Where Past Meets Future: Finding My Soul (and Self) in Michigan City

Where Past Meets Future: Finding My Soul (and Self) in Michigan City

Article transcribed by Steve Neville. 

The sun is pouring through the windows of Fiddlehead Restaurant in Michigan City. It’s 3:00 pm and I sit here with a cold beer in hand, a menu at its side, and my eyes darting from table to table as the atmosphere comes alive with the hits once played on 50s jukeboxes pouring through modern speakers.

I soak it all in; the sun, the city, the restaurant, everything.

We all need some time every once in awhile to escape past our comfort zone, literally and figuratively. This moment in Michigan City, where the sands of the ageless Lake Michigan meet with the modern pavement of a growing and culturally thriving modern city, is it.

Progress is a process

Michigan City is on the rise, it has a palpable collective energy you can feel through the streets, and this ascent is based off commitment to two of the most valuable resources a city can have: arts and education.

I see this first-hand today as I take a walk through the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, a non-profit art center dedicated to keeping a passion for creation and those who create in Northwest Indiana thriving.

In these halls, I pass by an exhibit that is a manifestation of this commitment to building culture, works of art created by students in Michigan City’s school system. In this moment, this quiet time of reflection inside Lubeznik, there is no better example of a community working together to building a better future.

Something new, something old

All this talk of the future is not to say that the rich history of the city doesn’t emanate throughout. Michigan CIty has a storied past built upon traditions and foundations that are the cornerstones of this growing future, like our role models’ voices they are constantly there in our minds to remind us of what’s important in life; what truly matters.

Take my next stop on my journey, Albano’s Villa, an iconic symbol of pride in Michigan City. Albano’s was started on a hot, summer day in 1957 in a house on Franklin Street, and sits as a reminder of what matters most: family, honesty, and a commitment to doing the job the right way, every time.

And it’s here at Albano’s where I sit awaiting my next meal and watching the future of the city intermingle with the past. Kids, adults, baby boomers, everyone comes to Albano’s, and everyone comes for their own reasons; be it past, or future.

Me, I came to get away for awhile, but what this day reminded me of was these communities in Northwest Indiana, like Michigan City, will always be home.