I don’t know when Saginaw hit its peak. Maybe in the 1800s when it was a thriving lumber town.

Or maybe the 50s when post-war manufacturing was booming. But it was already on a downward skid when I was growing up there in the 60s.

I always remember wishing I’d been born elsewhere. Somewhere where they had a more impressive claim to fame than “home to the world’s tallest bean elevator.” Yes, Saginaw could boast of its neon jackrabbit, 35 feet tall, atop the 13-story bean elevator on Genesee Street down by the river. The sign included giant white letters spelling out BEANS – kind of like the Hollywood sign with nothing scenic around it. When I was a kid the sign flashed on and off at night.

Mom always kept a few bags of Jack Rabbit-brand Great Northern White Beans in the basement fruit room. She was famous for her baked beans, which she took to every potluck and social gathering. But I was always puzzled about the childhood jingle:

Beans, beans, the magical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So why not have beans for every meal?

The song made no sense because we never got the farts after eating my Mom’s beans. When I was old enough to care about such things, I asked for her recipe which I now call, “Mrs. Murphy’s Famous Fartless Beans.” And I learned that the secret ingredient is baking soda (just a pinch) – which neutralizes the gas. It also strips away the nutritional value but Mom added so much sugar and salt pork that her baked beans could never have been considered nutritious. Not that anybody much cared about such things back then – in those days of Velveeta and Cream of Mushroom soup.

Opposite the blinking neon jackrabbit, on the other side of Genesee Street, was Arlan’s Discount Department Store. I remember they had a crumbling asphalt parking lot and sold a lot of “seconds” – or flawed merchandise. They also sold turtles. Mom would rifle through the stacks of polyester double-knit fabrics that were piled on the tables, searching for something that wasn’t too ugly. She’d ask me, “Do you like this?”

I’d say, “No.” But she usually bought it anyway. Most of the time, I got lucky and she just stored it away in the plywood storage cupboards in the basement with all the other ugly fabrics she’d collected, with every good intention to make a dress, “one day when she had the time.”

Google is a wonderful thing since my memory ain’t so great. These historical tidbits were found on the website for the Ames, Iowa Historical Society:

– – – – – –

Ad copy:  With more of everything for you, your family, your home, your car, your recreation! You’ll find everything from pillows to pearls at Arlan’s, a name famous for value from Maine to Colorado!

It’s your new adventure in shopping!  No imperfects, no seconds ever, just first quality at Arlan’s! Every purchase you make at Arlan’s is backed by the reputation of one of America’s fastest growing retailers. Arlan’s prices are lower, not just weekends and special days, but everyday, on every item!  (Needless to say, I take issue with their claim of “no seconds.”)

– – – – – –

The “Grand Opening Sale” featured the following:
– Men’s flannel pajamas – $1.00
– Permanent press sport & dress shirts – $1.99
– Gilbert Banshee Sound roller skates – the sound is in the wheels – 59 cents
– Little Golden Books, your choice of titles – 9 cents
– Print and solid dress cotton fabrics – 19 cents per yard
– Zippers, three sizes – 9 cents each
– Light bulbs, (25, 40, 60, 75, 100 watts) 3 year guarantee – 10 cents
– Latex flat interior paint – $1.00 per gallon
– Stretch corner fitted sheets, fine quality 180 thread percale – 99 cents for twin, $1.29 for full size
– 45 RPM records – 19 cents each – Assortment includes these Hit Values:
  I’m Telling You Now – Freddie and the Dreamers
  Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying – Gerry and the Pacemakers
  King of the Road – Roger Miller
  The In Crowd – Dobie Gray
  I Must Be Seeing Things – Gene Pitney
  Game of Love – Wayne Fontana

I’m going back to Saginaw next month. This is my first travel adventure since my diagnosis last July. Not terribly exotic, but I’m tagging along with my brother, Ron, and his daughter, Seiko, during their off-season visit from Japan to the U.S. We’ll visit cousins, nieces, and nephews who are scattered all across the mitten of Michigan.

We’ll spend the last few days in Saginaw to allow Seiko (now 16) to reconnect with friends she made as a kindergartener, back in the day when Ron would visit in early September and Hemmeter School was only too happy to accept a temporary student which they counted in their student census for state funding.

I’ll have dinner one evening with high school classmates with whom I’ve reconnected on Facebook. Every month, Jean Bonkowski sends an email to each of the 104 graduates of the Class of ’72 who are still alive – and for whom she has an email address – announcing a reunion dinner at Beef O’Brady’s on the corner of Gratiot and Center.

Beef O’Brady’s must be close to the old Stewart’s Fabrics, which was my summer job during college breaks. Unlike Arlan’s, Stewart’s had high-quality, fashionable fabrics. I really enjoyed working there, setting up window displays, helping customers calculate yardage and keeping the store tidy. I remember waking up in bed some nights, catching myself cutting imaginary yardage on top of the bedspread. Fortunately, no scissors were involved!

I’m also planning to visit my best friend from high school, Sheila Cline, who lives in Royal Oak, near Detroit. I think the last time I saw Sheila was at my first wedding – to Bob Hackett – in 1982, in Reseda. A lot of time has passed since then and we have a lot of catching up to do. Sheila was a teacher in the Detroit school system, now retired. According to Facebook, she’s married to a guy named Dan and is a stepmom to one daughter. Based on cute baby pics, it seems there’s a grandbaby involved, too.

Sheila and I both agree that we won’t track down our college roommate from Western Michigan who has become one of those alt-right conservatives that breed in rust belt cities like Saginaw. Fortunately, most of my classmates seem to be progressive in their political leanings. Now that I think of it, we typically got a lecture during the first week of school about our class’ reputation as the “rebellious” ones.

I’m also going to send a letter to the occupants of 1375 Glendale Street and ask them if they would allow me to stop by to see the little house where I grew up. I’m curious to know if they’ve renovated the 1940s bathroom or if they’ve painted the plywood kitchen cupboards that my Dad made. Or if they’ve figured out a way to knock down a load-bearing wall to create an open floor plan. Or if they’ve improved the insulation in the basement where I spent a couple of miserable days each summer helping my mother stew tomatoes in the laundry room. Or if the hot pink in my old bedroom has bled through the multiple coats of neutral paint that we used to cover it up when we put the house up for sale in 2007 after my dad passed away.

According to Zillow.com, we sold the house for $82,500 back then – after having dropped the price multiple times just to get it off our hands. Zillow also revealed that the house was listed for a few months in 2013 with an asking price of $75,000.

Ron and I will drive around to see some of the landmarks: the Michigan Bell Telephone building where my dad met my mom, and where he worked his entire life;

the Water Works building at Hoyt Park with the big hill where Dad used to take us sledding; and St. Stephen’s school where my three brothers and I attended from kindergarten through graduation. We’ll drive by my mother’s “homestead” at Annesley and 17^th street on the East Side and my father’s childhood home on Mackinaw, on the West Side. I’m pretty sure the original Mooney’s ice cream place on Brockway has closed – but hopefully, they are operating in a new location. Mooney’s ice cream was the BEST!

And we’ll certainly check out the World’s Tallest Bean Elevator to see if the bean bunny is still flashing.

---

RECIPE:  Mrs. Murphy’s Famous Fartless Baked Beans (just as I wrote it down from my Mom’s instructions)

Pick out bad beans. Wash.

Par-boil them (when water comes to a boil, add a pinch – 1/4 tsp – baking soda). Pour off foamy water. Rinse beans.

Cover beans with water again and add 1 tsp salt per pound. Add ham bone.

Boil till tender – not mushy, just soft. Remove bone.

Add 1 cup sugar per pound. Add some chopped onion (1 med onion per pound), 1 tbsp ketchup, and layer with slices of side pork or bacon.

Bake uncovered for 4 hours at 350 degrees. When it starts bubbling, turn heat down to 250-275 degrees. Make sure liquid doesn’t cook away – add water if necessary.