Enjoy dining and entertainment in Traverse City after dark
To say that a hotel has "character" shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. In the case of the Park Place Hotel in the heart of downtown Traverse City, Mich., it definitely is a good thing.
The Park Place does have character -- as an urban hotel with a busy, energetic lobby where you'll find business travelers sprinkled among the tourists.
The hotel also is a venue for brides and grooms enjoying their last hurrah as singles and celebrating their nuptials, and as the first (or last) stop for an evening on the town. During the town's annual film festival (late July), you might run into Michael Moore (President Bush's least-favorite moviemaker) or Larry Charles, director of the wildly successful "mockumentary" comedy "Borat."
At the top of the hotel, the Beacon Lounge is the spot to enjoy nature's evening performance as the sun sinks into the western horizon, perhaps as a multicolored hot-air balloon drifts toward the dark humps of outlying hills. Find a window table and sip your martini or brewski and munch on coconut shrimp and spicy chicken wings. When the shades are raised on picture windows and the piano player launches into "Sunrise, Sunset" or maybe "Night and Day," you know that day is done and it is time to bid adieu to Old Sol. All too quickly, the bruised sky fades into dusk as lights twinkle on.
Not only is Park Place Hotel an ideal launching pad for exploring Traverse City after dark, but it also is a convenient base from which to enjoy local public beaches and tour scenic Old Mission Peninsula.
Traverse City's shady, pedestrian-friendly downtown is only a block from the beaches of West Grand Traverse Bay, with more than 150 shops, boutiques, galleries and restaurants. Walk along Front Street, full of eateries and watering holes (some with live entertainment) and you'll discover many stylish shops. Yes, it's the place to buy a T-shirt with the inevitable cherry theme, but also the destination to shop for designer clothes and wearable art.
In this age of bookseller chains, it is refreshing to find a thriving independent store of size. Sprawling Horizon Books on Front Street occupies a former J.C. Penney department store and incorporates a coffee shop that has entertainment.
Anchoring the downtown entertainment scene is a pair of venerable theaters. Head for the restored 1891 City Opera House for a performance by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, for swing-dance lessons and for revival of classic films as part of its "Downtown Dinner and a Movie" evenings. Upcoming are "Cabaret" (Sept. 12), "His Girl Friday" (Sept. 19) and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (Sept. 26).
The stage version of "Cabaret" also shows up in Traverse City at Old Town Playhouse (Nov. 2-24). Its fall season includes "Angel Street" (Sept. 14-29) and "The Guys" (Oct. 12-27).
Mode's Bum Steer is a cheerful saloon with Formica tables and comfortable swivel chairs. Choose from a variety of chalkboard specials, but also keep in mind that prime rib is served nightly (rather than as the typical Saturday-night special, which can be disappointingly mediocre). Here, the beef is tender and flavorful, perhaps because preparing it every night they've learned how to get it right. Steaks and slabs of barbecued ribs are reliable choices.
A wide range of other downtown dining spots includes Poppycock's for fresh pasta, a wine bar, martinis and late-night jazz. North Peak Brewing Company features handcrafted beer, wood-fired pizzas and fish and chips.
Amical is a French-style bistro with black-and-white-checkered tablecloths, exposed walls of cream brick and a scarred wooden floor. Start with French onion soup or pate de maison and move on to roasted chicken, black-eyed pea succotash tart or fresh Michigan whitefish.
Lil Bo's/Capone's once was a favorite watering hole of golf legend Walter Hagen (the Tiger Woods of his day) and was called Little Bohemia when it opened as a hot-dog stand in 1932. Try the olive burger at this 1940s-looking bar decorated North Woods-style in floor to ceiling knotty pine. On Mondays, the Ron Getz trio plays; on weekends, bands are in rotation.
Old Mission Peninsula is a 22-mile-long narrow ridge of land poking out into Lake Michigan's vast Grand Traverse Bay. It is home to five wineries that are ready with fun festivals as they celebrate the harvest and the crush. Those wineries include Peninsula Cellars, where the picturesque tasting room occupies a renovated 19th-century schoolhouse with neat white clapboard walls, red-tile roof and bell tower.
Avoid the crowds by journeying to Lighthouse Point at the tip of the peninsula. A sunny Saturday in midsummer found just one family picnicking on the beach, a blanket spread out on a narrow strand of sand between tall dune grasses with the picturesque lighthouse as a backdrop.
Plan a luncheon stop at Old Mission Tavern that adjoins a gallery and decorates its wall with original artwork from local artists. Sheer white chiffon curtains on big windows allow daylight to stream in and give the room airiness. Try a combo of ham-and-bean soup and half Cuban sandwich (a satisfying bargain at $6.95). Ambrosial cherry cobbler is big enough to share.
If you go
Information: Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) 872-8377, www.mytraversecity.com; Travel Michigan, (888) 784-7328, www.michigan.org.
Mileage: Traverse City is about 320 miles northeast of Chicago.
MikeMichaelson is a travel
writer based in Chicago and
the author of the guidebook
"Chicago’s Best-Kept Secrets."