Combining an Elias Brothers with a Red Roof Inn calls for applause, surprisingly. Ann Arbor MI

How far east can one go in Ann Arbor without arriving in Ypsilanti? This Red Roof Inn has an Elias Brothers Big Boy attached and I am receiving the Wireless Ypsilanti signal. So here's the line. Guess those Ypsilanti vigilantes marched on the Governor's house this weekend, I expect to protest appointment of an emergency manager for Ypsi? I'll have to scan the Ann Arbor Paper; the Detroit Free Press my hostess gave me for free doesn't have the story. I have read the online edicts of the Benton Harbor Emergency City Manager, and it's surprising how the manager can create law with a memo. Who didn't know we were electing a tyrant when we voted for Snyder, and I am not necessarily using the word tyrant as a pejorative.

Instead, let's talk about that eternally young boy waiter holding a stacked hamburger sandwich the way the Statue of Liberty bears her torch. My father, a half year gone now, loved Big Boy, and probably had stopped at every single one along Eight Mile during his car cruising days. I can tell you which ones are defunct, such as the one torn down at the Woodward Boulevard gateway to Royal Oak. The land now carries a L.A. Fitness, where this generation performs cardio and weight routines rather that cruises. When catching a ride to Detroit from Michigan State, I could always tell my friend to drop me off at an Elias Brothers anywhere in the city. One brief payphone call to his weekday house in Warren, Michigan, and he was on his way, akin to a homing pigeon. Get that. He was home to answer his phone. He was ready to leave in minutes. He didn't need directions. He couldn't pass the Elias Brothers commissary at Ten Mile and Ryan without remarking upon the operation.

For the record, this Big Boy on the Ann Arbor border merits comparison to the franchises of old. Coffee is delivered compulsively. The owner has personally checked on me and made conversation with all the parties, some regulars with years of attendance. A family of eight sits at a pair of booths with the divider dropped into a secret cavity, everyone making face time.

I was prepared to grumble about Priceline Name Your Own Price booking me into a Red Roof Inn, but I was charmed by my room, with a laminate wood floor, new beds, designer chairs for the desk and new bathroom fixtures. It reminded me of the new look of the Extended Stay Suites. Plus, a noon checkout allowed me to peck this dispatch out. The fifties live again, with a great motor hotel and a charming diner.