The Glass Onion, Crack Houses & the Brothers' Nightclub

Well, much has been happening in southwest Michigan over spring break.

Having gained an interest in "smoking the hookah" since being at Dordt, I decided to search through the phone book for a place that might have such a contraption. Well, I found one. The Glass Onion. I don't know where they get the name from, perhaps its some hippie lingo about a special bong, whatever.

Anyway, my visit to the Glass Onion was quite interesting. The building used to be a house, transformed into a shop on a busy street. I walk in the door (enclosed porch) and smell something that has never penetrated the boundaries of my nostrils before. Now, I've never been around someone smoking pot, but if I had to guess what it smelled like, it would be the aroma that hit me when I entered. It smelled like a mixture of many different, peciuliar things, too dificult to explain.

I then walked through a doorway into the main shop area (a former den/living room). On the left is a glass counter, a cash register and a young gal (mid 20's) who was conversing with a female customer. What this female customer was doing is what got my attention. Having seen people take drugs in movies is the image that popped into my head when I saw her smoking something (I didn't get a good look at it, didn't want to stare). I consider myself somewhat knowledgable on this topic having seen the movie Requiem for a Dream.

I looked around for a little while. The Glass Onion has in stock some very interesting items. Hackie-Sacks, posters (Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Marley, etc.), records, bandanas, braiding material, hippie-ponchos, black lights, smoking aparatuses (is that spelled right?), etc. And yes, there were hookahs for sale in the Glass Onion. Ranging in styles from the basic, costing $85, to a hand-blown hookah, costing over $200. I'm not really an expert on hookahs, but does a hand-blown hookah perform better? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care.

Needless to say I exited the establishment before the police knocked down the door and came rushing in...as they did in the Crack house not too far from where I sit at this very moment.

Earlier this week, the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team arrested 3 men in a cocaine bust. Apparently, drug activity resumed less than 24 hours later in the same house. When will people learn?

And my personal favorite...The Brothers' Nightclub. No, not a night club for African Americans, but a night club that is "gay oriented." Well, in Thursday's newspaper, I read that said nightclub had $75,000 is damages because of a fire the previous night. I couldn't help but laugh for more than one reason. First, I didn't know Kalamazoo had a gay night club. And second, I'm sure that a gay nightclub doesn't just erupt in a blaze of glory unless there is some external assistance. Owner Cevin Armentrout (is that a real name or alias?) appeared to be quite disgruntled from the look of his picture in the paper.

The latest news is that the "nightclub fire suspicious, officials say." I'm no expert, but I have seen the movie Backdraft before, and I would say this fire was no accident. Heck, if I had known about the club, this probably would have happened sooner (wink, wink). And if you think what I just said was bad, wait til you hear what someone said today at work. I'll paraphrase..."Its too bad the fire didn't happen on the weekend when it would have had more people inside." Are you as astonished as me?

Well, I got to admit, my spring break at home was not as boring and mundane as I thought it would be. Events like these don't happen too often, but when they do, I feel the need to share my delight with my blogger friends. So, read them, consume them, and enjoy them.