Wings Event Center
3600 Vanrick Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 345-1125
- Website
I grew up in Central Northeastern Illinois (south of Chicago but not quite far enough south to be considered the central part of the state) during the 1990’s. Hockey was not popular. I used to get made fun of for wearing my Chris Chelios Blackhawks jersey to school. Things aren’t like that now. The Hawks are good so everyone likes them, but back then, the Wirtz family prevented Blackhawks home games from being shown on TV which really hurt the fan base outside of the city.
Despite not growing up around the sport, heck we didn’t even have an ice rink within 90 miles, I’ve always really liked hockey. I didn’t start going to games until I moved out on my own. My first job was in Peoria, Illinois…home to the Peoria Rivermen…and I went to as many games as I could afford to the first few years I was on my own.
Fast forward fifteen years now and I still really enjoy watching hockey games. We’re lucky enough to have a couple of options in Kalamazoo. There’s Western Michigan University games as the top tier of NCAA hockey. Some of the best teams in the country come through Lawson on a regular basis. As for the pro game, there’s the Kalamazoo Wings in the ECHL.
We haven’t been to a lot of K-Wings games since moving to Kalamazoo nine years ago. I could probably count on one hand, but that has more to do with life situations than anything.
Our first K-Wings game was not long after we moved to Kalamazoo in 2009. J got some tickets through work so we headed to our first game at what was then called Wings Stadium.
We’ve been to a few different events at Wings over the years. J has taken L to see Sesame Street Live and we even went to the USA Curling Nationals the year they were held in Kalamazoo.
Last week, my work offered up tickets for the whole family and even though it was a weeknight, we decided it would be fun. J’s always enjoyed hockey games and we haven’t taken B to one yet so it would be fun to see how he reacted.
Wings Stadium is Wings Event Center. It’s located on Vanrick Drive just off Sprinkle Road and I-94. It’s easy to see as you’re heading east on the freeway and pretty easy to get to from Sprinkle Road. They have huge surface lots with multiple entrances off Vanrick Drive and an entrance on the south side at Covington Road. Parking for the game was $5 which was paid by cash at the entrance to the lot.
Charlie’s Piggin’ N’ Grinnin’
136 Territorial RoadIf you see police cars in a restaurant parking lot at lunch time, STOP! The local police always know the best places to eat, so if you’re in an unfamiliar town, just look follow the police cruisers.
A co-worker and I were in Benton Harbor for a quick assignment. We literally drove there during a snow storm for about fifteen minutes of work, but it’s what we had to do. Not wanting to head back in to the storm right away, C.W. asked if there was a sandwich shop somewhere to grab something to eat. Of course, I always do my research when we leave Kalamazoo.
Charlie’s Piggin’ N’ Grinnin’ is about a block north of Main Street in Benton Harbor near the corner of Territorial Road and Water Street. It’s in what looks to be an old mixed use building that had two separate streeet level storefronts and apartments above it. Charlie’s takes up both of those storefronts now. The parking lot next door was home to the Bell Opera House many, many years ago. The building appears to be from the turn of the 20th Century and the only remaining building on this block that used to be a vibrant downtown Benton Harbor.
Mr. Gyros
398 N. Willowbrook Road- Coldwater, MI 49036
- (517) 278-6699
- No Known Website
- Menu
Some days are busier than others at work. We spent last Friday in Branch County on an assignment but most of the day was spent sitting in the car waiting.
I had parked near I-69 in the Big Lots parking lot while we were waiting for a phone call. We sat there for about a half hour or so before I realized that I could make better use of the time and get something to eat while we had some down time.
The area around I-69 in Coldwater has a lot of fast food options. You should know me better than that. Fast food is no fun when there are other options.
I chose to head back down Willowbrook Road to a small strip mall with a Goodwill and a couple of shops. One of those storefronts is Mr. Gyros. Read more…
West Texas BBQ Company
2190 Brooklyn RoadI always talk about restaurants on “my list” that I just can never find time to make it to. For many years now, there has been a BBQ place in Jackson with really odd hours that I’ve just never been able to make work….until now.
Five years ago, Mlive.com did their Michigan’s Best BBQ Tour. I had been to a couple of the places that had made the Top Ten but not the #1 place. It’s a place I had heard of prior to Mlive’s tour but the hours always made it difficult to get there. That was the case for the next five years.
West Texas BBQ Company is on Brooklyn Road south of East South Street just south of the City of Jackson in Summit Township. The building is an old sign shop that was converted for a catering shop then converted again to double as a restaurant.
TNT – Lil’ Brother’s BBQ
806 Riverview DriveSeveral years ago, I stopped at a little BBQ place on North Westnedge for dinner. Since then, that place has been Pharaoh’s Valley and is now Chicago Munchies. Places come and go in strip malls so I really didn’t even notice when the BBQ place moved out.
Last month, I saw an article in the Loy Norrix Knight Life with a name that sounded familiar. It was the BBQ place that used to be on the Northside. They opened up a shop in the South Westnedge Neighborhood.
TNT – Lil’ Brother’s BBQ had opened at the Burdick Hair and Beauty Supply on the corner of Cork and Sprinkle Streets. The last time I had eaten from that little counter in the back of the store, it was known as Kalamazoo BBQ Grill.
When I pulled up to the shop, I noticed it seemed really empty. There was a sign on the door from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission about destroying all the alcohol in the building and the windows were fogged up. The place was clearly closed so I got online to see what happened.
Cafè ’36
2965 Oakland DriveIt seems like we don’t go out to eat for a while then all of a sudden, there’s a dozen new restaurants that we need to get to. That’s kind of the situation we’ve been in for a while. Going out to a nice sit down restaurant hasn’t been feasible lately. We’ve been busy on weekends and the kids would rather do take out or pizza.
Since it had been a while, I asked J if she wanted to go out to lunch last weekend. J and I have always enjoyed new dining experiences and it’s one thing we really wanted to try hard not to give up on once we had kids. When they were little, it was easy, but now that they’re both at an age where they want to be entertained, sometimes giving in and just going to Chili’s because they have iPads on the table is what we have to do.
We had a few options because, as I mentioned, there are a couple places that have opened recently that we haven’t been to yet. The first one we picked isn’t open for lunch on Saturday. Option number two was the new restaurant inside the health food store on Oakland.
Cafè ’36 opened late last year as part of Sawall Health Foods four thousand square foot expansion that added a second floor mezzaine level as well as expanded the deli as part of the health food grocers renovation last year. The grocery store is in the Oakwood Plaza Shopping Center on the corner of Oakland and Whites in the Oakland/Winchell Neighborhood of Kalamazoo. The renovations took the store from this…..
Que Buenos Fresh Mexican Grill
2929 Howard StreetMexican food and pizza. Two classic staples of late night good on college campuses across America.
I’ve worked at a lot of different Universities and whenever I get to town, I look for a late night pizza place or a late night burrito joint that will have tacos.
Kalamazoo really lacked those for a while. The pizza place came in with Hot Slice alongside a Greek joint. Qdoba was open late on West Main on weekends, but something in Campus Pointe would really be a benefit to the campus community.
It seems like over a year ago when signs went up along West Michigan advertising a new Mexican place moving in to Campus Pointe Mall. Recently, that sign was finally changed from “Coming Soon” to “Now Open.”
Que Buenos Fresh Mexican Grill is in the Campus Pointe Mall on the corner of Howard and West Michigan near Western Michigan University’s campus. The restaurant takes over a space between The Den Party Store and what is now Y Bar & Bistro. The last thing I can remember this space being is a Metro PCS store, but there could have been something else in between.
Wetzel’s Pretzels (Portage)
6650 S. Westnedge Avenue #108There are certain food chains that require a must stop at for me based on aura alone. They’re usually west coast places that we can’t get here in Michigan, so when one of them pops up, I go a little crazier than I’d like to admit.
Wetzel’s Pretzels is one of those places. I had never had Wetzel’s before. In fact, the only reason I knew the name is from a TV show. Yes, Dear did an episode where the families got stuck in an airport and while Greg was miserable and angry about the setback, Jimmy was ecstatic to use his Wetzel’s Pretzels coupons.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Crossroads Mall so I was a little surprised to see a Wetzel’s Pretzels had opened shop on the lower level in the Macy’s wing. It’s actually just below Auntie Anne’s which is on the second level.
Kalamazoo State Theatre
404 S. Burdick Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- (269) 345-6500
- Website
I don’t have to tell any parents this, but when you have kids, me time goes away. That’s not a bad thing. We just have to cut back on some things we used to enjoy doing.
One of those things is concerts. It can be expensive to hire a babysitter for the night on top of all the usual concert expenses so it really has to be a show we want to see to make it worth it.
We’ve missed out on one show we both have wanted to go to for quite some time. Every year, for the last nine years, Frankie Ballard does his Country Christmas show at the State Theatre. We’ve always had something going on and last year, even though we had tickets, we couldn’t get a babysitter for the night due to the weather.
We made plans to go to the show again this year and even worked it out so my parents would be in town for Christmas. We had our babysitter and we had our tickets. We were finally going to get to this annual show.
The State Theatre is in downtown Kalamazoo on Burdick Street just south of where the Kalamazoo Mall ends at West Lovell Street. The theatre has been a fixture in the city since the vaudeville days. It was built in 1927 and has seen movies, concerts, stage shows, operas and much more. The theatre was conceived by the W.S. Butterfield Theater Chain and designed by John Eberson who designed around 100 theaters and created the atmospheric theatre style. The Butterfield Theater Chain is responsible for dozens of theaters in Michigan with Kalamazoo’s being one of the early theater’s W.S. Butterfield used on his Michigan vaudeville circuit. Read more…
AMC Portage Street 10
180 Portage StreetIt’s time for my annual trek to the movie theater. When I was in college I would sometimes go to two or three movies a day. I loved the theater. I loved movies. I still enjoy the experience and I still enjoy movies but it’s not something I have much time for anymore, but I still make sure to hit the new Star Wars movie on opening weekend….something I’ve done since the Phantom Menace came out almost twenty years ago.
The last two movies, The Force Awakens and Rogue One, I’ve gone to the Alamo Drafthouse. Well…that’s not an option anymore. The landlords kicked Alamo out of their downtown space because another much larger theater chain wanted the space and offered more money to rent it. If you live in Kalamazoo, you know how unpopular of a decision that was. People (including me) loved the Alamo Drafthouse. It just wasn’t a typical movie theater.
The chain that moved into the space at the corner of Portage and South Street in downtown Kalamazoo is AMC. The theater is now known as Portage Street 10 after initially launching in the market as Kalamazoo 10. Goodrich Quality Theaters sued AMC over the name because they’ve been the Kalamazoo 10 in town for many years and it was causing marketplace confusion.
SW Michigan Dining 