New Hotel In Lakewood or Dead Guy On Detroit For Hours?
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 11:26 am
This was going in this issue of the Lakewood Observer but got bumped.
New Hotel/Bar In Lakewood Church DowntowN
OR, Dead White Man Found Saturday In Plain Sight On Detroit Avenue
by Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood's newest hotel, a church turned into a hotel/bar.
It was really the tale of two cities, an ironic moment that just bears some observations. At around the same time some at City Hall were tweeting about the great seats they had gotten for the Orchestra at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium, capping a truly wonderful week in Lakewood, I was receiving a phone call from a Lakewood resident who had discovered a body in the bushes just opposite the kick-off stage for “Porchestra” in DowntowN Lakewood, 100 feet from 2 fabulous patios, filled with people talking, having fun, drinking and eating.
A great view of the other piece of public art in Lakewood. "Transversion" by Peter Diepenbrock.
The call went something like this: “Jim, there is a dead body in the bushes down by the Christian Science Church! Get down there!!” I ask, “Did you call the police?” “NO!” was the answer. Hmmmmmmm. “Always call the police when you find a dead body before you call me in the future, OK?” “OK.” So I got in my car to go down and see if the dead body was still in the bushes, poke it with a couple sticks, and then call the police. But let’s be honest, how long can a dead body that can be seen from the street sit on Detroit Ave. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Still, you have to admit it is all kind of intriguing.
Is that a body in the bushes?
As I get down to Kauffman Park, I go to pull over and park and realize you can no longer park next to the old vacant church. So I go into the park area and make a U-Turn around the pole where a mother gives me the finger while her daughter goes through whatever they bought at Drug Mart. I drive up on the other side and pull to the curb, and realize it is now diagonal parking! It is hard to believe that every traffic pattern and every parking lot was done wrong before the past couple years, but I guess they were. I park in one away from the meter that had been hit by a car going the wrong way, because “if you park at a broken meter in Lakewood you will be ticketed.” Grab my camera and climb the steps, looking in the bushes for the dead body to poke with a stick, take pictures then call the police. Again, poke, pics, police. PPP. But there is nothing, agh active imaginations. I call the mother, “No he was there, my daughter was so scared!” As I am hanging up the phone, I see a head behind the bushes.
As I yell out and approch the body, it gets up and says, "just drunk sleeping it off."
With nothing more than my camera I approached the body, saying “Hello, are you alright?” I mean he had been back in those bushes for over an hour. The mother had waited 45 minutes before calling me. AGAIN, if you find a person face down in the bushes, or face up, and it seems odd, CALL THE POLICE, get photos, let them poke. A sleepy-eyed middle-aged male looked up from the lush ground cover and said, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Well I have to admit, now I am curious, a middle-aged man face down in the bushes in plain sight of thousands of people over the course of an hour plus, I just had to ask, “Are you sure? I mean you are face down in the bushes?” With a childish grin, he says, “Had some drinks, got tired and laid down.” Fair enough, I myself have had a couple drinks and grabbed a nap. Not in the bushes, unless I was camping, but I empathized. I asked if it was at the bar? “Yeah.” I asked about the bottle he had hidden behind the pillar at the church, and he mentioned he was thirsty. Which was almost believable but what about the other bottle? He nodded, and asked for “some time to get my shit together.” I said sure and he laid back down.
Nice rustic suite.
It was about then another friend showed up with her son on bikes. They ask what is going on, and I tell them the story and bring them up to date, then it occurs to me, maybe I can get her son to re-enact the entire incident, and he could be the kid who pokes the guy with a stick. The offer is refused, even at $2.00. Oh well. Suddenly my new friend emerged from the bushes, straightened his clothes and headed off to Drug Mart. I wandered back to the bushes and found a little “nest.” It would seem my new friend had truly trumped Councilman Juris, by not only turning a church into a bar, but a hotel with a bar in DowntowN Lakewood. I’m sure this guy would love the free drunk bus too, but that is for another column.
Beautiful bar/patio.
Especially in the afternoon sun.
He never came back while I was there. That could be a good thing. I hope it is.
This story is not about the bar business in Lakewood, though I suppose it could be in some way. It is not about the poor, the unstable, the addicted, though I am sure it could be. I think the lesson that is probably most important in this entire strange, crazy, sad incident, is…
Street Smarts 101.
People Face Down In Bushes: CALL POLICE.
Even if the guy turns out to be the gardener, he will find it delightfully amusing. Most others found face down in the bushes will be ecstatic you took the time to call, if they are still alive when you find them.
If you are doing something illegal-- ie, you are under the influence of something illegal or are somewhere you shouldn't be-- and it is causing you to hesitate to call the police, a dead body, or a person you could have saved dying, will not make your status more legal, it will make it much more illegal. Call Police.
If the person is alive the police will not beat them heavily below the hips until they fall down again and then kick them. They will evaluate the situation, the person, and the help they need. Lakewood, and the county with the help of Judge Carroll, have a pretty good substance abuse plan for evaluation, and getting people into programs that benefit them and their situation.
And never step over a person when you can reach down and help them up.
.
New Hotel/Bar In Lakewood Church DowntowN
OR, Dead White Man Found Saturday In Plain Sight On Detroit Avenue
by Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood's newest hotel, a church turned into a hotel/bar.
It was really the tale of two cities, an ironic moment that just bears some observations. At around the same time some at City Hall were tweeting about the great seats they had gotten for the Orchestra at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium, capping a truly wonderful week in Lakewood, I was receiving a phone call from a Lakewood resident who had discovered a body in the bushes just opposite the kick-off stage for “Porchestra” in DowntowN Lakewood, 100 feet from 2 fabulous patios, filled with people talking, having fun, drinking and eating.
A great view of the other piece of public art in Lakewood. "Transversion" by Peter Diepenbrock.
The call went something like this: “Jim, there is a dead body in the bushes down by the Christian Science Church! Get down there!!” I ask, “Did you call the police?” “NO!” was the answer. Hmmmmmmm. “Always call the police when you find a dead body before you call me in the future, OK?” “OK.” So I got in my car to go down and see if the dead body was still in the bushes, poke it with a couple sticks, and then call the police. But let’s be honest, how long can a dead body that can be seen from the street sit on Detroit Ave. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Still, you have to admit it is all kind of intriguing.
Is that a body in the bushes?
As I get down to Kauffman Park, I go to pull over and park and realize you can no longer park next to the old vacant church. So I go into the park area and make a U-Turn around the pole where a mother gives me the finger while her daughter goes through whatever they bought at Drug Mart. I drive up on the other side and pull to the curb, and realize it is now diagonal parking! It is hard to believe that every traffic pattern and every parking lot was done wrong before the past couple years, but I guess they were. I park in one away from the meter that had been hit by a car going the wrong way, because “if you park at a broken meter in Lakewood you will be ticketed.” Grab my camera and climb the steps, looking in the bushes for the dead body to poke with a stick, take pictures then call the police. Again, poke, pics, police. PPP. But there is nothing, agh active imaginations. I call the mother, “No he was there, my daughter was so scared!” As I am hanging up the phone, I see a head behind the bushes.
As I yell out and approch the body, it gets up and says, "just drunk sleeping it off."
With nothing more than my camera I approached the body, saying “Hello, are you alright?” I mean he had been back in those bushes for over an hour. The mother had waited 45 minutes before calling me. AGAIN, if you find a person face down in the bushes, or face up, and it seems odd, CALL THE POLICE, get photos, let them poke. A sleepy-eyed middle-aged male looked up from the lush ground cover and said, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Well I have to admit, now I am curious, a middle-aged man face down in the bushes in plain sight of thousands of people over the course of an hour plus, I just had to ask, “Are you sure? I mean you are face down in the bushes?” With a childish grin, he says, “Had some drinks, got tired and laid down.” Fair enough, I myself have had a couple drinks and grabbed a nap. Not in the bushes, unless I was camping, but I empathized. I asked if it was at the bar? “Yeah.” I asked about the bottle he had hidden behind the pillar at the church, and he mentioned he was thirsty. Which was almost believable but what about the other bottle? He nodded, and asked for “some time to get my shit together.” I said sure and he laid back down.
Nice rustic suite.
It was about then another friend showed up with her son on bikes. They ask what is going on, and I tell them the story and bring them up to date, then it occurs to me, maybe I can get her son to re-enact the entire incident, and he could be the kid who pokes the guy with a stick. The offer is refused, even at $2.00. Oh well. Suddenly my new friend emerged from the bushes, straightened his clothes and headed off to Drug Mart. I wandered back to the bushes and found a little “nest.” It would seem my new friend had truly trumped Councilman Juris, by not only turning a church into a bar, but a hotel with a bar in DowntowN Lakewood. I’m sure this guy would love the free drunk bus too, but that is for another column.
Beautiful bar/patio.
Especially in the afternoon sun.
He never came back while I was there. That could be a good thing. I hope it is.
This story is not about the bar business in Lakewood, though I suppose it could be in some way. It is not about the poor, the unstable, the addicted, though I am sure it could be. I think the lesson that is probably most important in this entire strange, crazy, sad incident, is…
Street Smarts 101.
People Face Down In Bushes: CALL POLICE.
Even if the guy turns out to be the gardener, he will find it delightfully amusing. Most others found face down in the bushes will be ecstatic you took the time to call, if they are still alive when you find them.
If you are doing something illegal-- ie, you are under the influence of something illegal or are somewhere you shouldn't be-- and it is causing you to hesitate to call the police, a dead body, or a person you could have saved dying, will not make your status more legal, it will make it much more illegal. Call Police.
If the person is alive the police will not beat them heavily below the hips until they fall down again and then kick them. They will evaluate the situation, the person, and the help they need. Lakewood, and the county with the help of Judge Carroll, have a pretty good substance abuse plan for evaluation, and getting people into programs that benefit them and their situation.
And never step over a person when you can reach down and help them up.
.