 | | Downtown Houghton's cinema is called, appropriately enough, the Lode. | Downtown along Shelden Avenue is distinctive and architecturally rich, a college town full of surprises to reward the perceptive pedestrian. A bike/footpath with benches and picnic spots goes along the waterfront a block below. Occasionalavishly ornamented buildings from the mining boom accent the steep hillside. A diverse array of shops, boosted by modest rents, range from the practical (Surplus Outfitters and upscale Down Wind Sports for cold climate gear, a hardware store, several barber shops) to the more exotic (a tattoo parlor, head shop, a nifty California-theme women's fashions shop).
An information-rich virtual walking tour of central Houghton is now online at www.cityofhoughton.com. Its intelligent commentary would be easy to read when printed out and put in a notebook. The information-packed interpretive panels around town are rather hard to digest when you're standing and reading, but they're full of interesting nuggets—e.g., most downtown buildings were of a simple front-gable design that encouraged the area's heavy snows to fall to the sides.
Downtown's retail mix is unusual for today: restaurants and specialty shops, and still a hardware store, clothing stores, and a movie theater. Tech students and faculty, together with summer visitors, help sustain downtown.
 | | The ornate Douglass House on Shelden, Houghton's main street that parallels the waterfront. Built in 1900, the former hotel has a terrific vintage bar, complete with rich woodwork and original Tiffany-type chandeliers hanging from a coffered ceiling. | Two taverns have opulent historic interiors and elaborate bars and back bars that go back to mining boom times. If you're strolling around, take a peek. They also serve food; see restaurant listings. The Douglass House Saloon, the oldest bar in town, is at downtown's east entrance, in the handsome orange brick Douglass House hotel, a local landmark with its square corner towers. It was erected in 1900 by local businessmen who wanted a first-class hotel for their town. Original Tiffany-type chandeliers hang from the saloon's coffered ceiling with its rich woodwork. On downtown's other end at 126 Shelden, the Ambassadorhas a back bar with a vintage landscape mural populated by cavorting and carousing gnomes. A third memorable beer-drinking setting (with good hamburgers, too) is the Downtowner Lounge's outdoor deck overlooking the Portage Waterway, behind the bar at 100 Shelden.
Here are some noteworthy downtown businesses, arranged from east (closer to Tech campus) to west (the lift bridge). Shelden is one way from east to west. The other direction, west to east, is one street up the hill, along Montezuma. There's plenty of parking on decks entered north (toward the waterway) off Shelden or from the street below it.
• ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK VISITOR CENTER & BOOKSTORE. By the dock of the Ranger III, this space accommodates an information center where park staff with detailed maps can answer some of the questions prospective visitors have. It also contains a small nature bookstore run by the Isle Royale Natural History Association to benefit the park. Its maps, videos, and posters are either about Isle Royale or about subjects pertaining to it, such as wolves, moose, field guides, and Native American culture. Some poster images are from the natural history association's artist-in-residence program. A substantial portion of all merchandise profit goes to the national park. Mail orders are welcome; call (800) 678-6925. For the complete online catalog, visit www.irnha.org . Adjoining the shop are offices of National Park Service Isle Royale staff. By the dock at 800 E. Lakeshore. From Shelden Ave./U.S. 41, look for signs, turn north just before entering downtown at the tall Franklin Square Inn. National Park (906) 482-0984. Natural History Assn.: (800) 678-6925. From mid June thru late August: open Mon-Sat 8-6. From late August thru mid Sept. closes at 4:30. From late Sept. to mid June: open Mon-Fri 8-4:30. Wheelchair-accessible.
• CYBERIA CAFÉ(906) 482-2233. Wi-fi internet (free with purchase), many espresso drinks, fruit drinks, smoothies, and teas, and a laid-back atmosphere give this coffeehouse a fascinatingly varied customer base: bright and nonconformist high schoolers, occasional Tech faculty, MTU students in deadline mode, friends of all ages, retiree regulars, moms and their kids. Food includes baked goods and sweets, plus a soup of the day. 524 Shelden at Isle Royale. Open daily. Mon-Fri 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Sat & Sun 9 a.m-11 p.m. Wheelchair-accessible.
• NIGHT FOREST JEWELRY. (616) 855-4253. Closed for summer, 2008, due to a death in the family.Silversmith and jeweler Jena Schwacha uses gemstones and fine crystal in her own work (earrings in front, other work in the back case) and offers vintage jewelry, specialty textiles and accessories like scarves, Distant Drum jackets, and imported clothes with artistic flair. Some appealing beads are on hand for beaders, too. 525 Sheldon at Isle Royale in the corner spot of the Douglass Houses. Tues-Sat 11-5. Handicap access: two steps.
• THE STUDIO. Grand Rapids native and wildlife photographer MIke Shupe created this eclectic shop, part art and crafts gallery, part ice cream parlor, part pizza shop, with an annex of Calumet's North End Frames. All the art, from wooden bowls to paintings, are by local artists. The Jilbert's ice cream, hand dipped, is in back, along with the homemade pizza that Mike promises is the best around (the Greek is the most popular). 514 Shelden. 11-10 Mon-Sat, 5-10 Sunday. (906) 369-7000.
• BOOK WORLD. This lively, well-stocked general book shop, part of a chain based in Appleton, Wisconsin, has a good regional section, strong nature and children's books, and the best magazine selection in town. It also stocks premium cigars and imported cigarettes. 515 Shelden across from the Lode. Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 9-5. Wheelchair-accessible.
• LODE THEATER. Three screens. No vintage charm inside. 510 Shelden. (906) 482-0280. Wheelchair-accessible: except toilets.
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 | | Mike Sackson, as affable a chap as you'd ever want to meet. | • MEDIASLAVE. Mike Sackson finally settled down following 14 years driving the equipment semi for many of the world's top rock performers—Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, Counting Crows, the B-52s, Red Hot Chili Peppers—the list goes on and on. After what Mike calculates to be 1,123,200 miles on the road, he set up a cool little shop where he buys, sells, and trades CDs, LPs, DVDs, and video games. 70s and 80s rock is his favorite. Check out his website (http//Xmediaslave.tv) and you'll see a nifty webcam-generated picture of the current activity in his store. 509 Shelden. (906) 482-3681.
• RHYTHM SKATE SHOP. (906) 483-0769. In their mid-twenties, Joe Schwenk and his partners Todd Brokhouse and Adam Yeoman have already had over 10 years of experience in running a business and dealing with the things that come up. They started the skate park in Dee Stadium (a city-teen project in which they were responsible for enforcing rules), then got into business selling and customizing snowboards, skateboards, and 20" bikes. (Their art has way more energy than commercial designs.) Now they have taken on a big preservation project, buying the two-story storefront from the copper boom that later housed Montgomery-Ward, and working to expose interior brick and restore many of the building's vintage features. 418 Shelden. (—April, 2008)
• KEWEENAW BREWING COMPANY.(906) 482-5596. This growing microbrewery has quickly gained a devoted following, first at its laid-back, hip and comfortable downtown taproom, and now among beer drinkers who find it in groceries as far away as Marquette. A keg from the KBC is a sign of good taste at parties among students and alums at Michigan Tech and Finlandia.
Downtown, Keweenaw Brewing occupies two connected storefronts, one without smoking and with lodge-like sofas around a rear fireplace — a mellow place to hang out and talk. (Music never blasts, so conversations and thinking are always possible.) There's occasional musical entertainment, usually from singer-songwriters, who work for tips. Find out about entertainment, and read about the nine brews currently on tap, at keweenawbrewery.com Patrons can bring in their own food, or order in pizza, or buy nuts here.
A rear deck has a view of the Quincy Mine and a bit of the lift bridge, but the parking deck's higher level blocks some of the view.
The bar is also sort of a tasting room for individual patrons. To-go customers buy kegs or $6 half-gallon growlers, which the bartender fills (or refills) upon purchase. Glasses of several draft ales, from pale to amber to brown, sell for $2/pint. Behind it are the copper vats. Brewing downtown is currently once a week. The aroma of hops fills the rooms and wafts outside.
Owners Dick Gray (a Michigan Tech grad in petroleum geology) and Paul Boussevain met working in the oil business in Colorado. Like so many Tech grads, Dick dreamed of returning to the Copper Country when his kids had finished school.
Why not join up with Paul, a fellow beer aficionado, in a new brewery? On his first visit, Paul loved the area. And they successfully induced Denver brewmaster David Lawrence to join their project. KBC opened in 2004.
The area's low real estate values made many things possible that wouldn't have been possible in, say, Ann Arbor.
Having the funds from the owners' first careers meant KBC could afford to sell beer in cans instead of bottles. Its Pick Axe Blonde and Red Jacket Amber Ale are Michigan's first canned microbrews (also sold in kegs). Cans recycle better, Paul points out. Light doesn't reach the beer. And there's no broken glass. The problem is, a minimum order of 200,000 cans is required for can manufacturer Cask Calgary to print them — and that takes up a lot of space (16' by 20').
In 2007, with the downtown brewery operating at capacity and demand from distributors outpacing capacity, KBC opened a larger brewery in South Range, with room to warehouse cans. (Interested people can call 482-1937 to set up an informal tour.) Look for the two silos and large beige metal building peeking up a block or so behind the empty gas station on M-26 entering town from Houghton. The official address is 10 Fourth Street. Currently it brews some six times a week. With the South Range brewery, more different beers can be canned and distributed.
Already there seems to be some cachet to brewed-in-the-U.P. beers on supermarket shelves. This could be a Copper Country export below the bridge, if distributors like the idea. (—April, 2008)408 Shelden. Sun noon-8, Mon-Wed 3-10, Thu-Sat 11-11.Wheelchair access: yes, thru front doors. Ramp to rear deck comes off parking deck, which is entered from Shelden Ave. at The Print Shop.
• FRAMED BY KATHY. (906) 482-3550. More than a frame shop, it also sells artist's supplies and photography, art, and jewelry on consignment. One favorite: Nicky Caspary's thimbleberryware — vases, plates, jampots, candeholders and more, imprinted with thimbleberry leaves. (—March, 2008)314 Shelden in The Marketplace mall. Open Mon-Fri 10:30-5:30. Wheelchair accessible from front and from rear parking ramp.
• DOWN WIND SPORTS. (906) 482-2500. More bases are covered here than at any other Keweenaw outdoor store: climbing, kayaking and canoeing, mountain biking, backpacking, downhill and cross-country skiing, teleskiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, and skijouring. The staff is involved in all these sports. They also have products for customers' dogs. Store hours accommodate last-minute purchases by people going to Isle Royale on the Ranger III. In the Copper Country clothing is casual-functional, and North Face, Patagonia, and other clothes from Down Wind are the local forms of a fashion statement.
Scheduled programs and events are in the newsletter or on its website. The downtown location allows for convenient demos of mountain bikes and of kayaks (call for weekly time) so various models can be test paddled. Now cross-country skis, kayaks, and snowshoes can be rented—prospective buyers a chance to test different models. (—Feb., 2008) 308 Shelden/U.S. 41, two blocks past the Lode Theater, across from Hunan Restaurant. downwindsports.com. Mon-Thurs 10-6, Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6 Sun 12-4. Wheelchair-accessible.
• The WICKER & WILLOW COMPANY. (906) 483-0251. This unusual shop combines gift basket components (sweets like Sanders toppings and fudge sauce; beautifully packaged sauces and condiments from Freshwater Foods in St. Ignace and elsewhere; Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries) and things like Sak and Fossil leather handbags and many classics of Finnish design that haven't been available here in awhile. Here are Marimekko towels, bathrobes, handbags and more; aarika wood jewelry; iitala bowls and candleholders and those beautiful glass birds in luminous patterns of swirls and dots. Seasonal picnicware is fun and elegant. (—March, 2008)300 Shelden next to The Print Shop and parking ramp entrance. Open Mon-Thurs 10-5:30, Fri to 8, Sat to 5. Wheelchair-accessible.
• SURPLUS OUTLET. (906) 482-2550. Outdoor gear that works in the U.P. is the stock in trade here. Here are Columbia for the whole family, Carhartts, wool Malone bib overalls, Woolrich, Duofold and Wigwam, Keen, Smartwool. There's an extensive shoe department with work boots and winter boots, plenty of kinds of gloves, and lots of Keweenaw T-shirts and sweatshirts. (—April, 2008) 200 Shelden. Mon-Thurs 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri to 8, Sat to 5, Sun noon to 4 in winter, 10 to 2 in summer. Wheelchair-accessible.
• SURPLUS OUTLET. Outdoor gear that works in the U.P. is the stock in trade here. Here are Columbia for the whole family, Carhartts, wool Malone bib overalls, Woolrich, Duofold and Wigwam. There's an extensive shoe department with work boots and winter boots, plenty of kinds of gloves, and lots of Keweenaw T shirts and sweatshirts. 200 Shelden. (906) 482-2550. Mon-Thurs 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri to 8:30, Sat to 5, Sun noon to 4 in winter, 10 to 2 in summer. Wheelchair-accessible.
• WIND EYE: ARCHITECTURALS and ANTIQUES. (906) 483-4799. Fabulous stained glass window, lamps, fretwork, and unusual furniture pieces, mostly from the Copper Country's glory days and the Arts & Crafts era. If you're familiar with southeastern Michigan antiques and this reminds you of Reynold Lowe's Materials Unlimited in Ypsilanti or the late Ned Duke's Royal Oak gallery, it's no wonder. Owner Jack Morris supplied them with many pieces, wholesale. He was Ned's main supplier, he says — and Ned's stained glass was dazzling, as patrons of his first venture, Mr. Flood's Party tavern in Ann Arbor, remember.
Here in this distinctive downtown building, near his Keweenaw home, Jack has assembled the cream of the crop, he says, the most interesting things, to give customers an idea of the scope and quality of his stock. Art Nouveau is his personal favorite, as befitting someone who studied both art and biology (as Western Michigan University). He began buying antiques, stained glass windows, unusual doors up here in the 1970s, when many old buildings in Calumet were uninhabited, and wholesaling them to other dealers. He still travels ten days a month, selling and buying in a five-state loop. His partner Sherry Lamoreaux minds the store. (—Feb., 2007)113 Shelden, next to Backroom and parking ramp. Enter in rear; drive is by parking ramp. Handicap access: call. Summer hours thru color season: Tues-Fri 3-6, Sat 1-5. Also open by chance. Call for other seasons and to confirm fall hours.
• BACKROOM MULTI-ENTERTAINMENT. (906) 482-0637. This sprawling 12,500-square-foot shop (formerly Kirkish Furniture) is a complex, funky place you can almost get lost in. The first floor is part head shop, part New Age emporium, part novelty shop, part vendor of exotic home decor items like bead door curtains, fountains, African and Tibetan things. One room has loads of incense, another is darkened to create a sensational space for psychedelic black light posters. 1960s posters grace the high walls. The mezzanine is the head shop, full of hookahs, bongs, and other paraphernalia. Upstairs is part used bookshop (100,000 used paperbacks are neatly filed in the back), plus video games, DVDs, adult books etc. In front the Jolly Buddha internet cafe has mini pizzas, sandwiches, and snacks, and a terrific view from big windows overlooking the main street and the spectacular waterway beyond. (—Feb., 2008)109 Shelden. 11-8 Mon-Sat. Wheelchair access: through front door for ground floor. For second floor, from back entrance off parking ramp between Montezuma and Shelden.
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