Hot n' Now

In the late-80s/early-90s, Hot n Now arrived on the Lansing dining scene and the town went ape shit. These were drive-thru only burger joints where the hamburgers were 39 cents a piece! I think cheeseburgers were 49 cents.

In their hey day, there were Hot n Nows all over the place. West side, south side....This particular location is on the north side, in Old Town on Cedar St. It has the trademark 80s lunchbox design.

The old Hot n Now buildings have become all sorts of things. In the late 90s, the one on S. Pennsylvania became a Spad's Pizza. Where you could get pizza for....25 Cents a Slice! Insane. Of course as we all know, Spad's burned to the ground from a grease fire shortly after opening (imagine that).

The old Hot n Now on Waverly Rd. is now a Twisters Ice Cream. Drive thru ice cream cones....Now there's a great idea.

Currently there are only two Hot n Now restaurants left in existence. One in New Buffalo Michigan, right at the Indiana border. And one in Roseville, just outside Detroit. There are no more in the Lansing area even though the headquarters is still in Holt.

It's That Time of Year!

Well, it's spring....That means three things in Lansing:

1. It's perfect weather for Curtis and his BBQ Truck.

2. QD is gonna start selling a lot more superman ice cream.

3. Michigan State basketball gives the town some hope for a few weeks

Tim Staudt has gotta be all pumped up about this. He might even only play 9 holes on Saturday so that he can make it back in time for the second half of the game!

They should just get it over with and make Tom Izzo mayor. He could do some weird stuff, like promise to bring alien visitors to the community for the sole purpose of giving anal probes to all residents. He'd still get 90% of the vote.

But I'm happy for the team and I hope they win the championship. If for no other reason, than to see The Dancing Bear win it all.

And hopefully Mateen Cleaves will beat his drunken driving charge.

What Was This?

It looks like it was a dry cleaners. The One Hour Martinizing is a dead give away. Dry cleaning in Lansing took a pretty big hit here. It's no Baryames or Maurers. But it is right next to the Smokers Oasis. For the crowd who wants to smoke while they do their dry cleaning this is a helluva loss. Or maybe they immediately wanted to get the smell out of their clothes.

House of Car Stereo

If you need a tape deck in Lansing, you're gonna have to change your shopping habits. The House of Car Stereo on Pennsylvania Ave. is closed. Actually, that whole area that was basically car stereo shops on Pennsylvania seems to have hit hard times. I can't imagine why....

I'm pretty sure Tim Staudt used to pump this place up on his radio show.

And it looks like some longtime fans and/or looters went after the sign on the awning. Rad.

Even the Copper Theives in Lansing Are Behind the Times

The Lansing State Journal wrote an article today about how copper thieves in Lansing are having a field day. This means two things:

1) Lots of abandoned buildings to pick over (duh). The buzzards have started swarming.

2) Lansing is even five years late on the copper racket.

Pretty soon the copper resellers will overtake Discount Dave as Lansing's most recognizable entrepreneur!

Here's a link to the story in case you missed it above.

Holy Cross Church

Nothing much to see here, just an entire city block boarded up.

Holy Cross Church opened on September 21, 1924. It was located at 1611 W. Oakland Ave. in Lansing. It occupied the entire block between Saginaw and Oakland, and between Jenison and Comfort. For those familiar with the area, they know that this is very close to the previously posted about Lansing Craft Center and Lansing Metal Center.


Holy Cross was more than just a church. The campus also included a school which taught grades K-8, and a rectory. All of this is now boarded up.


It's worth noting that this church served many different communities. There was a substantial Vietnamese community present, as well as White and Latino. Of all of the Catholic churches in Lansing, it probably had the biggest gaps in household income.


A woman came by during Christmas and decorated her former church with wreaths, because she was sad to see it boarded up and looking like nobody cared for it anymore. No news yet on who will take the wreaths down.


I attended church there many times over the years, and I can say from experience that the attendance was far lower than that of most churches. It was not a big church, and it certainly wasn't flashy. It was probably a throwback to what a Catholic church and service were like in the 50s and 60s.

I also played against their basketball team in junior high. Their gym was more of a basketball museum than a gym. Dr. Naismith probably could have stepped into it and felt right at home. It did have it's charms though....

More pics below.

What's Left of GM in Lansing

This is what was known as the Lansing Metal Center. It was a GM Plant on Saginaw Highway in Lansing Michigan. This plant was located directly across the street from the Lansing Craft Center.

The Lansing Metal Center was a massive building...Over 1,500,000 square feet! Well over the size of a city block. Trains came in and out of here (as you can see from the railroad track signs) quite often. Now this is all that remains of it

The Craft Center is nothing but a pile of rubble at this point. It sits kitty corner from Sexton High School (which was scheduled to close due to dwindling enrollment and bad test scores). Almost all of the businesses that sat by these plants are also either closed or on their last leg.

I got closer for a few more pics. As you can see, some people still have jobs in the plants....Tearing them down.

JJ Live Here

This blog will be about Lansing, Michigan. JJ Live Here was the best way to kick it off. Supposedly, someone used to live here. They were named JJ (if you believe the garage door). This house has been abandoned for many years.

The idea of this site is to share photos and stories of the decay of Lansing Michigan. Lansing was once a major hub of the auto industry. It was the headquarters and home of Oldsmobile, as well as a production center for GM, etc. Not to mention all the businesses that survived by supplying parts and contracting with GM and Oldsmobile. A few years ago, Oldsmobile announced that it was saying goodbye forever. Slowly but surely, GM has been doing the same in Lansing. This has had a ripple effect throughout the community. This site hopes to document that.

Many Lansing apologists will point out some pointless new development like a traffic circle and say that Lansing is still doing ok. They either didn't live in Lansing when it was doing well, or they just wanna keep living the dream. Who knows....

Also, this site will have an open submission policy so if you think that you have something that you think would be good content, just email it in.

And remember, always remember....JJ live here.