Above the Pub

Portland, Michigan, again; Amy's Place (a restaurant) is the nearer building and The Pub (apparently the same business) is the blue storefront. I really like the symetry of the larger building. The backs of these buildings show in another of my Portland photographs.

Most midwestern downtowns are collections of century-old brick buildings. The street-level storefronts have typically changed several times to match fashion and the current tenant's whim; above the first story you generally get the original brickwork. It's pretty rare for the two portions to be even vaguely similar, and nearly as rare for the storefront to be half as interesting as the old brickwork.

The original storefronts were likely cast iron frames around glass panels. In general, I prefer buildings which have been "restored" in that direction. Downtown Kalamazoo has several such buildings; I don't know of any other local towns with more than one or two.