, Boston, and Philly, but never in A2/Ypsi?) seeing lots of businesses that had big metal hatches on the sidewalk with stairs down to the basement underneath.

In Ann Arbor (and presumably in Ypsi, if they were unknown to the city), most of them are no longer in use, and were covered over with cement sidewalk and forgotten about long ago - forgotten until they are discovered and cause problems during sidewalk repairs or utility work, or until their ceilings weaken with age and they collapse under the weight of the sidewalk. In many cases, the vault access from the basement of the building was bricked up long ago, so even the current business or landlord probably doesn't even know it's there.

The biggest problem is that the vaults are private property, so the City can't just fill them in (as A2 would kind of like to do) or run utilities through them without the owner's consent. A2's DDA is looking into options for partnering with property owners to find and fill in all of the darned things so they don't cause problems anymore. Apparently, this is about the second-largest issue with A2's sidewalks - the first is ADA compliance; expect some A2 sidewalks to sprout handrails (I kid you not) in the next few years to achieve compliance, because of slopes.

I'm told that if you go into College Shoe Repair, on William, and ask to look at hockey skates, you'll be able to sneak a peek at their vault in the process, because theirs is still open to the basement, where the skates are kept.

I thought Linda French was a prominent restaurantuer in her own right, not just the "wife of".

Murph: absolutely fascinating. I didn't know any of that. Thank you for the very interesting info. Wasn't there a big metal plate in the sidewalk on the west side of the Embassy Hotel? Wonder if that was a vault.

I have a sudden interest in hockey skates. :)

Anna: To my perhaps incorrect knowledge, she is the owner of the Sidetrack.

I wonder why the article says this, then:

"The wife of a prominent restauranteur recently received a $25 fine for overstaying her meter..." especially when, in the next paragraph, they say she's the owner? Typo? Sexism? Or is she married to someone who's an even more prominent restaurantuer? Inquring minds...

It is cool when you find these old discoveries. It reminds me of when they found the old cable cars tracks, while doing the streets. I only wish the system was still there. As an eastside parent, it would have saved alot of gas for the kids to be able to ride that to the west side, instead of get a ride from mom.
I also think that downtown would be better served with a more customer friendly approach to parking.

Anna: her brother Bill owns Aubree's and Sticks; don't know about her husband.

Incidentally, did you know the Sidetrack is doubling in size? It will take over Frenchie's and Frenchie's will move upstairs, over the current Sidetrack.

Long overdue or too big? I wish every success to Linda French, but kind of like the size the Sidetrack is now. Cozy.

Mary: yes, it was fun to see the old tracks. I saw some in front of the Elbow Room. My dad used to ride the trolley when growing up in Baltimore and he mourned their loss when GM tore them up & put in a bus system.

It used to be that you could take the trolley system all the way from Connecticut to Baltimore (maybe further) for something like 75 cents. You had to do it slowly and make a lot of transfers, but isn't that wild?

That is amazing! And that is a trip that would be a ton of fun to take. Never knew that; thanks Anna.

Didn't Carl Kolckak chase an immortal serial killer around in the Seattle Underground City?

That was me asking about Kolchak

I've seen into the vault on the West side of Nickels Arcade in Ann Arbor. It is open sometimes in the mornings when they are stocking it up. I'm not sure what business it goes to, but it is very large--maybe this is the same one that goes to College Hockey. If it is, it must go quite far under all the buildings there because it is close to a block away.

JulieW: That is fascinating. I'll have to hunt that one down. I am mesmerized by this topic and by the hidden under-city. Are there any other Ann Arbor vaults, I wonder? Wonder if there is a way to get a map of them.

LF: Hmm, I remember a movie called Night Stalker but I think it was set in Chicago if I remember right.

I think I've seen beer truck drivers disappear into vaults on Ashley Street next to The Old Town or Del Rio.

Wow, fascinating.

So that's:
1. west side of Nickels Arcade
2. Ashley, next to Old Town/Del Rio
3. Possible: west side of old Embassy hotel

Man, I wonder how many more there are?

The steam tunnels can be interesting. The entrance by the Dental School used to be unlocked all the time and we spent a lot of time wandering around. Easy to get lost. The Allen creek tunnel is pretty easy to get into through a couple of different manholes. Saw a fat 6" goldfish swimming against the mild current in the tunnel up by Ashley Street. Don't know why it opted for darkness and no food.

LF: Oh, yes, the steam tunnels. The thought of getting lost is a tad unsettling, given the supposed size of the complex. I heard they have motion detectors down there now.

The Allen Creek tunnel sounds very interesting. I'd like to see it. The Stygian Goldfish is a puzzler. I wonder what it's eating down there and how it got there. Surely no sewers connect to Allen Creek. Odd to think of it swimming around under the city, a subterranean goldfish.

Stygian - great word.

There is a big Allen Creek tunnel opening right at Argo Dam. The goldfish probably fled predation into the tunnel.

Wild. This recent news of feral goldfish in the Huron is so curious. How long before they're considered a native species, as carp informally are these days?

I used to be friends with Barry, of Binarz Weiners -- I think that the "vault" goes to a kitchen under the pizza place around the corner on William. Barry used to use their space to do prep for his hotdog stand on N. Univ. and State.

Er... the "vault" near Nickels Arcade. I always really thought of it as a storm door and basement entrance, like the one I have on my house -- never thought of it as a vault.

Is it possible that these vaults were used for coal deliveries? I have spent some time in Pennsyvlania in the anthracite coal region and there are similar type openings to the basement still evident that were used for such.

I agree with you Anna about the "wife" thing. I noticed that right away too. Linda is pretty much the face of Depot Town.
The first sentence of that story is insulting.