Please note that location entries may feature older photos or post card views that may not represent the current appearance, features, addresses, phone numbers, or contact names of the attraction. This site is intended to be a historical as well as current record of various attractions but it is not always possible to have up-to-date information due to the vast number of locations featured here. We ask you consult the propietor for current information.
This one was a puzzle for a few years for me. I was looking around on Flickr for old Michigan motel photos and came across one from Martin Hogan of an old sign on US-41 between Hancock and Calumet. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find it so I started checking aerial and street views from 2008/2009. He had taken the shot in 2010. After lots of looking, I wasn't finding it.
So, I commented on the photo on Flickr and asked for the coordinates which he nicely gave me. They were 47.168948, -88.518743. OK, so that is right in front of Boston Pond on what is now the Boston Pond Nature Preserve. There is a circular drive and the historical aerials indicated there were some buildings on the site. Great. HOWEVER, checking the 2008/2009 street views I wasn't seeing the sign.
I held off on adding this location at the time (a couple years back) because it seemed to be a dead end. Recently, I returned to the photo and decided to post it on the Calumet Michigan Facebook Group. They indicated it WAS from a restaurant/motel combo called Skyway Court and Bar and it WAS on the lot the lot Martin Hogan had originally indicated to me. There were/are no postcards from it (for now) but a Facebook group user named Suzie Monroe had a matchbook for it. That helped greatly.
Another key clue came when another user, Larry Rule, pointed out the sign was moved to Mason Motors on M-26 in Hancock. I called them and Gregory Piper confirmed he had the sign and provided good information on it which was very nice of him. I have posted some street view photos of the sign as it sits now at Mason Motors.
The bar and motel itself is still mysterious as there are no newspaper articles on it. It was owned by Fred and Mary-Lou Mattila whose family still resides in the area of Houghton. There are some buildings on the historical photos that are now gone, one of which was the bar. The motel building and cabins aren't obvious though. And, the street views are a bit fuzzy so the sign as it stood in 2010 from the original photo is weirdly not obvious either on the 2008/2009 street views.