The place was around for nearly 70 years. There are a lot of stories out there. Generations of people passed the hours away in the little wooden boothes. Looking at the same jars of candy and tea. This space will be a forum of discussion. What happened? Why wasn't this place able to be saved?
"I was devasted when Drake's Sandwich Shop closed," Burns said in an interview with The Michigan Daily."
I went to U. of M from 67 through 71 and also used to visit my brother when he went there from 65 through 67. Drake's was always there. In the mid 60's, there used to be an upstairs room called the "Martian Room" (a holdover from the 50's), and you could order "M"-burgers from a little window downstairs.
I'm probably a bit slow, but it took me all of my four years to figure out how to order a sandwich at Drake's. You had to ask for a menu at the counter, then write your order down on a little slip and hand it to the person behind the counter. Then they would bring you your sandwich.
I always loved Drake's with their wooden booths, and huge jars full of teas and candies. It spoke of years gone by, and a mystique that remained inaccessable to most. This was at a time when the information age had not yet descended upon the world and there were still secrets. No one knew who the studio musicians were on record albums, and myths flourished as fact, never to be challenged; like how to look at the leg of the camel on a pack of Camel Cigarettes and see the naked lady, or that there was once a worker at Camel who put Panama Red marijuana into the cigarettes, and that pack still existed somewhere.
The Blue Front was still a dingy little store run by a bald headed guy who didn't like it if you hung around and read the porno books on the rack in the back. There was a pizzeria called Pizza Loy on State Street, run by a guy named Pizza Bob that the Michigan Daily would do feature stories on once in a while. More than once in a while. Like every month.
And there was a fish and chips place on Packard called Lucky Jim's which was run by the ex-wife of Kingley Amis. About three middle aged ladies worked behind the counter, and there was a sign on the wall telling patrons not to stare at the ladies because staring made them subject to hot flashes. I decided to test this out one day, and one of the ladies whirled around and snapped "Stop it!" I've been mystified to this day. (Bev's Caribbean Take-Out is now taking the place of Lucky Jim's).
On the same block of Packard there used to be a grocery store called The General This 'n' That Shop, which never seemed to have much of any item. One cold winter day between semester, almost all the shelves were empty except for a loaf of bread on one shelf. I bought the loaf of bread and asked the woman at the register if they were going out of business. "I hope not!" she said.
his was the Ann Arbor of the late 60's and early 70's, when Drake was still alive and well along with Red's Rite Spot. You were hip if these were your hang outs and you didn't brag about it. You just made them your hang out. You didn't need to talk about them because just being there was cool enough.
Now they are all gone. Ann Arbor has now become the usual melange of cappucino joints and chic food outlets. It's really too bad. But Drake's hung on until the end, like that last loaf of bread on the empty shelves of The General This 'n' That Shop. Go out of business? I hope not! Alas, but it's true.
Barry Garelick Class of 1971